Has anyone actually gotten student loan forgiveness?
As of mid-July 2023, approximately 662,000 borrowers have qualified for forgiveness under the limited
Before President Biden took office, only 7,000 people ever received debt relief through PSLF. After fixing the program, the Biden-Harris Administration has now cancelled student loan debt for nearly 800,000 public service workers.
Borrowers Identified for Early SAVE Forgiveness by Location | ||
---|---|---|
State | Borrower Count | Amount Forgiven (in millions) |
Arizona | 3,990 | $33.0 |
Arkansas | 1,190 | $8.7 |
California | 13,580 | $114.8 |
Borrowers who have reached 20 or 25 years (240 or 300 months) worth of eligible payments for IDR forgiveness will see their loans forgiven as they reach these milestones. ED will continue to discharge loans as borrowers reach the required number of months for forgiveness.
Log in to StudentAid.gov to track your PSLF progress. For updates on your application status, visit MOHELA's website or contact them at 1-855-265-4038.
Possible Negative Consequences of Canceled Student Debt
Education costs skyrocketed in the years following the launch of the federal student loan program; economists posit that widespread loan forgiveness will cause another surge in costs for the next generation of students.
Borrowers are eligible for this relief if their individual income is less than $125,000 or $250,000 for households. Get details about one-time student loan debt relief.
State | Average student loan debt |
---|---|
California | $37,211 |
South Carolina | $36,981 |
North Carolina | $36,885 |
Delaware | $36,776 |
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loan after you've made the equivalent of 120 qualifying monthly payments while working full time for a qualifying employer.
Many factors can play a role in how long it takes to get out of student loan debt, including the length of your repayment plan, your loan amount, interest rates, and your income.
What happens if you never pay your student loans?
If you don't make your student loan payment or you make your payment late, your loan may eventually go into default. If you default on your student loan, that status will be reported to national credit reporting agencies. This reporting may damage your credit rating and future borrowing ability.
If your school closes while you're attending or shortly after you graduate, you could qualify for a federal student loan discharge of up to 100%. Qualifying loans include Direct Loans, FFEL Program Loans and Perkins Loans. Cancellation amount: Up to 100%.
Do student loans go away after 7 years? While negative information about your student loans may disappear from your credit reports after seven years, the student loans will remain on your credit reports — and in your life — until you pay them off.
If you work full time for a government or nonprofit organization, you may qualify for forgiveness of the entire remaining balance of your Direct Loans after you've made 120 qualifying payments—i.e., 10 years of payments. To benefit from PSLF, you need to repay your federal student loans under an IDR plan.
Borrowers with undergraduate debt would qualify for forgiveness if they entered repayment 20 years ago or more, and borrowers with graduate school debt would qualify for forgiveness if they entered repayment 25 years ago or more. Cancel student debt for borrowers previously enrolled in low-financial-value programs.
The Federal Student Aid website says, however, that relief can be expected within four to six weeks of completing the application; the website also advises to apply before Nov. 15, 2022, in order to see your loans forgiven by the end of this year. Some qualified borrowers, however, may see their forgiveness sooner.
Mass cancellation would incentivize much greater inflation as neither colleges nor prospective students would believe future loans would have to be repaid, blowing the lid off of prices.
Generally, when a student loan is forgiven, it shouldn't impact your credit in a negative way. As long as your loans were in good standing at the time they were discharged and your accounts are being reported properly to the credit reporting bureaus, you won't see a huge difference in your score.
Opponents of student loan cancellation say that one-time student loan forgiveness is a band-aid on a much larger, unaddressed problem: the growing cost of a college education. College tuition is only getting more expensive.
Once the loan forgiveness plan kicks in, the credit bureaus may delete any delinquent payments from your report. As a result, you could actually see a bump in your credit score. It's important to keep an eye on your credit report once you receive confirmation that you were approved for student debt relief.
Should I pay off my student loans?
Key takeaways. Paying off student loans early can benefit you financially, but it should typically come second to building your emergency fund and retirement savings. People with private student loans or without other debt tend to benefit more from paying off student loans early.
National Debt Relief is a legitimate company providing debt relief services. The company was founded in 2009 and is a member of the American Association for Debt Resolution (AADR). It's certified by the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA), and is accredited by the BBB.
Total Student Loan Debt | Repayment Period |
---|---|
$10,000-$20,000 | 15 years |
$20,000-$40,000 | 20 years |
$40,000-$60,000 | 25 years |
Greater than $60,000 | 30 years |
The average student loan takes 21 years to pay off but that doesn't mean that it has to take you that long. If you want to get a better idea of what your monthly payment will look like then you can use our student loan calculator to figure out your monthly and total student loan payments.
What is considered a lot of student loan debt? A lot of student loan debt is more than you can afford to repay after graduation. For many this means having more than $70,000 – $100,000 of total student debt.
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