So our income has increased and if RAP becomes a thing my monthly payment will be $$$$. It’ll likely be cheaper to go with standard/graduated. I have been on an IDR since I graduated 11 years ago. Will I still qualify for the 25 year forgiveness or will it “restart” and force me to pay it off in 10?
Will I still qualify for forgiveness if I switch from IDR to standard?
byu/JanetSnakehole610 inStudentLoans
Posted by JanetSnakehole610
2 Comments
Extended and Graduated don’t count towards forgiveness. The 10 year Standard plan counts towards forgiveness, but that is not your Standard plan if you have consolidated your loans.
Also, since you have been in repayment for several years, the standard plan can be quite expensive.
The Standard plan is designed to pay off your loans in a specific amount of time. Your 10-30 year clock started ticking as soon as you entered repayment. It only pauses for periods of forbearance and deferment, like the Covid forbearance and SAVE forbearance. If you consolidated then your new consolidation loan entered repayment when it was disbursed.
For example, if your Standard plan is the 10 year Standard plan and you have been in repayment for 8 years then your Standard plan now would be calculated to pay off your remaining balance in 2 years. If you have been in repayment for 10+ years then your Standard payment now would be for your entire remaining balance at once.
You can’t switch back to the standard plan if you have been in repayment more than 10 years