Public Service Loan Forgiveness and IDR plans

[Anonymous]

If one's income is low enough, the calculated payments under some income-driven plans will be $0. If that person qualifies for PSLF, do those $0 "payments" count towards the 120 required payments?

[empiror22]

Short answer is yes, they have as part of their Faq s . Basically if your on one of the plans that count for loan forgiveness then all payments of zero or higher count.

[Cherekas]

Good to know. I was not sure of this and wondered the same. I work in the school system and my loan is no longer in consolidation and wondered if $0 counted towards my forgiveness.

[empiror22]

If you have been certified and have verification done. You can see the status of how many payments count towards FSLF.

[Cherekas]

Where can I see this information? Online with my lender?

[Anonymous]

I know a few people personally who were told they were under PSLF and worked a bunch of quarters (or years) only to find out they actually didn't qualify with their jobs.

Do a lot of ground work and get it in writing that your job qualifies, because it appears they're going back on it for some people.  A friend from high school moved out of state to get a job paying 50% of the job here, and she was told it qualified.  Then after 8 months (and an expensive move) she was informed that she didn't qualify. 

[Cherekas]

That's interesting that they may not qualify only because under the forgiveness guidelines it says you can actually be a janitor working in a school and still qualify. I also receive messages from DOE to my school (work) email informing me that if I work for a govenment agency or non-profit then I am eligible. What I also noticed is I have not submitted the certification yet. So I will actually complete that today and update the process here.

[Anonymous]

I think the biggest problem in all this is the loan servicer. Fedloan Servicing is known for giving misinformation and in some cases no information. I regularly request my qualifying payment count and they don't always add up! At the end of the day, it's the government that makes the decision if your job counts or not because you're not truly submitting the application to your servicer,  only the government when you're done. A lot of people are finding out now that it didn't really count. 

Stay on top of it with your servicer and get everything in writing. I would highly recommend signing up for IDR because the future of PSLF is in jeopardy and at least you will have some forgiveness if it gets scrapped. 

[0errant]

How do you get your servicer to record qualifing payments correctly? FedLoan Servicing claims I've only made 20 qualifying payments. I've paid the full payment monthly since consolidation in 2006, and have worked at the same high school since 2000. I have been unable to get them to give me an accurate reporting, or an explaination as to the discrepancy.

[Anonymous]

Don't even get me started on FLS!
Yes, often your count depends on who you talk to as well. Always get it in writing when it comes to them. First thing I learned is you will always have to call. I've gotten an answer to a fraction of the questions I've asked by email. And different answers to the same question. I always end up calling and the first person you talk to (I believe) is trained to give you a quick, incorrect answer. Speak to a supervisor, they usually know how to fix the problem, and get it in writing because they still might not do it right or at all.
Since you know you've been making these payments since 2006 (and you haven't switched payment plans? Like from extended to income-based?), you'll want to get a copies of the letters that tell you your annual application/paperwork had been approved. Go as far back as possible. I would also get a copy of the letter that tells you how much your payment amount will be. Try to do one thing per phone call; I find too many things at once and they will tell you they'll look into it (ie they're not going to do anything).
Once you have the proof you were on the plan, and you made the required payments (make sure you have a copy of every payment, statement, etc), take this to them. If they don't fix their error, and you find yourself going around in circles with them, I suggest creating a complaint with the CFPB. This is the government agency that sued a different student loan agency for mishandling of student loans.
I find that once you tell your story in full, complete with an upload of all documents, conversations, names, dates, etc., FedLoan Servicing will reply to it very quickly to resolve the problem. Sadly, that is what it takes sometimes.
Good luck, and hope that your problem can be resolved.