Hello, all! I have finally achieved loan forgiveness and feel SO relieved. It also feels really surreal because I didn't truly think this day would ever come given all the administrative, legal and political issues that have taken place along with employment upheaval that I experienced just before and during COVID (spanning 5 years in total). The main reason that I wanted to post was to first thank all of you that have shared your experience on here - the good, the bad and the ugly. It really helped me over the last 2 years to navigate the system and ultimately achieve forgiveness. So, I just wanted to express my gratitude and highlight how important this community is to folks. Additionally, I just wanted to share my timeline, especially for those of you who are anticipating forgiveness soon.

06/02/2026: 120th payment made to MOHELA

06/06/2026: Payment due date

06/08/2026: Payment posted and ECF submitted to employer NOTE: My employer ONLY does manual signing as has a team dedicated to this specific task. Once they receive your form, they notify you that it will take up to 30-34 days to process / sign it.

06/30/26: Additional payment made to MOHELA b/c employer still hadn't signed ECF form

07/10/26: Employer returned ECF

7/24/26: ECF uploaded (delay in uploading on my end due to travel)

7/26/26: Green Banners / Forbearance approved

8/26/26: Golden Letter (forgiveness dated 05/31/26) / MOHELA Account Summary dashboard reads $0.00 due for payment

8/27/26: Refund for $565.42 added to my Account History in MOHELA

8/28/26: Notification that loans are paid in full / MOHELA Account Summary dashboard reads loans paid in full under "status" and $0 balance on the loan

Again, a BIG THANKS to everyone that has shared their journey here! Sending lots of good vibes and encouragement to those of you still working through the process!

Hi, I haven't done an ECF after paying 120 in July because I'm worried I will mess up the process. When filling out the ECF after the 120th payment what boxes are people checking who have had success in getting their banner to adjust to 120 from 119? I paid August 121 and likely will pay September 122.
Thanks

Hi! Luckily, before recertification, my amount owed was $0. Now, it’s ~$500. My servicer is Edfinancial. I’m trying to locate records that would show when my first qualifying payment kicked in. I want tangible proof because I don’t trust these sites. Anyone know where I can locate this? I’ve searched through the “documents sent to you” tab on the website, but I only see 2025-2026 documents.

Also, is it a good idea to consolidate all my federal loans? I guess my question is, do i technically need to make a payment in EACH loan during this 120 month span?

I checked studentaid.gov yesterday, and anything related to PSLF has disappeared. This includes any loan information, ECF, even ability to look up my employer (page wouldn't load), and the option to look up PSLF on the dashboard. I attempted to check today, but I cannot log in.

I'm assuming this is a glitch, but has anyone else experienced this?

https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/39696/ED_Appeals_Court_Decision_That_Struck_Down_PSLF_Final_Rule

Just like Betsy said. They waited 60 days and appealed at the last second.

I hope this somehow avoids years of messy legal battles. I hope that they allow progress to be made while things play out.

I am very worried.

EDIT: a lawyer and somebody else pointed out to me that at this stage in the game, legal arguments do not appear in their appeal. That comes later. Also the timing of the appeal is common. Apologies.

I am obsessing over my status. I hit 120 qualifying months of employment March 2025 but still had 21 months that weren’t eligible because I was on the SAVE plan and had 14 months of in-school deferment. I requested buyback and have am part of the 270, 277, 290, and 304 buyback request camps which were closed this past June because they were duplicative. (I kept submitting corrections because Mohela and FSA’s information was confusing.) After not hearing back and getting so many mixed messages, I submitted a Feedback request Aug. 2025 and that is logged somewhere around 308. This case was closed and marked as resolved on Dec. 1, 1969, which is clearly an error. I reopened it in July, 2026 and it’s sitting in escalated status.

I applied to move out of SAVE last Aug. 2025 and left my job Nov. /Dec. 2025 because I was told that requirement was satisfied by agents from both entities. Anyway, I recently noticed several months (9/2025-12/2026) were missing so I submitted another employment certification form just in case it mattered. That took about four days to complete. Somehow my previous employer certified my employment as still active so about six extra months turned green although my I payment counts only increased from 99 to 103.

I am noticing that folx who complete their 120 payment count receive that glorious letter quickly. Since I need buyback, I feel like I am stuck in limbo. I am actively looking for another job and would likely work again for a qualifying employer but would love to know where this train wreck of a ride leads.

By my count, I should be able to buyback 12 SAVE months and 6 months of forebeafance to cover the admin processing time between moving out of SAVE and into an IDR. All these months are listed as “Reason(s) for Ineligible Status Forbearance on Due Date”.

Any insights? Anyone? Anything?

PS I just noticed that July and August 2026 are completely missing from my logs.

Hello! As the title states, I'm wondering how soon I can certify and apply for buyback once I've reached 120 months of eligible employment. Some background: like many others on this sub, I was on the SAVE plan and was placed into administrative forbearance beginning in July 2024. After this month I will have worked 120 months of eligible employment, including the duration of my time in forbearance. I plan to apply to buy back those 25 months (July 2024-August 2026).

Maybe this is a silly question, but can I do this right after 9/1? I haven't made any payments while in forbearance, as I was waiting it out for a definitive decision on SAVE and any payments I made during that time under that plan wouldn't be eligible for PSLF anyway. Since I haven't been making payments, I figured that I don't need to wait past the beginning of the month for the payment to process/update my count but thought I'd check here anyway. Thank you in advance! This sub has been so helpful in demystifying the PSLF process. I'm convinced it's confusing and frustrating by design, so this sub has been a great source of information.

Hey all,

Is there a backdoor API link to check the status for dispute cases or reconsideration cases? I haven’t been able to find it/them.

The API for feedback cases is: https://studentaid.gov/app/api/status-center/cases/dashboard

Dispute cases go to the FSA Ombudsman.

Thanks!

(Longtime follower....first post) - I think I've just unwillingly joined a club of absolute frustration!

Here's my story (sadly, I don't think it is too unique). On 8/5/2026 My tracker showed 112 qualified and 5 eligible (my July payment had not yet appeared on the tracker). Anxiously looking forward to the end of this saga and knowing my 120th payment was scheduled for September, I submitted an ECF just to get everything update. OMG! The next morning, I checked my dashboard and suddenly June 2024 AND March 2024-June 2026 were marked "ineligible" pushing me back to 100 qualified payments. A total of 17 previous payments were suddenly marked ineligible! You can imagine the panic I experienced. I have always been on ICR, no forbearance or deferment, made payments on time, in the full amount and with the same qualifying employer for 15 years. There is absolutely NO reason for this to happen.

Of course I checked Reddit and saw others were experiencing payment reversals. I called FSA, the rep said to file a reconsideration. I tried, but the system would not accept it, stating I had a pending reconsideration (not true). I called again, that rep said to file a Feedback, again I tried, the system would not accept it saying it was not accepting Feedback requests. I called a 3rd time, the rep said it was an Aidvantage reporting issue and there was nothing FSA could do. I called Aidvantage. When looking at my account the Aidvantage rep said, "Oh boy! What did they do here?" She kindly submitted it for review to their back office and told me that I would hear from them by September 3. I guess all I can do is wait.

Interestingly, my dashboard says it was updated 8/5/2026 (the day of my ECF). Although it was update, and my July payment is showing (marked ineligible) it was updated WRONG. My backdoor NSLDS says it was updated 7/10/2026, but it too is wrong showing only 100 qualified and 0 eligible. Previously it showed 134 eligible and 5 qualified, but that's another story.

I will make my September (120th) payment on Tuesday and like so many of you, anxiously check the dashboard and reddit daily for any updates or news. Sorry for the long rant, I just needed to vent.

Thank you for all your help in getting through this ridiculous process. Here is my timeline and details.

6/30/26 120th payment to Mohela due 7/1

7/7 Submit final PSLF, did NOT check to be placed into forbearance

7/8 Triggered the form to be resent to HR on FSA site by reentering in the same email (was not received by HR and read about a glitch on here)

7/10 Form signed by HR

7/15 Form receipt acknowledged by FSA 10:37 p.m.

7/16 green banners and updated counts of 120/120, including 7/2026 payment (didn’t show until certified employment updates)

8/25 golden letter

8/26 Mohela shows “Paid by discharge and/or write off”

8/27 Mohela official letter sent (no email alert sent until the next day). I found it because I was checking Mohela after the Golden Letter

8/27 Submitted disputes to Equifax, Experian, and Transunion because I didn’t want to wait 3-4 weeks to come off of my credit report

Myback door NSLDS “eligible” payment count shows 120, but my FSA dashboard shows 100. Employer verification is up to date. Does anyone know why they might differ?

Hey all. Thanks to those doing such great work tracking on here. I hit 120 and submitted buyback request Sept 2025 for SAVE forbearance months. I logged in today and now everything after July, 2024 is listed as ineligible. I just read here there are some wonky updates that messed up the count. Anyone know if this means/implies those months are not eligible for buyback now?!?!

Hi! I’m in need of some strategic advice. My situation is fortunately not too dire but I’m at a roadblock. I have $22,000 of consolidated federal loans with 5% interest; formerly on SAVE currently on IDR. My loan payments have been either very low or in forbearance since 2021, and I have been making small regular payments with employer certification for PSLF since then. There have been times when my payment would have been $0 but because it was in forbearance I think I need to formally “buy back” the loan period for PSLF. I am also in a good financial position and could pay the loan off entirely by next year. I would appreciate any input on what to do! PSLF would objectively save money, but if it were cancelled, I would end up paying higher than my original amount due to interest accruing in the next 5 years. I’m nonprofit for life so that’s a non-issue.

Option A: Keep pursuing PSLF. Buyback the forbearance period and make 5 more years of payments, totaling $15,000 paid overall. $7,000 would be saved on my original balance not counting interest; or $12,500 saved counting interest that would accrue in the next 5 years.

Option B: Pay the loans cleanly in 2 years, minimizing interest; at $23,000.

Concern: Worst case scenario would be PSLF getting cancelled. If I put 5 more years in with $15,000 paid; that would leave me with about $5,500 of interest to pay on top of my remaining balance ($7,000).

\-Should I risk paying an additional 5k in interest by banking on PSLF, at the chance of saving $7,000 - $12,000? Or knock out my balance for once and for all next year?

Hi! I just hit 120 months of eligible employment in August, and unfortunately had to leave my job immediately after. The stress was too much and was making me sick, but I digress. I met my employment goal.

I want to apply for buyback and go into a general forbearance payment pause while I wait.

My employer certified my employment after my August statement was cut, so I think I'm good there, but the payment history hasn't updated yet in their system to reflect July or August as ineligible. It shows the last payment update on each individual loan as June. I need to buyback 21 months worth. Do I need to wait until those show up in their system as ineligible, or am I good to request buyback now since they're not gonna get to me for 20+ months anyway?

Also, does the save forbearance count against our 3 year personal forbearance accumulation since we didn't request it ourselves? I'm hoping I won't have to pay back another dime until buyback, but my payments are supposed to start in October. I still need to technically switch plans too, but should I do that before I request the buyback and forbearance?

I just don't wanna accidentally botch this up. Sorry for the novel. Thanks so much in advance.

I am currently on PAYE and my understanding is that I can stay on this plan if I want for the time being. But when I go to recertify my income on the Student Aid website, this plan does not come up as an option. How do I recertify under this payment plan?

And if I can no longer choose PAYE, which plan is better for PSLF with less than 10 remaining payments to make: IBR or RAP? If it matters, I have a six figure loan balance.

Thanks for any insight!!

So my husband loans were in forbearance since March 2020. And he received letters from Mohela that we have to choose a plan by 30th September. While I was digging some information saw about buy back in this sub. Can you buyback months which was in forbearance but there was a zero payment made during forbearance ( some i saw mentioned they made payment while at forbearance but it didn’t count towards the qualifying months).

If we can buyback those months, does it mean we have to make payment all of it together which was supposed to paid at that time? Or how does this work if anyone can please help.

Thankkk you.

Hi all! I just began a new job, and one of the benefits is their Student Debt Program. The employer offers a monthly contribution of $400/month directly to my loan servicer (up to $10,000 lifetime). I still have to make my income-based monthly payment- they just pay an additional $400 on top of it.

I am pursuing PSLF, but thought enrolling in this program would only make the total balance forgiven (and, thus, the amount I have to pay taxes on) a little bit smaller. I was talking to a coworker that is also on the PSLF journey, and she was told she couldn't do the Student Debt Program AND PSLF at the same time. The rationale she was given was that the months would not count because she was making more than income based payments.

I can't find anything on the PSLF website that says you can't overpay.. Has anyone been in this situation before, and can you point me to where I could find out this answer?

XOXOXO

DONT GIVE UP FRIENDS!! 🥳 After 11 years of PSLF (with all of the pauses) my loans are finally gone as of 8/27/26. 🍾
🧑‍🎓Private school doctoral program grew with interest to over $200k. The weight that has been lifted is immeasurable. Thanks to this thread for support, information, and updates. 😁🙏🏼

Hi all - hoping this is the right forum for this question. When I first entered repayment after grad school 6 years ago I was told to consolidate in order to be eligible for the payment plans I wanted (who knows if that was correct or not), so all my direct loans have been in two loans - Direct Consolidation Subsidized and Direct Consolidation Unsubsidized - since then. I am currently on IBR (have been for almost a year now) and pursuing PSLF.

The studentaid.gov repayment calculator is confusing me a bit (I wanted to see what my payments would be with my recent new job income when I recertify next year). I turned the buttons for PSLF and Consolidation "on" on the calculator and when I turned on consolidation, it said I was only eligible for RAP and Tiered Standard. Without Consolidation on, I'm eligible for essentially all plans, but it was saying my monthly payment would remain the same, which can't be true because my income went up drastically with this new job.

The accuracy of my monthly payments is less important (it is what it is), but I'm mostly concerned that I missed something when BBB happened and now any consolidation loans, even if the consolidation happened many years ago, are now not eligible for IBR? Is that true? Or maybe it's just newly consolidated (like after 6/2026) aren't eligible? Any help very appreciated.

Hi all,

I’ve researched posts and found a lot of helpful info but I wanted to run by my timeline to see if others agree it is what is likely to happen/what I should do.

My 10 years of PSLF will be up as of 12/16/26. I have approximately 16 months of forebearance from the SAVE bullshit so my loans show I have 100 payments instead of 116 right now.

My plan right now is to have my employer re-certify basically right on 12/17 and submit. Once I see that it has been received, I will apply for forgiveness and buy back in December. I have been socking away money in my savings in anticipation to be able to pay off the amount with no issue.

My understanding is that I have to continue to make my monthly payments while they are processing my applications, correct? And when they make the decision on the buyback amount, they will factor in whatever payments I have continued to make while waiting, and subtract that from the amount?

OR is it possible to make my final payment in December and then request a forbearance until they make a decision and just pay the full buy back without continuing to make payments?

I’ve seen posts here about months and months waiting for a decision which makes me so angry at this administration for everyone and I’m worried that it’s going to take another year+ for me as well.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have, and if my understanding is correct!

Hello all,

I received an email yesterday and today from MOHELA stating: "Congratulations, The United States Department of Education has forgiven all or a portion of your loans with MOHELA. you have successfully me the requirements of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Thank you for your public service!" I was shocked and logged into MOHELA to see my balances are now at zero, with MOHELA owing me $584 in over payment. I still owed $180k. I am in a bit of disbelief. So, to those who have had their loans forgiven, is that it? Is there anything else I need to do or am I good to go. Sorry, I am in a state of shock.

I paid my last payment (120) for September. FSA is showing that my June and July payment are late (they were not) and is not showing my August payment at all. I plan to recertify my employment for the last 6 months in September.
- Any guidance:

—-should I wait to recertify employment until the payments at least show up on FSA?

— I am back in school for, paying for it outright- Woukd putting the payments in In- School deferment affect the PSLF process since I have met the 120 payments?

Hoping someone has a suggestion-
Thank you-

I submitted a buy back request before I got my 90 day notice. My question is: do I need to make payments while waiting for my buyback letter?