Timeline Below -

April 2026:

Discovered I have qualifying PSLF payments.
Submitted employment certification to StudentAid.gov.

May, 2026:

Received confirmation: 131 of 120 qualifying payments were processed.

June, 2026:

Received official PSLF forgiveness letter.
Forgiveness retroactively effective October, 2022.

July, 2026:

MOHELA processed forgiveness of 77K.
Balance: $0.00 ✅ Green Banners/Ribbon.

July 2026:

MOHELA tradelines updated to Paid/Closed Never Late on all 3 credit bureaus.

September 18, 2026:

Escalated to MOHELA CEO Scott Giles ([scottg@mohela.com](mailto:scottg@mohela.com))
CC'd Department of Education ([borrowerrefundinquiry@ed.gov](mailto:borrowerrefundinquiry@ed.gov))

Attached my forgiveness letter and confirmation letter showing 131 qualifying payments were made.

October 6, 2026:

MOHELA account updated to: PAID IN FULL / PAID BY DISCHARGE AND/OR WRITE OFF ✅

October 8, 2026:

No response to my 9/18 email— called MOHELA.

After waiting on hold for almost 90 minutes for a Tier-2 specialist, Latoya had questioned whether my payment reversals were "returned payments."🤬

Put me back in the queue (with NO warning) after I pushed back against her ridiculous assertion - I hung up, wasn't staying on hold again!

Sent urgent follow-up email to CEO (put Department of Education on the cc) letting him know what just happened with "LaToya" included PSLF legal citation (20 U.S.C. § 1087e(m)) reminding them it's the LAW that they must refund qualifying payments made in EXCESS of 120!

Filed a constituent services case with my U.S.
Senator's office against Dept.of Education/MOEHLA.

Had LaToya not given me incorrect information and put me back in the call queue, I would not have escalated further.

October 9, 2026:

Sent follow-up email to CEO, CC'd Dept. Of Education again with payment reconciliation PDF report I created and screen shots of the "payment reversals" from my Account History. I also included the email address of my Senators Legislative Director on the cc!

October 14, 2026:

Senator's office confirmed case officially opened and they contacted MOEHLA & Dept. Of Education on my behalf ✅

Named constituent services representative assigned to me with direct email and phone number.

October 16, 2026:

Received MOHELA secure message where they wrote the following:

- On September 23, 2026, we processed a refund which will take 2-4 weeks to receive — only 5 days after CEO email ✅

- On October 7, 2026, we processed the remaining refund which will also take 2-4 weeks to receive ✅

- refunds are issued within approximately 90 business days from the date the forgiveness is processed by MOHELA. 90 business days from July 6, 2026, is November 9, 2026.

Key lessons:

MOHELA representatives may not know what's happening in their own system AND/OR they provide INCORRECT information, including the Tier-2 Specialists!

Escalate early:

Email CEO: [scottg@mohela.com](mailto:scottg@mohela.com)
CC: [borrowerrefundinquiry@ed.gov](mailto:borrowerrefundinquiry@ed.gov)
Contact your U.S. Senator's constituent services.

Document everything — create a payment reconciliation spreadsheet, if you are owed a significant amount, where you list when payment was made, when cashed/posted to your Account History! Take screenshots of your Account History, any secure messages you receive. When they send you a PDF letter, download a copy and save it in your files!

Your payment reversals ARE your refund — don't let anyone tell you otherwise ✅

Using the ‼️** emoji in your subject line doesn't hurt 😄✅

When my checks arrive I will update this post — but they say they're coming, and I have it in writing! My Senator's office will stay engaged until I actually get my money.

To everyone still waiting — don't give up. Escalate, document, persist. 🥳💙

MANY THANKS to this AMAZING Sub🥰‼️

Or do we have zero legal standing, even if PSLF counts are delayed for years and years? Credit scores are damaged, major purchases like home are delayed ect.

I have 88 months of qualified IDR payments.

I will have 5 payments on RAP between Nov 2026 - March 2027. This will give me 93 months of qualified payments.

I have 27 months of SAVE forbearance that I can request for buyback which puts me at 120.

My Plan

March 1 - make final payment

March 8 - recertify employment, let them update the count (which will be under 120 payments), and request forbearance. With this step, I know they will say I don't meet 120 payments.

March 23 - submit reconsideration for PSLF citing buyback and wait several months for a determination.

The way I'm thinking is that even if buyback takes two years to process, it'd be cheaper than paying at my current rate. Before SAVE my payments were around $170, but now my payments have doubled to over $350.

I've read about there being some weird issue with doing forbearance on RAP and not having it count towards PSLF, but I'm not quite sure that it pertains to my situation because I don't expect to need it to count.

Questions

Does my plan make sense or am I cuckoo bananas? Is this reasonable? Are there other people in similar predicaments? Has this worked for others? How are y'all tackling the overpayment situation?

I got a email today saying my next payment is in 3/2027 and that it’s $2500. This is a huge increase and I’ve been consistently paying monthly. Does this have to do with me being due for income recert this year? I’m on the PAYE plan.

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?

Hey all,

I’ve had autopay on my loans for the last 9+ years without problems, but since the July 1 rules, today is my first autopay happening on a Saturday and I’m paranoid. Usually I see the withdrawal of my autopay in my bank app first thing in the morning on my due date—but I don’t see anything now. Is this normal for a weekend autopay? Can someone else verify that their autopay on a weekend date still went through and backdated correctly? Or should I make a manual payment? (Though today sounds a crazy time to make my first manual payment in 118 months lol). Thank you!

There has been an increasing number of posts by forum members who are trying to apply for buyback but prevented by messages about ineligibility due to enrollment in the RAP plan. These messages are even being received by people not enrolled in RAP, but other plans such as IBR. And these buyback requests were for months prior to enrollment in the RAP plan (i.e. SAVE forbearrance months).

This is becoming more and more frustrating. One can't help but think that the delayed processing of buyback (some as long as 2 years!) and these new error messages are attempts to thwart loan borrowers from obtaining buyback and having their loans forgiven. And, of course, there have essentially been no processing delays when people are switching from out of the SAVE plan to a different payment plan, since the government's priority is to collect our money--not to help with forgiveness. In my opinion, this is all cause for a major lawsuit against the Trump administration. I am honestly shocked that no litigation has been filed on this specifically. Our government needs to change. I feel for everybody on here who are trying to pursue buyback. Rant over.

I know several people have probably already mentioned this, but my PSLF payment count hasn’t updated since June. Every time I call, I’m told to just keep checking back. So we’re expected to resume making payments, but they can’t even keep our payment counts updated? It’s honestly pathetic.

For context, I'm a July 120-er still waiting for any/all payments from July-October 2026 to crossover to FSA and finally be free to change jobs. With every missed "it will be 30 days", then "Oh, it always takes 90 days", and now "indefinite", I get more frustrated and discouraged. I have done all the things (senator contact, ombudsman, multiple ECFs, Mohela CEO contact, countless conversations with FSA and Mohela) and I just want to cry. Does anyone have any solid positive news on this front or anything they can point to for hope?

I’m wondering if anyone can confirm that I need to wait until the payment count glitch is fixed before I can submit a buyback request. I am at 93 qualifying payments and August and September (which are not showing but I have submitted an ECF for) would bring me to 27 non-qualifying payments that are eligible for buyback. So are my steps:

1. Wait for the glitch to be fixed
2. Submit final paperwork
3. Submit reconsideration request selecting buyback as the reason
4. Wait

Or can I just submit my final paperwork even though the count is wrong?? Thanks to anyone who can provide clarity.

Edited correct number of non qualifying payments. I am at 120 months of qualified employment as of September.

I reach my 120 in March of 27, not far away but happy because there’s payments are killing me and by proxy my family. I am in the same boat as others, nothing updated after July 26 even after multiple new forms submitted.

My concern is this: March comes, and the banner does not update so I can’t get forgiveness on time. I keep paying my payments as required. I used up all of my forbearance in my early years, so I can’t get that I guess.

My question is: Given those facts, when they finally fix the issue on their end, do I get a refund for my overpayments after the 120? Or am I just SoL?

I know we are all going through it right now. According to NSLDS I have 172 qualifying payments. I submitted my last two employers (from the beginning of my nursing career) on 9/28/2026. Since the first two processed so fast, I really thought these would as well. They are now stuck at "processing" (they have both been signed by HR). I didn't want to give the govt an interest free loan by paying the new RAP payment ($864) for as long as it takes them to sort through this mess. So I applied for a general forebearance for 6 months. Hopefully my last payments finally get applied and I'll be done with this within that time.

It's just frustrating. Hopefully I did the right thing.

I will make my 120th payment on November 6th. I plan on doing my ECF after the payment shows as processed on MOHELA, cleared my bank, and the back door NSLDS shows 120. My concern is do I check processing forbearance requested on the PSLF form when I submit it stating I’ve reached 120. I don’t want to continue to pay months while I wait and not get a refund in a timely manner. Just don’t have the extra as my payments are $991.00 per month. On the other hand, I don’t want anything to stop my reaching forgiveness. What have you done if in a similar situation? Thank you in advance for your guidance!

Ive been working for my job since September 2015. I submitted a recertification and applied for BUYBACK...
I have 83 qualified payments at 0.
All my payments have always been 0 dollars ...
All the times that didn't count for a payment was deferred or forbeared.. which is why Im trying to get buyback..

Anyone been in this situation?
Any luck?

I have a handful of mixed type loans direct unsub, direct sub and Stafford sub. I've been in a repayment plan for 3 months, all have had a payment amount. However, this 4th upcoming month, my Stafford sub loan has switched to no payment with a note about unpaid accrued interest. I haven't adjusted anything for the repayment and show as an IBR repayment plan through Nelnet.

I recently had to re-certify my income and my monthly payment under IDR jumped from $205 to $1011. I changed to the PAYE plan and it made my monthly payment one dollar cheaper $1010…

I cannot deal with paying $1000 a month for these loans, especially given that I’m 71 payments into PSLF. Anyone have advice on how to lower that monthly payment to something reasonable??

I filled out the general forbearance form on MOHELA to be processed. Does anyone have any experience on how long it takes to process? My first payment is due on 11/16/26. I just put in my application today. I'm hoping it takes into effect so I don't have to make a payment.

I filled it out in hopes of pausing my student loan repayment. Its $500 and since I'm planning on doing PSLF and plan to be in a employer that is in PSLF, I thought maybe I can delay paying the student loans and tackle my CC debt first. I have 7 more years for PSLF, so I thought why not delay it, I'm going to be here. Because without the forbearance, it will be harder to get out of the CC hole and extend my estimated payoff. (I was a silly billy who didn't wait til the last minute and signed up for a new repayment plan from my old SAVE plan because i didnt want to get in trouble and wanted just in case that 1% discount (i learned to wait until the very last minute and even do nothing) and got my you can start paying my loans again due starting next month.)

I’ve read all the stories that summer months aren’t being processed or counted towards 120 payments. I usually submit yearly around this time to get another 12 payments towards the 120.

This update is going to push me over 100 payments.

My question, is it worth submitting knowing I won’t be shown credit for those months, or do I just wait until it’s hopefully corrected at some point? (I’m not confident it will ever be corrected, at least not in the next 2 years 3 months).

Does anyone know who to contact at NSLDS to see about payment counts? Obviously, we know of the kerfuffle with FSA not updating the last three months, but the people at NSLDS have ZERO problems reporting one of my loans is paid off. I'm printing off the 111 PSLF count (should be 114 at this point) page, but NSLDS' Student Aid Data still shows a payment count of 98 which is aboslutely insane. Any others out there on this CF of a train?

I can’t post a picture so here’s the text of what it says:

My Activity
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Form

In Progress

Last Updated: 
09/25/2026

And then once I open the link:

Created on
Sep 24, 2026

Status Tracker

-PSLF Form Initiated

Completed on Sep 24, 2026* *

-Employer Eligibility Review

Completed on Sep 24, 2026

-Employer Signature

Completed on Sep 25, 2026* *

4. PSLF Form Review

Your form has been received and is being processed for a final review. You can typically expect to receive a final decision in 3-5 weeks.

Sep 25, 2026
PSLF form received.

So as of today it’s been in process for 3 weeks that it’s been in review, the last step is “Complete”. What should I expect at this rate? Any thoughts on timing? Will I get an email or should I just keep checking in?

TIA!

Just as the title says. I am currently at around day 82. I am eligible for PAYE. What happens if I don't switch plans before the 90 days is up? Or what happens if I apply after the 90 days? Is there another extension like maybe a last chance 30 days?

Really hoping that this is the maintenance that fixes our nebulously promised Thursday "resolution". Along with my other fellow borrowers on this subreddit, I anxiously await some tangible fix. I don't think I can handle yet another goal post being moved for me.

Looking for advice from people who have been in a similar situation or understand the PSLF rules.

My situation:

• I work full-time in public service and plan to stay in qualifying employment for the foreseeable future.
• I have approximately $81,500 in federal student loans.
• I had 65 qualifying PSLF payments through May 2024. I've remained employed by a qualifying employer since then, but my SAVE forbearance months haven't counted toward PSLF.
• I recently applied for IBR, and MOHELA processed my application. My new payment is $906.58/month, starting November 14, 2026.
• My wife and I previously filed our taxes jointly. I'm planning to discuss filing married filing separately with our accountant, since using only my income could substantially lower my IBR payment.

My question is whether it makes sense to request a general forbearance temporarily while I wait to file my taxes separately and get my IBR payment recalculated.

I understand that months in a general forbearance generally won't count toward PSLF, and I know buyback isn't guaranteed. I'm also aware that I'm not yet at 120 qualifying payments, so I can't simply buy back these months right now.

However, if I expect to remain in public service long-term, I'm wondering whether it makes financial sense to keep paying $906.58/month when my payment could potentially be much lower after filing separately.

For context, the potential difference could be around $430/month. If I used forbearance for a few months, I'd preserve that cash, but I'd potentially delay PSLF by those months. I also understand that filing separately could have tax consequences, which I'll discuss with my accountant.

For those who have faced a similar situation:

1. Did you continue making the higher IBR payments, or use forbearance while waiting to lower your payment?
2. If you switched from filing jointly to filing separately, how quickly could you get your payment recalculated?
3. Am I overlooking a major downside to temporarily using forbearance in this situation?

I'm not looking to avoid payments indefinitely. I'm trying to decide whether paying the higher amount for the next few months is worth it when I may be able to lower my payment relatively soon.

Appreciate any insight!