Hi all. There are some really smart people in this community so I was hoping to confirm my understanding. I was recently laid off. Someone suggested (before today’s news) that I restart my loans for benefit from the $0 payments.
I called Aidadvantage and they confirmed it would be a $0 payment but said as soon as I had income I would have to call to adjust.
I mentioned I hoped to start contract work soon but that work is inconsistent and unreliable so I asked how often I would have to call. She just kept saying well if it’s a 4 months contract you would call after 4 months. I couldn’t get her to understand the contracts are closer to 4 days.
Is there any downside to restarting payments? She warned once I start I cannot go back into forbearance, which I know. I have filed 2025 taxes and I was a highish earner. How do I make sure that isn’t used to calculate payment and how do I prove I was laid off? How often do I really need to update earnings if I don’t have a full time
job? Or even when I do? I’ll be struggling when a job does come and if I can have some breathing room it would be great.
Thanks!
Posted by lavnyl
1 Comment
If you currently have no taxable income you can declare that on the IDR application and get a $0 payment for 12 months before you have to recertify your income.