The Top Ways to Get Student Loan Forgiveness

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Student loan debt is an ever growing problem for many adults. Unfortunately, many do not seek out any information about how they can manage their burden until it’s too late. Taking charge of your finances is the first thing you need to do.

To do this, start by getting all the facts about your loan and what you can do with it.

What Should You Know About Student Loan Forgiveness
What is The Best Way to Get Your Student Loan Forgiven?
How Can I Get my Student Loans Forgiven For Free?
Can You Really Get Student Loan Forgiveness?
Do Student Loans go Away After 10 Years?
Is There Student Loan Forgiveness in The Cares Act?
How Can I Get my Student Loans Forgiven After 10 Years?
Is The Navient Lawsuit Real?
Do I Qualify For The Navient Lawsuit?
What is The Navient Student Loan Settlement?
Navient Lawsuit Settlement Schools List
Can Student Loans be Forgiven After 20 Years?
What Are Some Alternatives to Student Loan Forgiveness Programs?
What Age Does Student Loan Get Wiped?
What Happens if You Don’t Pay Off Student Loans?

What Should You Know About Student Loan Forgiveness

Google

It is really easy to find out what you need to know about almost anything on the web. You can do a basic search for State and Federal Regulations about student loans as well as being able to do research into financial planning.

There are budgeting calculators available all over the web to help you manage your income and the expenses of day to day living. They can be a start for balancing out your budget and creating your own student loan repayment plan.

Student Loan Counselors (for-Profit).

The easiest thing you can do is contact a financial planner that specializes in student loans and have them take a look at your finances. Be careful with some of the online student loan “help” website. Not all are real and if they are real they don’t always give you all the facts about your repayment options. They may also charge you for filling out forms that you can do for free yourself.

Several of these companies have also been caught in fraudulent activities using borrower money or making fraudulent claims like being able to make the student’s private loans get forgiven or completely removed. These companies prey on those that need help the most and the government has been trying to go after these companies.

There have been some successful lawsuits and several of these companies have been made to pay back what they took as well as many other fines. This is why you need to be very careful when you start looking at for-profit help. Not all those people will actually help you and many are ready to take your hard earned money.

Financial Coaches.

This is another good method for student loan forgiveness. These people can help you learn how to budget your money and basic money management. They will not only help you with your student loan debt, but they will be able to help you with loans and help you figure out the best way to manage them with the income you have.

These advisors will show you how to find the money you didn’t know you had and help you come up with a balanced plan for keeping your finances solid.

Lawyers who Specialize in Student Loans.

One of the newest areas of law are attorneys who have a working knowledge of the justice system but are actively taking on debt collectors, credit reporters, and bankruptcy issues that are plaguing student debtors. There are several reasons for working with one of these lawyers:

Loan Analysis

A student loan lawyer can help you analyze your loans and figure out the best way to minimize your payment to get out of default. They will help streamline this process as there are too many out there to find them all.

Debt Collector Behavior.

A student loan lawyer can help you go after those going after you. They will review the actions of a debt collection agency to help determine whether your rights have been violated on the State or Federal level. There are specific regulations for debt collectors and they can be made to pay if their practices violate any of these laws.

Credit Reporting.

Still on student loan forgiveness, there are specific rules and regulation about debt reporting. There isa specific way a creditor or collector can report your debt to these agencies. If they do not do this in the proper way, they can be sued for damages as well as pay your legal fees.

Student Loan Lawsuits.

If you are being sued by a student loan company then you will definitely need help from someone who knows this business inside and out. If you do not do anything you can end up with a judgment against you and have actions taken against you such as having your wages garnished or liens put on your property.

A lawyer with the proper experience and knowledge can help you follow the trail your loan has taken since you got it and address such issues as statutes of limitation and proof of chain of ownership. With proper accounting, they can show violations in the contract made by the student loan company.

You can represent yourself in court on your own, but in doing so you lose out on their wealth of knowledge and resources for fighting your case. You can hire an attorney for a limited time as needed and continue to represent yourself.

Bankruptcy.

Declaring bankruptcy will not get rid of your loan, but it can help you get your finances restructured and help you on the path to better financial security and choices. There are also limited options for full discharge of your debt, but this is rare.

Some student loan lawyers can help you with this and help you keep what you can of your life together. They can also properly advise you with all the options for helping rebalance yourself and your loans correctly.

Whichever choice you make, make sure you stay in contact with the people managing your loans Keeping in communication is the first step towards controlling your finances. It is also the easiest for refinancing them if you need to or changing them to fit the financial changes in your life as they come up.

Either way, do your homework and make sure you get all the facts before you make any decision. This is your life and your money you should be the one taking charge of it and trying to make it balance and work. There are a lot of choices in life and a lot of risks for taking them. Be informed and ask questions as it is up to you to manage your own finances.

What is The Best Way to Get Your Student Loan Forgiven?

There are several ways to get student loan forgiveness. Here are a few:

income-driven repayment plans
total and permanent disability
borrower defense to repayment rule
public service loan forgiveness
teacher loan forgiveness
state programs for student loan forgiveness

To get student loan forgiveness, typically you to have complete certain requirements or meet qualifications. Most the student loan forgiveness isn’t automatic.

Most options for student loan forgiveness relate to federal student loans only. There is no student loan cancellation for private loans through the federal government. That said, contact your student loan servicer to inquire about private student loan cancellation. Here is a snapshot of how to qualify for popular types of student loan forgiveness:

Income-driven repayment plans:

How to qualify: If you have Direct Loans, you automatically qualify for income-driven repayment. If you have FFELP Loans or Perkins Loans, you may need to consolidate student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loans. To get student loan forgiveness, you must make 20 years (undergraduate student loans) or 25 years (graduate student loans) of monthly student loan payments.

Choose one of four income-driven repayment plans: Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR).

Total and permanent disability

How to qualify: You have a total and permanent disability.

How to apply: Apply for student loan cancellation due to a total and permanent disability.

Borrower defense to repayment rule

How to qualify: Your college or university misled you or engaged in other misconduct. You may need to demonstrate that your school violated state law related to your student loans or the educational services provided. With borrower defense to repayment, you can get partial student loan cancellation or total student loan cancellation.

How to apply: Apply for student loan cancellation due to borrower defense to repayment.

Public service loan forgiveness

How to qualify: The public service loan forgiveness grants total student loan cancellation to federal student loan borrowers who are enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan, work for a qualified public service or non-profit employer, make 120 monthly student loan payments, and who meet other requirements.

How to apply: Complete the Public Service Loan Forgiveness form to get student loan forgiveness.Remember to submit this form annually or when you change employers.

Teacher loan forgiveness

How to qualify: You can get up to $17,500 of student loan forgiveness if you teach forfive complete and consecutive academic years in a low-income school or educational service agency and meet other qualifications. In comparison, if you plan to teach for at least 10 years, you can get total student loan cancellation with public service loan forgiveness.

How to apply: Apply for student loan cancellation through teach loan forgiveness.

State programs for student loan forgiveness

How to qualify: Qualifications to get student loan forgiveness will vary by state and by program.

How to apply: Contact your state’s department of education.

How Can I Get my Student Loans Forgiven For Free?

Here’s a common question from customers who have taken out student loans… Is it really possible to have my federal student loans forgiven or to get help repaying them?

The answer: Yes!

However, there are very specific eligibility requirements you must meet to qualify for loan forgiveness or receive help with repayment. Loan forgiveness means you don’t have to pay back some or all of your loan.

You never know what you may be eligible for, so take a look at the options we have listed below.

1. Teacher Loan Forgiveness

If you teach full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years in certain elementary or secondary schools or educational service agencies that serve low-income families, and meet other qualifications, you may be eligible for forgiveness of up to a combined total of $17,500 on eligible federal student loans.

2. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

If you work full-time for a government or not-for-profit organization, you may qualify for forgiveness of the entire remaining balance of your Direct Loans after you’ve made 120 qualifying payments—that is, 10 years of payments. To benefit from PSLF, you should repay your federal student loans under an income-driven repayment plan. If you’re interested in PSLF, contact FedLoan, the PSLF servicer, as soon as possible at 1-855-265-4038.

If you have been denied loan forgiveness under PSLF because one or all of the payments you made on your Direct Loans were under a nonqualifying repayment plan, you might be eligible for Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF).

3. Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan

If you repay your loans under a repayment plan based on your income, any remaining balance on your student loans will be forgiven after you make a certain number of payments over a certain period of time.

4. Military Service

In acknowledgment of your service to our country, there are special benefits and repayment options for your student loans available from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Defense. Benefits include interest rate caps under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and Department of Defense student loan repayment programs.

5. AmeriCorps

The Segal AmeriCorps Education Award is a benefit received by participants who complete a term of national service in an approved AmeriCorps program—AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, or AmeriCorps State and National. After you successfully complete your service, you are eligible to receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, which can be used to repay qualified student loans.

6. Other Options

Check out the “Student Loan Forgiveness” page for information about other types of loan forgiveness and discharge that might be available if you meet certain conditions.

If the options listed above don’t apply to you, but you need help making your federal student loan payments, contact your loan servicer about the option to

Switch your repayment plan to lower your monthly payments,
Consolidate multiple federal loans into one loan which may result in a lower monthly payment, or
Apply for deferment or forbearance to temporarily postpone or reduce your payments.

Can You Really Get Student Loan Forgiveness?

In certain situations, you can have your federal student loans forgiven, canceled, or discharged. Learn more about the types of forgiveness and whether you qualify due to your job or other circumstances.

Forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge of your loan means that you are no longer required to repay some or all of your loan.

The terms forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge mean nearly the same thing, but they’re used in different ways. If you’re no longer required to make payments on your loans due to your job, this is generally called forgiveness or cancellation.

If you’re no longer required to make payments on your loans due to other circumstances, such as a total and permanent disability or the closure of the school where you received your loans, this is generally called discharge.

Do Student Loans go Away After 10 Years?

For federal student loans, the standard repayment period is 10 years. If a 10-year repayment period makes your monthly payments unaffordable, you can enter an income-driven repayment (IDR) program. There’s no cost to apply, and you can complete the paperwork yourself.

Income-driven programs stretch out payments for a term of 20 or 25 years and cap your payments at 10% to 15% of your take-home pay. After that term, assuming you’ve made all your qualifying payments, whatever balance is left on the loan is forgiven. Payments are based on your household income and family size and will be 10% to 20% of your discretionary income.

IDR can be a good option for people in low-paying fields but have high student loan debt. You must be accepted into the program and recertify your income each year.

Is There Student Loan Forgiveness in The Cares Act?

No, there is no coronavirus-related loan forgiveness for federal student loans. The Department of Education and your loan servicer should be your trusted sources of information about official loan forgiveness options.

You never have to pay for help with your federal student aid. Contact your loan servicer for free help with questions or concerns about loan payments or applying for loan forgiveness.

How Can I Get my Student Loans Forgiven After 10 Years?

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was established in 2007 to help borrowers pay off their student loan debt easier and faster. Under the federal program, eligible borrowers can have their loans discharged after 10 years if they meet eligibility requirements, which are as follows.

• Must work full-time for the government or eligible non-for-profit within a designated field, such as firefighting, teaching, government, nursing, public interest law, military, or religious work;

• Make 10 years’ worth of payments, totaling 120 payments (although you are still eligible if you have to pause payments through forbearance), for the full amount within 15 days of your monthly payment due date.

• Have loans in the federal direct loan program; however, you can consolidate your federal loans for one payment under PSLF.

Is The Navient Lawsuit Real?

Navient is one of the largest student loan servicers in the country, with millions of borrowers using it to repay their federal and private student loans. However, a few lawsuits over the years have alleged harmful and deceptive practices, which could impact your student loans.

The servicer just reached a settlement for several of these lawsuits that will forgive more than $1 billion in student loans, but more relief could be available further down the line.

Several states filed lawsuits against Navient over the years, citing unfair lending practices, deception and mismanagement of loan products. Attorneys general from these states claimed that, among other things, Navient steered borrowers into unnecessary forbearance instead of cheaper alternatives, purposely approved loans for borrowers unlikely to afford repayment and told borrowers that they owed more than they actually did.

On Jan. 13, 2022, Navient reached a $1.85 billion settlement agreement with 38 states and Washington, D.C., resolving outstanding litigation with those states.

Under the settlement terms, Navient will be required to forgive $1.7 billion in private student loan balances for nearly 66,000 borrowers, primarily those who took out subprime loans to attend for-profit schools. Navient will also distribute individual restitution payments of $260 to approximately 350,000 federal borrowers who were placed into long-term forbearance.

Eligible private borrowers will receive a notice from Navient by July 2022, and federal borrowers should expect a postcard in the mail from the settlement administrator in spring 2020.

Thousands of borrowers will see their student loans impacted in one way or another due to the recent Navient settlement, whether through loan forgiveness, restitution payments or better customer service. Borrowers don’t need to do anything in order to receive the settlement restitution or forgiveness aside from checking and updating their residential address.

Navient has said that the recent settlement will primarily affect borrowers who took out loans for for-profit schools from 2002 to 2010 and defaulted on those loans. However, there’s still the ongoing CFPB suit that, if settled, could impact even more borrowers.

Do I Qualify For The Navient Lawsuit?

You’ll have to wait until July 2022 to know if you qualify for the Navient settlement. That’s when the company will notify its borrowers whose debts will be forgiven.

Eligible borrowers will receive a letter substantially.

Until then, you can check your eligibility by looking at your student loan servicer. The company that holds your loans is a key indicator of whether you qualify for relief.

If your loans are with Sallie Mae, the settlement agreement doesn’t cover your loans because they were likely made after the eligibility period (2002-2010). Check out student loan refinance options to get a lower payment amount.
If your loans are with Navient, you may qualify to have your private student loans canceled — but only if your account was delinquent seven straight months before June 30, 2021, and you live in one of the participating states. Remember that Navient still services federal student loans made under the Federal Family Education Loans. Your FFEL Loans won’t be wiped out because the settlement’s terms do not cover them.
If your loans have been transferred to Aidvantage, your loans won’t be eliminated — even if the loans started with Sallie Mae, were moved to Navient, and now are with Aidvantage. Those loans are federal student loans. To get relief, check out the student loan forgiveness programs offered by the Education Department.
If you settled loans with Navient or Sallie Mae, it’s unlikely you’ll get a refund. The settlement seems limited to loans with an outstanding balance. However, if you get a notice that your loans are canceled, it doesn’t hurt to ask Navient to refund the money you’ve paid.

What is The Navient Student Loan Settlement?

The Navient student loan settlement is an agreement between Navient and attorneys general for 39 states and the District of Columbia to resolve lawsuits that accused Navient of:

Giving high-interest loans to students who it knew likely could not repay the debt.
Steering federal student loan borrowers into forbearance, rather than offering them relief options like income-based repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Navient denied all allegations and said in a statement that it settled to avoid “additional burden, expense, time and distraction to prevail in court.”.

As part of the agreement, Navient will erase $1.7 billion of subprime private student loans that its predecessor, Sallie Mae, gave to students who attended for-profit schools, many of whom had low credit scores. Many of these schools have now shuttered their doors.

It will also cut a small check to 350 thousand federal student loan borrowers whose loans it serviced.

Navient Lawsuit Settlement Schools List

Eligible schools for the settlement include major for-profit chains like ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges, both of which have collapsed. It also includes Art Institute, Argosy University, DeVry University, Le Cordon Bleu, and Kaplan University.

Advanced Career Technologies, ABC Training Center of Maryland, and The Career Institute – American Career Institute, The Career Institute of American International College, and Clark University Computer Career Institute
Alta College – Westwood College and Redstone College
Apollo Group – University of Phoenix
ATI Enterprises – ATI Career Training Center
Bridgepoint Education – Ashford University
Career Education Corporation – Le Cordon Bleu, Sanford Brown, American InterContinental University, Brooks Institute, Colorado Technical University, Briarcliffe College, Harrington College of Design, International Academy of Design & Technology, and Missouri College
Center for Excellence in Higher Education – College America, Independence University, Stevens-Henager College, and California College San Diego
Corinthian – Bryman Institute, Everest Institute, Everest College, Heald College, and WyoTech
DeVry – DeVry University, Ross University, Keller Graduate School of Management, and Carrington College
Education Corporation of America – Virginia College and Brightwood College
Education Management Corporation – Art Institute, Argosy University, Brown Mackie, and South University
Minnesota School of Business – Minnesota School of Business and Globe University
Graham Holdings – Kaplan University, Kaplan Career Institute, Kaplan College, and Mount Washington College
ITT Educational Services – ITT Technical Institute
Lincoln Educational Services – Lincoln Technical Institute
B&H Education – Marinello School of Beauty
Premier Education Group – Salter College, Branford Hall, Hallmark Institute of Photography, Harris School of Business, American College of Medical Careers

You can see the full Navient settlement agreement and list of schools at navientagsettlement.com.

Can Student Loans be Forgiven After 20 Years?

Although you might be eager to have your student loans forgiven right away, most legitimate forgiveness programs take a long time. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, for example, requires 10 years of service, and most income-driven repayment plans offer student loan forgiveness after 20 or more years of repayment.

The government offers several loan forgiveness programs. Some will forgive your loans in exchange for qualifying service, whereas others will forgive your balance after a certain number of years on a qualifying repayment plan.

Here’s when the income-driven repayment plans forgive your student loans:

Income-Based Repayment
Student loan forgiveness is available after 20 years if you were a new borrower on or after July 1, 2014. Otherwise, forgiveness won’t occur until after 25 years.
Pay As You Earn
Student loan forgiveness is available after 20 years
Revised Pay As You Earn
Student loan forgiveness is possible after 20 years if you’re only repaying undergraduate loans, or after 25 years for any of the loans you’re repaying from graduate school or professional study.
Income-Contingent Repayment
Student loan forgiveness is possible after 25 years of repayment.

This assumes you still have a balance after two decades or more of repayment and that you’ve kept up with your payments over the years. Note that even though your balance will be discharged, you might still have to pay taxes on the forgiven amount.

Alternatively, you could pursue a forgiveness program that’s based on qualifying service. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, for example, will forgive your remaining loan balance after 10 years of service in an eligible organization, such as a nonprofit or government agency, and 120 qualifying payments.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness is another popular program that provides $5,000 or $17,500 in loan forgiveness (depending on the subject you teach), typically after five years in an eligible school. This program promises to help you with your student loans sooner than PSLF does, but it only offers partial forgiveness, rather than full forgiveness.

While these federal forgiveness programs typically require five or more years of repayment before offering forgiveness, some state-run loan repayment assistance programs (LRAPs) offer rewards much sooner. LRAPs assist doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers and several other qualifying professionals, and they usually only require a couple of years of work in exchange for the award.

What’s more, you can often use that money toward both private and federal student loans. If you can qualify, an LRAP could offer financial relief even sooner than a federal student loan forgiveness program.

What Are Some Alternatives to Student Loan Forgiveness Programs?

While some finance experts are hopeful about the future of PSLF, Joshua Hastings, founder of the blog Money Life Wax, encourages borrowers to consider alternatives, just in case.

“Borrowers should have a backup plan when it comes to using PSLF,” Hastings said. “If you are hell-bent on paying the minimum and waiting 10 years to see if you get your student loans forgiven, realize a lot can change in 10 years.”

Before committing to PSLF, take time to consider your alternatives. Take a look at what your monthly payments would be if you stayed with the standard 10-year plan. If your bills aren’t too burdensome, sticking with a 10-year repayment schedule might be a safer strategy.

Along the way, you could even throw extra payments at your student loans when and if you have the funds, and end up paying them off ahead of schedule.

And once you have a steady income and decent credit score — or can apply with a cosigner who does — you could consider refinancing for new terms and a lower interest rate. (Note, however, that refinancing federal student loans turns them private, meaning you become ineligible not just for PSLF, but also other federal programs like income-driven repayment.)

What Age Does Student Loan Get Wiped?

If you expect to pay back your loan and you make early payments, it could save you thousands due to reducing the amount of interest incurred.

However, if you are unlikely to pay it back, and you make extra payments, you will be throwing money down the drain.

The difficulty lies in the fact that nobody knows exactly how much they will earn over their careers, or what future changes to the loan system may be.

Graduates in lower-earning careers are unlikely to repay the whole amount before it is written off after 30 years, so they or their families would lose out by paying up front.

For higher-earners, however, the savings from upfront payment of tuition fees could be substantial.

Take a graduate who gains employment at a starting salary of £35,000, increasing each year by 5pc. The maximum annual tuition fees plus maintenance loans would cost £62,766 paid on graduation, versus paying back £122,170 in today’s money gradually over 30 years, some £59,404 more.

What Happens if You Don’t Pay Off Student Loans?

The type of student loans you have determines what happens in this situation. You may face both short- and long-term consequences.

If you took out federal Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, or Federal Family Education (FFEL) Loans, you have a six-month grace period that starts right after you graduate. During the grace period, you don’t have to make any payments on your student loan debt. This is a time for you to graduate, find a job, and begin to earn money.

Unlike federal loans, not all private lenders offer grace periods, so you might not have this luxury if you have private student loans. You may have to start making payments immediately after graduation.

The type of student loans you have determines what happens in this situation. You may face both short- and long-term consequences.

What happens in the short term?

Federal and private student loans have slightly different short-term consequences when you fail to make payments.

Federal student loans

If your payment is one day late — If you’re one day late on your student loan payments, your loan will be considered delinquent. It’ll remain this way until you cover the past-due balance plus any fees, or make alternative arrangements (deferment, forbearance, or changing your repayment plan).
If your payment is 30 days late — If you don’t make your entire monthly student loan payment within 30 days of when it’s due, you might get hit with late fees, depending on your loan servicer.
If your payment is 90 days late — If you stay in delinquent status on your federal student loans for 90 days or more, your loan servicer will report it to the major credit bureaus, which can affect your credit score.

Private student loans

If your payment is one day late — If you’re one day late on your private student loan payments, your loan will be delinquent. Depending on the lender, you might have to pay late fees.
If your payment is 30 to 45 days late — If you’re anywhere from 30 to 45 days late, the lender might report your delinquency to the credit bureaus.
If your payment is 90 days late — If you’re 90 days behind on your payments and in default, a private lender may hire a collections agency or take you to court in order to collect the debt.

What happens in the long term?

The long-term consequences of missing payments are also slightly different for federal and private student loans.

Federal student loans

If your payment is more than 270 days late — Your federal loans will go into default if you don’t make payments for 270 days or more. At this point, your wages may be garnished or funds from your tax refund or Social Security check could be taken and applied toward your loans.

Private student loans

If your payment is more than 120 days late — If you’re more than 120 days past due on your private student loans, they’ll be in default. A private lender will likely sell your debt to a collections agency and get the loan off its plate. The lender might also pursue a lawsuit if necessary.

Credible lets you compare private student loan rates from various lenders without affecting your credit.

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