What is going on with student loan forgiveness?
Today, the Administration is proposing to automatically cancel debt for borrowers otherwise eligible for relief through the SAVE plan, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or other forgiveness opportunities like closed school loan discharges but who have not successfully applied for that assistance.
This action comes as nearly 8 million borrowers have been helped by the SAVE plan. That includes 4.5 million with a $0 monthly payment. Today's announcement brings the total loan forgiveness approved by the Biden-Harris Administration to $153 billion for nearly 4.3 million Americans.
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.
Many student loan borrowers have an opportunity to have their entire student loans cancelled or receive more credit towards cancellation, but they must act before April 30, 2024.
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.
You must be a direct employee of a qualifying employer for your employment to qualify. This means that employees of contracted organizations, that are not themselves a qualifying employer, won't qualify for PSLF including government contractors and for-profit organizations.
If you're not working full-time, you may get denied for student loan forgiveness.
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.
Zero balance – the Education Department may have forgiven the student loan debt, but what's more likely is that the loans were moved to a different servicer. Disappeared – the loans defaulted several years ago and fell off the report.
Canceling federal student loans will cost the government money that comes in part from taxpayer dollars. The Congressional Budget Office, which crunches the numbers, said President Biden's plan to cancel student loans could have added $400 billion to the government's expenses.
Do student loans affect credit scores?
Having a student loan will affect your credit score. Your student loan amount and payment history are a part of your credit report. Your credit reports—which impact your credit score—will contain information about your student loans, including: Amount that you owe on your loans.
To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved $146 billion in student debt relief for 4 million Americans through more than two dozen executive actions. That includes fixing Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Driven Repayment plans, so borrowers finally get the relief they are entitled to under the law.
State | Average student loan debt |
---|---|
California | $37,211 |
South Carolina | $36,981 |
North Carolina | $36,885 |
Delaware | $36,776 |
If you have a full-time job with a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or with a nonprofit organization, you may qualify for student loan forgiveness. You'll need to make 120 payments, which don't have to be consecutive, under a qualifying repayment plan to be eligible.
In a pair of recent cases, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness program. In Biden v. Nebraska, which was decided 6-3, the court struck down the administration's student loan forgiveness program and agreed with the six challenging states that they had standing to sue.
What does the Supreme Court's decision mean for student loan debt relief? Under the court's ruling, the U.S. Department of Education has been prohibited from implementing the Biden-Harris Administration's one-time debt relief program. Was this page helpful? How can I get my 1098-E form?
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.
FACT SHEET: President Biden Cancels Student Debt for more than 150,000 Student Loan Borrowers Ahead of Schedule. Today, President Biden announced the approval of $1.2 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 153,000 borrowers currently enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan.
All Sallie Mae loans taken out since 2014 are private. The best way to determine if you have federal or private student loans is to check studentaid.gov. If you need to borrow money for college, exhaust federal student loans before taking out a private student loan.
2.3% of processed applications for PSLF had been approved since the program's inception. In the program's first year, 0.32% of applications were approved. Prior to 2021, 3.3 million student loan borrowers were eligible to apply for PSLF (though only 6.9% applied).
Why do my student loans say paid in full?
You may notice your former servicer has cleared your loan account. For example, your loan balance may come up as “paid in full” on your former servicer's website or on your credit report. This does not mean you've received loan forgiveness. This is part of the loan transfer process.
Eventually, your student loans will be put into default and you may lose federal loan benefits, have your wages garnished, get barred from federal student aid among other consequences. Your loan holder may sue you, as well. If you ignore the court date or the court's orders — that could land you in jail.
Credit card debt forgiveness could hurt your credit
You stop making payments to your creditors as you save for your settlement. Creditors typically report the debt as "settled" rather than "paid as agreed" on your credit report once it's paid off. This shows that the creditor wasn't able to collect on the full debt.
On April 12, 2024, President Biden announced that he will forgive student loan debt for 277,000 more borrowers. This unilateral action is expected to cost taxpayers $7.4 billion and would bring the total amount of debt relief since Biden took office to $153 billion for 4.3 million borrowers.
Nealy 7 million borrowers are enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which will cancel their student debt after a certain amount of time. Canceling all student loan debt in the U.S. would cost approximately $1.6 trillion.
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