That is a great question.

The one-time account adjustment and the SAVE litigation are entirely separate issues. However, they are connected in one important way: The Department of Education has limited resources and addressing the SAVE litigation issues took resources away that could have been working on wrapping up the one-time adjustment.

My hope is that the one-time adjustment happens before Trump takes office, but we are certainly in a period of uncertainty.

As for switching to SAVE, it would pause things, and if your payments are a significant hardship, it is a reasonable option. However, I would note that if you are found to have made “extra” payments on your way to forgiveness, the extra payments made at the end get refunded. For that reason, I usually suggest borrowers keep making payments even if they think they have already earned forgiveness. If your math if off by a month or two, you don’t want it to delay forgiveness.

Thanks. I just spoke with a rep with my servicer and gathered that consolidation was pointless for me because I entered repayment on all of my loans at the same time (2017). So, they are essentially being treated as one loan with one payoff date even if they are multiple loans taken out in a span of 3 years. I appreciate you publishing this information and helping us try to navigate through these issues.

Hi Joeb,

In the vast majority of cases consolidating before the deadline is the way to go. If you’ve got loans with different forgiveness progress amounts it can be especially beneficial. Notably, meeting that April 30th deadline will mean you don’t lose your existing progress.

The online consolidation application is available through the Department of Education here: https://studentaid.gov/loan-consolidation/

I’m a little late in the game, but from what I understand here is that it does not make sense to not consolidate my 6 graduate loans from 2013-2016 (1 per semester) into one consolidated loan by the April 30, 2024 deadline. I was initially on the IBR plan for a few years untilI I switched over to the PAYE plan a few years later. I only see benefits and no drawbacks from the one time adjustment. I don’t need to worry about losing 7 years worth of payments and in fact it could help me reach the 20 years mark for my 5 other loans faster if I consolidate now, right?

Also, if I wanted to proceed with consolidation, is there a link for a website I can use or do I contact my servicer?

Thanks!

Before we discuss changing repayment plans, I’d encourage you to first check out the one-time adjustment that is scheduled to happen this year. You may get credit for a lot of previous activity.

However, I suspect you might also have an FFEL consolidation loan based on your description, so some extra steps may be necessary.

I appreciate you taking the time to comment and share your experience. I also think that it was really smart of you to get a confirmation from management and have it documented on your account.

Unfortuantely, I’m afraid the information MOHELA provided you was not accurate. I’ve gotten this quesiton from many readers, and it seems even servciers don’t understand the $12,000 forgiveness provision. I’m in the process of preparing an article explaining exactly how the rule works, and it should post to this site within the next 24 hours.

For now, I’ll tell you that the Code of Federal Regulations is very clear on this issue. 34 C.F.R. § 685.209(k)(3) specifically states that the $12,000 forgiveness after ten years is based on “the borrower’s total original principal balance on all loans.”

I hope I’m wrong and the call reps you spoke to were right, but I’d encourage you not to assume your debt will get forgiven after 10 years if the total original principal balance is greater than $12,000.

Actually, I spoke directly with a rep at MOHELA who also ran it up the chain to their manager (all of which is now permanently documented on that call) that the rule is per loan. So for example all my loans have an original principal balance of $12k or less and all qualify. They all have separate interest rates and were disbursed out on separate dates (and separate years). They have separate total monthly payment counts, etc. They are separate loans and would be treated as such. I asked again to be sure and they confirmed again.

After carefully reading all the information, including the Frequently Asked Questions, found on this FSA webpage: https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment , I feel confident that my loan payment counts will be calculated correctly after consolidation. Rest assured, I have saved a full pdf copy of that webpage should any errors occur. Thank you!