Post by karinothing on Mar 28, 2020 11:16:51 GMT -5
I wanted to make sure everyone saw this. Federal student loans are suspended until Sept 30. You so not need to call your lender, this will be automatic. No interest will accrue during this period.
For your Direct loans, even though your payment is suspended, those months will count toward loan forgiveness programs as long as the other the PSLF program requirements are met. Please note that only Direct Loans are eligible for PSLF. All Direct Loans are owned by the federal government.
An earlier bill granted emergency forbearance. From Fed Loan "All borrowers will have the ability to request this emergency administrative forbearance which will allow them to postpone payments for at least 60 days
In regards to time spent in emergency forbearance:
The time spent on the emergency administrative forbearance will NOT count toward your required payment count. If your income has changed as a result of COVID-19 you may be eligible for a new lower IDR plan repayment amount."
Suspension counts towards PSLF forbearance does not. I think suspension now makes emergency forbearance moot but I am not 100% sure.
Post by seeyalater52 on Mar 28, 2020 12:27:10 GMT -5
Does anyone have insight into what we need to do to keep paying on loans if we donāt want to suspend our payments during this time? They usually make these things such a pain in the ass.
Does anyone have insight into what we need to do to keep paying on loans if we donāt want to suspend our payments during this time? They usually make these things such a pain in the ass.
Does anyone have insight into what we need to do to keep paying on loans if we donāt want to suspend our payments during this time? They usually make these things such a pain in the ass.
I am looking for this information as well.
I was wondering this too. Mine are directly debited every month and I wonder if there is something I can do to get this to continue. My servicer granite state these days so if anyone hears anything, please share.
Post by karinothing on Mar 28, 2020 12:39:42 GMT -5
I am not sure about how would one continue paying. It may put you in pay ahead status which will mess up things for PSLF purposes if that is a concern. I would hope the lenders would provide more info soon.
I only have four payments left until forgiveness. So I guess I am done paying now which feels anti climatic
There are also rumors that folks need to suspend auto payment or it will continue to be debited at your full loan amount, but I am not sure. That may be one way to keep paying if you want to.
Does anyone have insight into what we need to do to keep paying on loans if we donāt want to suspend our payments during this time? They usually make these things such a pain in the ass.
My loans are with Navient. I was able to just log in and schedule a payment.
ETA: I'm not in PSLF. I'm on a 30-year graduated repayment plan.
Does anyone have insight into what we need to do to keep paying on loans if we donāt want to suspend our payments during this time? They usually make these things such a pain in the ass.
I doubt they'll refuse your money. So if your payment right now says $0 due, I would presume you can still pay. I know typically I can pay extra outside of my minimum, so I would think it'd be the same thing.
Be careful because this does not apply to all "federal" loans. My loans are apparently owned by Navient and not the feds, so the waivers do not apply, even though they are federally backed loans. My interest rate is still the same and my payment went through today.
From the Navient website:
If your FFELP loan is owned by a bank or other financial institution, such as Navient, it will not receive an interest waiver. The interest waiver announced by the White House is for federally held loans only, and the government has not extended this relief to FFELP loans owned by banks and other financial institutions. Some FFELP loans were transferred to the federal government. If the government owns your FFELP loan, you may be eligible for the interest waiver, and if so, it would be applied automatically.
Mine are serviced by Nelnet, which shows this pop up message:
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Postponing Payments Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) ā¢ We will automatically apply a coronavirus forbearance if your account begins with an E and you are or become more than 30 days past due. Thereās no need for you to do anything. ā¢ If your account begins with an E, and you are up to date on payments or less than 30 days past due, you can request a coronavirus forbearance at Nelnet.com/nelnetforms/emailus or call us via Nelnet.com/Contact. ā¢ If your account begins with a D or J, you can request a coronavirus forbearance at Nelnet.com/nelnetforms/emailus or call us via Nelnet.com/Contact. For more details, visit Nelnet.com/covid-19.
--
I have a D series account (FFELP accounts that are owned by a bank, credit union or other lender, as opposed to a series E federal direct loan). It sounds like they'll continue to take the monthly auto payments if I don't request a forbearance. It's showing next due on 4/7.
Post by karinothing on Mar 28, 2020 16:08:29 GMT -5
To be clear forbearance is NOT the same as suspension. What the law passed in 3/27 does is suspend loans it does NOT place them into forbearance.
Forbearance requires a request. The difference between the two terms is obviously causing confusing and most lender websites are not updated to reflect the 3/27 changes in the CARES Act.
The text of the law indicates that the suspension is automatic (at least that is how all loan experts are interpreting it)
SEC. 4513. TEMPORARY RELIEF FOR FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS. (a) In General.āThe Secretary shall suspend all payments due for loans made under part D of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) for 3 months.
(b) No Accrual Of Interest.āNotwithstanding any other provision of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), interest shall not accrue on a loan described under subsection (a) for which payment was suspended for the period of the suspension.
(c) Consideration Of Payments.āThe Secretary shall deem each month for which a loan payment was suspended under this section as if the borrower of the loan had made a payment for the purpose of any loan forgiveness program authorized under part D of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) for which the borrower would have otherwise qualified.
(d) Extension.āThe Secretary may extend the period of suspension described under subsection (a) for an additional 3 months.
Yeah I would not worry. If they are with fed loan it says they are working to implement the CARES changes and they will be retroactive. They have 15 days to be on compliance..I assume they will tale the full 15 days.
Be careful because this does not apply to all "federal" loans. My loans are apparently owned by Navient and not the feds, so the waivers do not apply, even though they are federally backed loans. My interest rate is still the same and my payment went through today.
From the Navient website:
If your FFELP loan is owned by a bank or other financial institution, such as Navient, it will not receive an interest waiver. The interest waiver announced by the White House is for federally held loans only, and the government has not extended this relief to FFELP loans owned by banks and other financial institutions. Some FFELP loans were transferred to the federal government. If the government owns your FFELP loan, you may be eligible for the interest waiver, and if so, it would be applied automatically.
Correct that is noted in the article in my OP. As follows:
"Is the payment suspended on all of my student loans, including my private student loans?
No. The suspension of payments applies only to student loans that are held by the federal government, which are the vast majority of student loans issued since 2010. Some federal student loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans are owned by commercial lenders, and some Perkins Loans are held by the institution you attended. These loans are not eligible for this benefit at this time. This benefit also does not apply to private (non-federal) student loans owned by banks, credit unions, schools, or other private entities."
I donāt understand what āfederalā loans are. When I was In law school there were āfederal loansā - subsidized and unsubsidized - and private. I only have āfederalā loans left, but they donāt seem to qualify. These are from 2002-2005. Maybe thatās why?
Sorry I just posted below but FFELP and perkins loans do not currently qualify because they are not held by the government. I first took out loans in 2006 which I think were called grad plus loans, I dont honestly remeber. I think i consolidated them under direct loans,which do qualify.
Post by Velar Fricative on Mar 28, 2020 16:17:01 GMT -5
We have five different loans between us - two we know definitely wouldnāt be eligible because their private refinanced loans. One shows 0.00 interest in my account (but my payment goes through on the 28th and it looks like itās pending) so that one looks to be eligible. The other two are more confusing - both federal loans but may not be owned by the federal government, or something. Guess we will see.
Sorry I just posted below but FFELP and perkins loans do not currently qualify because they are not held by the government. I first took out loans in 2006 which I think were called grad plus loans, I dont honestly remeber. I think i consolidated them under direct loans,which do qualify.
I have Stafford Loans which is why this is so confusing. It might also be the way I consolidated them. I have no idea. I would keep paying - I only pay $250/month and my interest is a negligible 1.6% - but i still think this is confusing.
Yeah I agree its confusing. I thought mine might have been Stafford in the beginning but now they are direct post consolidation. I am not familiar with all the loan types u fortunately just that they have to be held by the government not just backed by them which I think is different? Maybe?
I am confused. I have Navient and its saying I have nothing due for April. I have these on autopay so long. Do I have to set up a payment to keep paying?
Mine are serviced by Nelnet, which shows this pop up message:
--
Postponing Payments Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) ā¢ We will automatically apply a coronavirus forbearance if your account begins with an E and you are or become more than 30 days past due. Thereās no need for you to do anything. ā¢ If your account begins with an E, and you are up to date on payments or less than 30 days past due, you can request a coronavirus forbearance at Nelnet.com/nelnetforms/emailus or call us via Nelnet.com/Contact. ā¢ If your account begins with a D or J, you can request a coronavirus forbearance at Nelnet.com/nelnetforms/emailus or call us via Nelnet.com/Contact. For more details, visit Nelnet.com/covid-19.
--
I have a D series account (FFELP accounts that are owned by a bank, credit union or other lender, as opposed to a series E federal direct loan). It sounds like they'll continue to take the monthly auto payments if I don't request a forbearance. It's showing next due on 4/7.
I am confused. I have Navient and its saying I have nothing due for April. I have these on autopay so long. Do I have to set up a payment to keep paying?
This seems to be where there is a lot of confusion. Some are suggestion that auto pay will continue deducting your full amount (noting they are different systems, like if you make an extra payment your amount due days zero but that doesn't eliminate your scheduled autopay).
However, I am not sure if that is how it will work in this situation. You could see if the auto debit happens or you could cxl and make a payment through one time payment options. Or wait till lenders provide more guidance which they will hopefully do soon!
I am surprised its automatic, but I am guessing because lenders are all short staffed at the moment. But I imagine a fair amount of folks not experiencing hardship and not on PSLF would want to continue paying who wants to extend your loans for 6 months if you dont need to.
For PSLF obviously there would be no need to continue paying because your goal is not to pay off the loan.
I am confused. I have Navient and its saying I have nothing due for April. I have these on autopay so long. Do I have to set up a payment to keep paying?
I am guessing autopay stopped because $0 is due (so nothing to deduct in April). On mine, there is a button below named ācustom payā, so I think you need to manually enter the amount and date.
Yeah I would not worry. If they are with fed loan it says they are working to implement the CARES changes and they will be retroactive. They have 15 days to be on compliance..I assume they will tale the full 15 days.
Ah, okay. Itās an āEā account number. So I guess Iāll cancel the payment on the 2nd? Worst case they havenāt implemented CARES yet and it goes into forbearance.
Does anyone know what happens if we continue to pay even if the loans are suspended? Does it just continue to pay down the principal? We can afford to keep paying and Iād love to know if thereās some benefit. If not, weāll wait until September.