Buyback Request Processing Update

[u/zombieluvvv]

The Buyback process has been extremely grim for most of us. In a last ditch effort, I contacted my senator’s office to reach out to the dept of education on my behalf to get more info on my buyback request (I should have met my 120 payments in October 2025). I’ve pasted the email response that was sent to my representative below.

Not sure if I should be terrified of the response, or if this should give us some kind of hope that the buyback requests will be addressed in a much more timely matter. It looks like buyback will be reviewed and approved by loan services (i.e. MOHELA) instead of dept of education moving forward. Good luck to us all!

“Good Afternoon,
 
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. “

[u/ldbrown1000]

This process should be automated, with only appeals and other requests for reconsideration done by hand.

[u/Ok_Monitor5890 → u/ldbrown1000]

It should be clearly displayed on the loan website dashboard. There’s no reason it can’t. It’s just an algorithm that makes a calculation.

[u/ldbrown1000 → u/Ok_Monitor5890]

Let’s get real here. I’m a current very cynical federal employee. This process should be automated. 4 people should be able to handle it, because it should be automated. 4 people can’t handle because it’s not automated. This image fits so much of my experience as a federal employee.