How Can I Get Student Loans

Last Updated on January 16, 2023

How Can I Get Rid Of Student Loans Without Paying

Getting rid of your student loan debt is a huge deal. It can feel like a burden that’s just not going anywhere. But, the good news is that there are options out there that can help you get rid of your student loan debt and free yourself from those monthly payments forever.

Here are some things to consider when looking at ways to get rid of student loans without paying:

1) Income-Driven Repayment Plans: If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, income-driven repayment plans may be available to you. These plans allow borrowers to make smaller monthly payments than they would under standard repayment plans. If you qualify for an income-driven plan and enroll in one, your monthly payment will be based on your income and family size. When your income rises above a certain level, however, the amount of money you pay each month will increase as well (but never more than the standard 10-year repayment plan).

2) Refinancing Your Student Loans: Refinancing is another way to get rid of your student loans without paying them off right away. Basically, refinancing allows you to consolidate all of your current student loans into one new loan with better terms such

Ways to Get Rid of Your Student Loans Without Paying | MyBankTracker

How Can I Get Rid Of Student Loans Without Paying

There’s no simple way to get rid of student loans without paying. But for federal student loans, there are forgiveness programs available after you make payments and meet other qualifications.

The most easily accessible student loan forgiveness programs include:

Public Service Loan Forgiveness: After 10 years of making payments while working full time for a qualifying government or nonprofit employer, the rest of your loan debt is forgiven. It’s tough to qualify, and you’ll need to submit an employment certification form every year in the 10 years it takes to qualify so you stay on track.

Forgiveness through income-driven repayment: This is your best option to keep payments manageable. Your monthly bill amount is set at a portion of your income, and after 20 or 25 years, your remaining debt is forgiven.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness: After teaching full time for five consecutive years at a qualifying low-income school, you could see up to $17,500 of your loans forgiven.

Find out about additional forgiveness programs.

Any other forgiveness programs that promise to get rid of your debt without making payments are a scam. Your loans can be forgiven only by your lender or servicer.

» MORE: What are the odds I’ll get student loan forgiveness?

How to get rid of private student debt
One of the few ways to get rid of private student debt is through discharge bankruptcy. It’s an arduous — and expensive — process. You’ll have to file Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, then file an additional lawsuit known as an adversary proceeding. You’ll likely need a bankruptcy attorney throughout the process, which can cost thousands.

If you’re having difficulty making payments, your best option is to contact your private loan holder about renegotiating your payment or taking a short-term payment pause.

» MORE: Private student loan bankruptcy: Is it getting easier?

Additional ways loans may be forgiven
There are two other instances in which your loans may be forgiven without making a payment:

Total and permanent disability discharge of both private and federal student loans is possible if you become disabled and can no longer work.

Death discharge forgives all federal and private student loans borrowed since Nov. 20, 2018.

If you are in a dire student loan situation, such as default, one additional option to consider is settling your debt for less than you owe. If you’re successful, it won’t get rid of all your debt, but it can help ease the burden.

federal student loan forgiveness

If you are employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization, you might be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Keep reading to see whether you might qualify.

Qualifying for PSLF

PSLF Resources

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Help Tool
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application
Limited PSLF Waiver Information
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program FAQ
Submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Reconsideration Request
Qualifying for PSLF
To qualify for PSLF, you must

be employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization (federal service includes U.S. military service);

work full-time for that agency or organization;

have Direct Loans (or consolidate other federal student loans into a Direct Loan);

repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan*; and

make 120 qualifying payments.

To ensure you’re on the right track, you should submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF Form) annually or when you change employers. We’ll use the information you provide on the form to let you know if you are making qualifying PSLF payments. This will help you determine if you’re on the right track as early as possible.

*This provision will be waived through October 31, 2022 as part of the limited PSLF waiver. Learn more.

Suspended Payments Count Toward PSLF and TEPSLF During the COVID-19 Administrative Forbearance

If you have a Direct Loan and work full-time for a qualifying employer during the payment suspension (administrative forbearance), then you will receive credit toward PSLF or TEPSLF for the period of suspension as though you made on-time monthly payments in the correct amount while on a qualifying repayment plan.

To see these qualifying payments reflected in your account, you must submit a PSLF form certifying your employment for the same period of time as the suspension. Your count of qualifying payments toward PSLF is officially updated only when you update your employment certifications.

Digital signatures from you or your employer must be hand-drawn (from a signature pad, mouse, finger, or by taking a picture of a signature drawn on a piece of paper that you then scan and embed on the signature line of the PSLF form) to be accepted. Typed signatures, even if made to mimic a hand-drawn signature, or security certificate-based signatures are not accepted.

Note: In-grace, in-school, and certain deferment, forbearance, and bankruptcy statuses are not eligible for credit toward PSLF.

Have questions? Find out what loans qualify and get additional information about student loan flexibilities due to the COVID-19 emergency.

Qualifying Employer
Qualifying employment for the PSLF Program isn’t about the specific job that you do for your employer. Instead, it’s about who your employer is. Employment with the following types of organizations qualifies for PSLF:

Government organizations at any level (U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal) – this includes the U.S. military

Not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

Serving as a full-time AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteer also counts as qualifying employment for the PSLF Program.

The following types of employers don’t qualify for PSLF:

Labor unions

Partisan political organizations

For-profit organizations, including for-profit government contractors

Contractors: You must be directly employed by a qualifying employer for your employment to count toward PSLF. If you’re employed by an organization that is doing work under a contract with a qualifying employer, it is your employer’s status—not the status of the organization that your employer has a contract with—that determines whether your employment qualifies for PSLF. For example, if you’re employed by a for-profit contractor that is doing work for a qualifying employer, your employment does not count toward PSLF.

Other types of not-for-profit organizations: If you work for a not-for-profit organization that is not tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, it can still be considered a qualifying employer if it provides certain types of qualifying public services.

Full-time Employment
For PSLF, you’re generally considered to work full-time if you meet your employer’s definition of full-time or work at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater.

If you are employed in more than one qualifying part-time job at the same time, you will be considered full-time if you work a combined average of at least 30 hours per week with your employers.

If you are employed by a not-for-profit organization, time spent on religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing as a part of your job responsibilities may be counted toward meeting the full-time employment requirement.

Eligible Loans
Any loan received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program qualifies for PSLF.

Loans from these federal student loan programs don’t qualify for PSLF: the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program. However, they may become eligible if you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

Student loans from private lenders do not qualify for PSLF.

Under normal PSLF Program rules, if you consolidate your loans, only qualifying payments that you make on the new Direct Consolidation Loan can be counted toward the 120 payments required for PSLF. Any payments you made on the loans before you consolidated them don’t count. However, if you consolidate these loans into a Direct Loan before October 31, 2022, you may be able to receive qualifying credit for payments made on those loans through the limited PSLF waiver. Learn more.

The PSLF Help Tool will tell you whether you need to consolidate some or all of your loans.

Qualifying Payments
A qualifying monthly payment is a payment that you make

after Oct. 1, 2007;

under a qualifying repayment plan;

for the full amount due as shown on your bill;

no later than 15 days after your due date; and

while you are employed full-time by a qualifying employer.

Most of the PSLF qualifying payment rules have been suspended through October 31, 2022. Under this temporary waiver, you may get credit for payments you’ve made on loans that would not normally qualify for PSLF. These payments will count even if you didn’t pay the full amount or on-time. However, only payments made after Oct. 1, 2007 can count as qualifying payments. For more information, visit the limited PSLF waiver page.

You can make qualifying monthly payments only during periods when you’re required to make a payment. Therefore, you can’t make a qualifying monthly payment while your loans are in

an in-school status,

the grace period,

a deferment, or

a forbearance.

If you want to make qualifying payments, but you’re in a deferment or forbearance, contact your federal student loan servicer to waive the deferment or forbearance. However, you can still receive credit toward PSLF during the COVID-19 payment pause.

Your 120 qualifying monthly payments don’t need to be consecutive. For example, if you have a period of employment with a nonqualifying employer, you will not lose credit for prior qualifying payments you made.

The best way to ensure that you are making on-time, complete payments is to sign up for automatic debit with your loan servicer.

Can I qualify sooner by making higher monthly payments?
No. You must make payments to cover 120 separate monthly obligations. Paying extra won’t help you qualify for PSLF sooner.

You may prepay, or make lump-sum payments, which would apply to future months, for up to 12 months, or when your next income-driven payment (IDR) plan is due. For example, if you recertified your IDR and your monthly payment was $100, but you paid $1200 for the first month’s payment, that payment would count as 12 separate payments for that year. You would not need to make another payment until the next 12-month cycle. These payments would count as qualifying payments toward PSLF forgiveness once you certified your eligible employment for the 12-month period.

What if I’m in AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps, or my loans are being repaid by the U.S. Department of Defense?
There are special rules that allow borrowers who are AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteers to use their Segal Education Award or Peace Corps transition payment to make a single “lump-sum” payment that may count for up to 12 qualifying PSLF payments.

In addition, borrowers who have lump-sum payments made on their behalf under a student loan repayment program administered by the U.S. Department of Defense may also receive credit for more than one qualifying PSLF payment.

Qualifying Repayment Plans
Qualifying repayment plans include all of the income-driven repayment (IDR) plans (plans that base your monthly payment on your income).

While payments made under the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan are qualifying payments, you would have to change to an IDR plan to benefit from PSLF. Under the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan, generally your loans will be paid in full once you have made the 120 qualifying PSLF payments and there will be no balance to forgive. Before you change to an IDR plan, however, you should understand that your payment may increase under these plans depending on your income and the amount that you owe. If this is the case for you, and you do not wish to pay this higher amount, then the PSLF Program may not benefit you.

The qualifying repayment plan rules have been temporarily suspended as a result of the limited PSLF waiver. You may receive credit toward PSLF, provided you had qualifying employment, if you made payments on any type of non-consolidation Direct Loan on any repayment plan prior to October 6, 2021. These loan types include

Direct Subsidized Loans.

Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and

Graduate PLUS Loans made to students.

For consolidation loans, borrowers may get credit for payments made on the underlying loans after Oct. 1, 2007. Learn more.

The following repayment plans do not qualify for PSLF:

Standard Repayment Plan for Direct Consolidation Loans

Graduated Repayment Plan

Extended Repayment Plan

Alternative Repayment Plan

PSLF Process
Because you have to make 120 qualifying monthly payments, it will take at least 10 years before you can qualify for PSLF.

Important: You must be working for a qualifying employer at the time you submit the form for forgiveness and at the time the remaining balance on your loan is forgiven.

Whether you have made 120 qualifying payments, or are working toward PSLF and are completing your employer certification, you should fill out and submit the (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF form).

Either way, we’ll use the information you provide on the form to let you know if you are making qualifying PSLF payments. This will help you determine if you’re on the right track as early as possible.

While you must always have 120 qualifying payments to receive forgiveness, you may receive credit for payments that did not previously count under the Limited PSLF Waiver. If you surpass 120 qualifying payments due to this limited-time waiver, you do not currently have to work at a qualifying employer. Learn more.

Note: If you don’t periodically submit the PSLF form, then at the time you apply for forgiveness, you will be required to submit employment certification for each employer where you worked while making the required 120 qualifying monthly payments.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Help Tool
The PSLF Help Tool will

help you understand more about PSLF, TEPSLF, and the limited PSLF waiver and what you need to do to participate and possibly have your loans forgiven;

help you assess whether your employer qualifies for PSLF;

explain other actions you should or must take if you want to receive PSLF or TEPSLF.

At this time, the PSLF Help Tool won’t allow you or your employer to electronically sign the form that the tool will generate for you. Therefore, after you complete the PSLF Help Tool process, you will need to print the PDF document that the tool generates, sign it yourself, have your employer sign it, and then submit the form to the PSLF servicer as instructed on the printed PDF document.

Use the PSLF Help Tool to search for a qualifying employer, learn what actions you may need to take to be eligible for PSLF or TEPSLF, and generate the form you need.

About the author

The Editorial Team at Infolearners.com is dedicated to providing the best information on learning. From attaining a certificate in marketing to earning an MBA, we have all you need. If you feel lost, reach out to an admission officer.
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