r/PSLF • u/MundaneFly456 • 1d ago

Advice Count error and continuing payments

I am theoretically at 120/120 qualified payments, but it only shows 116/120 because of the system error. Do I keep paying, or stop payments and wait for the count to get fixed?

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u/Practical_Goal_6363 1d ago

This is the conundrum that continues to be discussed over and over. No one really knows because no one has gotten to the other side of it yet. There’s two main courses of action that people are choosing for their personal reasons: 1. Keep paying, with the plan of requesting a refund after the glitch is fixed.
2. Request a forbearance (if you have any left) to take a break from payments until the glitch is fixed. Both choices come with issues. The issue with the first choice is that some peoples payments are crippling and continuing to pay when there is no timeline for the glitch to be fixed just isn’t possible (my payment is more than my rent, lol). The issue with the second choice is that the understanding is you need to be in repayment status in order to get forgiveness, and many people have described having huge problems getting stuck in forbearance, or the opposite problem of not having enough general forbearance months left in their bank.

The unfortunate answer is your question is no one really knows what the best course of action is. Look at your payment, look at your budget. Find out how many general forbearance months you have left, and try to make the best educated guess on what is best for you. My understanding is that ideally if you can afford your payment and it’s not too financially burdensome to wait potentially 1+ year for your refund, to play it safe and stay in repayment until the glitch is processed, knowing that we have no idea if the glitch will be fixed next month, or next administration.

Intermittent posts by Betsy seem to indicate that there is hope for a fix before the next administration, she is probably the best informed person on this sub but she also admittedly doesn’t know all the answers.

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u/Practical_Goal_6363 1d ago

FWIW I am contemplating requesting forebeafance after making a couple of extra payments. The hope is that when the tracker updates I’ll be well past 120 with a buffer, and maybe that’ll be ok. I still don’t know if I’ll be able to request forgiveness while not technically in repayment status, so that is the sticking point for me. I’ve heard people requesting short 2-3 month forbearances from mohela. Maybe those aren’t too awful to get off of?

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u/Real_Gazelle_9250 1d ago

You don’t have to be in repayment to qualify for forgiveness. The loans have to be in good standing. Good standing is that the loan is in active repayment or approved forbearance or approved deferment. The borrower also must not be in default.

Now the general forbearance doesn’t qualify for additional PSLF months, but if you already have 120, you can request forbearance to wait on forgiveness.

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u/Practical_Goal_6363 21h ago

Thank you for clarifying this. It was a point of confusion for me!

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u/Paws_Laws_WhiteClaws 19h ago

Before the next administration!? That long, ugh.

2

u/incu-infinite 23h ago

My theoretical 120th was October. I think I’m going to pay November and then submit the paper form ECF and check the box asking for forbearance while my PSLF is considered. Has anyone else successfully entered forbearance that way during the glitch?

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u/NeverDuck327 23h ago

Keep paying, you'll get a refund.

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u/blue_dewey 22h ago

I'm going to keep paying for awhile...