“Denied” PAYE, switched to IBR

Posting this as I got a lot of information from others as they posted their experiences, so hopefully this can help someone.

I have been on PAYE since 2020, and I work in the medical field at a nonprofit so was in a situation where I would have a significant increase in salary about 5-6 years into paying my loans. PSLF has always been the goal.

PAYE (or any IDR plan) made sense as I made low payments for 5+ years before the salary increase, and per the rules of the plan as they were established, I would eventually reach the capped payment amount as set forth by PAYE. By 10 years as I continue to work at a non profit I would hopefully qualify for PSLF.

However this year when I was required to recertify my PAYE application was “denied” like many others on this forum despite the fact I was simply recertifying and not applying to PAYE. Despite the fact that I had demonstrated partial financial hardship initially upon acceptance to PAYE 5+ years ago, despite the fact that PFH is not a requirement of PAYE now.

I called Mohela, I asked for a loan supervisor, I quoted the correct statute citing the lack of need for PFH, as many others in this thread have advised (all very good advice). Despite that Mohela told me I “did not qualify for PAYE” any longer and nothing could be done.

I considered just letting it ride, as in theory by just not doing a recertification I would have ended up with my capped monthly payment which is what I wanted anyways, but seemed risky as Mohela doesn’t even understand the basic rules of plans nevermind complexity.

So I ended up applying to change plans to IBR, as I would end up with a similar capped payment based off my entry into IDR repayment going back to 2020.

It took about a month, but this request was approved. Next month I’ll make this new capped payment and make sure I can certify employment to make sure there is no error or catch. And then hopefully, finish out the remaining 4 or so years of payments and get to PSLF as I’ve seen lots of other people do. IBR should be intact beyond 2028 (please correct me if I’m wrong). So I think this should work. (Will update in 2031 if all goes according to plan lol)

It’s unfortunate this is the process we all have to go through and deal with.