All PSLF forms will be reviewed for eligibility under both the PSLF/TEPSLF Then, the representative will submit the request on your behalf and provide you with a confirmation. Loans were forgiven at the end of July 2022. employment for your organization qualifies, an updated PSLF form is the only way for an employee to be sure that all of the I realize that people can request a refund during the special COVID forbearance March 13, 2020-OCT 31,2022, but that refund is very different than the refund of over 120 months of qualified/certified work payment refunds. Thanks! In that case, PSLF may not be right for you. They may have already qualified for PSLF and had their loans discharged. the number of PSLF forms we receive, and if ED is reviewing your employers eligibility, among other factors. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn I mean the forbearance period payments either count as payments or they dont. A few months later, MOHELA adjusted his payment count to 160. This form requires you, (888) 830-6277. According to the Federal Student Aid website, "You can get a refund for any payment (including auto-debit payments) you make during the payment pause (beginning March 13, 2020).Contact your loan servicer to request that your payment be refunded." So, if you made a student loan payment pre-pandemic or in the early stages, you're eligible for a . qualifying organization, ask your employer. For more information, visit the Another possible refund is for the payments you made during the payment pause toward loans covered by the forbearance. program requirements. MOHELA itself is not a party to the case and has tried to stay out of the legal fray. Qualifying repayment plans for TEPSLF include the qualifying repayment plans for PSLF, as well as the While that process would be automatic for many borrowers, others would have to successfully apply for debt cancellation first. Wow! for the PSLF Limited time Waiver that ended Oct. 31, 2022. employer may be contacted before granting loan forgiveness. Contact one of our Public Service Loan Forgiveness specialists at It's important to note that these refunded payments will increase your loan balance and your monthly payments. I just turned my paperwork in in Aug and havent heard anything. Another common complaint about MOHELA is the number of phone calls borrowers receive. See important account correspondence online sooner. The first step is to see if your employment qualifies for the PSLF program. The average college grad has nearly $8,000 in credit card debt. You may prepay your loans (make lump sum payments) and have those payments count towards forgiveness. to be here when you need help. to your accounts. If you had 170 payments, your effective date would be much longer ago. Do not sell or share my personal information. Heres Who Gets It, The New Income-Driven Repayment Plan: How It Works. StudentAid.gov by 11:59 p.m. Tweets & replies. Cookie Notice Hello, I had made student loan payments under FFEL since 2009 (about 160 payments) and now owe 35,000. The ICR State of Massachusetts- Ombudsmans Student Loan Assistance Unit He has helped borrowers navigate life with student debt since 2013. Even if you get a refund, that month still counts toward PSLF, as long as all other qualifications are met. I was concerned a week or two ago when my negative balance (after my loans were forgiven) disappeared from mohela. Amy Im in the same boat as you and was wondering the same thing it would seem that regardless of payment amount (or in the case of forbearance a zero dollar amount), once you meet the 120 payments, everything after that should be refunded, right? If you had FFEL or Perkins Loans, you also needed to use that site to submit a consolidation application before the Halloween cutoff. Privacy Policy. Eliza Haverstock is a lead writer on NerdWallet's student loans team, where she focuses on loan repayment and alternatives to traditional four-year degrees. To qualify, they needed to consolidate their Federal Family Education Loans and Perkins Loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. While I think my overpayment is actually almost $2,000 higher (which I plan to follow up on), I consider this a huge step. When you do, specify which months you want to be refunded for. For this The refunded payments will be sent to you using the same method that you made the payment (i.e., online payment or check). Hi Erica, congrats on getting PSLF! you should consider consolidating your Direct PLUS Loans for parents into a Direct Consolidation Loan. If the processing of your form is not complete until after Oct. 31, 2022, you will still receive the benefit of the limited PSLF I made monthly payments of approx. Each prepayment Typically, a variable-rate loan has a lower introductory rate than a fixed-loan rate loan. When you're ready . I applied under the old program years ago when it first started. To speed up the process, make sure that your contact information address, phone number, and email address are up to date and that your banking information routing and account number is accurate. You can visit StudentAid.gov to see a You may qualify for a $0.00 monthly payment. of PSLF forms we receive, and if ED is reviewing your employers eligibility, among other factors. He draws on decades of experience in personal finance journalism exploring everything from car insurance to bankruptcy to couponing to side hustles and a lifetime's worth of lessons learned. limited PSLF waiver if ED determines the employer is eligible. He will not get a refund for the 40 extra payments. StudentAid.gov/publicservice for more information and for a form you Hi Robin, I cant say for certain because I dont have your full loan information in front of me. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Those who made more than 120 payments will receive a refund for the extra payments. can fill out when you start working to receive confirmation that your employment qualifies for the program. I had retired from federal service. Is there a statute of limitations on how long they have to say opps we messed up give us the money back?. If your overpayment letter includes online payment instructions and a Remittance ID, you can also repay online at pay.gov Call us Available in most U.S. time zones Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. in English and other languages Call +1 800-772-1213 Tell the representative you want to pay us back for overpaid benefits. If some or all No contact. We will notify borrowers before payments restart. Other borrowers, who have a balance remaining even after the $10,000 or $20,000 debt cancellation, still can receive refunds on voluntary payments made after March 13, 2020, by contacting their servicer. Am I eligible for a refund for overpayment as I paid every month up until April 2022 either by 1) oeverpayment or 2) Covid-19 refund for auto-debit payments made from mid March 2020 through April 2022? Disclaimer: NerdWallet strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. If it appears you are eligible for PSLF/TEPSLF, your If you need a lower monthly payment or need to temporarily postpone your payments, learn more about options that might work for you. Direct PLUS Loans for parents are not eligible for IDR plans that allow borrowers to benefit from the PSLF program. payments count toward the 120 required for loan forgiveness. Today I received two unexpected Treasury checks. or submit a complaint directly to the FSA Ombudsman. This will help you track your progress in the PSLF/TEPSLF program, and that some borrowers want to pay off their loan as quickly as possible, and we encourage those borrowers to make extra payments. She consolidated her loans in February 2019. OK92033) Property & Casualty Licenses, NerdWallet | 55 Hawthorne St. - 11th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, Student Loan Refund Checks Are Arriving But Dont Spend Yet. on your eligible loan. To get the most benefit from the program, you should switch to an may qualify for TEPSLF instead. Borrowers pursuing PSLF will be transferred to MOHELA upon the approval of their submitted PSLF form. Our opinions are our own. He made 140 payments on the loans under the wrong repayment plan. At the start of this Biden thing, my loans were already with Mohela bc I converted to Direct Loans 10 years ago; when that happened my loans went from Nelnet. re-consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan to qualify for repayment under the ICR plan. The question many of them have is, Will I get a refund for PSLF?, PSLF Program: Student Loan Cancellation for Public Servants, TEPSLF vs Waiver: Which One Should You Choose. Based on what you have shared, you probably should get a refund for all of the payments past the required 120. Today I received two unexpected Treasury checks. I think you probably got credit for some of the deferment/forbearance time under this program. "If you apply first, you can process the. You can get a refund for any payments you make during the payment pause. We recommend that employees submit a PSLF form once per year. Your annual recertification period is the 12 month time Even though you and your employee already know whether the Thus, you have made a total of 140 PSLF payments. If you do not periodically submit the PSLF form, then at the time you apply for forgiveness you will be required to 2. is considered an authorized official in the following section). Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. This means that borrowers cannot get a refund for payments made towards FFEL or Perkins loans. In order for the prepayment to qualify for subsequent months you must: Pay an amount to fully satisfy future billed amounts for each month you wish to prepay, Make one or more prepayments that pay your loan ahead, but if you are on an Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plan, you Even if you get a refund, youll still get credit towards PSLF for each month your Direct loans were in forbearance Mar. However, if the refunds work like the Covid-19 refund requests, the refunds will be issued via the original payment method. My credit reports all still shows it in the full amount, but that may not have been updated recently. If your loans don't qualify, consolidation may make them eligible. and our Get information about the PSLF Limited Waiver. Both Mohela and StudentAid.gov show I now have a $0 balance. So, those payments took your balance from 10,000 to $7,000. Student debt relief lawsuit heads to Supreme Court. If legal challenges succeed in striking down the White Houses plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt, youll be on the hook for your entire student loan tab including the refunded amount. The Department of Education has not released exact details on the refund procedure. program requirements for PSLF and TEPSLF apply. PSLF allows federal student loan borrowers to get their loans forgiven after 120 "qualifying payments," which is a payment made (a) on a Direct federal loan, (b) under a repayment plan based . If your employment does not qualify for PSLF/TEPSLF, you still may be eligible for loan forgiveness under an Income-Driven You will get an automatic refund after you apply for forgiveness if your payments during the pandemic brought your loan balance below the maximum debt relief amount: $10,000 for all borrowers,. Received the refund for my overpayment! The Advantages of Getting a Covid-19 Refund on Federal Student Loan Payments. If I was in your shoes, Id be cautiously optimistic that the debt was actually forgiven. All payments must be made: For the full amount due as shown on your bill, No later than 15 days after your due date, While you are employed full-time at a qualifying employer. Sure, they had federal student loans. An eligible payment becomes a qualifying payment when you certify your employment and all or part of your employment If there is even a chance that you qualify for a refund, Id suggest the following steps: Student loan expert Michael Lux is a licensed attorney and the founder of The Student Loan Sherpa. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program allows you to receive forgiveness of the remaining balance of your Direct Loans after you For many years, advocates have been calling for PSLF changes to help borrowers who had issues with repayment plan or loan eligibility. Not only does your place of work need to be a qualifying employer for PSLF/TEPSLF, the amount of time you work also needs to meet Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. The U.S. Department of Education will write off her remaining balance and issue her a refund for the 23 extra payments she made. made during the following loan statuses are not considered qualifying. I think it is definitely fair to call your servicer to ask what is taking so long and when they expect to give you the results. WASHINGTON The Internal Revenue Service is sending more than 2.8 million refunds this week to taxpayers who paid taxes on unemployment compensation that new legislation now excludes as income. non-eligible federal student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan An overpayment refund can take 6-8 weeks to be applied. For me it was Mohela that went negative 1st, studentaid.gov told me it could be 2 months before they reflected that-but it was only 2 weeks. To receive forgiveness, you must remain employed with a qualifying employer at the time you submit your Public Service Loan Privacy Policy. I received this letter and did not have FFEL loans. They consolidated their FFEL and Perkins Loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan in 2010. How long does it take? I have about 18 excess actual paymentsThat were not qualified but eligible. To take full advantage of the Biden debt cancellation plan up to $10,000 per borrower, or $20,000 if they received a Pell Grant at any point in the past many are seeking a refund of payments that brought their balances below those thresholds. Biden Cancels $10K in Student Debt. You dont want them to mail a refund check to an old address. month, depending on your circumstances. Any idea how long I should wait before dipping into the refund? to get help from the Ombudsmans Student Loan Assistance Unit. Repayment (IDR) plan. And if youre one of the 40 million Americans eligible for cancellation under President Bidens plan, you may also qualify for a refund of $10 to $20 thousand. including if your loans were with another servicer and require a transfer, if the form had any missing fields such as an employers EIN, Review the seven steps to forgiveness under PSLF to make sure you're on the right track. Our balance went from a little over $40k to about $5k, with the remaining balance reflecting my spouse's loans from consolidation--we consolidated our loans back in 2006. This Committed to excellent student loan servicing and helping families successfully repay student loans. For more information, please see our have paid under an IDR plan. I continued paying until 2020 when covid forbearance started. programs. As of July 2022, MOHELA became the student loan servicer for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Mary has worked full-time for the Veterans Administration since 2010. Once the debt falls off your credit report, I think you are probably on solid ground to move forward free from student debt. Your loan servicer representative could ask for your Social Security number to pull up your account. Thanks for any information. New to MOHELA or in Repayment, we offer several online tools to manage your account. Apply for a forbearance to postpone payments while your account is being reviewed for forgiveness. NOTE: Direct PLUS Consolidation Loans, which include PLUS Loans made to parent borrowers before July 1, 2006 must be Many factors impact processing times, including Terry applied for PSLF in 2018, and her loans were forgiven. This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research. Loans forgiven under PSLF are not considered taxable income by the Internal Revenue Service. to make them eligible for PSLF/TEPSLF. Biden is changing lives! Visit Mohela.com/covid19 orStudentAid.gov/coronavirus for updates. Too many phone calls. Note:Your refund may be offset if you owe the federal government another debt, such as unpaid child support or taxes. She is based in Washington, D.C. Lead Assigning Editor | Student loans, repaying college debt, paying for college.