I am 12 payments away from PSLF and coming off SAVE forbearance. I’ve been reading the issues with Auto pay and even though that is how I’ve always paid in the past, this close to the finish line, I need every payment to count. What is the recommended way to pay? My payment due date and auto payment are set to process on 9/17 which is what it shows on Mohela. On Student Aid.gov it shows my due date is 9/16. One day could mean the difference between it counting or not counting, so I would like to cancel auto pay and pay manually.

Hi all, my first job out of law school was a 9 month federal clerkship. I submitted certification right when I started that processed on October 9, 2025 but for some reason (I just found this out now) the certification period was only from August 18-September 8, 2025, so none of my payments from August 2025-May 2026 counted.

Does anyone know why this happened and if there is any way I could retroactively get those payments to count?

TIA

I know the language in PSLF is clear but I was a 1099 for a public agency in Oregon in 2016. the agency informed me that as of 2022, they can certify contractors but you go through a slightly different process. she said other states passed something similar. has anyone heard something similar or had this successfully count? what about W4 with a temp agency?

My payment count updated this morning. I called student aid.gov to ask what the timeline is for getting these loans discharged. They couldn’t answer my question, they said it was an “end of day process for the department of ed” and I couldn’t get any explanation as to what that means? Can anyone ballpark the timeline and next steps for me?

I have four more loans that are 3 payments away from discharge.

Thanks - for any help you can provide

MOHELA sent a notice July 1st that my SAVE plan application has been denied. Within that letter, it indicates I have 90 days to select a new plan or if not I will be put back on the plan I was before SAVE. Then on 08/25 I received a notice with the subject being “you have 90 days to select a new repayment plan” and if I don’t select new plan in 90 days I’ll be placed on standard repayment.

I know my SAVE app was accepted and I made one payment under the SAVE plan. Anyone else received two notices like this? I’d of course like to believe the second one is accurate and that I have 90 days from 08/25 …

I’m trying to figure out the best way to handle a somewhat unusual PSLF situation.

In theory, I became eligible for PSLF around February/March 2025. At that point, I had 120 months of qualifying employment, but I had 8 months in the SAVE forbearance that I needed to buy back in order to reach 120 qualifying payments.

Unfortunately, I was caught up in the federal government RIFs around that time and wasn't paying as much attention to my student loans as I should have. I didn't submit my PSLF buyback request until July 2025.

I was fortunate enough to get another job, but my new employer does not qualify for PSLF. That means I can't make payments for those eight months while I wait for the buyback process to be resolved.

My understanding is that, since SAVE has now ended, I need to move into another repayment plan. I'm also considering requesting a general forbearance while I wait for the buyback request to be processed, particularly since I haven't previously used my general forbearance allowance.

If my general forbearance request is denied and I have to start making payments under a different repayment plan, what happens to those payments?

• Would they reduce the amount I'd ultimately have to pay for the eight-month buyback?
• Or would they simply be payments toward the loan that have nothing to do with the buyback?

I have an upcoming payment due date that falls on a weekend. I’m concerned Dept of Education or MOHELA will bungle this payment and label it as late.

Has anyone had a recent weekend due date that was properly handled without issue? I know July and August haven’t posted on FSA, so it might be a little difficult to tell, but the loan servicer should have it listed.

I've spent the day on the phone with Mohela and the PSLF Help Line, and it appears SAVE Forbearance between 7-2024 and the present is no longer eligible for PSLF Buyback. Has anyone heard this? All of the months previously listed as PSLF-eligible during this time now say "ineligible" for me. Do they for you?

Hi all, I started a thread for those in July and now August purgatory (https://www.reddit.com/r/PSLF/s/gaJRC1jsDq) and have been reading all the responses there and elsewhere regarding this issue. We have one person who has said FSA indicated it could be resolved in an update by this weekend. If it is not, what do you think about organizing one day that we ALL message our congressperson about this issue? We could create a template that everyone could send. I know some of you have already contacted your reps, but it might make more of an impact if we all do the same thing at the same time. Thoughts? I’ll be honest, part of me is scared to do this because I think our government will punish us for speaking up. Obviously a scary sign of the times unfortunately.

I was put on SAVE automatically by consolidating loans in 2022 along with certifying "payments" from my previous employers and current new employers (all public universities). In 2023 I received NIH loan repayment for my research and they paid a LOT of my loan balance down, it just ended in July. I was notified that I'd hit my 120 months in November, which now says May 2027 and I also got the notification that I now need to drop SAVE to qualify for PSLF. I'm looking at changing the repayment plan now, however are they actually saying that they aren't going to give us credit for (in my case) 2.5 years of payments from when Biden put us consolidation people on SAVE? Or is it from a month from now or whenever the new rule officially starts?

September is 120 months of eligible employment; but due to the SAVE forbearance plus Mohela taking a year and a half to process the application to get back on a payment plan- I have to buy back a fair amount.

I realize the recent months payments are not posting as qualified payments due to a glitch. Would I be correct in assuming that this does not derail my ability to apply for buyback? Since I would think only the months of employment are needed for buyback.

Presumably, those payments would be fixed before they get around to calculating my buyback in like two years lol

Current outlook - I have eight remaining student loans: 5 are Stafford Unsubsidized, each with an interest rate of 6.8% and a current total balance of $ 13,315.57 and on an IDR replayment plan. The remaining 3 are a direct sub with an interest rate of 4.5% and a balance of $ 2,398.49, and 2 direct unsub, each with an interest rate of 6.8% and a total balance of $ 3,682.24 and are on the 'SAVE-Alternative' plan.

I have been working at a PSLF-approved employer for over 9 years. I should have consolidated long ago so that the 5 stafford loans could have been PSLF-approved, but regulations changed, life happened... too late for those I guess.

My payments from 03/2017 - 05/2024 (87 total) have been approved as qualifying payments. As of June 2024, I was automatically switched from 'REPAYE' to 'SAVE Alternative'. I was unaware that 'SAVE Alternative' changed my PSLF eligibility. The StudentAid.gov site has had a banner almost the entire time that states something along the lines of 'their system is working to update PSLF payment counts' so I wrongfully assumed those were just waiting to be corrected. If all of my payments since the switch were to be accepted, my 3 PSLF-qualifying loans would be eligible after my February 2027 payment. Is there anything that can be done?

Alternatively, I have until the end of this month to choose a repayment plan to replace the 'SAVE Alternative" plan. Will that affect my PSLF eligibility?

Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

Hi all! I tried to research past posts and may have missed something but hoping someone can offer some insight. I spoke with Mohela for a while today and can't tell if this answer is accurate. I am currently in "repayment" after being taken off a (erroneous but that's beside the point) forbearance. My repayment schedule starts in December but I auto paid a few months already before I realized. I want to cancel my auto pay and keep that money in my pocket until I'm absolutely required to pay, AND I want to maximize my PSLF payment count at the same time. Mohela said even if I cancel my autopay and do not pay, the intervening months between now and when my next payment is officially due WILL count for PSLF.

I can of course try it and watch my payment tracker but that'll take a few months to know how it's being handled. Any advice? Thank you in advance!!

So, I got my payment amount today and it’s more than I expected. Now, I’m on PSLF, so I’m trying to pay as little as I can.

This year, I’ll be doing married filing separately to tank my payment.

Once I do that, can I immediately go and decertify my income and get a new payment amount?

I truly apologize if this info already exists, I just want to be ready to redo my loan application as soon as I freaking can.

I have hit the magic 120, and on the website it indicates with my happy ribbon that I have met the 120 qualifying payments. I have submitted (again) the PSLF form and checked the box that I HAVE met that requirement.

What now? I guess I wait?

I submitted a wet signature for income recertification for my IBR plan on 6/7/26. Then, on 6/16 I received a notification regarding a processing delay. My recertification deadline was on 6/15/26. I'm not in a "Awaiting Documentation Administrative Forbearance"-Ends 09/21/2026

I did a wet signature b/c when trying to complete the Student Aid portal, it was giving me a weird error about changing IDR plans, when it was just a recertification.

As of today, no updates on recertification of my loan. I'm also in that weird year of 2014 (new vs old IBR) and debating if I should submit a student aid application to switch to PAYE for lower payments (appears to be calculating correctly based on my spouse's income/loans). Anyone have experience in this or thoughts?

I myself am a July 120er. I noticed today my expected Pslf forgiveness changed from September to October. To me what says September payments won’t be updated as well.

unsure if this is typical but I haven't had new count since june 2026 just stuck there. ive been just sending FSA each month since then the pslf form my HR rep docu-signs/signatures but even then no new count yet

Hi everyone. I was hoping someone could help me and I’m sorry if this is confusing and not eloquent—I feel so many of you have a better grasp on this than I do.
I have been working at a public university since August 2016, so just hit 10 years. Took out additional loans for grad school in 2018/2019. I consolidated (which I think now was dumb? But too little too late) in April 2024.
I switched to an IBR plan this past February. I recertified my employment in December 2025. I got an email yesterday saying I needed to recertify my IBR by October or else my payment would move to $619 (it’s currently $170). I was confused since I recertified in December and usually only do it once a year.
I just got off the phone with FSA and they were absolutely unhelpful. The woman must’ve been new because she couldn’t even tell me what plan I was on. So here are my questions:
My payment tracker/counter hasn’t been updated in I think a year? It has been stuck on 76 forever. She said I need to fill out a reconsideration form? But I asked for confirmation that the payments I’ve been making have been counting towards PSLF have been counting and she said yes. So I told her I was confused, is this just a tracker problem then? She said she didn’t know….
I also took a new, lower paying job at my university in July. I am hoping that with a lower salary, my payment will decrease. She couldn’t answer this either.
I guess I’m looking for reassurance that the tracker is incorrect and there is no reason the last few months of payments (since I switched from SAVE to IBR in February 2026) would not count. Also do I need to do a reconsideration or do I just go with that the tracker is not correct?

So. My 120th payment was taken from my bank on July 23rd.

July 25th, I re-certified.

Wait a few weeks, no indication that anything took, but I had requested a forbearance, so whatever probably processing time.

August 22nd forbearance cancelled.

August 23rd, 121st payment withdrawn.

Ugh, ok, whatever. I re-certify again, without requesting forbearance, on the 27th.

I call both Mohela and US Dept of Ed. Both point fingers at each other. Mohela says they can't apply forbearance because Feds haven't updated payments in system. Feds say Mohela hasn't notified them of payments.

Anyone know how I can just get this to move forward?

I see both payments on Mohela's site. Last payment I see on PSLF is June.

Maybe too specific of a question, but after you recertify your income and the payments go up due to increased income, is the new payment amount reflected immediately? or in the next months payment?-servicer is MOHELA

Determining cause of pslf removal count.
Share your data points. Let’s see if there’s anything common/uncommon. Anyone not in this boat of having pslf counts lost, If you can share as well it could be helpful.

Examples of data , share as many or as few as you want .
-payment counts lost -are you in paid ahead status? Y/N -how close are you to finishing x/120 -gender -political affiliation? - can leave blank.
-age’ish -income ‘ish -debt ‘ish

I know that months with a qualifying employer while on the SAVE plan show as "ineligible - forebearance on due date". My question is how the system will know that I've technically "reached" 120 payments and qualify for buyback? Or do I have to track it myself (I've been doing that of course) and submit the form at that point?

So just for context I've been a public school teacher for 12 years, have never made a single payment towards my loans before, and currently owe about 60k being serviced by Mohela. Yet according to the US student loans website I'm at 116/120 qualifying payments and need only to make four more.

I submitted a request to change from the SAVE program to ICR with a monthly payment of $569. Is there anything else I have to do aside from paying that monthly amount for the next four months? Will the US student loans website know that I submit payments to Mohela? I don't believe I have to recertify employment until next February but if I'm right I won't even have to bother doing that as my last payment should be in December.

I received my notice on July 1st that I needed to choose a new repayment plan, so I need to switch this month. I remember that previously they had an option on the form that you could check for them to choose the PSLF repayment plan with the lowest monthly payment amount.

Does this option still exist or do I need to enter my data in the simulator and go with the lowest option presented from there?