How Do I Know If I Have Federal Student Loans

Last Updated on January 19, 2023

So, you have federal student loans. How do you know if you have them?

The answer is simple: You’ll know because the government will tell you. If you have federal student loans, the government will send you monthly bills, which will be due on the same day of each month.

If your loan servicer is the U.S. Department of Education, then they’ll send those bills to your home address by mail or email. If your loan servicer is a private company (like Navient or Nelnet), then they might not use paper bills at all—instead, they might just keep track of what’s due online.

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How Do I Know If I Have Federal Student Loans

Studentaid.gov contains information on all federal student loans. It’s the easiest way to determine if your loans are federal and get any loan information you may need. If you don’t see your loan information on studentaid.gov, you don’t have a federal student loan.

You access the site with your FSA ID to see your loan amount, status, servicer, outstanding balance and disbursement details. You can also apply for loan consolidation or sign up for an income-driven repayment plan there.

There are two ways to determine whether a loan is federally or privately held:

1. Check the top of your federal loan promissory notes, applications, and billing statements, as these state the name of the federal loan program at the top of the document. Federal loan programs include the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, the Federal Perkins Loan Program, and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program.

2. Log in to StudentAid.gov using your FSA ID (account username and password) and select “My Aid” under your name. My Aid displays information on all federal loan and grant amounts, outstanding balances, loan statuses, and disbursements.

Contact your loan servicer
Federal loans are managed by one of nine student loan servicers. You can contact 1-800-4-FED-AID, the federal student aid helpline, to determine if your loan is managed by any of them. If so, the helpline can connect you to your servicer for more information about your loan.

Most borrowers with private loans won’t be able to reach their servicer by calling the student aid helpline. Some federal loan servicers also issue private loans, however, so make sure to verify which you have when you call.

Review your billing statement
For federal student loans, the top of a student loan bill will have the name of your student loan servicer and the name of your federal student loan program.

For private student loan bills, you’ll see the name of your private lender on the bill instead.

How to check private student loans
Unlike with federal student loans, there is no centralized database with all private student loan information.

And private student loans don’t qualify for the current interest-free forbearance. They also aren’t being considered for student loan forgiveness. If you want to lower your payment or repay your private loan faster, consider student loan refinance.

You’ll know your loans are through a private lender if you check studentaid.gov or use the other methods mentioned above and can’t verify your loans are federal.

If you are not in touch with your lender, one good way to track down your private student loan debt is through your credit report. Pulling a free credit report won’t affect your credit score and will give you a list of your debts. Your credit report will show your outstanding balance from the date the information was collected and will tell you which lender owns the debt. Contact the lender listed to get more information on your private student loan.

You can also check with your school. Because student loans are disbursed directly to the college, your school’s financial aid office may have a record of where your loan money came from.

student loan forgiveness

In certain situations, you can have your federal student loans forgiven, canceled, or discharged. Learn more about the types of forgiveness and whether you qualify due to your job or other circumstances.

Types of Forgiveness, Cancellation, and Discharge

The summaries below offer a quick view of the types of forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge available for the different types of federal student loans.

The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.

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. 

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. 

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.

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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