STUDENT LOAN HELP | Income-Driven Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Account Adjustment
From the Federal Student Aid website:
https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment
Income-Driven Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Account Adjustment
On April 19, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced several changes and updates that will bring borrowers closer to forgiveness under income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. These adjustments to borrower accounts include conducting a one-time revision of IDR payment counters to address past inaccuracies (including automatically discharging loans for eligible borrowers) and permanently fixing IDR payment counting by reforming ED’s IDR tracking procedures going forward.
ED will begin work on implementing these changes immediately, but borrowers will not see the effect in their accounts until fall of 2022.
One-Time Payment Count Revision for Eligible IDR Borrowers
As part of this initiative, ED will conduct a one-time revision of IDR-qualifying payments for all William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program and federally managed Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans.
ED will conduct a one-time account adjustment to borrower accounts that will count time toward IDR forgiveness, including
any months in which you had time in a repayment status, regardless of the payments made, loan type, or repayment plan;
12 or more months of consecutive forbearance or 36 or more months of cumulative forbearance toward IDR and PSLF forgiveness;
months spent in deferment (with the exception of in-school deferment) prior to 2013; and
any time in repayment prior to consolidation on consolidated loans.
Any borrower with loans that have accumulated time in repayment of at least 20 or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if you are not currently on an IDR plan.
If you have commercially held FFEL loans, you can only benefit from the IDR account adjustment if you consolidate before we complete implementation of these changes, which is estimated to be no sooner than Jan. 1, 2023.
If you have made qualifying payments that exceed forgiveness thresholds (20 or 25 years), you will receive a refund for your overpayment.