FAQs: The Limited Public Service Loan Forgiveness Waiver for the - ACF Reddit, Inc. 2023. Other commenters wrote that qualifying payment counts were often updated by the Education Department more than once for each borrower. Balkwyll 3 yr. ago. The Department of Education has not released exact details on the refund procedure. Left: The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program allows you to receive forgiveness of the remaining balance of your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments while working full time for a qualifying employer. Sorry, this post was deleted by the person who originally posted it. A final exception to the refund policy is Parent PLUS loans. READ MORE: What we know about Bidens student loan debt forgiveness plan. You can get a refund for the entire amount you paid during the payment freeze, according to the Department of Education. and our I wish the best to all fellow student loan borrowers. All rights reserved. Since that phone call with the representative in August, Currence said he has spent hours on hold with MOHELA, he has emailed Missouri's attorney general, where the company is based, and he filed a complaint with Federal Student Aid and the Better Business Bureau. I haven't received any communication from fedloan or the treasury about those. Some states,such as Indiana, have already said they will tax debt relief for people who have their student loans canceled. 7/25 - Called and requested refund for pandemic payments from FedLoan. If you think youre eligible, heres what you need to know: Borrowers who hold eligible federal student loans and have made voluntary payments since March 13, 2020, can get a refund, according to the Department of Education. When the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was created, it was naively assumed that all borrowers would voluntarily join an Income-Driven Repayment plan, or IDR for short. and our Here's what borrowers should know about the program's updated rules. WATCH: Answers to questions about Bidens student debt forgiveness plan. Another major exception is that refunds will only be issued for payments made towards federal direct loans. Income-driven repayment plans allow you to set an affordable payment amount based on income and family size. The refund is not available for private student loans. There is also a possibility that forgiveness could be delayed if theBiden administration faces legal challenges. She is eligible to have $20,000 canceled since she was a Pell grant recipient when she was an undergraduate. You might pick this option if, during the pandemic, you paid enough to get your debt below the maximum amount of forgiveness. I received my letter stating my loans had been forgiven. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. It only took 15 months from the time I applied for the waiver in December 2021. However, the program has been defined by problems and rejections, with borrowers often believing they're paying their way to loan cancellation only to learn at some point in the processthat they don't qualify, often for wonky and unclear reasons. "Any payments made over 120 will be automatically refunded as long as those extra payments occurred after consolidation," said Betsy Mayotte, president ofThe Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Answering questions helps me identify the issues borrowers face and makes this site a better resource. MOHELA did not respond to Insider's request for comment. Since it announced the limited time waiver for PSLF in October 2021, the Education Department said it has approved 453,000 borrowers for debt relief. Anyhow Just thought I'd share in case the timeline helps others. I was on hold for about five minutes, said Megan McParland, of New Jersey, who graduated in 2018 and made several payments during the payment freeze. To ensure you're following all the PSLF requirements and keeping on top of your records: Enroll in autopay so you never miss a payment or make a late payment.And consider keeping a separate bank account for your loan payments to make it easier to track your payments, LRAP funds, and out-of-pocket contributions . This is a really interesting question, Shona. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. McParlands loan servicer told her that she should see her refunded amount in 30 to 45 business days, but Baum was told that it would take 60 to 70 business days to see her money back in her bank account. There was no message [from the Education Department] saying I would be refunded for overpayments, she saysthey just appeared in her bank account one day. You might decide to ask for a refund of just $3,000. The application process for loan forgiveness is expected to take four to six weeks. If you are unsure who services your loan, or if the servicer changed during the pandemic, visit yourstudent aid account dashboardand scroll to my loan servicers or call 1-800-433-3243. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. and our Post consolidation, you made a total of 80 payments. All rights reserved. Insight from Michael has been featured in US News & World Report, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other online and print publications. They should also know the Biden administration has . Laura Baum, a 30-year-old resident of Chicago, paid $5,000 during the payment freeze toward her $15,000 remaining debt. I got my official forgiveness letter today! If thats you, youre eligible for loan forgiveness, but youll have to request a refund prior to applying for debt relief. "It's unbelievable the number of phone calls I've made and the different answers I've received to everything," Currence said. If you think there is even a chance that you qualify for a refund, Id recommend calling your servicer to discuss your options for the refund. How to find your student loan repayment history 5. Another group of people that has to apply for a refund is those who completely paid off their loan balance during the pandemic. He's made no progress getting a refund on his overpayments to PSLF. I get it when people call in and they're complaining, and the best thing you can do is say 'I'm sorry,' because I've been given a billion sorrys at this point. I got a refund for those payments from the US Dept of Treasury in Dec 2022. That amount is still eligible for cancellation and can be eliminated after youapply for forgiveness. On top of the broad debt relief, the Education Department has been working to implement the PSLF reforms and changes to targeted repayment plans, leaving borrowers with questions on where they stand. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. 8/4 - Studentaid.gov website updated to show new balance. Adriana Morga, Associated Press, READ CURRENT: Everything you need to know when applying for student loan forgiveness. The forum is also where she learned a refund was a real possibility. Affiliate Disclosure and Integrity Pledge. Sierra Tibbs, a 47-year-old resident of Casselberry, Florida, had a similar experience. Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit, Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower, Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower. Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@insider.com. It's Your Last Chance To Get A Refund For Federal Student Loan Payments Once Wadsworth filed a waiver in January, the Education Department determined she not only made the 120 qualifying payments necessary for forgiveness, but that she had actually made 140, thus the 20 separate refunds. The process was estimated to take six to 12 weeks, and borrowers with a balance below $10,000 would get refunded automatically. 1. They don't have the proper number of people to be able to service all of this.". She hopes other people are able to benefit from forgiveness the way she has. McParland requested a refund the first week of September. Then, your debt balance will be exactly $10,000, and you can apply for maximum loan forgiveness. I cant tell you how unfamiliar it is to have this feeling of lightness and freedomSuddenly, I feel young., Wadsworth had no idea if the waiver would work or notand she didnt have high hopes initially. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is intended to encourage individuals to enter and continue in full-time public service employment by forgiving the remaining balance of their Direct loans after they satisfy the public service and loan payment requirements. Refunds on overpayments? : r/PSLF - Reddit Sherpa Thoughts: Why issue refunds on prior payments?These refunds are likely an acknowledgment that the government recognizes that borrowers should have already been given forgiveness and that it was wrong to continue to collect payments.Additionally, government attorneys may have concluded that refunds were necessary to avoid losing a lawsuit against former borrowers. Is the $2630.00 supposed to be my refund? I have FFEL loans and am going to consolidate because of the new pslf announcement. This means that borrowers cannot get a refund for payments made towards FFEL or Perkins loans. Cookie Notice We're so sorry.' I got my official forgiveness letter today! Now I'm curious about the overpay refund as I had over 160 eligible payments as I made my 120th in 2017. The Biden administration says the waiver is necessary because the rules of the program were confusing for so many borrowers for so long. Adriana Morga, Associated Press But if a borrower paid throughout the pandemic and still owes $14,000, they wont get an automatic refund. Ive been paying on my loans for over 10 years, more than 120 payments. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. It has reassessed borrowers' applications and recounted their payments, and it estimates that more than 500,000 people may now be closer to loan forgiveness. However, if you didnt consolidate and made all 140 payments towards the FFEL loan, you can still qualify for PSLF, but a refund isnt available. The eight years of payments she made before the PSLF program existed didnt count toward forgiveness at all. Borrowers who paid off their loans during the pause will need to request a refund first, then request cancellation, said a spokesperson from the Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education also refunded Tongson $20,000 for her years of overpayments, and many other borrowers are likely due refunds, as well, experts say. I sent two e-mails through the Fed Loan Servicing website requesting a refund and got automatic response e-mails confirming they had received my communication. If this situation applies to you, there is no refund available for previous payments. She and her wife are planning to take a weeklong trip to Europe in a few months with some of the $15,000 refund. Its the wealth loss, the savings loss, the things you couldnt do all of those years, she says. and our Got a confidential news tip? By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. By cancelling loans after 10 years of public Those who were on the wrong repayment plan will also benefit. Before federal student loan payments were paused at the start of the coronavirus pandemic by President Donald Trump, Wadsworth was paying $854 a month. But after confirming that she wanted to proceed, she was told that she would see her refund in about a month. 2023 CNBC LLC. Let's do it.". Has anyone else gotten their refunds, and if so, how long did it take? Unfortuantely for many Parent PLUS borrowers, the news here is especially bleak. The government is giving people refunds for overpaying on their loans 7. Information and advice about Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a forgiveness program for US federal student loans. However, you can choose a lower amount. The problem the Biden administration is working to fix is that many borrowers are told by their lenders that they've made fewer payments than they actually have, or that some of their payments aren't counted for technical reasons, such as the type of federal loan they hold or being late one month. To give people the proper credit for their payments, the administration is now looking not at the number of your qualifying payments but the months that you've been in repayment, saidElaine Griffin Rubin, senior contributor and communications specialist at Edvisors. For some periods of my life, the payment was bigger than my rent, she says, adding that at the start of her career, she worked as a bartender at night to earn enough money to make her loan payments each month. PSLF Information However, if the refunds work like the Covid-19 refund requests, the refunds will be issued via the original payment method. Tongson's surprise last fall came as a result of fixes the Biden administration has been making to the loan program. Jacob Currence has spent nearly two decades working in public service and he's paid off his student loans far longer than needed to qualify for debt relief. After this date, normal PSLF rules will apply. For more information, please see our PSLF Refund Overpayment: How it Works He has helped borrowers navigate life with student debt since 2013. It was like a miracle.. All rights reserved. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Through 10/31/2022 borrowers may receive credit for past payments made that would not otherwise qualify for PSLF. It is not yet clear if the refunded money will be considered taxable income. Information and advice about Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a forgiveness program for US federal student loans. "It may take longer to get your refund, depending on processing times in other parts of the government," the guidance states. For more information, please see our Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Cookie Notice I got a refund for my 13 payments from USDOE in Sept 2022. "They called it slam dunk," Currence said. All of this comes as millions of borrowers are waiting to see if the Supreme Court will uphold Biden's broad student-debt relief plan. Since she graduated with a Ph.D. in 2001, she estimates shes repaid the $70,000 in student loans she borrowed over seven years, and then some. Public Service Loan Forgiveness guidelines: What to know - CNN Update: timing of refund of overpayments : r/PSLF - Reddit That is, until last fall. It only took 15 months from the time I applied for the waiver in December 2021. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) - Berkeley Law