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Post by tripper on Nov 11, 2021 8:07:16 GMT -5
I was denied PSLF on my direct loans after ten years for being in wrong repayment plan. That was a couple years back so maybe it’s easier now. That’s an understatement. If you are still paying I strongly urge you to file for pslf, or at least check out the student aid site and the Reddit sub. My rate was pretty high (I consolidated in early 2001) so I paid it off after being denied. Probably can’t do anything about it now, despite having made financial decisions relative to the PSLF denial. |
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Post by lawyeredbylaws on Nov 11, 2021 9:38:08 GMT -5
My understanding is under the new terms basically all payments you’ve made count towards your 120. When I first applied, I got denied because I consolidated wrong and made wrong type of payments. I then consolidated correctly. But just a few weeks ago got an email saying I now have more than 120 qualifying payments, so my loans will be gone.
One other thing that’s not really mentioned ever is that they are supposed to be refunding all payments made in excess of the 120 payments, which means I could getting a decent amount of money back. So even if you’ve been denied or paid off be sure to update all your info.
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Post by tripper on Nov 11, 2021 12:14:18 GMT -5
My understanding is under the new terms basically all payments you’ve made count towards your 120. When I first applied, I got denied because I consolidated wrong and made wrong type of payments. I then consolidated correctly. But just a few weeks ago got an email saying I now have more than 120 qualifying payments, so my loans will be gone. One other thing that’s not really mentioned ever is that they are supposed to be refunding all payments made in excess of the 120 payments, which means I could getting a decent amount of money back. So even if you’ve been denied or paid off be sure to update all your info. I’ve sent an inquiry. Thanks for the info. |
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Post by intothewild on Nov 11, 2021 12:21:34 GMT -5
My understanding is under the new terms basically all payments you’ve made count towards your 120. When I first applied, I got denied because I consolidated wrong and made wrong type of payments. I then consolidated correctly. But just a few weeks ago got an email saying I now have more than 120 qualifying payments, so my loans will be gone. One other thing that’s not really mentioned ever is that they are supposed to be refunding all payments made in excess of the 120 payments, which means I could getting a decent amount of money back. So even if you’ve been denied or paid off be sure to update all your info. I’ve sent an inquiry. Thanks for the info. If you already paid it back I think you are out of luck. You will only get a refund if you currently have loans. |
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Post by ba on Nov 11, 2021 21:26:09 GMT -5
I’ve sent an inquiry. Thanks for the info. If you already paid it back I think you are out of luck. You will only get a refund if you currently have loans. And even that is only payments after 10/2007, when the program was created. (So 10/2017 is the first possible overpayment month). |
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Post by ba on Nov 11, 2021 21:29:38 GMT -5
A number of years ago they changed the default “standard” plan mattering on how much you owed at the start. That’s why some people have more than 10 year standard plans. However, a borrower can ask for a ten year standard plan at any time by contacting their servicer irrespective of the amount owed. Good to know. I remember when I first started paying, selecting standard (10 year) made no sense for someone seeking PSLF as you would pay it off before becoming eligible for PSLF. Unfortunately, the non-10-year standard plans are not PSLF eligible. One must other make payments under the 10-year standard plan or one of the income based plans in order to get PSLF. With the waiver (or possibly without), the 10-year standard can still make sense for a consolidated direct loan (which restarts the repayment period) and someone who is married filing jointly with a spouse that has a high income, where prior payments (such as pre-married payments) were made on an income based plan. |
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Post by lp101 on Nov 13, 2021 17:00:59 GMT -5
Good to know. I remember when I first started paying, selecting standard (10 year) made no sense for someone seeking PSLF as you would pay it off before becoming eligible for PSLF. Unfortunately, the non-10-year standard plans are not PSLF eligible. One must other make payments under the 10-year standard plan or one of the income based plans in order to get PSLF. This is incorrect, at least as it relates to the new waiver. Under the new waiver, any payments made prior to October 2021 toward a federal loan program count, even if they were under the wrong loan program (FFEL loans being the main culprit here) or the wrong payment plan (for instance, non-10-year standard repayment plans). If you’ve been paying on an FFEL loan for a number of years, it’s definitely worth your while to investigate further, even if you were on an extended repayment plan. |
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Post by ba on Nov 13, 2021 19:09:01 GMT -5
Unfortunately, the non-10-year standard plans are not PSLF eligible. One must other make payments under the 10-year standard plan or one of the income based plans in order to get PSLF. This is incorrect, at least as it relates to the new waiver. Under the new waiver, any payments made prior to October 2021 toward a federal loan program count, even if they were under the wrong loan program (FFEL loans being the main culprit here) or the wrong payment plan (for instance, non-10-year standard repayment plans). If you’ve been paying on an FFEL loan for a number of years, it’s definitely worth your while to investigate further, even if you were on an extended repayment plan. I wasn’t referring to the waiver, which expires on 10/2022. After that date, payments under the non-10 year standard plan will not count for PSLF, absent a change in the negotiated rule making. They will be stuck with any remaining funds under TEPSLF which is first come, first serve. |
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Post by ckntoby on Nov 15, 2021 12:32:31 GMT -5
I applied for the tepslf over the summer after I heard about it. I wasn't in the right payment plan until 2013 but have been at SSA since 2009. I originally didn't qualify but got an email late Friday night that I qualify under the expanded rules and the remainder of my loans have been forgiven. I hadn't done anything in the meantime to follow up. It was pretty great news to get.
The funny thing is my balance was 34k but they forgave 42k. I'm wondering if they'll refund the difference.
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Post by ba on Nov 16, 2021 10:03:20 GMT -5
I applied for the tepslf over the summer after I heard about it. I wasn't in the right payment plan until 2013 but have been at SSA since 2009. I originally didn't qualify but got an email late Friday night that I qualify under the expanded rules and the remainder of my loans have been forgiven. I hadn't done anything in the meantime to follow up. It was pretty great news to get. The funny thing is my balance was 34k but they forgave 42k. I'm wondering if they'll refund the difference. Quite possible you will see an overpayment refund. |
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Post by superalj on Nov 16, 2021 22:53:40 GMT -5
Yeah that’s what is confusing me. I was making payments under a different plan and the website said I was not eligible. So can I still ask for a waiver since my plan was in excess of 10 years?
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Post by jimmyjiggles on Nov 17, 2021 10:45:01 GMT -5
Yeah that’s what is confusing me. I was making payments under a different plan and the website said I was not eligible. So can I still ask for a waiver since my plan was in excess of 10 years? Yes. The website is not current with policy. All you need is to have your loans consolidated into a direct loan. Even if payments you made previously are not “pslf eligible” per prior policy (ie were lower than pslf loan repayment plans and on a non qualifying loan (usually FFEP/Stanford loans)) and even if the direct loan repayment plan you are going into is not “pslf” friendly, you can still file for pslf under the waiver. If you made 120 payments while working for a qualifying employer it does not matter how much the payments were, nor if the loan was a qualifying loan when those payments were made, it should be forgiven under the waiver. Not to beat the horse, but Reddit, r/pslf, is the best resource out there for this right now. |
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atty
Full Member
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Post by atty on Nov 18, 2021 19:39:24 GMT -5
I graduated in 2000. Day following graduation started public employment. Consolidated (first time) 2002. Was given terrible incorrect information about the PSLF program in 2007 by my servicer when I called and asked. Relied (stupidly) on that information without doing much additional research - I gave it a half-hearted try but it was very difficult at that time to locate information about how the program was to work in practice. Fast forward to 2012 when a colleague gave me better information; consolidated (2nd time - now with Direct Loans) and started certifying employment. When TEPSLF came out I applied, was denied, and appealed, and denied again. Resolved that my loans would not be forgiven till 2022.
Received notice that the balance of my loans were forgiven by the Waiver in the blitz last week. In addition, I am getting a significant refund (3 years worth of loan payments - back to 2017, but not including any of the Covid-era paused payments of $0) refunded. I am speechless!!!
As mentioned above, there is a PSLF sub-Reddit and it is *AMAZING* and full of information.
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Post by tripper on Nov 19, 2021 14:00:27 GMT -5
I graduated in 2000. Day following graduation started public employment. Consolidated (first time) 2002. Was given terrible incorrect information about the PSLF program in 2007 by my servicer when I called and asked. Relied (stupidly) on that information without doing much additional research - I gave it a half-hearted try but it was very difficult at that time to locate information about how the program was to work in practice. Fast forward to 2012 when a colleague gave me better information; consolidated (2nd time - now with Direct Loans) and started certifying employment. When TEPSLF came out I applied, was denied, and appealed, and denied again. Resolved that my loans would not be forgiven till 2022. Received notice that the balance of my loans were forgiven by the Waiver in the blitz last week. In addition, I am getting a significant refund (3 years worth of loan payments - back to 2017, but not including any of the Covid-era paused payments of $0) refunded. I am speechless!!! As mentioned above, there is a PSLF sub-Reddit and it is *AMAZING* and full of information. The first paragraph could be me. Graduated in 2000…. The difference is that after I was denied for the second time in 2019, I paid off my loans because they had a higher interest than my mortgage. Had I just kept $1 balance… |
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Post by carrickfergus on Nov 19, 2021 14:21:03 GMT -5
IKR!! I met all the quals, but was told by someone back in 2010 when I became an ALJ that my salary was too high, so never applied. Still took 20 years to pay it off.
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atty
Full Member
Posts: 39
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Post by atty on Nov 20, 2021 9:58:59 GMT -5
But wait, there’s more.
This morning I awoke to a rather startling balance - in a good way - in my checking account. The Department of Ed direct deposit refunded my overpaid amounts. Approximately 10 days after forgiveness. My last 30 payments were (bizarrely, individually) returned.
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Post by ladybug on Nov 22, 2021 7:46:30 GMT -5
I had my loans forgiven a couple of years ago, over $100k. I luckily did the research back when I started working for the fed, so I changed to the correct payment plan within a couple of months, and I did not change jobs, so certification was fairly easy. I also didn’t have any administrative problems on their end (fedloan at the time), so my payment counts were accurate. I know many people have significant issues on that side. I applied in May and was approved in July, with one small mistake on my application (a date or something).
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Post by aljwantabe on Nov 26, 2021 17:41:42 GMT -5
I am also one of those that took a govt. job expecting to have my student loans forgiven, but was told my loans did not qualify. So now I am trying to take advantage of the new waiver. So I just submitted my application to consolidate my loans to a Direct Loan. I have started the PSLF/TEPSLF process. I need to get my employer certification. My agency is still teleworking full time due to COVID, so I'm not sure how to get my employer to certify the form. Have any of you had this same situation? Suggestions?
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Post by jimmyjiggles on Nov 26, 2021 17:53:42 GMT -5
I am also one of those that took a govt. job expecting to have my student loans forgiven, but was told my loans did not qualify. So now I am trying to take advantage of the new waiver. So I just submitted my application to consolidate my loans to a Direct Loan. I have started the PSLF/TEPSLF process. I need to get my employer certification. My agency is still teleworking full time due to COVID, so I'm not sure how to get my employer to certify the form. Have any of you had this same situation? Suggestions? Ask your supervisor who to send the form. Some regional person usually does it. Email them the form. They will either mail it or email it back to you. Pretty easy if you are a fed. |
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Post by zbornee on Dec 1, 2021 8:10:02 GMT -5
Send it here:
^DCHR OPE Payroll
I got a quick response!
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