Federal Student Loan Forbearance Extension: What It Means
The CARES Act did three things for federal student loans:
- Put loans into automatic administrative forbearance
- Set interest rates at 0%
- Suspended collections on defaulted loans
The moratorium on interest and payments was set to expire on Sept. 30, 2020.
Then-President Trump issued executive orders on Aug. 8, 2020, and Dec. 4, 2020, that continued these relief policies for federal loans owned by the U.S. Department of Education through Jan. 31, 2021. The Department acted on the president’s order and suspended payments and interest for eligible federal student loans, with no action required on the part of borrowers.
On Jan. 20, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order extending loan forbearance through Sept. 30, 2021, as well as another extension issued in Aug. 2021, putting the payment pause in place until Jan. 31, 2022.
In December 2021, the Biden Administration and the U.S. Department of Education announced a 90-day extension in lieu of the Omicron variant of the of the coronavirus. As a result, the loan forbearance program will continue through May 1, 2022.
You have the option to continue making loan payments during forbearance. If you choose to do so, the entire payment will go toward reducing the principal balance on your loan after any interest that accrued before March 13, 2020, is paid. Making payments now can help you reduce your loan balance more quickly, since the full amount you pay will go toward reducing your loan balance.
Find Out Who Your Loan Servicer Is
Your loan servicer is the company youll make payments to. Generally speaking, you can find out who is servicing your loans by visiting your Federal Student Aid account dashboard or checking your credit reports .
Keep a record of all of your loan servicers you may have several if youve taken out multiple loans. Youll receive regular communication from your servicers about your loan repayment, and youll need to make payments to each one.
Repayment Assistance For Students With Permanent Disabilities
If you are applying with a disability
If you were confirmed to have a permanent disability when you applied for OSAP while you were a postsecondary student, you do not need any further documentation.
If you were not confirmed as having a permanent disability when you applied for OSAP, you will be required to complete a Verification of Permanent Disability form. You will also need to provide medical documentation to support your permanent disability.
Repayment terms
If you have a permanent disability, you can apply to the debt reduction stage immediately when you enter repayment, without receiving any interest relief as part of stage one.
The governments of Canada and Ontario help borrowers who have permanent disabilities pay off their loans in 10 years.
You can also provide documentation to have your disability-related expenses considered when your affordable monthly payment is calculated. To do this, you must:
- complete a Repayment Assistance Plan for Borrowers with a Permanent Disability Expenses form from National Student Loans Service Centre
- provide proof of your expenses and insurance coverage
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When Do You Pay Back Your Loans
Federal Direct Stafford loans require that you begin loan repayment six months after you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment. Although Federal Direct PLUS loans previously entered repayment within 60 days of full disbursement, since 2008 borrowers have been able to defer repayment until six months after the student graduates or drops below half-time enrollment.
Private loan repayment depends on the terms set by the lender. You may find that your lender requires you to make loan payments while still in school, though there may be options to defer making loan payments. Interest continues to accrue during an in-school deferment and grace period.
If you dont have the money to pay for college, student loans are a great option to help you finance your education. But its important to understand how loans work so there arent any surprises when its time to begin loan repayment.
Choose The Right Student Loan Repayment Plan
Look at all the repayment plans available and choose one that works best for your financial goals. Federal college loans offer several repayment options:
- The standard repayment plan sets up the same payment amount every month . Unless you have decided to have a different plan, this standard plan is the one you will receive. Students on this plan must pay off their loan in 10 years.
- The graduated plan increases your payments every two years. Students must repay this loan within 10 years.
- The extended plan sets up either a fixed or graduated payment over a period of 25 years.
- The five income-driven plans allow payments to fluctuate according to your annual income, family size, and other factors. For example, the Revised Pay-as-You-Earn plan reduces monthly loan payments to 10 percent of discretionary income and forgives the remaining loan balance after 20-25 years of consistent payments.
You can switch to a different payment plan anytime with no penalty. Just keep in mind that a plan with a lower monthly payment will take longer to pay off, and you’ll pay more in interest.
Repaying college loans can be a complicated process. Its important to understand that paying for college takes consistency and financial stability, and finding the right repayment plan is going to make a big difference. While youre still in school, try to save as much as possible or start repaying your loans so you have less to pay off later.
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Do I Have To Pay Back My Student Loans If I Drop Out Of School
Yes. You are responsible for the full repayment of any loans you took out to attend school, regardless of whether or not you end up using the money for this reason. If you have funds that have been disbursed to you personally for school-related expenses and you dont plan to use them, you should pay these back right away if you can to avoid earning interest. If you cant afford repayment just yet, ask your lender about grace periods and repayment plans.
What Does Your Student Loan Statement Mean
Every so often the Student Loans Company send out a Student Loan statement to every student/graduate, and we receive loads of worried emails and messages.
There’s a lot of scary numbers involved on the statement, as well as a lot of confusion about what it all means. Here’s our breakdown to put you at ease:
We’ve numbered the statement above to help explain what each part means.
As this statement runs from April 2012 to April 2016, we can assume that this student started a three-year course in 2012 and graduated in 2015. In the year or so after graduating, you’ll likely receive a Student Loan repayment statement very similar to this one.
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What Kind Of Student Loan Do You Have
When you will need to start paying back your student loans depends on what type of loan you have.
There are two main types of student loans that you can take out:
- private student loans, and
- businesses, and
- the school youre attending.
The terms of the loan are set by the lender themselves, and there can be lots of variation between different loan providers.
Private loans can have either variable or fixed interest rates, so your interest rate can be dependent on your, your parents, or any other co-signers credit score. This also determines what kind of interest rate you will have over the long term.
- If you go with a fixed rate, the rate will not change over the course of the loan. Whatever rate you started with is the rate youll finish with.
- If you choose a variable rate, it can change over the course of your loan. You could start your loan with a 3% rate and be paying 13% a few years later.
They usually have a set repayment term, anywhere from 5-20 years. Private loans are not eligible for student loan forgiveness programs, and are also not eligible for any government-backed repayment programs that are designed to lower your monthly costs. They also accrue interest while youre in school, and some even require payment while youre still in school.
A private student loan can also be refinanced later. So you could try to get a lower interest rate, depending on your credit score, salary, and other factors.
Student Loan Repayments Are Manageable
Right at the top of this guide, we said that the Student Loan is one of the better borrowing deals out there and we stick by this.
If the loan had come from a commercial or private lender, you could be landed with big fat arrangement fees, hefty penalties for missing repayments, as well as sky-high interest rates.
Banks and commercial lenders would also expect to get paid no matter how little you earn, whereas Student Loan repayments are based entirely on what you can actually afford.
All this adds up to make the repayments so manageable that most graduates don’t even miss the cash that comes out of their monthly pay to cover it.
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Different Loans For Different Folks
Before getting into the different types of available loan programs, lets do a quick refresher on how exactly student loans work. Like any type of loan , student loans cost some small amount to take out and they require interest and principal payments thereafter. Principal payments go toward paying back what youve borrowed, and interest payments consist of some agreed upon percentage of the amount you still owe. Typically, if you miss payments, the interest you would have had to pay is added to your total debt.
In the U.S.A., the federal government helps students pay for college by offering a number of loan programs with more favorable terms than most private loan options. Federal student loans are unique in that, while you are a student, your payments are deferredthat is, put off until later. Some types of Federal loans are subsidized and do not accumulate interest payments during this deferment period.
When Do You Have To Start Paying Student Loans
Your deadline to begin making loan payments varies depending on the loan type. Most loans start to require repayment if you drop below part-time student status or leave school because you graduated .
Many federal loans, like direct subsidized loans, direct unsubsidized loans, and Federal Family Education Loans, allow a six-month grace period following your departure from school before you’re required to make loan payments. A Federal Perkins loan allows a nine-month grace period.
Private student loans sometimes offer grace periods, but these terms vary by lender.
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Look Into Forgiveness And Reimbursement Programs
Public Service Loan Forgiveness is designed to offer student debt relief for students who pursue careers in public service. You make a set number of payments while working in a public service job and the remainder is forgiven.
If you don’t qualify for loan forgiveness, you may be able to get help with your student loans through your employer. Talk to your HR department about whether student loan reimbursement is available as an employee benefit and what you need to do to qualify.
In some circumstances, a debt relief company can assist you in negotiating lower payments or even partial debt reduction.
The American Rescue Plan passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in March 2021 includes a provision that student loan forgiveness issued between December 30, 2020, and January 1, 2026, will not be taxable to the recipient.
Understand How Your Student Loan Debt Will Affect Your Future
If you havent started repaying your college loans yet, it can be hard to imagine how they could impact your income and lifestyle. Are you going to be able to make enough money to cover your loan payments and support everyday living expenses?
Youll get some ideas about repaying your student loans by looking at a student loan repayment calculator like 1st Financial Bank USA’s Student Loan Repayment and Affordability Calculator. Student loan repayment calculators show your estimated loan payments based on your interest rate and term length of the loan. These calculators help you determine how much of your future salary will go toward your loan payments, and can give you an excellent reality check, preventing you from over-borrowing in college.
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When Does Student Loan Interest Start Again
Student loan interest is on hold until the forbearance ends Sept. 1, 2022. Interest will start the next day. You can find your interest rate by contacting the student loan servicer handling your loans. Hereâs a list of federal student loan servicer companies:
- Aidvantage
- American Education Services has Federal Family Education Loans only.
- Default Resolution Group only handles federal students loans in default.
Tell Me More About Income
The rules are complicated, but the gist is simple: Payments are calculated based on your earnings and readjusted each year.
After making monthly payments for a set number of years usually 20, sometimes 25 any remaining balance is forgiven.
Theres a confusing assortment of plans available, and there may even be a new one coming, though probably not for a while. For now, the alphabet soup includes PAYE, REPAYE, I.C.R., and I.B.R. .
Monthly payments are often calculated as 10 or 15 percent of discretionary income, but one plan is 20 percent. Discretionary income is usually defined as the amount earned above 150 percent of the poverty level, which is adjusted for household size. PAYE usually has the lowest payment, followed by either I.B.R. or REPAYE, depending on the specific circumstances of the borrower, said Mark Kantrowitz, a student aid expert.
Theres a dizzying variety of rules. Consider spousal income.
REPAYE has a marriage penalty, while I.B.R. and PAYE will use just the borrowers income if they file a separate return, joint income if they file a joint return, he said. REPAYE, he said, uses joint income regardless of tax filing status.
Got all that?
But they remain a more manageable solution for many borrowers.
Enrolling in I.D.R. now is a great next step, particularly if you lost your job during Covid, or your spouse lost their job and you are experiencing a drop in income, said Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center.
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Make A Plan To Get Out Of Default
If the default isnt a mistake, its time to try to fix it.
For federal loans, youve got a few different options:
Keep in mind that options may look a bit different for private student loans. While you arent likely to have rehabilitation available to you, you can try to work with your lender to create a new repayment plan or negotiate to settle the debt.
Consider Bankruptcy For Your Student Loans
If youre struggling financially and other options arent available to you, then you may want to consult an attorney to evaluate your options. Traditionally, unlike mortgages or credit card debt, for example, student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. However, there are exceptions if you can demonstrate an undue financial hardship. That said, there is a high standard to prove undue financial hardship so student loan cancellation through bankruptcy is the exception, not the rule. Student loan cancellation has become a hot topic on Capitol Hill. Theres currently a bipartisan proposal to make student loan cancellation through bankruptcy an easier path for student loan borrowers. With enough bipartisan support, Congress could pass this student loans bill, which could help student loan borrowers who are struggling financially.
Here are options to consider for student loan repayment if you want to pay off student loans faster:
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What If Restarted Monthly Payments Are Too High For Borrowers
Borrowers facing financial challenges and concerned they cannot afford the monthly payments when they kick back in may have several options available to them. The most important step they can take is to “get in touch,” the Education Department said.
For those with federal student loans, there is an economic hardship deferment as well as an unemployment deferment option. There is also forbearance. Each of these have a three-year limit, but in nearly all cases, borrowers will still be on the hook for the interest.
“For the most part, you’re delaying the inevitable, and if you do this for an extended period of time, you are digging yourself into a deeper hole. But the idea behind deferment or forbearance is to provide short-term financial relief for when you have short-term financial difficulty,” said Kantrowitz.
Those whose incomes are lower now than before the pandemic may be eligible for lower payments by enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan. To do this, borrowers need to fill out an application and borrowers who are new to receiving an income-based plan as well as those who need to recertify their income information to update their current circumstances will have to fill one out. Payments under one of these plans can be as little as $0 a month.
