Did you receive a “good news” email from the education department? Others are on their way.

The Education Department has started advising student loan borrowers that they could be much closer to eliminating their student loans as part of the Biden administration’s major expansion of the student loan cancellation program. .

On October 6, the Biden administration announced it would enact huge changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), a federal student loan forgiveness program that has long been plagued by problems. including complicated eligibility requirements and low approval rates. The program has traditionally required 120 “eligible payments” to obtain loan forgiveness, but payments are often rejected for technical reasons.

Thanks to the ministry’s new “PSLF Limited Waiver” initiative, which will be active until October 2022, the Biden administration is temporarily relaxing opaque program requirements that limited PSLF relief to certain types of federal student loans and to certain types of loan repayment programs. By expanding eligibility for more federal student loans and any type of payment plan, the ministry estimates that nearly 600,000 student loan borrowers will move closer to paying off their student loans, with some getting their loans canceled immediately. .

As part of the limited PSLF waiver, the ministry will verify direct loan accounts and automatically review payments that were previously rejected for the PSLF due to technical issues such as a payment made under the wrong repayment plan. , paid too early or too late, or not paid in the appropriate amount.

The ministry began emailing thousands of student loan borrowers on Friday who will see their eligible PSLF payments increase as part of the ministry’s audit. “Based on our estimates and your records,” the email read, “the number of your direct loan payments for PSLF is expected to increase. The ministry then estimates the number of additional PSLF payments that will be applied to the borrower’s account, ranging from a few to dozens of additional payments, depending on the borrower. The Ministry notes that this is a preliminary estimate and that the formal update of the PSLF payment statement may take several months.

“Want some good news this Friday night?” Our first batch of PSLF loan cancellation emails have all been sent to those with direct consolidation loans and certified employment – check your inboxes! Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a tweet on Friday. “And if you haven’t had one, hang in there!” Others are on their way.

The Department of Education bases its updated PSLF estimates for borrowers on the periods of qualifying PSLF employment that the department already has on file. Borrowers who have not submitted a recent PSLF employment certification may want to do so, so that the department has the most up-to-date information.

For non-direct borrowers wishing to benefit from the PSLF exemption, additional procedures may be necessary. Borrowers can learn more about the PSLF Limited Waiver here.

Further reading

Biden to transform civil service loan forgiveness with huge new changes: key details

Student loan forgiveness changes: who qualifies and how to apply for Biden’s relief extension

These borrowers are excluded from Biden’s new expanded student loan

Biden administration describes potentially sweeping changes to student loan forgiveness and repayment programs