Borrower Defense Refund Check came in the mail today😭

29F, finally graduating with a bachelors in May with no student loans.

I’m SHOOK. For starters, I applied for the Borrower Defense program in 2021 or 2022 can’t exactly remember. I remember thinking it was a long shot to start with and was not counting on getting any money back. I had a small student loan of $16k that I had taken out in 2016 and repaid the entirety of it finally in 2024. I decided to just pay it off aggressively because I was done waiting for it be “forgiven”. Shortly after paying the loan off, I got an email saying my Borrower Defense case was approved and that I was entitled to receive a refund for all of my student loans including everything I paid off. I was thrilled, but did not get overly excited. I figured if I actually got a check it would be awesome, but I was in no way banking on ever seeing that money again.

About 6 months ago I reached out to the DOE to ask for a status update on my refund check, they said it could take between 1-2 years from notice of case approval to receive. Again, I’m thinking there’s no way I ever see this money but at least they had a target disbursement idea.

Today, I got the mail and noticed something from the Department of Treasury, Bureau of Fiscal Services and jokingly told my partner “huh, wonder if this is a check for my student loans”. Lo and behold, it was a check for EXACTLY that. I’m stunned. Shook.

Has anyone else received a check from this department? I’m like 5% worried that it’s a scam but the check looks very similar to the COVID stimulus checks. It was accompanied by a brief letter / receipt that said it was in reference to my Dept. of Ed Borrower Defense case so I’m optimistic it’s legit. But I’m worried this is too good to be true.

I understand many others have much higher balances that may never be paid off and my heart genuinely goes out to you. Student loans never crippled me, but it was certainly a cloud over my head until they were paid off – I wish everyone got to experience this moment and recognize that I’m extremely fortunate.

If anyone has questions around the Borrower Defense experience, I’m happy to answer questions and help in any way possible. Good luck out there folks.

EDIT: as the mod pointed out, “DOE” is improperly used. I meant Dept. of Education not Dept. of Energy 😭