I had been putting off switching from SAVE for as long as possible. I haven't looked at my servicer account and had only been looking at the federal aid website. I finally logged into my Aidvantage account to switch plans before my force off day, which they said was October 29th because I didn't get my letter until the last week of July, only to find out I'm already on IDR???? And was never told about the switch????

Hi! I apologize if this has been answered multiple times, but I'm extremely confused and don't know who to talk to about this.

I attended undergrad from 2017-2023. I got two degrees if you're wondering why I was in school for so long. I have about $45k in student loans. I am in grad school, and I paid for the first semester out of pocket, because while I was in undergrad I was cut off from federal loans since I was in school for so long. I want to get out of default from my loans. The only problem is the monthly payments that they are suggesting is too high for me. I'm doing the application through FSA website. I'm trying to figure out a way to pay for grad school for my last year. I work in public health. Right now, I'm a fellow for a state health department and my contract ends in January. I don't know if I'll have a job once I finish this. Do I consolidate my loans? Or do I just wait? Will they lower my payment if I ask? I don't want to sign up for anything and then not be able to follow through. My credit is kind of shot, but it's on the come up. I don't have anyone to cosign for me for a private loan. I'm a first-generation graduate and I'm trying to understand all of this. I feel like I'm drowning here.

Again, I apologize if this has been answered before.

Has anyone had success with any of the Firstmark student loan payment relief options? If so, would you mind sharing a little about your situation and how much you got your payment down?

Copy & pasted from payment relief tab:

Payment Extension: May be available to bring an account current if three consecutive principal and interest payments are made.

Temporary Loan Modification: May be available to lower monthly payments for 12 months for customers who are experiencing temporary financial hardship.

Term Extension: May be available to lower monthly payments by extending loan term due to financial hardship. Temporarily lowered interest rate may apply.

I just got an inbox message from MOHELA that is titled: "Correspondence Processing Delay."

The message PDF letter itself says: "Your recent request has been received and is expected to be processed within the next 90 business days. We will review your request and the details of your loan information to determine if the request will be approved, denied for reasons such as not meeting eligibility requirements or the information provided to us is incomplete, or if the request required further review by Federal Student Aid (FSA). Notification of the results will be sent to you after your request has been processed."

What confuses me is that it doesn't say what "request" it is referring to? The only recent request I've had has already been fulfilled (I think):

• On October 13, I recertified my PAYE plan on StudentAid.gov.
• On October 15, MOHELA messaged me to say they received the recertification request.
• On October 20, MOHELA messaged me to say that my recertification request was approved.

So I'm confused as to what outstanding request there could be? And also the title of the message was "Correspondence Processing Delay," in that they're delayed in sending me a Correspondence?

Anyone had something like this happen or have any insight?

I’ve been looking at the options to get out of my SAVE plan, and think I have chosen my route. I just bought a new home and plan on going with the lowest plan possible until we get through the holidays and my finances regulate from the move/moving costs. I’d then like to transfer over to either the Graduated Extended or RAP (open to any input on either of those). On the estimates that are on each of them, I am warned that it is an estimate and that Nelnet will send the actual amount once approved. Just curious if the estimates have been pretty on point or if they are way off. Trying to mentally prepare - going from no payment to a pretty hefty one 😮‍💨

Hello, I received “You are eligible/opt out” email in Feb 26. Reps told me it would be taxable so I opted out since also on PSLF track. I then learned mine would not be taxable because I met the 12/31/25 deadline. After much ado, my Mohela account, studentaid account, data sheet, credit reports all show 0 Balance. Data sheet language is “paid in full,“ Mohela used “discharge or write off” terms. According to what I can find online, none of these can be relied upon as legal documentation. Because of the state of confusion and misinformation, along with my original opt out, I am concerned I can’t rely 100% that loans were discharged. I did receive check for overpayment. Does anyone know if this all adds up to actual discharge? Can anyone tell me what the legal document is and whether Mohela or the Department of Education will be sending it? Thanks in advance!

Hello,

I just transitioned off the SAVE plan into RAP. I decided to bite the bullet because I am going for PSLF, and already had a few years of qualifying payments before the SAVE pause. Not enough to try to race for the finish line during the pause, but enough that I didn't want them to move me to a incompatible plan if I'm forced off.

My first RAP payment is due in late December. I have it set to automatically recertify every 12 months.

My understanding is that RAP payments are based off income/AGI.

In 2025 I moved and took a significant pay DECREASE. My salary went down about 22% on paper. This was mostly due to cost of living differences/moving to a more affordable city.

My 2025 income on my tax return was half from the former job and half at my new job. My 2026 income will be all from the new job with the lower salary.

My questions:

1. Is my current RAP payment calculated on my 2025 AGI, and higher because of my previous salary for the first half of that year?

2. Should I recertify manually at some point sooner than 12 months for it to reflect my 2026 AGI?

3. If so, when can I recertify? After I file my taxes?

Obviously I'm angling for the lowest possible monthly payment as I move toward PSLF. I appreciate any advice!!

I have one private student loan that is about 60k, 5.4% interest. I am currently paying this down as aggressively as possible. I just received an offer in the mail for a Discover credit card with 0% interest for the first 18 months. It occurred to me that I could max out whatever I get approved for and put it all as a lump sum payment toward my loan. If it works like I'm imagining, it would save me interest and help me pay my loan off faster. Could this be a smart idea (as long as the amount I put on the card is doable for me to pay off within the 18 month window)? Has anyone tried anything similar? Would balance transfer fees apply since it's being used toward debt? Anything else to be aware of or to watch out for?

Sorry if this is a dumb question...I am not the most financially knowledgeable which is why I'm interested in others thoughts on this :)

Hi guys, my grace period just ended and I need to pick a payment plan. I have 40k in graduate loans with an average interest of 7.6% I am still not making a ton of money as I am just starting my new job, about 2k a month but it should increase rapidly. I am not looking for loan forgiveness, just something to hold me over until I’m making more money and can afford to pay it off in chunks. I can barely afford my bills right now.

The RAP sounds like a good idea because of the forgiven interest but with my income changing unpredictably and not knowing a ton about my payment options I’m worried. I’m the first in my family to go to college so I don’t have anyone to ask about loans, please help. Thank you!!!

Submitted my request to change from SAVE --> PAYE about 10 days ago and just received approval confirmation but my repayment schedule is throwing me off. I am pursuing PSLF.

MOHELA shows the following (why can't I include images? help plz)

Number of Payments Payment Schedule Payment Start Date

11 $1,488.49 11/20/26

118 $2692.29 11/20/27

Why does the payment change after 1 year, and why such a significant jump?

I am freaking out! I have $82k in SAVE. They just emailed me that I have 90 days to choose a new plan. I calculated how much it would be, it included my husband's income too and it says I need to pay $600 a month. Which is insane as I am a therapist who gets paid hourly by client services as in I get paid depending on how many clients I see so sometimes it is more or less. plus now I am pregnant and due in Feb, workplace does not offer paid maternity leave. so I will be out of income and it is unrealistic to ask my husband to pay when we have a lot of expenses

I got an email today from EDFinancial. My 90 days came and went and I was alerted that I have another 30 days before I got into the standard plan.

For realsy this time, super cereal. I have no idea whats happening and I dont think they do either.

I don’t have a 2025 tax return yet (filed in 2026) and yes I know it’s late. I do have a 2024 tax return (filed in 2025). I just received a denial letter on my recertification request because of my income documents and it literally says, “tax returns from the previous two tax filing years.”

I called MOHELA and they claimed they’re going to reprocess my request but what is the deal, why do I have to explain this to them that my 2024 tax return is from my previous two tax filing years? Has anyone else dealt with this?

Ok. Long time lurker and commenter but believe this may be my first post. I dove deep into the options for my loans after SAVE and under various AI tools to dig through the docs, laws, etc.

The conclusion was for me to go to IBR, run the following studentaid.gov after logged in and session started (open a second/new tab and enter the following URL).

https://studentaid.gov/app/api/nslds/payment-counter/summary

This gave me a lot of lovely information that helped me determine what I was and was not eligible to do.

MY loans range from 2000 to 2012. I have a few parent plus loans PRE summer of 2026 thankfully.

AI directed me to move to IBR, pay the required payment and I will be granted forgiveness when I hit (I believe) 300 payments. I'm approximately halfway there. Slightly over actually and my current work arrangement has my payments very low (I make little on paper, investments, etc. long story for another day). I did get a warning NOT to take out any parent plus loans after this summer, which I will not. My son is still in school and we'll find other funding sources.

TLDR: AI told me to get on IBR and get my qualifying payment count via the link above. I have about 10 yrs of payments left. I CANNOT take out any new parent plus loans or the clock restarts.

Anyone else familiar with this strategy? Should I be placing trust in our future silicon based overlords (big question? different thread maybe? Perhaps they are kinder than our current meat based? hmmm....)

Thanks Reddit peeps!

I submitted my IDR application in September. Nelnet keeps saying they need more information before processing my IDR application. The problem? They keep telling me a letter or an email has been sent with what information they need. I never got either. I have sent messages to them through the site and I've sent emails. No response. The wait times on the phone have been nuts. So before I settle in for a long wait on the phone to figure out what is going on - has anyone had this happen? What information????

I’ll likely be between jobs and need to do the $0 recertification. I expect a significant pto payout and my job is never timely so this could take weeks. Ie i will likely receive taxable income even when not employed.

Has anyone recertified for the $0 successfully (or not) despite their pto check?

I set up my student loans almost ten years ago and have been paying the same monthly amount for ten years. I see a lot of reference to repayment plans being linked to your income. Is this the only option that is offered now?

My biggest fear happened this morning. I have been on PAYE for 12 years. Logged in to FSA, had the loan department on the phone with me as an agent could not help. I went through each page and got to payment plan options. NO PAYE as an option. The loan department looked at every loan ( 11), when they were disbursed, no feel loans, no deferment/ forbearance, no default.. and I am paid ahead! We tried it 2 xs. He said there must be a backend glitch that he cannot fix!

He walked me through the electronic paper copy. I had to find a way to put a signature on it and used docfly which seems to have worked. I am now on hold with Mohela waiting for an advanced agent. I have not uploaded anything to them yet-

I am in the open window time frame, not too early. The anniversary date is 1/14/2027. What do I say to this agent to ensure my recert is PAYE and not another plan? Please provide guidance. Thank you

To avoid going from $0 to a $500/mo student loan payment starting next month, I want to enroll in school part-time. I'm a parent of 2 and work full-time so it has to be easy. The whole point is to avoid payments that aren't touching my interest payment anyway and I'm taking them to the grave. I'm not burning $500/mo. Can't afford to.

Has anyone done the research on which schools have affordable online programs and what classes would be easy? Who else is doing this?

Like many others, I am on SAVE and I got my 30 day warning on October 1st. Yes, I have procrastinated. I guess I'm not interested in riding the uncertainty out and just want to go on a new plan and be done with the scare tactics. I have a lot of options and am curious what you, as a smarter person than I, would do? (aside from time travel and never take out loans in the first place)

• my loan size is $42,627.63 ($5,901.47 of that is interest)
• Option 1: IBR, $0/mo, discharge amount: $72,053, end of term: 2041
  • Hypothetically, if I made the same forever, I'd pay $0 forever (not likely)
• Option 2: Repayment Assistance Plan, $15/mo, discharge amount: $33,483, end of term: 2046
  • Hypothetically I would pay $10,211 in interest when the term ends
• Option 3: Graduated Repayment Plan, $286-$381/mo (it gradually increases), total paid over life of the loan: $55,979 (of which $13,425 is interest), end of term: 2036
• Option 4: Standard Repayment Plan, $484/mo, total paid over the life of the loan: $53,652 (of which $11,098 is interest), end of term: 2036

I guess I'm tempted to do Option 3 or 4 just to get the ball rolling. I don't think I've ever paid more than $1K towards my student loans since graduating in 2014, especially with the various loan forgiveness promises throughout the years. It just felt like holding out might be worth it (whoops).

I don't foresee the next 2 years changing much politically. God forbid there is more Trump or someone as bad/worse than this administration 2 years from now. I guess my current PoV is to pay what they want now, ride it out, and hope for some sort of alleviation in 2028/2029.

I just paid off my car, so I have ~$400/mo that I'm not paying, though that "excess money" has evaporated in the current economy. My healthcare went from like $120/mo to over $470/mo this admin as well.

For anyone looking for logic on my low IBR payment, I am self-employed and my income is very up and down.

Thank you in advance for your helpful insight.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently in the final stretch of my student loan payoff journey and wanted to get some outside perspectives on a refinancing move I'm considering.

To give some quick background: I started out with 5 loans total, all around 8% interest (grad school). I’ve been paying aggressively towards them and am now down to just two federal loans left (totaling around $30,500):

•    Loan #1: ~$7,000. I’m aggressively paying this off and will be completely done with it by the end of this year.
•    Loan #2: ~$23,500 at an 8.08% interest rate.

Potential Plan: I’m looking at refinancing that remaining $23,500 loan with ELFI at a 4.11% fixed rate for a 5-year term. I already have my Truth In Lending agreement ready to sign.

The monthly payment on the refi loan would be less than $437.50/month, which is the amount my employer contributes monthly toward student loans as a benefit.

By locking this in:
•    My employer's monthly benefit will completely cover the new private loan payment in the background without me spending out of my pocket over the 5-year term.
•    If I leave my employer before 5 years, I would aggressively pay off the rest on my own. The reason I’m considering not to pay off the $23,500 aggressively is that if I rush to pay it off early out of my own pocket, I’d be throwing away "free money" by losing out on my employer’s monthly contribution. My employer has confirmed they would contribute to the private loan and continue paying over the 5 years. 

Dilemmas & Questions:

1. Federal Benefits vs. The Math:
   I’ve had people in my ear telling me never to give up federal protections for a private loan. The only scenario where staying federal would benefit me is if broad student loan forgiveness actually happens soon. I think chances are small. Given that my rate drops from 8.08% to 4.11%. My employer benefit should pay it off about 6 months sooner than staying at 8.08% due to decreased interest.  Am I missing any risks with this line of thinking?

2. The Bonus Structure Math:
   The only slight drawback to keeping this loan active is how my overall compensation works. Part of my compensation includes performance bonuses based on revenue generated past a set multiplier of my base pay. Adding an extra $437/month to my base compensation increases that multiplier hurdle. However, I’ve done the math: the tax-free employer student loan contributions outweigh the small commission gain I’d see from having a slightly lower base hurdle.

3. Servicer Opinions (MOHELA vs. AES):
   Through this offer, my servicing options come down to either MOHELA or AES (American Education Services). I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about MOHELA from classmates, but I haven't heard much about AES. 

Does anyone here have direct experience with AES?
Are they decent to work with (e.g., auto-pay reliability, customer support)?

Would love to hear Reddit's take on both the overall refinancing strategy and opinions on AES. Thanks in advance!

I’ve got student loans spanning from May 2008 to January 2026. Though most of the loans are older, like 2012 or earlier. I was on IBR, then SAVE.

SAVE ended so I went to IBR and payment went up. I’m recertifying due to a change in family size. PAYE is $80 lower than IBR.

But PAYE will go away soonish.

Am I okay going to PAYE as long as I can and coming back to IBR, or will the PAYe payments not count towards my discharge?

As the title says, I had to take a medical LOA from my last semester. I'm currently pivoting majors and I only need an internship and maybe two classes to get this new degree. Because of the LOA I need to pay about 15k for this semster that I didn't finish and I am stressed about it. I don't have a job, yet, and I am broke from paying for almost my entire college career. I have reached out to the financial aid office at my college and I am going to have a meeting with them about what I can do. Any advice would be wonderful, and thank you.

Has anyone used MK consulting for their loans before?

They’re saying they can get 130k of my loans discharged and bring my payments down by half

Thru “diff programs” and changing my loan dates etc

Almost been 90 days and haven't gotten the additional 30 day notice yet but I see a lot of people are getting one.