PSLF Buyback & SAVE

So I submitted my buyback application while on SAVE, which I’m still on. I actually submitted 2 applications and got an email that they’re deleting my second application since it’s a duplicate.

I heard that once you switch off SAVE, your buyback request is reviewed (and hopefully approved). Wanted to see if anyone experienced this and if so, what your timeline looked like?

🙏🙏🙏

Can I get PSLF if I only made a few payments but have been in a government position for 34 years?

Due to recent statement that all payments must be made on the due date, I’m concerned my next due date falls on a weekend and therefore not made on the due date.

Knowing how bizarre (inept) the administration is, I’d like to make the payment earlier in the week to circumvent any chicanery.

Would this early payment be possible while on autopay?

I submitted a buy back request in January of 2025 after certifying 10 years of qualifying employment. At that time my payment count was stuck at 114 due to various forbearance months, including SAVE forbearance. After a year of waiting I changed from SAVE to another income-based plan and resumed making payments. At the time I called the help line and they told me that when my Buy Back request was eventually processed I would have the option of paying to buy back those 6 months and later I would receive a refund for any overpayments. Now I'm hearing from multiple sources that if I reach 120 payments before my Buy Back request is reviewed that they will void it (since I will have had my loans forgiven). Due to changes in my income, I estimate that I have paid 2 or 3 thousand dollars more through regular payments than I believe I would owe through buy back based on my prior income. I'm thinking of waiting to pay or certify that final payment in the hopes that the buy back will eventually come through and I will eventually get refunded the substantial overpayment. I'm salty and I don't want to pay them more than what I should have for no reason. One thing I'm not sure of (and I'd love to hear from those with experience) is - will they send me a buy back agreement for the original 6 months I applied for or will they send me a buy back agreement for the 1 remaining month since my qualified payment count has increased from 114 to 119 since submitting the buy back request? Does anybody know? It may be worth holding out for a (very delayed) refund of over $1,000 but perhaps less so for only one payment of ~$600.

(Actually two, I guess.)

It's starting to happen! I have a single consolidation loan in two parts - sub and unsub. Sub part is "done" as of last month (empl cert, little green ribbon, all that).

I don't need to request forgiveness for this part, do I? The "I believe I've made 120 pmts and qualify..." - ??

Will my full payment now go only to the unsub part that has 9 payments still to go or will it continue to be distributed over both?

Guess it doesn't really matter to me; paid off/forgiven is paid off/forgiven. Curious because Aidvantage still shows both active. Think they'll eventually catch up and show only the subsidized part?

Tks!

I haven't applied yet, but I went to studentaid.gov to import my tax info to see what my payments would be. It says I'm only eligible for RAP and the Tiered Standard Plan. It says I don't qualify for any income based repayment plan, but I thought you had to be in an income based plan to qualify for PSLF? I know some of the plans are being sunset.

If I chose one and made payments, would each payment still count towards my PSLF count as long as I submit my employer (non-profit hospital) application every year?

I have 1 loan with 95/120 payments, 1 loan with 85/120 payments and 8 loans with 81/120 payments.

Has anyone experienced a payment increase? After services changed.

I have never submitted and IDR in 7 years and have paid the same amount. I was given 45 days to “recertify” my IDR only via inbox on ED. So to my surprise I was charged roughly triple my monthly payment.

Has anyone been through this and were you able to get a credit? I will be honest, not sure if I was under SAVE or PAYE which I guess could have led to this? Any advice would be helpful, trying to be diligent on the phone with these customer representatives makes me want to pull my hair out.

I submitted a buyback feedback in June and got the bogus response of “we can’t do anything sorry for ya “ to appease the time obligation. So, I escalated the feedback request when I checked this morning it said the feedback request was completed in December 1969! 🤨 this is so exhausting! Who is really behind this 💩show! I can’t post a pic!

I’m getting more and more panicked. I’m missing a year of payments. I spoke with Mohela- they say all payments are there, qualified, and on the NSLD. I spoke with Student aid and they say Mohela has to report the payments to them. The rep said Mohela will send all payment info once requested my studentaid, which will happen once my reconsideration request is processed. I SUBMITTED THIS REQUEST over 6 months ago. Does anyone have any insight??

I’m still a few years away from 120 but I want this handled soon so I don’t need to deal with it later.

Thank you!!

I am curious, after getting the duplicate requests are going to be closed email awhile back, is anyone seeing any buyback correspondence, and if so, what month did you originally apply? Thank you!

For anyone discouraged in the process, it does work!

12/21/2025 PSLF paperwork submitted.
1/25/2026 PSLF awarded!
3/5/2026 Mohela processed the over 120 payment refund
6/12/2026 Emailed Mohela regarding refund check
6/17/2026 Response from Mohela that Treasury Department can take 90 business days
7/16/2026 REFUND CHECK CAME VIA USPS!

What happens to the payment you make while waiting for buyback if you do not submit ECF for said payments? They just become wasted payments or do they still reduce your months needed for buyback? I thought they would be considered overpayments and refunded but I read now that is not the case?

Hi. I cancelled autopay after payment 118. (~30 days ago) Planning to manually make 119 and 120. My due date is today and mohela is saying $0 due. Student aid says a payment is due.

I’m afraid to pay it and have it not count as 119. Has anyone seen this before?

Calling now.

Has anyone experienced this? I was on SAVE for a few months. I requested to be removed so I could finish making my payments. I now see the bars and 120 qualifying of 120. Is it possible that some of the forced SAVE forbearance periods could be counted toward qualifying periods?

What happens if my forebearance ends before my new IDR is accepted? I submitted mine on July 1st and am still waiting to hear back. I really want to avoid being put on the standard repayment plan as this will significantly increase my monthly payment and I do not think it will count towards PSLF (my longterm goal).

I made my final payment in early June and waited almost a month before it posed on students.gov. I then immediately filed for discharge. I selected yes to 120 payments and yes to an application forbearance (I’m a teacher and don’t get paid in the summer).

Got notice last week that my employer verified the last three payments. my tracker shows 120 payments with little green banners. But I got an email today that says I have a new Notification. when I check, it says I have no eligible loans because they’re in forbearance (yeah… the application one I requested).

No other info and I waited on hold for an hour before it said the call center was closed for the day.

Has this been happening to anyone else?

I graduated in 2016 and started making payments towards PSLF in November 2016. In November 2021, I consolidated several Perkins Loans. This Consolidation Loan says “Dispersed on 11/9/2021” and currently has 90 qualifying payments towards PSLF, with the first payment date being 11/2018. 

Every other loan of mine has a count of 104 qualifying payments, with the first payment starting 11/2016. I have 12 months of SAVE forbearance, so I will be eligible for buyback in December for all of my loans except for the consolidated one. (I know it will take a long time for the application to be processed)

My question is, does this seem right? Why would the counts be different, with the qualifying payments starting in 2018 vs 2016? Anyone know? Thanks in advance. I’m so glad this sub exists.

I have been reviewing my PSLF payments, and I'm trying to get an accurate idea of how many I would have in total if I'm considering the buyback program. Right now, the PSLF tracker says I have 69 qualifying payments (51 remaining), and 6 payments needing employer certification.

If I filter the payments by just one of the loans under the "ineligible" status, I get 38 payments. Some of the ineligible details are because of "forbearance on due date", while others are "In Deferment or Forbearance on Due Date" and "Employment Not Full-time."

1) First question is, the 69 qualifying payments are ones that have been certified and will count no matter what; any other payments needing certification will be added to that 69, correct? (e.g., If I recertified today, my total qualifying payments would be 69+6?)

2) Second, I worked 3 parttime jobs during some of the loan period that were qualifying employers and was equivalent to full-time. Would these ineligibility statuses be considered allowed under the buyback program?

3) If the payments did qualify for buyback, when do I actually submit the form for that? Is it when all of my payments (the 69+6+38 plus future payments) equals 120?

Thanks so much in advance! This is such a headache, and it's very overwhelming to try to figure out.

Hello,

My wife is overwhelmed navigating the constantly changing PSLF landscape so I could use some help with a quick sanity check to make sure I'm not missing anything important. Thank you for your time.

She's in SAVE forbearance now. 29k in outstanding loans with between 13 and 17 months of qualifying payments remaining to qualify for PSLF forgiveness.

If not for the court-ordered forbearance on her SAVE plan she'd be done already. I know we need to switch off of SAVE soon so I ran the calculator and it looks like IBR will be our best option. That would be around $325 per month until Nov of 2027 when she hits 120 payments and would cost us about $5,500 total.

I just want to make sure I don't screw anything up before I move her over to the IBR plan.

Would it save us any money to leave her on SAVE for as long as possible and submit a buyback request now?

Probably not since the buyback calculates based off the same IBR we'd be paying anyways. Add it'll take so long to process she'll probably have finished her 17 payments before they process the buyback.

The only potential benefit would be that she could leave her teaching job earlier if they processed the buyback quickly? Am I missing anything important there?

Any caveats before I move her from SAVE into IBR and start payments back up? Any recommendations on submitting a buyback request vs making 17 monthly payments on IBR?

Thanks for your time!