When borrowers want individualized guidance based on their finances, I sometimes refer people to the Student Loan Planner for individual loan consulting.

Michelle,

They won’t see that you changed plans an then retroactively bill you at a higher rate based on what you would have been paying on a different plan.

Do you happen to know if anyone who does consulting with student loan situations?

Thanks again Michael. I know my question sounded a little confusing but what I was really wondering was related to my recertification in August 2024. If I switch from the repaye right now to the IBR plan, I will be making higher payments. But if I wait until August 2024 then between now and August 2024 I think my payments will be lower, regardless as to whether the plan the changes. Is that correct thinking? When August 2024 rolls around I will have been married two years but filing married but separately. Can I switch to IBR in august without penalty or will they make me pay retroactively since the prior year I was under REPAYE that didn’t honor married but filing separately. If so then it’s better for me to switch now even if I have to pay more between now and August 2024 because I be our plan has a higher payment percentage than the repaye? I realize that it seems like I’m talking in circles I’m just trying to understand the best course of action. Right now I am on the repay evil plan that does not honor married but filing taxes separately. But my recertification doesn’t come up until next August so I don’t know if I need to change that plan right away because I’m on a plan that does not honor married but filing separately and just start paying more on the IBR plan. I would hate to recertify in August 2024, change to IBR then, and have them look at it and say “wow for the last year you’ve been on the repaye plan and they actually don’t honor married but filing separately and now you owe us a ton of money from the prior year.”
And again, I really appreciate your help on this.

Hi Michelle,

You can change plans whenever you want, and you can also have your payments recalculated if you experience a drop in income. However, I don’t recommend waiting to recertify in anticipation of the new repayment plan.

As for the payment history. I had simimilar issues with my servicer. You can try to arrange a three-way call with the Department of Education and the servicer, but ultimately, the servicer should have the full records, including the time before they serviced your loans. If you continue to have issues, you can always file a complaint.

Thank you so much Michael. I have a couple of other questions. Would you recommend waiting until I need to re-certify in August of 2024, or changing plans now? I’d like to wait just in case the REPAYE does change in the meantime, and then I won’t need to change plans because it will respect my married but filing separately status. My concern is if the REPAYE doesn’t change, and I need to change, I read somewhere that we should change plans BEFORE an increase in a salary, because the second the salary increases, the loan board will back date higher payments. I’m worried because I was married in June of 2022 so if I wait until next year to change plans when I re-certify will they increase my payments based on the date of my marriage? Or can I wait until aug 2024 to change?
Also, my other question is a little different. Who can we contact to get more information about loan servicers from more than 20 years ago? I’m trying to get an accurate account of all of my payments as I think I have make almost 25 years of payments but my present loan servicer only has loans from 2003. I contact the Dept of education but they redirected me to my current servicer, who directed me back to them 🙁

Lots of great questions here, Michelle.

Let’s start by answering the easy ones first. You can change repayment plans at any time. If you changed plans six-months ago, you can still switch to a new plan that better suits your needs. Likewise, if you have a change in income, you can request that your monthly payment be recalculated immediately.

Now for the tricky question. We don’t know what the new REPAYE plan will look like… or even if it will change the current REPAYE plan. Here are the details on the proposed new plan that I’ve been able to identify. However, all of this is subject to change. Its great to know about changes that could be on the horizon, but I’d caution you not to make any conclusions until things are finalized.

What do you mean by a red flag?

Many borrowers switch from MFJ to MFS for the purposes of lowering their IDR payments.

If I already have an IDR and my payment is based on MFJ, can I just go ahead and choose MFS for this years taxes – so when I recertify my income it will only be my income? Or is this a red flag?