This deadline was extended. Please act by June 30! Someone I know who did this just received a notice that 100% of their remaining debt was wiped.
Not everyone will have those results, but I can't think of a situation in which it isn't worth doing.
If you or someone you know completely gave up paying student loans and are in default: the Fresh Start initiative deadline is very soon. Paired with SAVE, below, especially the changes for undergraduate borrowers (5% of discretionary income), it is the best opportunity that ever has existed
Whether or not your loans are in default, you really want to make sure older loans are consolidated into SAVE in time for the one-time IDR adjustment.
**A LOT** of people my age who have been resigned to eventual Social Security garnishment are getting their remaining balances discharged.
If your loans are in default, read here:
studentaid.gov/announcement...
And then start here:
myeddebt.ed.gov
*Note - it says you have until Sept, and that is technically true, but you get a LOT more benefits if you can consolidate before 6/30 and take advantage of "payment recount"
Once your loans are out of default, or if your loans were not in default, the instructions here lay out how to make sure everything is properly consolidated to receive the payment recount benefit. NOTE that you MUST do this 2nd step after Fresh Start, for the benefit.
studentaid.gov/announcement...
Another beautiful government system that requires that you gather and submit to the government information that the government already has, see also: Internal Revenue Service, The
Ok, I am not stupid but I'm also not well versed in this topic. My husband consolidated his loans twice in the past and each it nearly doubled the amount he owed without anyone warning him about that. Why on earth would he do that again? How does that help them count payments?
The answer to this, BTW, after research, is that it simplifies the counting process. It should be prefaced with "if you have more than one loan" - so far as I can tell the idea is to consolidate them to have the total considered as just one account for counting and forgiveness purposes.
I hear you. It's all unacceptably confusing bc, as with health insurance, the govt privatized what should be a public good.
If he is already consolidated into certain federal repayment plans, he may already qualify w/o further action. It's worth looking into!
Reddit has a LOT of detailed info, too
Quick note, Anita. If you are on the SAVE plan, if you and your husband choose to file taxes separately, your income will not be used in calculating his available income for payments, which reduces the payment.
Apparently one can either consolidate your loans in SAVE *or* enroll in Fresh Start, if loans have been in default.
It’s all Greek to me so I’m still trying to figure all of this out so if anyone has any insight, that would be welcome.
You definitely can do Fresh Start and then consolidation (if needed) and SAVE plan enrollment as 2-3 separate steps (w/ a bit of waiting in between steps)
Thanks for telling us about this! I'm on the SAVE plan, but I haven't heard of Fresh Start before. My loans aren't in default. Do I need to do anything?
No, Fresh Start is just to help people with defaulted loans, so they can take advantage of SAVE and the payment count adjustment. Sounds like you already are!
My loans are being transferred from Mohela to ED Financial. I hope I'll have a chance to apply before the deadline since I was in default early on, after I graduated (just over a decade ago).
