For those of you who received the golden email on 9/30/25, some helpful information from Aidvantage. I think this is very hopeful…

I received a notification from Aidvantage that my Autopay was going to restart in January, although I received the email about forgiveness at the end of September. I did a chat message in Aidvantage to clarify, and wanted to share what they said. I copied and pasted the chat, with my info redacted and replaced by *me*; I put in the Aidvantage person's name as *Aidvantage*:

• *Aidvantage* Since you have met the required criteria for IDR forgiveness, your account was placed on a forbearance until the forgiveness has been applied and processed. The account will no longer have a balance by January and an Auto Pay will not be pulled by that time.
• *me* Thanks. It's just a little concerning to receive a notification that payments will resume if the forgiveness is really going to happen…
• *Aidvantage* It will be applied to your account.
• *Aidvantage* Can I help you with anything else?
• *me* Should I remove my Bank account information to ensure that a withdrawal does not happen by accident in January? But since I am over the payment count for IBR by 8 or 9 payments, I would want the Bank information to be there for a refund. Do you know anything about how the refund of overpayments will work? Does it come through Aidvantage or through the Dept of Education?
• *Aidvantage* The refund that you are expected to receive will be sent back to you via paper check in the mail by the Department of Education (DOE). You can unenroll from Auto Pay if you would like to feel more secure.