student loans - payment count adjustment

[kittywalker]

My sister got a letter saying she might be eligible for forgiveness after 20 years of paying her loans. She sent me her letter because she wasn't clear, and neither am I.... Does anyone know: do you need to work in public service or meet income requirements for forgiveness based on this? It also says you have to apply to consolidate into the Direct Loan Program to be eligible - is this just a ploy to get her to move her loan to another servicer? She's worried she'll lose her low interest rate by consolidating into the program and then she might be told anyway that her loans can't be forgiven. 

[gretchenindisguise]

Send her here: studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment

There are a lot of scam emails and real emails, make sure all she does is through the student aid.gov website or her current servicer.

She will need to have all direct loans to be forgiven. She can check them on student aid. If they are FFEL loans, she will need to consolidate by April 30th through student aid.gov to qualify.

If she has over 20 years of repayment on undergrad loans, she doesn't need to do anything else. If she has grad school loans too, I believe she'll need to be on an income driven repayment plan until she hits 25 years of repayment.

She does not need to be in public service for this forgiveness.

[gretchenindisguise]

Her interest rate after consolidation will be a weighted average of her current rates.

Again, if they are direct loans and have the same payment history, she will not have to consolidate. If they are FFEL loans she will.

It is almost always worth it.

Happy to answer questions.