Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc. of Western New York’s Post

BREAKING: The Department of Education announced an EXTENSION of the consolidation deadline discussed below, moving the deadline from April 30, 2024 to June 30, 2024. Federal student loan borrowers have until June 30, 2024 to take advantage of the Income Driven Repayment Account Adjustment. The Department’s announcement of this extension was made on May 15th, 2024. April 30, 2024 is a VERY important deadline for ALL federal student loan borrowers. Here’s why: 1. The Department of Education is auditing every federal loan account in existence to apply credit towards Income Driven and Public Service Loan Forgiveness for time spent in forbearance, deferment and alternative payment plans. To help borrowers take full advantage of this Account Adjustment, the Department of Education has also suspended the usual rule for consolidation which resets forgiveness progress. Instead, the Department will apply the payment history of the oldest loan being consolidated to the new consolidation loan. This means that borrowers with old and new loans can consolidate to apply their oldest history of forgiveness credit to their new loans! This also means that FFELP Borrowers can consolidate into direct loans to take advantage of Income Driven Repayment plans without losing their forgiveness progress! The last day to consolidate your loans without losing progress is April 30, 2024. 2. Starting in May, the Department of Education will begin its takeover of Public Service Loan Forgiveness data management from federal loan servicer MOHELA. Borrowers with accounts serviced by MOHELA who have any number of qualifying payments listed in their MOHELA Payment Tracker should print out or save an electronic copy of their payment count on or before April 30, 2024 to protect themselves from potential data gaps during the transition. 3. From May 1, 2024, through July 2024 the Department of Education will not process PSLF discharge applications or updated payment counts. Borrowers who believe they may reach 120 payments during the moratorium, should consult a student loan debt professional for assistance. The Department also will stop processing TEACH grant submissions from May 1, 2024 through Fall 2024.

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