Moving off of SAVE soon and thinking of putting my loans into forbearance while I figure out ways to increase my income so I can make my payments and still afford to live. I’ve also been in SAVE Forbearance since I was placed there automatically, so wondering if that affects my ability to do that?

On October 23rd I have an email that says my “request for In School Deferment was approved”… I’m not technically in school (I did educational courses through a grant from my employer at a university all last year). Even if this counts, I didn’t submit any request for deferment.

October 24th email: they will charge me my old monthly amount from my SAVE plan on the 27th of October.

When I called MOHELA this morning, they confirmed they did charge me the amount from my old SAVE plan. (the call dropped mid transfer to a specialist so I don’t have more information). Before I even spoke to anyone, the automated system said my account was in forbearance and my next payment wasn’t due until this December…

I got my 90 days notice of needing to change plans a few months ago, which means I need to change plans by the middle of November… and yet I’m being charged my old Save plan amount while in a forbearance???

What the Fried Chicken is going on? Is anyone else in this situation? Can they even legally charge me if I am in a forbearance, especially before I’ve selected my new plan??

I received my 90 day notice to switch off of the SAVE plan at the end of July. Technically, my "90 day" mark was on 10/26; however, I am still enrolled in SAVE and never received a 30 day notice or anything like that. Should I just stick it out and see if anything comes through or if I get forced off? I'm kind of torn between that and just switching plans ahead of time. I'm returning to school part time in January so plan to put my loans in deferment then anyways.

After filling out the forms and sending income documentation, I was set up for an IDR plan with a $319.09 / month payment. Honestly, this amount is not realistic for me to pay on my salary because I have other student loans and debt. I am seeing the standard payment plan option for me is $262.93 / month. Why would this be lower than the IDR? Can I just go ahead and choose the $262.93 / month payment plan?

Does anyone have a suggestion for getting Mohela to accurately account for my spouse’s student loans when calculating my IBR payment? I applied for IBR with a PDF application uploaded to their website with my tax return, as was advised due to the known glitch in payment calculation when applying via studentaid.gov.

I received an approval on 10/22, and my payment amount was what should be the total of both my wife’s and my payment. The FSA calculation rounds to the nearest dollar, but the amount Mohela says my monthly payment will be is 35 cents more than the sum of what the payment calculator shows for my payment + my wife’s payment on IBR.

I then tried to resubmit the application with a note indicating that the payment is wrong, what the payment should be per FSA, and pointed out that the payment calculation did not take my wife’s loans into account, as it is the exact amount both of our payments should add up to. Just got another payment plan approval for the exact same payment amount, to the penny.

We have been married since 2013, and have both always been on an IDR plan until the COVID forbearance. We’ve never had any trouble with our payments amounts being correctly calculated based us both having loans until we were automatically moved from REPAYE to SAVE, when my payment was correctly calculated, but my wife’s SAVE payment was double her REPAYE payment because they didn’t factor my loans into the calculation.

Also, does anyone know why my repayment schedule would only show 11 months at the new payment amount, rather than 12? I thought an income certification would be good for a full year, not 11 months.

Thank you!

Hey all. My deadline is fast approaching, and I have my IDR application ready to go. I'm just not sure if I should wait to submit until after the deadline comes to see if they extend it another 30 days or not like others have experienced. My servicer is Nelnet, and I was one of the people who saw the deadline change in the portal and then change back again.

So what are we thinking? Should I just submit the app? Or wait and see if they extend it?

Hello all. I have around $150,000 in federal loans and $80,000 in private loans. My current payment plan has me sitting at $600 for my private loans and somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,400 for my federal. I have been able to afford the $600 a month payments, but the additional $1,400 is not feasible.

My question is: has anyone just made a payment of "what they could afford" and been okay in these situations? It's not ideal, but I don't want to default unless absolutely necessary. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I graduated in 2022 with $100K of student debt with various government loans ranging from 3-7.6%. Today I made a $3.6k payment annihilating my highest rate loan of 7.6% and bringing my total paid over the last 4 years to just a bit over $50K. Even with a 99.3K starting balance and 50.2K paid to date I have 62.2K of student debt left :/

On the bright side I do have enough in HYSA and stocks to get rid of the rest but probably wise to have a good emergency fund.

Just like the title says, I got a email from my server aidvantage that I sent a repayment application that I never sent? Well I can confirm the email is also 100% real but instead of having my first name it just says “[first name] we’ve received your payment application.” I also checked my account. And my account notifications it also says A repayment plan application was sent. I am currently on a IDR plan and mosty trying to figure out if 1. This happened to anyone else recently and 2. What this is about.

I was on the SAVE plan, which was discontinued. While evaulating my options on the student aid dot gov site, I found that the payoff date under the RAP does not make any sense. Here is my situation:

SL Debt: just under $53k. Rate: 6.375%. This works out to a monthly interest of $281.

All my loans were consolidated in 2023. (This combined with my current amount makes a number of the available plans equivalent, btw. The graduated and extended graduated plans are exactly the same for me, for example.)

If I, for example, put in an AGI = $70k, the calculator give a payment of $350/mo (correct) and a payoff date of 2038 ($0 discharged). Under the standard repayment plan and extended fix repayment plan, I would have a payment of $357/mo and a payoff date of 2050. How can this be correct? The 2038 date is way off from the simple interest calculation, and what I have read says there would be no payment assistance for me under this scenario.

Thanks in advance.

I found out yesterday my monthly payments would be increased to $800 a month. That's unaffordable for me. I'm going to lay out how my finances work, in hopes someone might know about a method for re-engineering my payment plan.

My AGI last year was $118,000.

I teach at a college. My *base* pay is $68,000 a year. So, roughly speaking, my paychecks are $3,500-$4,000 a month. IF I receive Summer teaching (I always do), then I earn an extra $21,000, which is paid out from June to August, so those three checks end up being around $7,000-10,000. (So I receive three big checks a year, otherwise I earn $3,500-4,000 a month). Paying $800 a month over Summer would be easy.

Having a payment of $800 a month when I'm generally earning $4,000 a month is just not feasible.

Also, for the last four years I have done various online adjunct work for two other colleges. Last year was a very lucrative period, hence the $118,000 but I permanently lost one of those contracts effective August, which means I'm earning $10,000 less this year.

So roughly speaking, this semester I'm earning about $6,000 a month, so again, $800 is *a lot* for me. Next semester it will be more like $5,000 a month.

Given my income is sporadic, and decreased effective August, and my loans are being deducted from a unusually high AGI last year, is there anything I can do to decrease this $800.

Thank you for your help.

Have Nelnet. Got my notice on 01Jul. Mid-September I bit the bullet and just reapplied to my previous graduated plan. About 2 days later plan was approved and I got the email for all of my loans (I have 68k but not consolidated).

Then came the this is your final 30 day notice. And still, no due date. To be honest I’m not too worried about it the website says they’ve received my application and I’ve been approved. But just think it’s odd that now 30 days later I’m still in save plan forebearance. Guess if nobody knows I’ll update you all Nov 1.

What are my options? Due to inflation I currently have more month than money at the moment. I don’t have any extra liquid assets right now and I can’t make payment on a credit card.

I have a Fidelity 401k so I could stop putting money into it I still get matching of up to 6% for paying my loans instead. That 6% of my income though is still less than my payments for the year.

I can’t just print my own money. I planned my life around SAVE.

just paid my first rap pmt. Says pmt was “not qualified “ for rap benefit. I use auto debit, wasn’t late, sooooo why didn’t it qualify? I’ll be calling them tomorrow but I’m confused why it wouldn’t qualify.

Sallie mae sold my loan to southwood financial. Located in NY. very scared has anyone gone thru a settlement with them. Owe 47k. Father is co-signer.
Being sued my southwood

So here's my predicament. I'm going to nursing school and scared about not being able to repay once I finish school or that I won't pass my NCLEX.

Anyways, 70K for a fREAKIN associates degree (technically 45k maybe even less bc Grants and the federal loans which I will MAX on. I'm terrified. IDK if I should do a deferred loan bc I need to focus on studying to pass. I can't really work and do both (maybe I can?) My LVN mutuals told me about how they paid of their LVN school bc the school had payment plans while they were enrolled for a year.

Would it be crazy to take the loan as a back up but just give them their money back once I'm done with school and try to pay off the balance my school is asking each semester (roughly 5K each semester)

65K @ 19% for 5yrs?

What if I just give a principal pymt of a lumpsum back in 2 years from now. What do you think pymts will look like. It's still a lot of interest.

Also, I have mom as a cosigner. She's retired. We own our home. Would bankruptcy save us? I wouldn't want any liens or debts to ruin our lives.

So for context, I got a B.Sc in Comp Sci over 4 years.
Total in student loans is about 42,000, all federal sub/ unsub. It's at about 45,000 from interest. I graduated in May so my grace period ends in December.

Currently, my first month due is 430$ and my second month is 500$. I only make 20$ an hour because of how worthless computer science is in todays age because of Al (I had internships, projects, experience, and still didn't land interviews) so I'm working a basic IT job. Needless to say, I cannot afford 430-500$ consistently. I owe for my car, car insurance, health insurance, etc and other bills that take all my money.
Rent is expensive.

I looked into consolidating through FAFSA's website, and these were my two options.

Income Driven: Expected 17$ a month, 27,000$ total over 30 years. 29,000$ discharged

Fixed Payments: 386$ a month, 70,000 total over 15 years.

The income driven seems ideal, because I'd pay 27-30,000 and the other 29,000 would be discharged and maybe result in 3-4k in income tax. This seems way too good to be true.

The other option sucks as much as my original predicament. 70,000$ total for 42,000$ in loans is absolutely abysmal.
Am I just screwed regardless? Is that income driven too good to be true?

My school takes a long time to update things on National Student Clearinghouse so I have to go through the deferment process manually through Sallie Mae’s website. I’ve uploaded my form 5 times already and each time I speak to a representative, they say they don’t see anything uploaded :( I don’t know what else to do.

My loan servicer is edfinancial. I have around $45,000 in student loans and my husband has around $100,000. We have two children and an AGI of around $100,000. When I filled out the repayment calculator, it was estimated that I would pay around $120 a month on IBR. I just got it approved for $430 a month. Is there a way I can appeal this? I think edfinancial messed something up.

I have federal loans being repayed through Nelnet. They've been calling me for the last two months, reminding me to sign up for a new plan now that the SAVE plan has ended. I've been mostly ignoring them so far, just waiting till I actually need to pick a new plan. But today I got another call and was curious about how things were looking.

Under the Payments tab it says -- "Next due date on 11/09/2028." Under the Repayment Planning tab, it says -- "Status: Save Plan Pause Forbearance. Payment will begin in Nov 2028. Your payment amount will be shown on your statement three weeks before your due date." Then there's a footnote that reads -- "Please Note: Although your next due date currently appears far in the future, it will be moved up when you apply for a new repayment plan (due to the end of the SAVE Plan) and resume repayment. Apply for a new plan by 12/23/2026 or you'll be placed on a fixed plan with likely higher payments."

It sounds like if I don't select a plan by December of this year, they'll pick one for me, but that it wouldn't be due until next November. What I'm wondering is, if I did that (not choose a new plan), would I be locked into the plan they chose for me? Or would I at some point be able to change my plan in the next calendar year? I suppose I'm weighing my options -- is it a better idea to select a plan of my choosing, but have to start paying sooner; or let them choose a plan for me and be unsure wether or not I'd be able to change it? Let me know if any of you know what not choosing a plan might actually look like, or what you've chosen to do if you are seeing the same message I am! I hope that that makes sense. Thanks guys!

Thanks very much.

I want to close my student balance (it's due to unpaid tuition) and have paid $2,100 since jan 2026 up until this month. The outstanding balance is $4,382

They sent me a final email today saying it will be sent to collections if not paid in full by nov 27. I have sent them multiple emails over the last 8 months, talking to different agents on trying to work out a payment plan but the plan they offer is pay $2500 up front and then the rest in $500 instalment payments.

I dont have 2500 sitting around. Not sure what to do at this point. WDID ? I sent another email asking for a payment plan within a reasonable budget just now but I know it'll lead nowhere.

My private student loans are eating me alive so much so that I’m moving in with my grandparents because I can’t afford anything besides free. I have private loans through 3 lenders (I think that’s the right term): Sallie Mae, FirstMark (used to be discover), and ESCI. I’m not super worried about the ESCI loan because it’s under $3,000 and my payments are super manageable, it’s the other two. They just seem so fishy with payments and I was checking my interest rates to find a few of them were over 10%. I have about $80,000 (high estimate) with Mrs. Sallie Mae and I think roughly around $15,000 with FirstMark. Please understand that I also know these are crazy high, I regret my education and now need to deal with the consequences.

I want to refinance the Sallie Mae and FirstMark loans since they are the ones I’m constantly struggling with making payments. I unfortunately for a while had to choose between rent and payments so my credit is tanked, plus an actual credit card that got a little too high for my liking but I had to pay for my mother’s funeral. The Sallie Mae payment is around $500 a month and FirstMark is around $200 a month (this is after changing my payment plans for both), and my credit score is sitting in the upper 500s range (used to be upper 700s). I’ve had several companies reach out including Yrefy, Sofi, and Earnest. Given my situation what is the best option?