Attention Student Loan Borrower’s!
If you have long-term student loan debt (including even some loans that were private when you purchased them!) and have yet to take advantage of the new opportunities for debt forgiveness, this post is for you!
ICYMI: The Biden Administration announced today that they would be extending an important deadline related to loan forgiveness!
The What:
As discussed previously, there is an opportunity for Student Loan borrowers who have been making payments for 20 years or more to have their balances forgiven. This loan forgiveness requires loan consolidation. Borrower’s were allowed to consolidate their loans by the end of April—now, that deadline has been extended to June 30th, 2024!
The Why:
This forgiveness waiver applies to undergraduate and graduate loans–it even applies to Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), which were previously privately held loans. Private loans are rarely eligible for any type of forgiveness. Right now, however, this temporary change makes even those once-private-loans eligible for consolidation into public loans!
“Consolidation” occurs when you take your existing various student loans and you ‘roll them into’ a single new publicly held loan. Consolidation is also often required when looking to lower your monthly payment.
Need another reason to consolidate? If you’re looking to lower your monthly payment to be in line with your income, you may be eligible for an Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plan. The new-ish Savings on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan is such a plan that has been saving borrowers a lot of money.
With all of these recent tweaks around Student Loans, many borrowers could be eligible for massive student debt relief, whether by lower monthly payments and/or entire debt forgiveness. The New York Times reports, “Nearly one million borrowers have had $49 billion of debt eliminated, the Education Department said. In total, the Biden administration’s changes have led to $160 billion in debt elimination for nearly 4.6 million borrowers.”
The What’s Next:
Apply for consolidation and take advantage of these benefits, as long as your application is submitted by June 30th!
Need more help figuring all of this out? The Institute for Student Loan Advisors (TISLA) offers free, fair, student debt guidance. Check out the status of your Student Loans, there are more options to reduce payments than ever before!
Unlocking Abundance 