If you haven’t heard from the department by February or seen updates on the statements and records that FedLoan, the entity that services people who are already enrolled in P.S.L.F., provides, call or send a message to FedLoan for guidance. If that doesn’t yield any information, send a note to the department’s ombudsman office and request a review. And if that doesn’t work, contact your senators’ or congressperson’s constituent service representatives and ask them to intervene on your behalf.
And if you have had the right type of loan all along but are hoping for a payment review, you should fill out the standard P.S.L.F. form if you haven’t done so yet or haven’t certified your employment before because you didn’t think you needed to.
What if I end up with credit for more than 120 payments when this is all over?
You should get a refund, automatically, according to the department’s website, as long as you haven’t already received full forgiveness (say, a year or two ago). If you already have, there won’t be any refund forthcoming even if the current waivers mean that you, in theory, made too many payments before your forgiveness.
Where can I get help in the meantime?
The P.S.L.F. journey has proved lonely and infuriating for so many people. Many of them commiserate on Facebook in a Public Service Loan Forgiveness program support group, where you can learn about others’ successes, failures and tactics. The Reddit group about the program can offer similar camaraderie. Both places should have frequent updates from individuals posting about what they’ve heard from which entities about their progress or lack thereof.
The Student Loan Borrower Protection Center offers resources for borrowers, and the Institute of Student Loan Advisors tries to answer debtor questions. Many financial planners now specialize in student loan advice, too.
How could this all go awry before the Oct. 31, 2022, deadline?
Where to start, really?
Given all the past problems, it is a bit of a stretch to think that the Education Department will be able to quickly sort data on hundreds of thousands of people or more and pick out the ones who are eligible for waivers. But at least it is trying.
Meanwhile, FedLoan has announced its intention to get out of the business of servicing these loans altogether. The Education Department did not say what entity might replace it or when.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/article/public-service-loan-forgiveness-changes.html
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