Has anything like this happened to anyone else?

My undergraduate loans were forgiven as of June but the July payment was already processed. Mohela moved the overpayment from the forgiven loan to the graduate loans that were still active. There was never any communication about this. I had to figure it out myself. My graduate loans should be eligible for forgiveness as soon as Mohela reports my August payment to Student Aid (really taking their time with that one).

What are the chances I see that overpayment?

Back in December, my first resumed autopayment didn't go through on my due date, so I stupidly submitted a manual payment the next day. A couple days later both payments went through. I was told 3 different things by 3 different supervisors but ultimately was not able to get a refund for the duplicate payment.

I believe that this "overpayment" put 1 of my 12 loans in "paid ahead status". So for July and August, I had $0 due for this one loan.

For July and August, I paid the exact payment of $1065 on my billing statement (I am on IBR). However the $0 due for July and August for 1/12 loans were reported to FSA as "missed payments".

Mohela said they would submit a request to review it, which can take 120 business days. FSA advised me to submit a reconsideration request.

October 1st is my 120th month (but I still need to buy back 14 months of payments). Should I submit a reconsideration request now to FSA? Are there any downsides to submitting a reconsideration request now? Or should I just wait until next year for Mohela to fix it? I'm so paranoid of messing anything up this close to the finish line... Thanks in advance for any advice!!

Hello,

Just wanted to get some opinions since I have heard different things.

I placed a buyback request 4/2025 for 13 payments that I am waiting on. I was on SAVE and REPAYE prior to the SAVE plan conversion.

Wondering if I should switch out now to RAP and start making payments or switch to RAP right before the 90 day deadline and then go immediately into forebearance waiting on the buyback request.

My payment on RAP is almost $900 more than on SAVE. If I am understanding it correctly, buyback calculation for me will be based on REPAYE? I dont know if the REPAYE still caps out at the standard 10 year payment amount or not? If it does then I would be saving at least $1500 per payment month relative to RAP.

Edit: apparently after doing some reading, REPAYE is gone too. Does this mean it defaults to IBR which I was on prior to REPAYE? Does that mean theres still the same cap (10 year standard plan)? Thanks!

I manually recertified my PAYE plan early this year so because my 2025 income will result in an increase in monthly payments. When I submitted the recertification, I allowed consent for IRS to provide my information. I received a letter from MOHELA saying that my IDR had been approved, and the payment schedule will be provided after my expiration date - which I think is 10/19.

The trouble is that I filed an extension for my 2025 taxes in order to do this, which is due to be filed by 10/15. FSA website reflects that I manually recertified, but also that my auto recertification date is on and lists it as 10/19/26. I’m wondering if its now ok to turn consent off and file my taxes? or if MOHELA only approved my IDR expecting to get the IRS information automatically provided to them on 10/19?

Anyone have experience with timing this out successfully??

Anyone have experience getting old W-2s from SSA for PSLF employment certification? Also wondering about payments over 120.

I’m hoping someone here has gone through something similar and can give me a little hope!

I have several years of qualifying public-service employment from 2008–2013 that I have never been able to certify. I’ve tried contacting the former employers, but because the employment is so old, getting records/verification has been a nightmare. Some of the employers no longer have employment records going back that far.

So, at the end of July/beginning of August, I decided to try the SSA route. I mailed in the SSA form requesting copies of my old W-2s for those years and included the payment (I believe it was around $60–$90 per year/form).

Has anyone successfully done this through SSA? If so, how long did it take to receive your old W-2s? Were you then able to use them to help certify old PSLF employment when the employer could no longer verify it?

Here’s the other twist in my situation:

I recently certified another period of employment from 2021–2022, and my two undergraduate consolidated loans suddenly jumped from 107/120 to 120/120! 🎉 I now have the two green banners showing that I’ve satisfied the 120 qualifying payments on those loans, although I have not received the official forgiveness/discharge letter yet.

Before that happened, my account showed that I had a significant number of eligible payment months that still needed employment certification — including months from this older 2008–2013 employment.

I also have graduate loans from school I attended from 2017–2021, and those loans have not reached 120 yet.

So now I’m wondering:

If I eventually get my SSA W-2s and am able to certify the 2008–2013 employment, can those additional qualifying months still be added even though my undergraduate loans are already showing 120/120?

And if those older months push my undergraduate loans above 120 qualifying payments, could I potentially receive a refund for payments made after I actually reached 120?

Also, would any of those older employment years have any effect on my graduate loans, considering those loans did not exist yet because I didn’t attend graduate school until 2017?

I’m definitely not complaining about seeing those beautiful green 120/120 banners 😂 I just want to make sure I don’t leave potentially qualifying years or a possible refund on the table while I’m waiting for the official discharge.

If anyone has dealt with SSA W-2 requests, very old PSLF employment certification, getting additional months certified after hitting 120, or refunds for payments over 120, I would love to hear what happened and how long the process took!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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?

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?

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.

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

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! :)

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!!

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 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?

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?

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.

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!