Are you sure that we can still do paper applications?

I found out it was loan type K after the 1st stage of consolidation

If you mean forbearance, payments made during forbearance don't count. Your account is frozen in time. Put the money away save it under the mattress until the stupid court gets their act together. My understanding is you can buyback payments under forbearance if your buyback dollars puts you at or over 120 payments for PSLF. I think our loans will be frozen until April of next year if not longer. I will sell my motorcycle, put money in CD and hopefully be allowed to buyback those months the STUPID COURT put me in limbo or forbearance. Its a pissing match between FJB and the 8th Circuit. They don't give two craps about us, just our votes.

It would definitely be a mistake: the Dept. of Ed has issued multiple releases saying everyone on the plan is in forbearance right now. I would reach out to the loan servicer and if they're not responsive, reach out to the Ombudsman or file a complain with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

@@EscapeStudentLoanDebt i emailed them basically what you said. and now it says zero payment due and "Awaiting Form Administrative Forbearance-Ends 10/31/2024". thank you for your help!

I appreciate the correction! I misread the guidelines stating that you had to be there at time final form was submitted. I'm going to issue a correction in the video we drop tomorrow (Brenton)

You should be fine consolidating the older with the younger. I would download the NSLDS Data File from studentaid.gov to verify the right date for the loan and send that information to your servicer to ask why the dates don't match. You also always have the option of contacting the student loan ombudsman or Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for help in resolving disputes with servicers

@@EscapeStudentLoanDebt Thank you very much -- it's very interesting what's been going on but so many complications unfolding, too.

We're glad you enjoy the videos, thanks for watching! The Department actually issued a statement this weekend saying they will still accept paper applications for the SAVE plan, although they're pausing online applications. They also are going to immediately put people who apply for the SAVE plan on paused payments. We're going to do an emergency podcast on this on Monday. Hope this helps!

You have the option of telling your loan servicer your total annual income instead of your adjusted gross income, but I can't think of a reason why you would unless your income has decreased since the last time you filed taxes. Adjusted Gross Income is typically going to be lower than your total annual income, because things like pre-tax 401(k) contributions, HSA contributions and more will lower your Adjusted Gross Income. So you would typically want to use the Adjusted Gross Income from your previous tax return unless you've experienced a significant pay decrease.

@@EscapeStudentLoanDebt Great! So if I understand, AGI is the default everyone uses unless there is some odd exception, and therefore, I ought to dump as much as I can into a traditional 401k and HSA to get AGI as low as I can for BOTH tax and for federal student loan monthly obligation when I re-certify next Jan (first time since leaving residency), that way I have flexibility to go low on that each month next year (even though I intend to surpass it by a lot). We are on same page? Thank you!

The biggest issue in that case is that the loans may have fallen off your report (which would likely mean you can't sign up for the program because you no longer have loans). But if the loans still exist, even if they're now out of default, you may still have a Defaulted status from the loans in the payment history section of your credit report. The Fresh Start program erases that status from your credit report.