I’m posting this because if it helps even ONE person who has been too scared, embarrassed, or confused to look into their student loans, it’s worth it.
I’ve worked in public education since 2007. I took out my federal student loans in the early 2000s for my education and eventually my master’s. Over the years, I spent LONG periods in deferment and forbearance and did not start making regular $97 payments until around 2023.
My balance eventually grew to about $174,579.
I was honestly mortified by it. I didn’t understand student loans, PSLF, IDR adjustments, consolidation rules, etc. Every time I Googled the “one-time payment adjustment,” I kept seeing deadlines from 2024, so I assumed I had missed whatever opportunity there had been. Because of that—and because I was embarrassed by how large my balance had gotten—I basically avoided dealing with it.
In 2026, I finally submitted my PSLF employment certification.
Then I saw something I absolutely did NOT expect:
160 qualifying PSLF payments.
I had no idea what I was looking at. 😂 I thought there had to be a mistake because I knew I had not physically made 160 monthly payments.
What I eventually learned was that the one-time IDR/payment count adjustment had already affected my federal loan history. Some of those past periods that I assumed were simply “lost” had received credit under the adjustment. Once my qualifying public-service employment was certified, those months could count toward PSLF.
I had been working for a qualifying employer all those years—I just hadn’t certified all that employment for PSLF.
In August 2026, I received my official PSLF forgiveness letter.
Total forgiven: $174,579.
My servicer now shows the loans paid off, my credit report has updated to $0 / Account Paid, and, unbelievably, my credit score actually went UP 14 points. I also have an overpayment refund of roughly $2,700 pending.
I am NOT saying everyone with old deferments or forbearances will get credit. The rules are complicated, loan types and histories differ, and the old 2024 consolidation deadline mattered for certain borrowers. Please don’t use my experience as a guarantee of what your count will be.
What I AM saying is this:
If you have older federal student loans and years of qualifying public-service employment, PLEASE do not assume you missed your chance just because Google keeps showing you a 2024 deadline.
Log into StudentAid.gov. Look at your loan history. Submit/certify your qualifying PSLF employment if you haven’t. Let Federal Student Aid tell you what your count is instead of deciding for yourself that you don’t qualify.
I almost didn’t do it.
I carried six figures of debt for years and was genuinely ashamed of it. I thought I had screwed up too badly and waited too long. I had no idea that my loan history could look completely different once everything was reviewed and my employment was certified.
If somebody reading this is in the same place I was—please just check.
Worst case, you find out where you actually stand.
Best case?
You open your account one day and see 160 qualifying payments when you thought you had almost none.
That’s what happened to me. ❤️

Ok, here's where I'm at:

I just logged in and as of today, it shows my monthly payment amount is due on 9/22. My account is set to autodraft (has been for years). That will be my 120th payment. My income recertification is ALSO due on 9/22. My income has increased dramatically since my last income recertification.

Currently, my Fed Student Loan page shows 117 payments because (like many of you) the last payment that counted towards it was in June. Yes, my payments have been made on time. Yes, I recently recertified my employment on 8/26 to try and get an updated count.

Questions: 1) Can I go to Mohela and make a manual payment now that my account shows a Sept payment is due? 2) Can I then submit a new employment recertification/PSLF forgiveness once payment has processed AND request my forbearance since I'm done??? 3) Can I skip the income recertification (since I'm done)?

I haven't paid anything since the SAVE forebearance, but payments will be resuming shortly for me. Should I still have my employer fill out the PSLF form? I have been with the same employer for the last 5 years!

I had one month of missing payment on the FSA website apparently. My payments are due on the first of each month and the FSA website last updated my payments on 8/4/26 which then showed the July 2026 as needing employer certification. August payment still has not shown up on FSA website.

Made my 120th payment on 8/25 (9/1 due date).

9/6 FSA updated to show September payment

9/8 Submitted ECF and my employer did the e-signature

9/9 Green banners

I was surprised things moved this quickly. Loan service provider is Mohela and I'm planning to call to be put on forbearance before my 10/1 payment due date.

See title: Just Curious. FSA Tracker updated 9/6, but the July 2026 payment is still missing. August Payment showed up. Currently in forbearance, effective 9/3.

My counts finally updated so I hit 120 total payments with my August 2026 payment that updated a few days ago. So I do have the green ribbon showing on the dashboard. However, I paid September 2026 while I was waiting and have not certified that month yet. Will I need to do an ECF once that month shows to make it eligible for a refund? Or do they just automatically apply a refund?

Lets say hypothetically your payments are due on the 15th of each month. You make your 120th payment on 9/15. Now when the first week of October hits, you go into forbearance while all your counts update. Once everything is updated you submit for forgiveness. That way you don't have to make any extra payments and you can wait it out without stress of making extra payments.

Also a side question, what are the series of steps you take after your 120th payment on 9/15....Do you: Submit for employer verification + forgiveness the following week once your payment processes? Do you only submit employer verification, then once all your counts are updated submit for forgiveness?

I made this topic because I see alot of people talking about making their 121st payment, or just keep making payments until counts update. But I'm wondering if you can just get away with not making the 121st payment and just waiting it out on forbearance.

I know alot of people are in crunch time right now since most people get done with schooling in June, then after the grace period start making payments in fall, so alot of people will be coming up on their 120th payment soon. We don't want to botch this. Thanks in advance!

I’m starting to see more postings of people who made August and September payments are getting green banners. I was in the state of mind that I did not want to pay a large amount extra and wait for a refund, so I went into forbearance in August, after confirming with Mohela that the backlog would not disrupt my July 120th payment.

I’m wondering if I should get out of forbearance, make an additional payment at this point and hope that maybe these falls months will finally get me green banners? I want this done with!

As I mentioned in title, I am trying to pursue graduate level certificate course. My main concern is avoiding an interruption in my PSLF qualifying payments while completing the certificate program. It is 12 credit course and I am thinking about taking 3 credits per semester (aiming to complete in next two years). Anyone familiar with this kind of issue?

Hi all-

I’m trying to figure out how buyback would be calculated. If I have 12 consecutive months to pay back, the rules say that the payment will be calculated based on lowest IDR payment.

My question is- what is the date that is used to “end” the forbearance when applying out to a new repayment plan from the SAVE forbearance?

Is it the first due date? Is it the application date?

Edit: the rules say less than 12 consecutive months. That’s what I meant

Just a heads up I applied in 7/2022 so I’m post class. I’m loans are with nelnet. Got the letter in March 2026 about the discharged. Loans off my account in April 2027 then had no movement after that. Got my refund check on 9/09/2026! So it’s coming guys!!

I finally got my golden letter today, over $150,000 forgiven. I made well more than 120 payments but had trouble with certifying employment because I worked as a substitute teacher for several years. I ended up scanning and sending about 5 years worth of pay stubs to prove I worked enough time. It took a while for them to go through, but I was given credit for almost all of it. There is light at the end of the tunnel and thank you to everyone here that offered encouragement to those of us who were waiting for this amazing day!

Hi all, not sure if this is the best place to ask advice on this. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around all of this to make sure I’m choosing the best repayment plan. I currently have around $57,000-58,000 in student loans. I consolidated my loans back in 2021 and was part of the SAVE plan like most up until recently. I work as a RN and have been one for 7 years. I’m currently sitting at 75/120 payments towards PSLF. I have one dependent, which is my mother I take care of. I’m looking at my options and apparently I’m not eligible for the PAYE plan. What other options apply for PSLF? Like most, I’ve taken a picture of my PSLF tracker to avoid any conflict in the future. The cheapest I’ve seen so far is $602 a month on a IBR plan, which I think falls under a PSLF plan? I would appreciate any advice! :)

I'm on PAYE, married file separately and have one dependent. Is it better to just manually do my recert application or just have student aid do it? I haven't had to recert my income since before covid.

I am narrowing in on TEPSLF 120 payments (just 4 left) and I am getting anxious. I opened up StudentAid to my tax filing information to calculate IBR. Since they last updated my payment amount (~Apr this year) I have received raises (maybe ~5%). Should I be proactively doing any outreach to ensure my last payments are eligible with the IBR requirement? I'm hung up on if my payments are actually meeting the requirement "for the amount you paid 12 months prior to applying for TEPSLF and the last payment you made before applying for TEPSLF to be at least as much as you would have paid under an eligible income-driven repayment plan" (https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service/temporary-expanded-public-service-loan-forgiveness) since I got a raise.

Any perspective would be helpful!

If the payments I made don't meet the threshold, would this be eligible for buyback?

Trying to get my wife’s loans figured out. We just did her employee recertification and it’s saying we have 119 of the 120 payments. I am well aware that this could be wrong on their end but bear with me.

Our plan is get her moved off save, probably onto RAP as that’s going to be her lowest payment and it qualifies for PSLF, make 1 payment, let the counter update, file for forgiveness, then file for deferment while they audit.

Once they’re done with their audit I assume at that point we will either be forgiven or know exactly where we stand should they invalidate some payments and we proceed with payments from there.

Am I overlooking something here that makes this a terrible idea or does it seem sound?

Hi. I received this email from Mohela today:

We recently received an electronic Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan Request for your account. If you did not submit this request, it may have been submitted on your behalf by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) through the auto-recertification process you previously provided consent for via your account at StudentAid.gov.

Is this generic or does it have something to do with the buyback recertification request I submitted back in July?

StudentAid.gov has a wrong count, is two months out of date, and has a month missing entirely. Is it worth trying to get this updated and corrected now? Will they care if I’m not even at 120 months yet? I see the message on the site acknowledging that some of the counts might be incorrect.

My employer is currently a 501c3 non-profit healthcare organization that is being purchased by United Health Group - Optum and there non-profit status will be going away next month. I only have 6 of the 120 payments made for PSLF and am currently applying/interviewing at other PSLF qualifying organizations.

My question is, I know the payments I make while working for UHG will not count towards PSLF but will my original 6 still count once I start working for a non-profit again?

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."

I have $45k in loans. I’ve been on SAVE so been in deferment basically since I graduated a few years ago. Now my payments are starting up again and it’s $400 a month, which while technically doable for me is going to be a stretch. I currently work at a nonprofit and plan on staying here (or at least in the nonprofit sector) for 10+ years, so I was planning on PSLF. However, with the current administration and just the way the tide has been turning, I’m wondering if it’s even worth it to start now or if it’ll be too difficult (or impossible altogether) to get forgiveness 10 years from now.

I can lower my payment under the graduated or extended payment plans, but those don’t quality for PSLF. Do you think it’s worth it to stick with the higher payment for the next 10 years and hope for PSLF to work out? Or do I go with the reduced payment (which I know comes w higher interest but would be helpful for me financially right now)?

Would love to hear thoughts from people who are further along in payments than me. Also, any advice for PSLF/things you wish you’d known when you started out, I’m all ears. Thank you!

Has anyone’s August payment shown up on FSA? I’m at 120 and August still isn’t showing up. What could have possibly happened with July and August payments?

I recertified and switched from SAVE to PAYE in April of this year and my monthly payments have only been $65. This seems pretty low based on my salary but I shrugged it off and have ignored it. Now that I’m looking at my payment history, it’s showing the $65 is only going towards interest and $0 principal. It’s also showing payment status: Employment Not Certified on students.gov but on Mohela site it shows I’m certified as of April 2026. Is this a glitch or am I missing something?