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The Biden administration is kicking off the student loan forgiveness process. Goons who are eligible can get up to $20k in goonbucks. - If you have sent the DOE your tax returns for 2020 or 2021 for any reason (income verification, IBR, etc.) or filled out a FAFSA form in 2020 or 2021, then it should be applied automatically in the coming weeks and you don't need to do anything. - If not, then the form to verify will be going live on the DOE site in "the coming days." The form will be available from October 2022 to December 2023 (they probably won't put it up over the weekend, so Monday October 3rd or shortly after is the likely date) The form will be one-page long and does not require any supporting documents. (It is basically just a one-page thing you sign digitally swearing you really are eligible, providing your loan information, and promising not to intentionally try to defraud the government.) You can check the announcement page here for all of the details and sign up to get emailed in the next few days as soon as the page is live here: https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement/one-time-cancellation quote:“In October, the US Department of Education will launch a short online application for student debt relief. You won’t need to upload any supporting documents or use your FSA ID to submit your application,” the email said. https://twitter.com/betsy_klein/status/1575498579535310851  Important Reason to Get in Early https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1575509650887385089 Even in a worst case scenario Supreme Court ruling, the court won't be able to compel them to reclaim disbursed funds, even if they decide to rule against it as hard as possible, but they can prevent it from happening again and kill the new IDR loan type they also introduced with the order. That makes it important to get in as early as possible just in case the Supreme Court decides to shut it down and go as far as possible with the ruling. Other Important Information: - If you have made any payments since March 2020, you can request a full refund for them. That way, if you are getting $20k of forgiveness, your balance is $16k, and you made $2k of payments during the pause, then you can get that $2k back, raise your balance to $18k, and then get all $18k forgiven. Just call your loan servicer. They are legally required to refund and it generally takes 2-3 weeks. Frequently Asked Questions: quote:How do I know if I am eligible for debt cancellation? Other Student Loan Forgiveness FAQS quote:I refinanced my loans and they’re now held privately. Am I eligible for forgiveness? Update: FFEL Loan Changes quote:Serviced by doesn't mean the same thing as owned/held by. Update 2: FFEL Private Loans They just gave one work around and cracked a tiny door open for people with privately held FFEL loans: quote:An administration official tells NPR this change will not affect all 4 million borrowers with commercially-held FFEL loans. The official said many FFEL borrowers also have Direct Loans and so can still qualify to consolidate those FFEL loans, though that detail was not included in the department's updated guidance. quote:In a statement to NPR, a department spokesperson says, "Our goal is to provide relief to as many eligible borrowers as quickly and easily as possible, and this will allow us to achieve that goal while we continue to explore additional legally-available options to provide relief to borrowers with privately owned FFEL loans and Perkins loans, including whether FFEL borrowers could receive one-time debt relief without needing to consolidate. Borrowers with privately held federal student loans who applied to consolidate their loans into Direct Loans before September 29, 2022 will obtain one-time debt relief. The FFEL program is now defunct and only a small percentage of borrowers have FFEL loans." This was the previous FFEL guidance:  This is the new one:  If you don't have another direct loan to consolidate, then I wouldn't hold your breath. But, it's not 100% ruled out. New IDR Loan Type: Probably the stealth biggest change of the forgiveness isn't the forgiveness itself, but the new IDR loan type. If you still have federal student loans after forgiveness or get a new student loan in the future, then you will be able to enroll in a new IDR loan plan that caps your payments at 5% of your discretionary income above ~$33k. These loans can also be forgiven after 10 years if your balance is at $12k or less after 10 years of payments. The government will cover all interest that your payment does not cover, so your loan total will never go up. Graduate loans still have a cap of 10% of your discretionary income, but they also receive the new ~$33k floor for "non-discretionary income" that is exempt. If you have both graduate and undergrad loans, then the % you pay is an average between 5% and 9% depending on what the balance of your loans are. The new IDR plan will be available to everyone with a federally held student loan in the Summer of 2023. IDR Details: quote:For undergraduate loans, cut in half the amount that borrowers have to pay each month from 10% to 5% of discretionary income. quote:These reforms would simplify loan repayment and deliver significant savings to low- and middle-income borrowers. For example: quote:For each of these borrowers, their balances would not grow as long as they are making their monthly payments, and their remaining debt would be forgiven after they make the required number of qualifying payments. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Sep 29, 2022 |
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Sep 29, 2022 18:35
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Thanks. Going to add it to the OP with the following context: Serviced by doesn't mean the same thing as owned/held by. FFEL loans were abolished in 2010 by Obamacare. Previous to 2010, if you got a FFEL loan, then it could be held by the DOE or issued by a private lender with private money and just guaranteed by the DOE. There's about 11 million FFEL loans, but only about 3.8 million privately held ones. Privately held FFEL loans were never eligible for forgiveness on their own. But, when they first announced the debt forgiveness, they had said that privately held FFEL loans could be consolidated into new federal loans and qualify for forgiveness. They never said when they had to be consolidated by and a lot of people thought it would be by at least the end of the year. But, the new guidance says you have to have started the consolidation process before today. If your FFEL loan was eligible for the student loan pause, then it is still good for forgiveness. If it was never eligible for the pause and you didn't start the consolidation process by yesterday, then it is not.
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Sep 29, 2022 19:54
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hot cocoa on the couch posted:leon - can we let epic post itt pls I have no idea who that is and not sure why he wouldn't be allowed to post in this thread.
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Sep 29, 2022 20:07
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MEIN RAVEN posted:I might have missed it in the thread, but will my loan servicer know that I received Pell Grants at some point? I graduated undergrad in 2007 (gently caress) and grad school in 2010 and I honestly do not remember if I had a pell grant in there somewhere. I did reconsolidate but it was under the federal program so I could get income-based loans, which leads me to my next question... Grad loans qualify as long as they are issued and held by the Department of Education. A good shorthand is: If your student loans were eligible for the payment pause during Covid, then they are eligible for forgiveness. If they weren't, then they probably are not. The DOE will know if you received a Pell grant and will apply the enhanced amount with your student loan servicing company.
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Sep 29, 2022 20:29
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MEIN RAVEN posted:Thanks for the quick responses! To clarify on my second point: I thought I had read that the new cap on income-driven payments might be lowered, meaning I might get to keep a few more dollars each month for the next ten years. That would probably be just as helpful as the forgiveness, honestly. There is a new IDR plan that only applies to undergrad loans that caps your payments at 5% of your disposable income and then forgives any balance left on the loan after 20 years of payments. Grad IBR loans are still capped at 10% of disposable income. BUT, Biden made big changes to how income based repayment plans (IBR, PAYE, and the new IDR plan) work that apply to all of them, including grad loans. That includes raising what counts as "non-disposable income" to 225% of the poverty line. That is about $33k for a single person. Which means your "income" will only count for each dollar you earn above that.
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Sep 29, 2022 20:47
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kntfkr posted:sorry if i'm dumb and this has been explained BUT is this only for citizens with loans held for over 10 years? No. You don't have to have held the loan for any specific amount of time. You had to have the loan issued before July 2022 or consolidated before today (Sept. 29, 2022). If your wife's loans were eligible for the student loan pause during Covid, then they are eligible for forgiveness. If it is a private loan and not eligible for the pause, then she most likely would not qualify for any forgiveness. Citizenship doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is whether your loan is held/issued by the Department of Education.
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Sep 29, 2022 21:05
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naem posted:so if I consolidated my federal loans and now they are an ffelp consolidation, as of yesterday, no soup for me Yeah, if you consolidated them into a private loan, then you don't get anything.  None of the income driven payment plan changes or forgiveness apply to private loans.
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Sep 29, 2022 21:19
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PITY BONER posted:Does anyone know if this means that people like me with both undergrad and grad loans have to pay a combined amount, considering they are affected separately (5% + 10%)? If you have undergrad and grad loans, then sign up for the new IDR plan, you pay a "weighted average" of between 5% and 9% of your discretionary income depending on the balance of your loans. And yes, that is how the IDR thing works. Actually, I was slightly wrong because IDR gets forgiven after 10 years if you get your balance at $12k or lower and not 20. A lot of people are mad because it essentially turns college loans into funny money if you get a lot a debt, but a low-medium paying job. Someone making $50k with $200k in loans just has to pay ~$60 a month for 20 years and then all of it gets taken care of. Also, on the IDR plan, the government covers all of your interest that is not covered by your payment (so if you make $35k and have a $10 per month payment, the gov covers whatever the remaining interest is). Lots of people are upset about it for various reasons because people still have to have the debt hanging over their head for 10-20 years, but it is essentially funny money that you pay a tiny amount on each month and a lot of people will never ever pay back anywhere close to the amount they borrowed. But, it was sort of a "best we can do" situation since they had to do it all executively without a new law. Here's the overview of the new IDR plan (which is sort of stealthily the biggest part of the forgiveness plan): quote:For undergraduate loans, cut in half the amount that borrowers have to pay each month from 10% to 5% of discretionary income. quote:These reforms would simplify loan repayment and deliver significant savings to low- and middle-income borrowers. For example: quote:For each of these borrowers, their balances would not grow as long as they are making their monthly payments, and their remaining debt would be forgiven after they make the required number of qualifying payments. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...o-need-it-most/ Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Sep 29, 2022 |
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Sep 29, 2022 22:01
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They just gave one work around and cracked a tiny door open for people with privately held FFEL loans:quote:An administration official tells NPR this change will not affect all 4 million borrowers with commercially-held FFEL loans. The official said many FFEL borrowers also have Direct Loans and so can still qualify to consolidate those FFEL loans, though that detail was not included in the department's updated guidance. quote:In a statement to NPR, a department spokesperson says, "Our goal is to provide relief to as many eligible borrowers as quickly and easily as possible, and this will allow us to achieve that goal while we continue to explore additional legally-available options to provide relief to borrowers with privately owned FFEL loans and Perkins loans, including whether FFEL borrowers could receive one-time debt relief without needing to consolidate. Borrowers with privately held federal student loans who applied to consolidate their loans into Direct Loans before September 29, 2022 will obtain one-time debt relief. The FFEL program is now defunct and only a small percentage of borrowers have FFEL loans." This was the previous FFEL guidance: This is the new one: If you don't have another direct loan to consolidate, then I wouldn't hold your breath. But, it's not 100% ruled out. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Sep 29, 2022 |
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Sep 29, 2022 23:03
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The French Army posted:Is there a list of what states are going to tax the federal loan forgiveness as income? I heard some are but some aren't. There's 19 states where it is either up to the department of revenue or the legislature to include a provision in their budget on whether to follow the federal government's lead. So far, the states that have announced that they plan to tax the forgiveness are: - Indiana - Arkansas - Mississippi The following states have laws requiring them to tax the forgiveness, but the governors say they will include a provision in the 2023 budget that exempts it. - Wisconsin (Unclear if Republican legislature will support) - Minnesota (Legislature will support) - North Carolina (Unclear if legislature will support) - California (they say that California law already requires loan forgiveness be tax free, but only if part of an income-driven loan. Governor and legislature both say they will exempt in 2023 budget if law doesn't apply to current forgiveness)
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Oct 3, 2022 21:24
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I said come in! posted:I had read that if I already filed my taxes in 2020 and 2021, I pretty much don't need to worry about anything, all of this should be taken care of automatically, is this true or we don't really know yet? Only if you provided your taxes to the DOE or verified your income with them in some way for 2020 or 2021 (FAFSA, IBR certification, etc.). Just filing them to the IRS doesn't mean it will happen automatically.
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Oct 4, 2022 06:07
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KIT HAGS posted:Forgive me if this was already thoroughly answered but all this information is overwhelming. I’ve been doing PSLF and income based repayment for a few years. I have federal grad loans that just switched to MOHELA. I can’t get them on the phone to see what they need me to submit that hasn’t been transferred. The unskippable intro announcement takes a hundred years and then the wait times are like 1-2 hours. The new IDR plan isn't available until May/June 2023. When it is, then you can switch over. You could apply for a current IBR plan that has a 10% disposable income cap instead.
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Oct 4, 2022 15:36
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ShortyMR.CAT posted:What if i defaulted and the irs took my tax returns from previous years for my student loan debt. Can i refund that poo poo!? Not unless they were your 2021 tax refund and they somehow accidentally collected them during them student loan pause.
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Oct 5, 2022 20:04
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I said come in! posted:I didnt even know you could default on your student loan, I thought that wasn't possible. What did you think happens if you refuse to pay them? To be fair, it is pretty hard to get them into default if you are trying not to. You usually have to go at least 270 days without paying, not contact your lender, have no extenuating circumstances, and not set up a payment plan with your lender. It usually happens when people just stop paying and don't contact the lender/ignore their calls and mail.
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Oct 6, 2022 00:14
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buglord posted:Email from DOE said that applications would be open “later this month” DOE asked for an expedited ruling on the injunction request from the 6 Republican states that are suing. They promised not to forgive any student debt before the October 17th ruling in the filing. That doesn't necessarily mean that the form won't go up until then, but it is possible that it is delayed until after the 17th.
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Oct 6, 2022 00:20
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buglord posted:So do injunctions basically stop things from going forward until they’re settled in court? And if that’s the case, if the ruling is delivered by the 17th saying the loans can be forgiven, can another Republican state or entity place another injunction right after? - If they do get an injunction, yes. - If they don't, then they can't implement another one from a different lawsuit. - I'd say probably low, but who knows? The judge is a GWB appointee, but was a largely uncontroversial local judge in Missouri before he was nominated.
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Oct 6, 2022 01:12
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ncumbered_by_idgits posted:I have a Parent Plus loan for my youngest son. He also has some Sallie Mae loans in his name. According to the Parent Plus loan servicer, because we are technically two different borrowers we will both be eligible for the $10k. That sounds too good to be true. Nope. That is accurate. As long as neither of you made more than $125k or $250k (filing jointly) in 2020 or 2021, then you both are considered distinct borrowers and eligible for a separate forgiveness for each loan.
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Oct 6, 2022 14:41
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The DOE put out a preview of the form you have to fill out if the DOE doesn't already have your income information for 2020 and 2021. They also basically confirmed that it probably isn't going up until after the October 17th court date. They also confirmed that you won't need any supporting documentation. All you need to submit it is: - Name - Social Securty # - Phone Number - Email address After that you have to click a box affirming that you want the debt relief, that you aren't trying to defraud the government, and that you didn't make more than $125,000 or $250,000 (if filing jointly) in 2020 or 2021. You can sign up to get notified when the application goes live here: https://www.ed.gov/subscriptions https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1579864448629878786
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Oct 11, 2022 18:28
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The new IDR payment plan will dramatically change the amount and ways borrowers (especially low and middle income borrowers with a lot of debt) pay by basically making your loan free if you makes less than $33k and just a tiny monthly payment for people above that. It is basically the stealth biggest change in the plan and arguably a bigger deal than the forgiveness in the long-term. But, that cost is essentially all falling on the government and turning student loans into funny money subsidies for universities. So, they need to do something about overall costs at some point in the next 10 to 20 years before the first wave of IDR plans all start forgiving their balances.
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Oct 12, 2022 02:48
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First lawsuit's motion to issue an injunction to stop the forgiveness is denied. One other one was dismissed when the DOE added an opt-out option. One more court decision tomorrow and another one on October 17th. If the motions from those two are also denied, then all the requests for an injunction will be denied and the DOE can go through with forgiveness even while the case is going through court. https://twitter.com/mstratford/status/1580251803983101952
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Oct 12, 2022 19:00
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Zarin posted:I have some loans with Great Lakes that have been in deferment and all that; I assume those are covered. If they are eligible for the pause, then they are 100% eligible for forgiveness. If it doesn't qualify for the pause, then there is a 99% chance it isn't eligible for forgiveness.
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Oct 12, 2022 22:48
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Sophy Wackles posted:You can get payments refunded already before the debt forgiveness form stuff is up? Yes. Any payments you made on paused loans since March 2020.
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Oct 12, 2022 23:13
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Sophy Wackles posted:thanks Yes. Just make sure your new loan balance is lower than the amount of forgiveness you qualify for.
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Oct 12, 2022 23:23
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Anime Store Adventure posted:I asked this before and I assume its still true but I've seen a few confusing statements so I just wanted to reconfirm: I put my tax return and savings into paying off my loans on like, Feb 15th 2020. I assume this is still ineligible for a refund, and the period starts in March? Yes. Only payments since the student loan pause in March 2020 are eligible for the refunded payments.
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Oct 15, 2022 02:37
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YeahTubaMike posted:I guess my only question left is, is there any reason NOT to apply? I mean, as far as I know, the application is free, but is it going to be like "oh, you applied when none of your loans are eligible? You trid to defraud us and now you owe us $10 million" or some weird poo poo like that? No. It says they encourage everyone to try even if you're not sure if your loans qualify.
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Oct 15, 2022 04:21
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DOE docs say they expect most loan forgiveness to be finished "within 45 days of launch." Not sure if they count the beta as launching, but it will probably only be a few days difference either way. I expect it will be a lot less than 45 days for some people, but if you get it forgiven, then let the thread know so we can get a rough estimate of how long it takes. Thanks! And good luck/congrats/thanks to everyone who needed help and gave help.
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Oct 15, 2022 17:49
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Azubah posted:If I paid off my loans during the freeze, should I get a refund for that and do this form or do just the form because it'll take that payoff into account? Get the refund.
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Oct 15, 2022 18:17
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meatpimp posted:This sucks. If you initiated the consolidation before September 29th and you consolidated to a direct loan, then you should be good on forgiveness. Congrats.
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Oct 15, 2022 22:10
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Telsa Cola posted:What's the general turn around time to submitting to be notified if you qualify or not? No clue, but the DOE documents say they expect most applications to be processed and debt to be forgiven within 45 days of the program going live. I'm not sure if the beta sign-up counts as live, but it will probably be only a few days difference. I expect a lot of people will have it done in less than 45 days, but technically the answer is somewhere between 1 and 45 days.
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Oct 17, 2022 21:16
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Steve Jorbs posted:Is there any description of how the forgiveness amount will be applied? For example I have 7 separate federal direct loans on my account. If I recall on Nelnet if you let it automatically distribute your lump payment it would cover the minimum on each account then apply the remainder to the highest interest rate account. This is what the DOE says are the criteria it uses to determine where to apply the money: quote:Which of my loans will be forgiven first?
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Oct 18, 2022 02:47
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Chainclaw posted:Is there a way to see if you actually fully qualify without just requesting the student loan forgiveness? Go to studentaid.gov and see if the loans listed are "Direct" or say "U.S. Department of Education" on them. You can just apply regardless. It will be fine. If you filed jointly you had to make under $250k. If you filed solo, then it was $125k. That is the only income requirement.
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Oct 20, 2022 18:49
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DOE says the first wave of debt forgiveness will begin this Sunday. They didn't specify if there was any specific criteria for who gets processed first. Could be random, could be the people whose income was already on file at the DOE, or it could be people who filed out the beta form.
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Oct 20, 2022 22:27
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buglord posted:Not that I don’t trust you, because you’ve been a great resource, but where did ya see this at? I’d like to share the good news. I just heard it on NPR on the way home. I googled and found this: quote:Oct. 23, 2022 It also says that people who qualify for automatic forgiveness won't get processed until November 14th to give them the chance to opt-out following the lawsuit from someone who didn't want forgiveness. quote:Nov. 14, 2022 https://fortune.com/2022/10/19/federal-student-loan-forgiveness-key-dates-borrowers/
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Oct 20, 2022 23:09
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Someone PM'd me this information that may be relevant to anyone who had loans to go to ITT Tech or any of the other For-Profit Schools that the Biden Administration determined were defrauding students with deceptive advertising and asked me to share it:quote:I put in a Borrower Defense against ITT Tech in Sept 2021 since I went in the mid-00s and I got this back: They also wanted to remind people who aren't sure if they have Pell Grants or what types of loans they have, that they can check https://www.studentaid.gov and it will confirm if you had Pell Grants and what type of loans you have: quote:sometimes i wonder why goons don't know about this, but really no one does
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Oct 21, 2022 14:05
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buglord posted:Wait so is it dead now or what? No. They just can't forgive any debt until after the court rules on an injunction next week. They were apparently planning to start processing and forgiving this Sunday.
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Oct 22, 2022 01:03
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Kit Walker posted:Anyone have any luck calling Mohela to get a refund? The options the automated attendant gave me were "press 1 to speak to someone about the loan forgiveness application (redirects to FSA's number) or stay on the line to opt out" lmao. Unfortunately then my phone ran out of service so I'll have to try again later tonight A couple people in a different student loan thread got their refunds from Mohela. I don't know the specifics of what they did, but they said they just called them and it took about 30 minutes.
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Oct 27, 2022 16:37
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buglord posted:Also does this whole forgiveness thing get stuck again if republicans take the house? No, only the court can fully strike it down. It's being done executively, so the only way it could be stopped through legislation is if Biden signs it. The case hasn't even made it to court yet. The current decision is about whether to require the DOE to wait until the court case is finished before it can do anything. So, if the appeals court does decide to block it, then it isn't actually dead, but you'll be in for a multiple months wait before you know if it is dead for sure. The appeals court taking this long is a little odd, but not outside the realm of normal. You would hope they would pretty quickly dismiss for lack of standing, but there are some extreme judges on that circuit. I would be about 10% worried right now, but jump that up to 80% if they enforce a stay until the case is over.
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Nov 3, 2022 18:42
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Teriyaki Koinku posted:I applied for loan forgiveness back on Oct 24, but never got a response back. Do I need to email somebody or should I just wait until after the court block is withdrawn? Just wait until the court rules on the injunction. According to the DOE, about 26 million people applied already and 22 million people are already approved with another 8 million set to automatically get theirs forgiven because the DOE has their income info on file. So, they most likely have already processed your application.
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Nov 8, 2022 03:36
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Cpt_Obvious posted:Oh I thought it was the courts. The lawsuits are being brought by six Republican Attorneys General. The courts haven't ruled on the case yet, but the 8th circuit judge did allow an initial injunction to prevent any action until the court case is over.
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Nov 16, 2022 21:48
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Car Hater posted:What if we all just declare bankruptcy at once That would probably be a bad strategy because you have to actually get approved for bankruptcy first. Everyone doing it at once would just create a huge line. Student loans also are rarely discharged in bankruptcy. Prior to the 2005 bankruptcy bill, only about 4% of student loans were approved as discharged during bankruptcy. The bankruptcy bill made it even harder and now it is less than 1.5% get approved to be discharged.
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Nov 17, 2022 22:00
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