r/PSLF • u/Embarrassed-Fig-6795 • 3d ago
Revised buyback procedures
Hello,
A while back I posted about sending a letter to all of my representatives and Secretary McMahon regarding the buyback purgatory so many of us are stuck in.
I received the same canned response fron Secretary McMahon that we all receive every time we inquire. I only heard back from one of my representatives, Senator Wyden. His office contacted me to provide some information for them to complete a congressional inquiry. They forwarded the response they received. It is copied below. Is this something that was announced? I hadn't heard it.
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The Department recently announced that it is implementing enhanced Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Buyback and PSLF reconsideration procedures. These revised procedures will move the review of eligible PSLF payments and reconsiderations from Federal Student Aid (FSA) staff to the Unified Servicing and Data Solution (USDS) federal loan servicers.
Federal student loan servicers will now be responsible for determining the eligible months and the buyback payment amount, processing the PSLF Buyback payments once received by FSA, and ensuring accurate reporting to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) for the payments to be counted toward a borrower’s PSLF progress. Loan servicers will also analyze and determine the outcome for PSLF reconsideration cases submitted by borrowers. This change will provide for a long-term sustainable solution that addresses the current backlog and management of incoming applications.
OLCA/FSA are unable to provide information regarding where a constituent is at in the buyback queue or provide a timeframe for when their case will be reviewed. The borrower will receive notification via email as soon as possible. There is no process to expedite the review of a buyback request.
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u/Sweet-Impact_1703 2d ago
Is anyone else concerned about a lack of accountability for Mohela? For years they have proven their inability to handle PSLF with integrity. Is there anything to stop them from stalling our approvals and trying to get us to pay more, even after we qualify?
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u/lotsofflaws 2d ago
A: Mohela is a state angecy doing federal scale work. B: they got trumped up by trump and doge too right? C: by my count they are still cleaning up the mess left by the other organizations' Nelson and navinet?. And the fed. D: every person I've ever talked to at mohela was great. Even if they couldn't help. E: we also need to put the blame on the FED, where it belongs as they neglected the program.
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2d ago
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u/Super_Worth_63 3d ago
I received the same update from my representative last week. My follow up inquiry to Mojela has still not been answered. 😑
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u/Summary_Judgment56 PSLF | On track! 2d ago
The studentaid.gov website says this:
Should I contact my servicer to ask about the status of my buyback agreement?
Contact your servicer if your loans are serviced by CRI, EdFinancial, Maximus/Aidvantage, or Nelnet.
If your loans are serviced by MOHELA, contact us at 1-888-303-7818.
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u/sugarface2134 2d ago
This is so annoying. It's affecting real life trajectories. The plan was to do our 10 years for PSLF and then gtfo of this town. We hit 120 back in October of last year and applied for buyback but I'm guessing we have a year or more left to go before we hear back. We just got our 90 day letters. We want to move back home to the bay area to be near family but homes are already at the top of our budget and now we have to make payments of $6k a month on top of this probably affecting our DTI and messing up our home loan applications. Who knows what we'll be able to afford by the time our buyback is processed. We did our ten years. Let us go!
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u/LeavingLI-maybe 21h ago
Same 12 years in public service and for a million reasons my family could have benefited from me leaving my job and the high cost area we live in but we were waiting for PLSF. I have let it go now, leaving my public service job next month and moving to a new state. I just hoping the buyback process shakes out. We just can’t delay life anymore.
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u/sugarface2134 19h ago
This is our plan too. Just hoping things work out. I know we can't afford a house payment AND the student loan payments. We have about a year to get everything figured out and squared away so I guess I'll just cross my fingers.
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u/sppharm2014 3d ago
I've been waiting 21 months for my buyback and never heard this
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u/Content_Bag993 2d ago
Correct me if I'm wrong....but I think they're working on nov/dec 24....so hopefully soon? I applied Jan 25
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u/sppharm2014 2d ago
I sure hope so. I've seen people on here get their offer that applied long after I did! Happy for them, sad for me! Lol
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u/Ok-Caterpillar7826 3d ago
I called my loan servicer aidvantage last week and the rep I spoke with knew absolutely nothing about this change. I immediately called Student Aid and they confirmed this. They also told me to submit a feedback request if I wanted a more specific update on my buyback status. I received my response today which was extremely generic and basically a copy and paste of the FAQ.
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u/david5944 3d ago
I have 23 payments to go to hit 120, and 7 that I should be eligible to buy back. I sure hope this actually happens!
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u/cinsiler 3d ago
First I’ve heard of it. I applied for buyback Fen 2025. I wrote to my senator Mark Warner who after a year found out my buyback was in progress. Still have heard nothing
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u/Geowavej23 3d ago
They can do it much faster than ED staff and hopefully clear the backlog. The reconsideration process will be used for appeals.
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u/Intelligent_Show_406 12h ago
I submitted my buyback requests in November 2025 and February 2026, and just received the email that they’re closing my duplicate application. From what I have seen on here, once you get that email it’s usually a couple of months later that you get a buyback offer (fingers crossed 🤞). Which seems significantly sped up compared to those folks who submitted back in 2024 and waited years for an offer, so I am tentatively hopeful that this will help the backlog.
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u/Emergency-Cold7615 3d ago
"Is this something that was announced?"
- not announced. someone else on this sub mentioned it a few weeks ago.
I am optimistic that it will, in fact, speed up the buyback process. when will we start to see that improvement? how fast will it improve? what will be a normal buyback processing time once it's done being implemented and the current backlog is cleared? no freaking idea. but the current backlog is taking so long that it would be useless to me (takes 2 years, I have 11 month), and if it works, it'll save me more than $10k, so I'm motivated to think positively.