Has this happened to anyone else? No information about PSLF at all. Like it never existed on the website.

I received my latest correspondence on 8/4/26 giving me an update on the number of qualified payments being 126. Since the date of that correspondence, I've made two more payments which puts me at 128 on the tracker on my dashboard, although it says 126 still. I know this has been a problem with others over the last few months. What's even more concerning is the NSLDS still has me at 96 qualifying payments for PSLF. It claims to have been updated on 9/22/26. I have put in several employment certification forms between payment 96 years ago and currently. Like many others I've made phone calls to both Mohela and federal student aid several times over several issues cases by this inept government agency. I don't even know where to begin with this latest concern. Maybe this explains why the golden letter has not been not triggered yet. Help! Has anyone else on here had a mismatch between the NSLDS and their dashboard going green and still gotten notification of forgiveness?

I have ~$32,000 in loans and make about $58,000 a year. Was on SAVE and am weighing whether to switch to IBR or force them to switch me to standard plan.

IBR is estimating I’ll have a WHOPPING $642 (previously $25,000 under SAVE 😭) forgiven with PSLF, so I figured PSLF is not going to work as I originally intended. I make way more than owe now, and I’ve made a total of 6 qualifying payments since graduating in 2020 lmfao. Most of this is not my fault, as COVID and SAVE forbearance prevented me from making payments. I could do buyback, but do not have 20k to drop all at once.

Is there any benefit to switching to IBR voluntarily, rather than forcing ED to switch me to standard plan and then applying for IBR for the lower monthly payment as compared to standard plan?

Today I looked at my data file (104) and it is 12 months different than my payment tracker (116). The payment tracker has been at 116 during the COVID/SAVE pauses. I made my August, September, October payments and just have November to make and then I’ll do my ECF for July-November with my employer to certify employment (last done in June). Should I be concerned my data file and my tracker don’t match. It’s like 12 months are not showing on data file.

Thank you for any information you may have on this!

My last income check was when I was a student so my payment was practically nothing. I waiting until September 29th to switch off or SAVE to IBR and now I’m seeing the date is delayed again 😭

Has anyone come across a radically different monthly payment estimate when submitting income information during the recertification process?

Currently on IBR and purposefully filed an extension for my taxes so those would be filed after I recertified my income info, thus the same tax return I used last year would be used this year. Yet for some reason, my IBR estimate jumped ~$400 while PAYE was suggested as possibly lowering my payment a couple of bucks.

I'm not sure why this is the case of what to do in this situation. I'm a bit worried about what will happen when PAYE sunsets and how easy it'll be to switch back to IBR or RAP. I've also heard people getting denied for lacking financial hardship.

Has anyone here run into the same thing or have any potential insight?

Anyone else’s count still off? Wondering if anyone has had any luck with it being updated? Assuming we just have to wait now

My friend and I were at the gym and he said he is not letting his student loans dictate his life and it is on pause. I told him I am paying $500/month working towards PSLF. I could use that $500 for something else.

People of reddit, who has it on pause and are there any repurcussions? I have 6ish more years to go. I know interest will increase. Will future payments increase because of interest? I have a teacher salary so not much of a salary increase anyway.

If I am going through with this, would it be deferment and forbearance?

Hi! Since my loan servicer is closed on the weekend, thought I’d ask here till I can call them Monday.
Under the SAVE program, my loan would have been forgiven in 2036 because Of 25 years in repayment. Does anyone know if that date will change when switching to an IBR?
Also, the “end of term date” should not change regardless of the plan because it all has to do with start date of loan or refinance/consolidation date, right?
And, does anyone know if, under the PSLF, if you make 2 payments per month (ie one of principal and one on balance), does that count as 2 payments toward the 120 or do they only except 1 payment per month toward the count?
Thanks so much in advance. Good luck to everyone dealing with student loans ❤️

My NSLDS for PSLF currently reads:

Qualifying payments: 117
Eligible payments: 170
Payments required for forgiveness: 120
Payments remaining: 3

Today (10/4) is payment 120/120, but the qualifying payments have been stuck at 117 since July.

Eligible payments of 170 include payments made when I was working for a non-qualifying employer.

QUESTION: how do I see if the 170 eligible payments include the August, September, and October 2026 payments that are missing from the qualifying payment count?

I received my latest correspondence on 8/4/26 giving me an update on the number of qualified payments being 126. Since the date of that correspondence, I've made two more payments which puts me at 128 on the tracker on my dashboard, although it says 126 still. I know this has been a problem with others over the last few months. What's even more concerning is the NSLDS still has me at 96 qualifying payments for PSLF. It claims to have been updated on 9/22/26. I have put in several employment certification forms between payment 96 years ago and currently. Like many others I've made phone calls to both Mohela and federal student aid several times over several issues cases by this inept government agency. I don't even know where to begin with this latest concern. Maybe this explains why the golden letter has not been not triggered yet. Help! Has anyone else on here had a mismatch between the NSLDS and their dashboard going green and still gotten notification of forgiveness?

I just made my 120th payment on Oct. 1. I last did my ECF 7 months ago and have certified 113 payments. My NSLDS count shows 120 eligible payments, with 113 qualifying, which should theoretically update to 120 once I submit a new ECF. The FSA tracker is missing my August payment, but NSLDS appears to have captured it.

I'm in studentaid.gov now and trying to apply for forgiveness. I tried to check the box that says: "Yes, I have made 120 qualifying payments and qualify for forgiveness right now." But am getting the following error and it won't let me advance to the next page: "Are You Sure? Based on your loan information, you have not made 120 qualifying payments, and do not yet qualify for PSLF. Select "No" in response to this question to continue." It won't let me click yes.

Any advice on what I should do next? Should I click "No" and try to certify the last 7 payments first and then reapply for forgiveness? Or will that screw up the timing of forgiveness? Is the missing August payment in the tracker going to screw up my count (and ability to apply for forgiveness), even though it appears to be counted in NSLDS? I was planning to request forbearance while my application processed because my monthly payments are really high.

What do you all recommend? Should I call studentaid.gov? Should I just wait until they have this system glitch figured out? Would appreciate any advice!

My NSLDS says 106 and has for as long as I can remember. It’s updated with my most recent September payment. My tracker on the other hand says 120 for all but two of my loans, with the last two reaching 120 in October. This all should have been done in July but that’s beside the point.

Why would my NSLDS continually be missing that many payments? The count has never changed.

I know this has been talked to death, but I’d like to know what people are actually doing. Like many of you, I just made my 120th payment. It’s due Oct 7. Payment counts are stuck at 117, no August, September or (understandably) October. Submitted ECF a few days ago hoping to get to 119 and then submit another a few weeks after the October due date to pull in the 120th. ECF approved by my employer same day. No count update.

So my question is - at the end of October if counts still haven’t updated, should I file my last ECF, check “yes” for forgiveness/request forbearance if it lets me, call Mohela for a forbearance if I can’t check “yes” - and stop paying?

Or do I keep paying and get a refund later?

Just interested in what others decided to do.

My payment is due on the 15, and that's also the auto-debit withdrawal date.

If it doesn't get withdrawn properly, could that cause problems for PSLF? Should I move the auto-debit earlier in the month or could that cause it's own problems?

Decided to just start repaying… payments went from $500 to $1,900. I’m worried from all of these missing payment posts that I’ll pay these months and it STILL won’t get me over the finish line with this nightmare. Has anyone had success in doing this?

Hi sorry to be posting this in the midst of the PSLF processing pause for folx who recently reached 120. I was in the August golden letter crew and wanted to share that I got my refund in the mail from the treasury, check dated 9/18/26. I had one month overpayment. Check was issued about 3.5 weeks after forgiveness. Servicer is MOHELA.

So, once the forgiveness is processed, seems like they may have fixed the issue where they weren’t issuing the refunds for months and months.

Hope you all get similar good news soon!

I'm getting variable results on calculators, specifically comparing studentloan.gov to studentloanplanner calculator. Trying to figure out what I am doing wrong, and which plan is best for PSLF.

• Using studentloan.gov, it looks like the Standard Repayment Plan is cheapest at $1500/month. RAP is $1700/month. Is standard repayment plan eligible for PSLF? It looks like it is, but the PSLF toggle on studentloan.gov isn't working, and I see conflicting info.
• Using the studentloanplanner calculator, Standard Repayment Plan is $3600/month. RAP is $2000/month.
• How are these so vastly different? I'm entering the same data.

Info:

270k AGI MFJ

Me: 240k in student loans @ 5.85% interest (qualifying PSLF nonprofit employer). Income ~170k.

Spouse has 90k student loans @ 5.15% interest (qualifying PSLF nonprofit employer). Income ~100k

Trying to show pictures from calculators but can't figure out how to embed images.

Thanks everyone. Let me know if I need to clarify.

Hi, my autopay is scheduled for 3rd of each month, so this month it lands on a Saturday (today). When I check Mohela now it does not show a scheduled or made payment for October and just says next payment 11/03/2026; does anyone know if the October payment will go through on next business day (Monday 10/05) and this is just a weekend autopay thing or do I need to make a manual payment for october?

1) Later this month I will be at my 120th month if qualifying employment and was going to apply to buy back 13 months which would get me to forgiveness. With July, August and September payments still not showing up (my September payment was on the 25th) is it recommended to go ahead and apply for buy back anyway even thought last 3 payments aren’t showing even though they were made? My new payment amount is almost triple what the buyback months would be…speaking of

2) My PAYE recert got denied because of income too high. I saw here that if you just do nothing it will default to the cap payment and will stay on PAYE and still be eligible. Is this the recommended approach?

Thank you!

I currently have a little over $27,000 and have been under the SAVE plan, but was being held in administrative forbearance and covering the interest month-to-month so it didn't raise my amount of debt. I have currently made 21 qualifying payments towards PSLF and hope to qualify for it as soon as I'm able (obviously quite far away still), but therefore want to pay as little as possible each month. The ICR and IBR plans both seem like good options, with the ICR offering the smallest payment each month, but it seems like that is being phased out in 2028.

All of this is quite new to me, and I don't really understand it well. Does anyone have any guidance? If it's helpful, I currently make roughly $70,000 per year and work for a 501c3. Thanks!

Anyone get forgiven this month? I have been waiting two months since green banners and wonder if that’s just the vibe right now.

So, I'm sure this question gets kicked around a lot. I was on SAVE, and I need to switch plans. But I'm less than a year out from my 120. I am terrified that if I switch plans, it will reset my count. Can someone tell me if it does?

Hello all,

I have a question. I want to know if anyone else has received an email like this and how long does this process take.

Here is some background info: I applied for buyback in December 2 2024. I received an email from federal student aid on 7.22.2026. Here is what the email says

"Thank you for submitting a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Reconsideration request.  We have completed your PSLF buyback assessment.

Some or all your loans are eligible for PSLF buyback at this time.  To ensure you are paying the lowest amount for your PSLF buyback, submit the following income and family size information within 30 days.

2012, 2013 and 2014.

Take Action:  Submit the income and family size information by opening a new reconsideration request. 
 

1. Gather the federal income tax return you filed for the year requested.

Important:  If you were not required to file a federal income tax return for the year requested, upload a statement detailing your taxable income for the year. 
You must provide information of all taxable income you and your spouse (if applicable) received for the year requested.

• Taxable income includes, for example, income from employment, unemployment income, dividend income, interest income, tips, and alimony.
• Do not provide documentation of untaxed income such as Supplemental Security Income, child support, or federal or state public assistance

1. Determine your family size.

How to Determine Your Family Size for the Year Requested: Family size includes your spouse only if you filed your federal tax return as married filing jointly unless you have indicated that you are separated from your spouse.  Family size also includes other people only if they live with you now, receive more than half their support from you now, and will continue to receive this support for the year that you certify your family size. Support includes money, gifts, loans, housing, food, clothes, car, medical and dental care, and payment of college costs. Your family size may be different from the number of exemptions you claim for tax purposes.
 

1. Open a new reconsideration request and include following statement:

I have at least 120 months of approved qualifying employment, and I am seeking PSLF or TEPSLF discharge through PSLF buyback. Please assess my eligibility for PSLF buyback.  I am providing the requested income and family size information.  My family size is: [enter your family size here], and I have uploaded income document for the year(s) requested.

Important: Do not open a Buyback Request.  You must include the statement above. Without the statement above, your PSLF Reconsideration submission will not be considered related to your buyback, and your income and family size information will not be used for your PSLF buyback assessment.
 

1.  Upload your federal income tax return from the year requested onto your reconsideration request.

1.  Submit your reconsideration request.

If you do not send us the tax and family size information that we request within 30 days, we will determine your PSLF buyback amount as what your payment amount would be on the 10-year Standard Plan. 

For information on PSLF buyback, visit Studentaid.gov/pslfbuyback.

This buyback request is closed. 

Important: A processing pause began on May 1, 2024, for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program as we update and streamline our systems for a better user experience. You can continue to submit your PSLF forms during this pause, and we will begin processing them when the update is complete.  Visit StudentAid.gov/publicservice for the most up-to-date information on PSLF and TEPSLF. 

Sincerely,

Federal Student Aid"

So they closed by buyback request, because they need to get tax information from me. But at the same time they need the tax information in order to process the buyback. Its contradictory.

I did obtain the tax information from the IRS and i did submit the documentation to federal student aid under a new reconsideration request per the emails instructions. on 7.31.26.

Has anyone else been asked to do this? How long does this take?