Apply for Federal Student Loan Debt Relief

"Eligibility for Debt Relief

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What Is Federal Student Loan Debt Relief?

It’s a program that provides eligible borrowers with full or partial discharge of loans up to $20,000 to Federal Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 to non-Pell Grant recipients.

Who Qualifies?

• Individuals who made less than $125,000 in 2021 or 2020
• Families that made less than $250,000 in 2021 or 2020

If you filed federal taxes, your income requirements are based on your adjusted gross income (AGI), which tends to be lower than your total income. Your AGI can be found on line 11 of the IRS Form 1040.

How It Works

Apply today (but no later than Dec. 31, 2023). We’ll determine your eligibility and will contact you if we need more information. Your loan servicer will notify you when your relief has been processed.

Learn More About Student Loan Debt Relief.."
Student Loan Debt Relief 

FTC Takes Action against Operators of Student Loan Debt Relief Schemes and the Financing Company that Assisted Them

"...How to Avoid Student Loan Debt Relief Scams

To help consumers avoid falling victim to such fraud, the FTC has consumer education related to student loan debt relief scams at ftc.gov/StudentLoans.

Only scammers promise fast loan forgiveness, and they often pretend to be affiliated with the government. Consumers should never pay an upfront fee for help, and should not share their FSA ID with anyone.

Consumers can apply for loan deferments, forbearance, repayment, and forgiveness or discharge programs directly through the U.S. Department of Education or their loan servicer at no cost. These programs do not require the assistance of a third-party company or payment of application fees. For federal student loan repayment options, visit StudentAid.gov/repay. For private student loans, contact the loan servicer directly.

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Student loan debt relief scams

3 Ways to Get Your Loan Out of Default

"You didn’t pay your federal student loan for several months, and now a collection agency is calling you telling you your loan has defaulted. If you’re like many borrowers in this situation, you are probably freaked out and don’t know what to do.
Don’t worry — you still have options to remedy your situation. You don’t have to run from your debt; you can face it head-on and we can help you..."
Student loans

4 Things You Need to Know About Repaying Your Student Loans

Find key points to remember when repaying your student loan.
student loans

Private Student Loans

"American consumers owe more than $150 billion in outstanding private student loan
debt. While this amount is significantly less than the amount outstanding on student
loans guaranteed by the federal government, the private student loan (“PSL”) product
is an important component of higher education finance and does not appear to be well
understood by the public.

In this Report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the US Department of
Education seek to highlight key attributes of the private student loan marketplace, as
well as consumer protection issues which policymakers may wish to address..."

Help Americans Manage Student Loan Debt"

"...Help Americans Manage Student Loan Debt by Capping Monthly Payments to What They Can Afford

* Allow borrowers to cap their student loan payments at 10% of discretionary income. In the 2010 State of the Union, the President proposed – and Congress quickly enacted – an improved income-based repayment (IBR) plan, which allows student loan borrowers to cap their monthly payments at 15% of their discretionary income. Beginning July 1, 2014, the IBR plan is scheduled to reduce that limit from 15% to 10% of discretionary income.
* Today, the President announced that his Administration is putting forth a new “Pay As You Earn” proposal to make sure these same important benefits are made available to some borrowers as soon as 2012. The Administration estimates that this cap will reduce monthly payments for more than 1.6 million student borrowers..."

Costs and Policy Options for Federal Student Loan Programs
"The federal government helps students finance higher education through two major loan programs—one that guarantees loans made by private lenders and one that makes loans directly to borrowers. The two programs offer similar types of loans on similar terms to borrowers, but they differ significantly in how they are funded and administered. Those differences cause the guaranteed loan program to have a significantly higher rate of federal subsidies—as calculated for the federal budget under the rules of the Federal Credit Reform Act—than the direct loan program has. However, such subsidy-rate estimates do not include the costs to taxpayers that
stem from the risks involved in making student loans, nor do they include federal administrative costs (which are recorded separately in the budget). Morecomprehensive, fair-value estimates, which include such costs, indicate higher subsidy rates for both programs, although direct loans continue to show a marked cost advantage over guaranteed loans.

This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study—prepared at the request of the
Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee—compares the budgetary and fair-
value costs of the federal student loan programs. It also looks at several options for modifying those programs, including eliminating the guaranteed loan program
after July 1, 2010, and expanding direct lending. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective and impartial analysis, this report makes no recommendations..."

Student Loan Default Rates Increase
"U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that the FY 2007 national student loan cohort default rate increased to 6.7 percent, up from the FY 2006 rate of 5.2 percent.

The rate announced today is a snapshot in time, representing the cohort of borrowers whose first loan repayments came due between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2007, and who defaulted before September 30, 2008. Some 3.3 million borrowers entered repayment during this time, and more than 225,300 borrowers went into default. They attended 5,776 participating institutions.

“The economic downturn likely had a significant impact on the borrowers captured in these rates,” Duncan said. “The Department is reaching out to make sure current and prospective student borrowers are aware of the many flexible repayment options designed to assist them with their financial obligations, such as the new Income-Based Repayment Plan.”

As a historical comparison, in FY 1990, nearly one in four borrowers defaulted on their federal loans when default rates set an all-time high of 22.4 percent. The rate dropped to record low of 4.5 percent in FY 2003..."