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    SAVE Administrative Forbearance End Dates are “Placeholders”

    I know it is very popular on Reddit to confidently proclaim those dates are "placeholders", but where exactly does this term/label come from? Is there an official source that actually calls them "placeholders" that are subject to change?

    I understand why so many here and who follow student loan news closely think they are, but where on the servicer site does it formally say/declare "This is a placeholder"? Need to remember that the vast majority of student loan borrowers do not read Reddit. People's accounts literally have these dates published in black and white with no indication they are "placeholders".

    And yes, I understand that the 90-day letters are clear about needing to switch to another IDR plan or else they will do it for the Standard Plan…but then why not update the forbearance end date accordingly? Wouldn't it make sense to alter the forbearance end dates to match the deadline established by the 90-day letter? Servicers have switched borrowers to the Standard Plan before (e.g. IDR recertification not done annually on time), but it is automatically triggered by passing the date of when the IDR recertification was due. In the case of SAVE forbearance, the forbearance dates are a long way away, so there exists no automatic trigger that we know of. This would lead me to think that they have to manually switch SAVE borrowers onto the Standard Plan which is not easy and likely why they have been so pushy and manipulative in getting people to self-vacate.

    This is all speculation, of course, so I'm not trying to give advice or tell anybody how to proceed, but I'm waiting to see what happens and potentially call their bluff. The servicers only do what the Department of Education tells them to do, and it is possible they tell them to stand down until later and keep delaying.

    SAVE Administrative Forbearance End Dates are "Placeholders"
    byu/WowRedditIsUseful inStudentLoans



    Posted by WowRedditIsUseful

    4 Comments

    1. fakeshoesornah on

      I’m not comfortable taking this chance and applied to leave save on 8/24. However, I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong. I’d say if someone really can’t afford any of the payment plans AND they’re nowhere near close to forgiveness, they’d be better off trying to call the bluff, and try to stay on SAVE until they’re forced out. They can easily just apply to an IDR once that happens and request a processing forbearance before their first standard payment is due 

    3. Important_Charity862 on

      I can’t speak for other servicers, but Nelnet does in fact describe the Nov 2028 payment due date as a placeholder *without using that exact term* on the account login page. It says verbatim:

      Save Plan Pause Forbearance

      Payments will begin in Nov 2028.

      Your payment amount will be shown on your statement three weeks before your due date.

      Please Note: Although your next due date currently appears far in the future, it will be moved up when you apply for a new repayment plan (due to the end of the SAVE Plan) and resume repayment.

    4. Chingy1510 on

      Agreed. There’s a reason why they’re trying so hard to get people to voluntarily leave. This administration is evil. If they could plop us all into standard, they would’ve done it the second SAVE was shot down. They didn’t and I speculate that they can’t for some reason.

      Also something about amending the conditions of a contract without the express consent of both parties. Dunno.

      I agree, though, and am of the mind that a silent game might be going on. The extra 30 day extension makes my would-have-been October payment plus November basically on par with the Standard plan. So, my plan was to change to RAP on the deadline. The website wouldn’t let me do it. Now, I’m riding it out because Standard for a month doesn’t cost me any more than October and November would’ve, and I really want to find out.

      I dunno. I’ve felt for a long time that fuckery is a foot and things with SAVE aren’t as set in stone as they’ve been discussed on Reddit.

      I know Betsy would disagree. I’m prepared to be wrong ultimately. Just an interesting blip in history while the unit cost of intelligence is being exponentially driven to zero. Soon, we’ll all be shackled with loans for degrees that are essentially worthless and unfit for the New World we’ve found ourselves in.

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