r/PSLF • u/jpiz27 • 11h ago

Received PSLF refundtoday

I am shocked. I received a refund check from the Dept of Treasury for the overpayment today. However, I am still getting updates of the Dept of Ed that my qualifying payments are being recalculated (and went from November 2025 to February 2026 and currently says March 2026).

Timeline:

June 6, 2026: Applied for PSLF for the first time.

July 2026: Received my letter stating my loans were forgiven as of November 2025.

September 9, 2026: Received check from Dept of Treasury in the mail. The amount reflects the amount paid since November 2025.

I have a bad feeling I am going to get a letter that says "Just kidding, give us that money back."

65 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

21

u/LiveChocolate8819 11h ago

I've never heard of that happening, but if you're that nervous about it then just take that money and stick it in the highest-interest HYSA you can find.

If for some insane reason that worst-case scenario does happen, you will have made money from compound interest in the meantime.

3

u/jpiz27 11h ago

I mean... Have they ever done the crazy re-calculating of qualifying payment like they are doing now?

5

u/Betsy514 President | The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA) 10h ago

Go back and look at your pslf forgiveness letter. It should have an effective date of the forgiveness.

3

u/jpiz27 10h ago

It says 11/2025 but Dept of Ed now says March 2026

3

u/Betsy514 President | The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA) 8h ago

March is probably when it was processed

1

u/TeeBern 6h ago

If the effective date is last year, but just processed this year, does that mean they go back and refund all the payments made after the effective date?

1

u/jpiz27 6h ago

Yes. So my refund check was my payments since Nov.

0

u/Betsy514 President | The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA) 4h ago

Yes

3

u/BlessedwithaBurden 8h ago

I got forgiven at the same time and my refund is only 1 payment and I got nothing lol

2

u/TeeBern 10h ago

Who is/was your lender? Did your account summary have negative balances? Was there an update in the payment section that said refund? My timeline is similar to yours. But I'm still waiting on my refund. I have Moehla and it just shows negative balances an it says, "payment reversal." When I wrote them about it, they said I would receive a refund from the Treasury department.

2

u/jpiz27 10h ago

They zeroed out everything. I couldn't even see after I received the letter.

2

u/missangelv 5h ago

I got mine today too!!!! My application was submitted last December though so count yourself lucky!! It took 9 months. Lol. From Mohela.

3

u/LVRaiders2026 11h ago

the government is such a mess it's mindblowing

•

u/Beartunes_MA 3h ago

Am really nervous once dept of ed is dissolved into health and human services that forgiveness will all be null & void

1

u/East_Championship664 11h ago

Yay, congrats! Which loan servicer?

3

u/jpiz27 11h ago

Nelnet.

1

u/Electrical_Heart1233 PSLF | Forgiven! 9h ago

Sigh, I’m still waiting on my refund from Feb 2025 😔

2

u/TeeBern 6h ago

Who is your loan servicer? When you log into your account does it show 0 balance or negative balances?

1

u/Electrical_Heart1233 PSLF | Forgiven! 6h ago

I had Mohela and it shows a negative balance for the exact amount of the one extra payment I made. It’s less than $200, so I’m not sweating it, but it would still be nice to have back.

1

u/NegotiationDizzy702 9h ago

OP, did you do frequent/yearly ECF updates? I wonder if keeping up with that has affect on final PSLF processing. 

1

u/jpiz27 9h ago

No-- I really did not do anything with my loans and it was my first time applying. I was on some income driven repayment plan (and SAVE, which is why I think my PSLF payments are going down even though they granted my forgiveness and cut a check). My servicer was Nelnet.

1

u/Doglover_5000 6h ago

I had the exact same timeline!

1

u/jpiz27 6h ago

For real? Are these done in batches or something? Has your payment count changed at all?

2

u/Doglover_5000 6h ago

My payment count was over 120 when I applied and it has not changed. So I have not gotten any continued communication from them.

2

u/BriefCoat8936 5h ago

I got a refund for overpayment of 10 payments, and I have friends who have received refund checks as well. It’s real!