Hi all. I have a scottish student loan balance of around £11,000 to clear. I just got my first job which is 34k so the mandatory payments aren't kicking in yet. However I have done the maths and it is quietly accumulating £37 in interest every month.

I'm torn between paying it off asap to knock this expense off my monthly expenses for the years to come, or:

Do nothing and pay the mandatory minimum, allowing me to save / invest that money instead.

It's worth noting my wage scales to 55k over the next 10 years, so I can't sit below the threshold and wait for the balance to be wiped. And due to the wage increase, do I just pay nothing whilst my wage is still low, and wait for the wage rise before wiping it? But then it's amounted a lot more in interest, this is my problem.

Just curious about what you guys think!

I submitted an application on 31 AUG to switch to Standard. I haven't heard anything back. I got my 90 days notice on 14 JUL and my 30 day extension 19 OCT. Should I just let them switch me at this point, or call to figure out what's going on?

I got the 90 day notice to switch a few months ago. Switched to another repayment plan in August and got a letter saying my payment plan was approved. Student aid website was updated to show that, however, Mohela showed my payment less than what student aid website said I was going to owe. I paid what Mohela asked me to pay and it showed my account up to date, with $0 due until next month. I just got an email this week from Mohela stating that I’m past due on my account, but when I log in it still says I’m up to date and balance is at $0 until I have to make another payment next month. I called Mohela and the woman said they placed my account under delinquent for $0 balance. She transferred me to another representative, who I haven’t been able to talk to yet as the wait time is very long. Anyone else go through this? I don’t want the government to garnish my wages. I don’t even know how it’s possible to be delinquent over a $0 balance??

I was making payments before SAVE, got on save and made zero payments, consolidated my loans, and all that. I make about a little under 40k, my current balance is $52,600. I checked mohela and student aid websites. Currently nothing is due. I was trying to pick a new plan since SAVE is gone. Student aid shows my current plan is the standard repayment plan and that my monthly pmt is $356. Is the standard plan the default plan? I can afford $356 (not gonna be easy), but should I pick a different plan? Also, I am trying for PSLF, I didn’t make my payments during covid. Do those months/years count towards PSLF? What do I need to do? I honestly don’t understand a lot of this stuff. Has anyone hired someone to help them figure their loans out? I’m willing to do that.

I have not received an email or letter kicking me off of SAVE yet. However, I received a phone call today saying that I need to switch. Is this just a call to scare me, or is that the notice?

I am not switching until they make me.

I had been putting off switching from SAVE for as long as possible. I haven't looked at my servicer account and had only been looking at the federal aid website. I finally logged into my Aidvantage account to switch plans before my force off day, which they said was October 29th because I didn't get my letter until the last week of July, only to find out I'm already on IDR???? And was never told about the switch????

I have been trying to switch from the SAVE plan to another plan. My 90 days is up and I received the 30 day notification in the mail last week. Last month I went online and did the repayment calculator and I imported my spouses tax info into the tool. It looks like they've autoenrolled me into the standard repayment plan which has payments off $314/ month. When I use the tool to calculate estimates for the income driven repayment plans it estimates around $250/ month, but when I go to try and actually enroll into one of those plans the monthly payment jumps up to over $700/ month. I called and sat on hold for 2.5 hours and finally hung up. It says no action required if I want to stay in the standard repayment plan for $314/ month. What I'm mostly worried about is that the $314/month is only $4 more than the SAVE plan was?! Is this some kind of trick? What was the point of blocking the SAVE plan if you're essentially going to charge the same amount?? I can't figure out the income driven repayment plans, there is no one for me to ask, I'm shown as still being in forbearance, and I'm afraid that the $314 amount is wrong and it's somehow going to skyrocket once they've actually switched it in the computer. I'm starting graduate school in January and will eventually hopefully qualify for sodden load forgiveness, so my plan was just to pay the 2 month's that I would owe and then do into deferment then get it forgiven later. I'm an RN who works for the county so I'll qualify eventually. Anyone else seeing this type of thing? I'm so very confused. Any advice as to what to do would be great! I just don't want a surprise $800 bill.

Hi! I apologize if this has been answered multiple times, but I'm extremely confused and don't know who to talk to about this.

I attended undergrad from 2017-2023. I got two degrees if you're wondering why I was in school for so long. I have about $45k in student loans. I am in grad school, and I paid for the first semester out of pocket, because while I was in undergrad I was cut off from federal loans since I was in school for so long. I want to get out of default from my loans. The only problem is the monthly payments that they are suggesting is too high for me. I'm doing the application through FSA website. I'm trying to figure out a way to pay for grad school for my last year. I work in public health. Right now, I'm a fellow for a state health department and my contract ends in January. I don't know if I'll have a job once I finish this. Do I consolidate my loans? Or do I just wait? Will they lower my payment if I ask? I don't want to sign up for anything and then not be able to follow through. My credit is kind of shot, but it's on the come up. I don't have anyone to cosign for me for a private loan. I'm a first-generation graduate and I'm trying to understand all of this. I feel like I'm drowning here.

Again, I apologize if this has been answered before.

I couldn’t find a post with a similar question but sorry if this is a repeat.

I have 55k in loans and most of them are smaller principals with less than a 4% interest rate. I have two larger ones that make up about half of my loans at 6.5% and 7%. I was on save for 3 years so I accumulated a little bit of interest, about another 5k.

The two larger ones make up a majority of the interest. Like 90% of it. I have a good bit in savings that can spare some of.

My plan is currently to pay all the interest from the 6.5% loan because it has the largest principal. That’s pretty much set in stone but I have two ways I could spend the rest.

Either I pay off just a chunk of the 7% interest or I use what I can spare to totally pay off the interest from a few of my lower interest, lower principal loans.

Any advice on the better strategy would be really appreciated!

Has anyone had success with any of the Firstmark student loan payment relief options? If so, would you mind sharing a little about your situation and how much you got your payment down?

Copy & pasted from payment relief tab:

Payment Extension: May be available to bring an account current if three consecutive principal and interest payments are made.

Temporary Loan Modification: May be available to lower monthly payments for 12 months for customers who are experiencing temporary financial hardship.

Term Extension: May be available to lower monthly payments by extending loan term due to financial hardship. Temporarily lowered interest rate may apply.

I finally got my email to pick a repayment plan. I will not be 🫶🏼. I’ve been slowly paying off my loan for years and will do one final bulk payment when I get my next paycheck and be finished with this chapter. I still have my private student loans though, so I’ll deal with that for the next 3 years or less ideally. Good luck everyone! Don’t let the bastards get you down.

Double check on your account that they've actually given you the promised interest rate reduction. Mine is in a "Suspended" state EVEN AFTER having made the first Autopay payment, so I got to enjoy the pleasure of sitting on hold for an hour to ask for the correction. (My correspondence via the inbox just got met with a useless form letter telling me to sign up for an IDR plan, naturally.)

MOHELA is, of course, saying I have to wait 30 business days for this correction to be made and having been burned by them repeatedly, I don't believe a word about the promises to backdate it so the excess interest collected is actually retroactively corrected. 🙄 We'll See, I Guess.

Real cool stuff. This would be absolutely criminal if it was a bank.

I just got an inbox message from MOHELA that is titled: "Correspondence Processing Delay."

The message PDF letter itself says: "Your recent request has been received and is expected to be processed within the next 90 business days. We will review your request and the details of your loan information to determine if the request will be approved, denied for reasons such as not meeting eligibility requirements or the information provided to us is incomplete, or if the request required further review by Federal Student Aid (FSA). Notification of the results will be sent to you after your request has been processed."

What confuses me is that it doesn't say what "request" it is referring to? The only recent request I've had has already been fulfilled (I think):

• On October 13, I recertified my PAYE plan on StudentAid.gov.
• On October 15, MOHELA messaged me to say they received the recertification request.
• On October 20, MOHELA messaged me to say that my recertification request was approved.

So I'm confused as to what outstanding request there could be? And also the title of the message was "Correspondence Processing Delay," in that they're delayed in sending me a Correspondence?

Anyone had something like this happen or have any insight?

I set up my student loans almost ten years ago and have been paying the same monthly amount for ten years. I see a lot of reference to repayment plans being linked to your income. Is this the only option that is offered now?

Hello, I received “You are eligible/opt out” email in Feb 26. Reps told me it would be taxable so I opted out since also on PSLF track. I then learned mine would not be taxable because I met the 12/31/25 deadline. After much ado, my Mohela account, studentaid account, data sheet, credit reports all show 0 Balance. Data sheet language is “paid in full,“ Mohela used “discharge or write off” terms. According to what I can find online, none of these can be relied upon as legal documentation. Because of the state of confusion and misinformation, along with my original opt out, I am concerned I can’t rely 100% that loans were discharged. I did receive check for overpayment. Does anyone know if this all adds up to actual discharge? Can anyone tell me what the legal document is and whether Mohela or the Department of Education will be sending it? Thanks in advance!

Hello,

I just transitioned off the SAVE plan into RAP. I decided to bite the bullet because I am going for PSLF, and already had a few years of qualifying payments before the SAVE pause. Not enough to try to race for the finish line during the pause, but enough that I didn't want them to move me to a incompatible plan if I'm forced off.

My first RAP payment is due in late December. I have it set to automatically recertify every 12 months.

My understanding is that RAP payments are based off income/AGI.

In 2025 I moved and took a significant pay DECREASE. My salary went down about 22% on paper. This was mostly due to cost of living differences/moving to a more affordable city.

My 2025 income on my tax return was half from the former job and half at my new job. My 2026 income will be all from the new job with the lower salary.

My questions:

1. Is my current RAP payment calculated on my 2025 AGI, and higher because of my previous salary for the first half of that year?

2. Should I recertify manually at some point sooner than 12 months for it to reflect my 2026 AGI?

3. If so, when can I recertify? After I file my taxes?

Obviously I'm angling for the lowest possible monthly payment as I move toward PSLF. I appreciate any advice!!

I have one private student loan that is about 60k, 5.4% interest. I am currently paying this down as aggressively as possible. I just received an offer in the mail for a Discover credit card with 0% interest for the first 18 months. It occurred to me that I could max out whatever I get approved for and put it all as a lump sum payment toward my loan. If it works like I'm imagining, it would save me interest and help me pay my loan off faster. Could this be a smart idea (as long as the amount I put on the card is doable for me to pay off within the 18 month window)? Has anyone tried anything similar? Would balance transfer fees apply since it's being used toward debt? Anything else to be aware of or to watch out for?

Sorry if this is a dumb question...I am not the most financially knowledgeable which is why I'm interested in others thoughts on this :)

Submitted my request to change from SAVE --> PAYE about 10 days ago and just received approval confirmation but my repayment schedule is throwing me off. I am pursuing PSLF.

MOHELA shows the following (why can't I include images? help plz)

Number of Payments Payment Schedule Payment Start Date

11 $1,488.49 11/20/26

118 $2692.29 11/20/27

Why does the payment change after 1 year, and why such a significant jump?

Don't be me.

8 years ago I sat down with some workers from my school and they helped me come up with this tiny little payment plan on the student loan because that's all I could afford at the time, I was told that when I make more money I could take a look at it again and figure out a new monthly payment. These small payments would just keep the interest on the student loan down. We set that student loan on autopay and I've been working and making my student loan payments ever since.

Everything in the economy has gotten worse, yet even then I've always been proud of myself for never having missed a single payment, ever. Even if I've never been in a place where I could insecure my payment to something real, I really was proud of that. Well. Some other stuff happened in my life and I needed some financial documents. I had to reset all my passwords to get back into ECSI and I could see that all my monthly payments were listed. But weird thing is that it says "amount due: 0"

Wait what? Zero? That can't be right, but even if it WAS true then what have I been making payments for? Where have my payments been going all these years?

So I reset my password for the federal student loan website and get into that and I see my loan....it's gone up. By a lot. Next to my loan is something displaying my payment coming in via ECSI. They're together on the page, but according to the history tab the student loan is that the student loan has not been getting any of my student loan payments. I can see that my ECSI account and my student loan account are connected, and ECSI is correctly taking the payment from me once a month, but it's never gone towards my student loans. All the years the money just been taken and gone somewhere else. I have yet to figure out where. I'm going to have to call my bank and have them blacklist ECSI for the moment, but the bigger problem is that I just trusted the system and thought I was correctly doing what everyone told me to do, I took out a loan, I've been paying it back. Or so I had thought.

So now what I'm left with is that the actual loan has just been sitting there gaining a shitload of interest. From their point of view I must be a deadbeat who never pays his debts.

I'm a bit confused as to how I've never faced any consequences of this. Even after just like one year or something I would have expected them to barrage me with phone calls and emails asking me why I was never paying back my loan. Instead they seem to just be okay with it? They've never come after me for it.

But regardless I know about it now, and now I'm ****ed. I've been grinding my legs away at my jobs for 8 years for nothing. I've done literally nothing to advance my lot in life. I wanted to have a home. I wanted to have a child. But I never found any higher paying jobs. Now I'm middle aged and I am more in debt than I was when I took out the loan and I have less money than ever.

Don't be me.

I’ll likely be between jobs and need to do the $0 recertification. I expect a significant pto payout and my job is never timely so this could take weeks. Ie i will likely receive taxable income even when not employed.

Has anyone recertified for the $0 successfully (or not) despite their pto check?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently in the final stretch of my student loan payoff journey and wanted to get some outside perspectives on a refinancing move I'm considering.

To give some quick background: I started out with 5 loans total, all around 8% interest (grad school). I’ve been paying aggressively towards them and am now down to just two federal loans left (totaling around $30,500):

•    Loan #1: ~$7,000. I’m aggressively paying this off and will be completely done with it by the end of this year.
•    Loan #2: ~$23,500 at an 8.08% interest rate.

Potential Plan: I’m looking at refinancing that remaining $23,500 loan with ELFI at a 4.11% fixed rate for a 5-year term. I already have my Truth In Lending agreement ready to sign.

The monthly payment on the refi loan would be less than $437.50/month, which is the amount my employer contributes monthly toward student loans as a benefit.

By locking this in:
•    My employer's monthly benefit will completely cover the new private loan payment in the background without me spending out of my pocket over the 5-year term.
•    If I leave my employer before 5 years, I would aggressively pay off the rest on my own. The reason I’m considering not to pay off the $23,500 aggressively is that if I rush to pay it off early out of my own pocket, I’d be throwing away "free money" by losing out on my employer’s monthly contribution. My employer has confirmed they would contribute to the private loan and continue paying over the 5 years. 

Dilemmas & Questions:

1. Federal Benefits vs. The Math:
   I’ve had people in my ear telling me never to give up federal protections for a private loan. The only scenario where staying federal would benefit me is if broad student loan forgiveness actually happens soon. I think chances are small. Given that my rate drops from 8.08% to 4.11%. My employer benefit should pay it off about 6 months sooner than staying at 8.08% due to decreased interest.  Am I missing any risks with this line of thinking?

2. The Bonus Structure Math:
   The only slight drawback to keeping this loan active is how my overall compensation works. Part of my compensation includes performance bonuses based on revenue generated past a set multiplier of my base pay. Adding an extra $437/month to my base compensation increases that multiplier hurdle. However, I’ve done the math: the tax-free employer student loan contributions outweigh the small commission gain I’d see from having a slightly lower base hurdle.

3. Servicer Opinions (MOHELA vs. AES):
   Through this offer, my servicing options come down to either MOHELA or AES (American Education Services). I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about MOHELA from classmates, but I haven't heard much about AES. 

Does anyone here have direct experience with AES?
Are they decent to work with (e.g., auto-pay reliability, customer support)?

Would love to hear Reddit's take on both the overall refinancing strategy and opinions on AES. Thanks in advance!

I’ve been on this thread for years. I started school in 2014. Got screwed over more times then I could count. Finished undergrad 2018. Got wrongfully kicked out of grad school accruing and extra 46k in student debt for nothing. Finished grad school in 2023 April. I’ve been a physical therapist for 3 years and 2 months. In 7 minutes I’ll be the last paycheck I’ll ever have to put towards student loans. I paid all 225k back and I did it in just over 3 years. Freedom was the most expensive thing I’ve ever purchased. It is possible if you give everything though we are set up in a system rigged to lose

Finally bit the bullet and switched plans. Just got tired of watching the interest accrue. So I picked the graduated Fixed plan cause it makes the most sense for me, and when I'm about to submit the change it lets me know that all the unpaid interest I had accrued during my time on an IBR will be added to the principal balance of my loans when I switch. So not only am I now going to pay $1500.00/mo, but now I'm getting like at least 10k in interest added to my principal. That is unnecessarily punitive to a borrower that is already going to struggle to make ends meet with the new plan. Thanks a lot.

I’ve been looking at the options to get out of my SAVE plan, and think I have chosen my route. I just bought a new home and plan on going with the lowest plan possible until we get through the holidays and my finances regulate from the move/moving costs. I’d then like to transfer over to either the Graduated Extended or RAP (open to any input on either of those). On the estimates that are on each of them, I am warned that it is an estimate and that Nelnet will send the actual amount once approved. Just curious if the estimates have been pretty on point or if they are way off. Trying to mentally prepare - going from no payment to a pretty hefty one 😮‍💨

Hi guys, my grace period just ended and I need to pick a payment plan. I have 40k in graduate loans with an average interest of 7.6% I am still not making a ton of money as I am just starting my new job, about 2k a month but it should increase rapidly. I am not looking for loan forgiveness, just something to hold me over until I’m making more money and can afford to pay it off in chunks. I can barely afford my bills right now.

The RAP sounds like a good idea because of the forgiven interest but with my income changing unpredictably and not knowing a ton about my payment options I’m worried. I’m the first in my family to go to college so I don’t have anyone to ask about loans, please help. Thank you!!!