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Tips: Once You Have Loans

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Student Loans Main Page

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Tips: Before Enrolling in School

Tips: Before Taking Out Loans

Tips: Once You Have Loans

Student Loan Research Reports

Student Loan Testimony

In the News

In-Person Help

Other Resources


Once You Have Student Loans

Repaying your student loan debt can be confusing. But paying late—or not at all—can have long-lasting and serious consequences. Use these tips, which include tips to lower monthly loan payments, get out of delinquency or default, or access opportunities for loan forgiveness, to help you plan and protect yourself.

IMPORTANT NOTICE
In August 2024, a federal court issued an injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Education from implementing parts of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan and other IDR plans, including—for example—SAVE’s monthly payment formula and loan forgiveness under the SAVE, PAYE, and ICR Plans. As a result, SAVE plan borrowers are being placed in administrative forbearance. If you are enrolled in the SAVE plan, you will not need to make loan payments and your loans will not accrue interest during this time. For regularly updated information, see StudentAid.gov/saveaction.

All Student Loan Borrowers

Keep copies of the loan documents that you sign in person or electronically.

Important: The promissory note is particularly important because it is the legal agreement you sign promising to repay the loan, plus interest, and any other charges and fees. The promissory note provides details about the loan terms and conditions, repayment options, and outlines what happens when you fail to make a payment.

Seek help at an NYC Financial Empowerment Center if you do not understand all the terms in your student loan paperwork, including the interest rate and how long it will take to pay back your loan.

Know your payment start date so you don’t miss any payments.

Federal student loans and some private student loans allow you to defer payment while you’re in school and for six months after graduation. This is known as a grace period.

Important: Some loans, like unsubsidized federal loans, might accrue interest during the grace period. You are not required to make payments during the grace period. However, you may be responsible in the future for paying the interest that accrues during the grace period.

You must make payments on your loan according to your repayment schedule even if you do not receive a bill or repayment notice.

If you used a cosigner for your student loan, make sure you and your cosigner agree on who will make payments. A cosigner is a co-borrower and is responsible for paying the debt if you fail to pay the loan.

Private Student Loan Borrowers

Private student loans are issued by private lenders such as banks, an online lender, or credit unions. Private student loans will not be in your Federal Student Aid account but might be available on your credit report, which you can get for free at annualcreditreport.com.

Your school’s financial aid office may also have information about your private student loans.

Note: Unlike federal student loans, private student loans lack many of the protections that are offered to federal student loan borrowers such as income-driven repayment plans or loan forgiveness.

Important: If you’re considering refinancing private student loans, note that the terms will likely change your interest rate and how long it will take to pay back the loan. Seek help to understand the terms of any loans you consider.

Federal Student Loan Borrowers

To learn more about your student loans, including how much you owe, your interest rate, loan repayment status, and the name of your loan servicer, follow these steps:

Visit StudentAid.gov to create your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID if you do not already have one. Note: The FSA ID is the same username and password you used when you filed your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

With your FSA ID, log in to StudentAid.gov.

Using the FSA website, you can find out how much you owe and who services your loans.

Visit your StudentAid.gov dashboard for your student loan servicer. You can also call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243.

A loan servicer manages your loans and will be your primary point of contact in repaying your loans, picking a payment plan, consolidating your loans, or answering your questions.

Federal Student Loan Discharge

There are several kinds of federal student loan discharge. “Discharge” means you are no longer required to make payments on your student loans due to certain circumstances. For example, you may be eligible for a kind of federal student loan forgiveness called “borrower defense” if you took out loans to attend a school that misled you about your likelihood of finding a job or obtaining certification or licensure in your field of study, the school’s graduation rates, earnings after graduation, or the cost of education at the school. If your college or career school closed while you were enrolled or soon after you left school, you may qualify for a “closed school discharge” of your federal student loans. Other forms of discharge include Ability to Benefit Discharge, Total and Permanent Disability Discharge, and more. You may want to seek legal assistance with your application for loan discharge.

New York State Student Loan Repayment Assistance Programs

New York State offers other loan payment assistance programs for those in certain professions who qualify.

There is also the New York State Get on Your Feet Program. Under the Program, New York State will make student loan payments directly to your loan servicer for up to 24 months. To qualify, you must be a New York resident who earned an undergraduate degree from a New York State college or university December 2014 or after, have an adjusted gross income of less than $50,000, and meet other eligibility requirements. Learn more at hesc.ny.gov.

One-Time Income-Driven Repayment Account Adjustment

In April 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED) announced that it would conduct a one-time adjustment of payment counts for eligible borrowers in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. It allowed more borrowers to get qualifying payment credit toward IDR plans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. Borrowers received credit for the following:

Any months in a repayment status

Time spent in forbearance, specifically 12 or more months of consecutive forbearance or 36 or more months of cumulative forbearance

Most deferments prior to 2013 and economic hardship deferments after 2013

Months prior to loan consolidation

Borrowers did not get credit for time spent in an in-school deferment, grace period, or default. For PSLF, borrowers still must meet the employment requirement and certify their employment. In July 2023, U.S. ED started notifying Direct Loan borrowers of this automatic account adjustment. This process is being finalized now. To see your payment history and which payments have been credited to your IDR repayment, see StudentAid.gov. If you believe the count is inaccurate,  visit your servicer’s website to ask about it. You can also submit a complaint to the FSA Ombudsman.

Federal Student Loan Borrowers Seeking An Income-Driven Repayment Plan

You may be eligible to make payments based on your income.

Income-driven repayment plan options set your monthly loan payment at an amount that is based on your income and family size. Depending on your income, your payments could be as low as $0 a month. If you do not qualify for these options, you may qualify for a graduated repayment plan that allows you to make smaller initial payments that increase over time. This graduated repayment plan could extend your repayment period and increase the total amount you pay in loan interest. Some repayment plans, like graduated repayment, do not qualify for certain debt cancellation programs, like IDR or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

To see the various payment plans and your options, visit StudentAid.gov and log in to the Loan Simulator tool using your FSA ID.

Important: U.S. ED announced a new IDR option Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan which allows borrowers with undergraduate loans to pay smaller monthly payments and reduce the number of total payments before forgiveness.
In August 2024, a federal court issued an injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Education from implementing parts of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan and other IDR plans, including—for example—SAVE’s monthly payment formula and loan forgiveness under the SAVE, PAYE, and ICR Plans. For regularly updated information, see StudentAid.gov/saveaction.

You may be able to consolidate your Perkins and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loans to qualify for an income-driven repayment plan such as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) or SAVE.

If you are considering refinancing your federal student loan into a private student loan:

Understand that you will lose access to the forbearance, deferment, income-driven repayment, rehabilitation, and consolidation options described in this sheet, as well as the forgiveness and discharge options available for federal student loans only.

Federal Student Loan Borrowers Seeking Loan Forgiveness

In certain situations, you may qualify to have your federal student loan forgiven, canceled, or discharged, which means that you no longer need to repay your loan.

Loans made under the Federal Perkins Loan Program may be eligible for forgiveness if you work in certain professions such as firefighting, law enforcement, nursing, teaching, and social work. Learn more about this option at StudentAid.gov

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full time for a qualifying employer, such as a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization.

Make sure you understand which jobs qualify for PSLF and which loans are eligible. Visit StudentAid.gov to learn how to apply.

If you decide to participate in the program, your employer will need to certify your employment in order for you to qualify for loan forgiveness, which starts after 120 qualifying payments. Use the PSLF Help Tool for help starting the PSLF Form.

Important: PSLF is not considered taxable by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). But other debt forgiveness programs are taxable, which means you will owe taxes on the amount that is forgiven through the program. Please consult a tax professional with questions.

Federal Student Loan Borrowers Who Are In Default

Below is information about programs to help you get out of default.

Rehabilitation
To rehabilitate Direct and FFEL loans, you must make nine payments in a 10-month period and, for Perkins loans, you must make nine payments in a 9-month period. If you cannot afford to pay the required amount, you can negotiate a “reasonable and affordable” monthly payment (as low as $5 a month) with the debt collector or loan servicer who has contacted you about your debt.

When you rehabilitate the loan, the default will be removed from your credit report and you may resume making payment to your loan servicer. Even though your credit report may not show the default, your history of missed payments will remain on your credit report for seven years. Typically, collection fees (up to 16 percent of the unpaid loan balance) are assessed for rehabilitating the loan and may be added to your loan balance.

Consolidation
Consolidation, which combines your previous loan(s) into one new loan, offers a quicker path out of default. Consolidation can lower your monthly payment by giving you a longer period of time (up to 30 years) to repay your loans.

When you consolidate, the default for your old loans will stay on your credit report for up to seven years. Collection fees of up to 18.5 percent of the unpaid loan balance may be added into your new consolidation loan. You can learn more about the pros and cons of consolidating your loans at StudentAid.gov.

Visit StudentAid.gov for information about these options. Important: Avoid consolidating Parent PLUS loans that you borrowed for a child with federal student loans that you borrowed for your own education. Parent PLUS loans do NOT qualify for all of the income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness programs.

Once you rehabilitate or consolidate your loan, consider an income-driven repayment plan option.

Student Loan Borrowers Who Are Behind On Payments

Federal Student Loan Borrowers

If you need immediate help, deferment and forbearance allow you to temporarily stop making payments on your loans. In most cases, the interest will still accrue. If making your monthly loan payments is a struggle, enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan may be more affordable in the long run than deferment or forbearance.

Private Student Loan Borrowers

Contact your servicer to ask about options to lower your payment or to temporarily defer your loan payments if you’re experiencing a financial hardship. Another option is to refinance to a loan with a lower interest rate and/or a longer repayment period. Be aware that many refinance loans charge fees.

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10/2024