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Update on student loan SAVE forbearance. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-11
I got an email from the Dept of Education today about the SAVE Plan forbearance that went into effect last August.
In July 2024, a federal court injunction blocked parts of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. As a result, your federal student loans were placed in forbearance with a 0% interest rate. Because interest has not accrued, your federal student loan balance (which includes principal and interest) has not grown during your forbearance. In February 2025, a second federal court injunction ended this 0% interest rate. To comply with this injunction, your loan(s) in the SAVE forbearance will begin accruing interest on Aug. 1, 2025. You won't have to make payments until the courts reach a final decision and the SAVE forbearance ends, but your balance will grow when interest starts accruing on Aug. 1, 2025. When the SAVE forbearance does end, you'll be responsible for making monthly payments that include any accrued interest as well as your principal. If you're working toward loan forgiveness, are enrolled in the SAVE Plan, and want to start making qualifying payments, you must apply to switch to another eligible repayment plan.
So...back into IBR. When I was in an IBR plan under my previous private loan servicer, I ran the numbers and figured out that in terms of total amount paid, I paid off my original loan balance in two years (but somehow the interest got away from me). It’s more than doubled now.
My original interest rate before consolidation was 4%; the website is now listing 4.75 fixed but I’m not counting on it staying there (I’m not considered in default which is good).
Does ‘accrued interest’ really mean that it will start accruing when the forbearance ends, or did someone ratf$ck something to ‘accrue’ it behind the scenes from the forbearance date and that bomb will be dropped when the forbearance is lifted? (highly unlikely, but I don’t put anything past this maladministration anymore)
I’m not even sure if the SAVE plan as originally crafted will exist once the injunction kicks in….probably not. It sounds from the wording of the email as if SAVE-enrolled loans won’t be eligible for forgiveness once that happens.
The total ‘lifetime’ of my loan is 17 years (since graduation). I have no idea how they’re going to calculate forgiveness now; will it start at the consolidation date or date the loan was opened? I don’t think I have the original paperwork from my initial loan servicer anymore (a lot of stuff went missing through various moves). My current account dashboard is a mess; they claim 10 loans. When the forbearance was announced only my 2 current loans were listed so what are the other 8? I can’t find my Pell Grant info at all (but I downloaded that last year when it was still accessible).
I was actually surprised that I was able to log in and all the pertinent info was the same.
17 years ago, I actually had the money to pay it off or at least make a very large dent (poorly-thought-out decision by a parent made the money largely go poof and I didn’t find out about it until last year when I wanted to pay a large chunk).
The masthead of the Department of Education website now states, in huge font: “Fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access”. Pardon me for nearly snorting my seltzer all over my laptop. There’s also a link titled “President Trump’s First 100 Days: Education in America”.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/11/2332862/-Update-on-student-loan-SAVE-forbearance?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
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