My recertification deadline is in June (first since 2019). Based on my current income, my new PAYE payment would exceed the standard 10-year amount, so I expect to be capped at the standard payment after recertifying.
However, I’ve seen reports of people being incorrectly removed from PAYE after recertifying with higher income. I'm hoping for PSLF in 2 years so I would like to stay on an eligible plan with as few hiccups as possible. Would it be safer to skip recertification and just be placed on the standard payment automatically?
Has anyone with PAYE (especially with EdFinancial) done this? Thank you!
Should I skip PAYE recertification to avoid being kicked off?
byu/prittygood inStudentLoans
Posted by prittygood
2 Comments
I recertified while I was on PAYE because my income went down and I was trying to get a lower payment. Instead, I got kicked off and my payment is higher. Thanks Nelnet. I don’t know your situation well, but I know I regret recertifying.
You can’t be kicked off of PAYE for making too much once you are on it. Your payment would just become the standard capped amount. There have been issues with borrowers who have income high enough to hit the cap getting incorrect “denial” notices for PAYE because their servicer is treating their recertification like a new application when they shouldn’t.
Because these recertifications have been happening recently, I don’t think we have seen any borrowers here share that they have actually been removed from PAYE after that denial letter. So far some borrowers have gotten the denial notification but they haven’t reached the potential date of removal yet.
So we don’t know yet if the servicer is actually going break the rules and remove them from PAYE yet or if the correct thing will happen and their PAYE payment just becomes the capped standard amount.
That said, recertifying with a high enough income to hit the cap and not recertifying at all results in the same thing: the borrower stays on PAYE and pays the standard cap amount. So you could technically not recertify and wind up in the same place if it makes you feel more comfortable.