Blog Archives

Disability Student Loan Discharges

Posted on August 20, 2021 by askHFTD

On August 19, 2021, the US Department of Education announced that it will automatically wipe out (discharge) student loans of borrowers with total and permanent disability (TPD). This will benefit around 323,000 borrowers beginning in September 2021 via matching to…

Tagged with: department of education, Discharge, total and permanent disability, TPD
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COVID-19 Student Loan Repayment Pause Extended Until January 31, 2022

Posted on August 6, 2021 by askHFTD

Today, August 6, 2021, President Biden announced the pause on federal student loan repayments “one final time until January 31, 2022.” The key words may be “one final time,” so borrowers should plan accordingly. Biden’s statement reasons that this gives…

Posted in blog, COVID-19

PSLF Complaints & Comments

Posted on August 1, 2021 by askHFTD

The Department of Education is asking for your help on how to improve PSLF. They want your comments about COVID-19 affecting PSLF and how they can improve PSLF for you. Specifically, they want to know: Public Service & Student Debt…

Posted in blog, COVID-19

FedLoan Servicing, Official Servicer for PSLF, Not Renewing Contract With Dept of Education

Posted on July 23, 2021 by askHFTD

PHEAA (Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency), which conducts its student loan servicing operations for federally-owned loans as FedLoan Servicing, announced in its press release on July 8, 2021 that it’s not renewing its contract as the PSLF service. PHEAA/FedLoan Servicing’s…

Tagged with: fedloan servicing, PSLF
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PSLF: Clergy & Religious Workers Qualify

Posted on July 1, 2021 by askHFTD

Back in August 2020, the Department of Education issued Final Regulations, which allowed PSLF applicants to count their hours spent on religious activities (see our previous post, mostly the same as below). Now those regulations are effective today, July 1,…

Tagged with: clergy, PSLF, public service loan forgiveness, religious organizations
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PSLF Quarterly Data

Posted on June 14, 2021 by askHFTD

We’re seeing new data from Federal Student Aid (FSA) for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. See statistics here. In the past, several news articles have covered the abysmal PSLF approval rates. Now we see FSA has taken a…

Tagged with: federal student aid, FSA, PSLF, public service loan forgiveness
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COVID-19: PSLF Forgiveness and Eligibility

Posted on May 19, 2021 by askHFTD

The COVID-19 relief measures have helped student borrowers save money during the suspended payment period beginning March 13, 2020- September 30, 2021. But what if your PSLF forgiveness period occurs during COVID-19 suspension? You hit the 120 monthly payments for…

Tagged with: coronavirus, COVID-19, PSLF, public service loan forgiveness
Posted in blog, COVID-19

COVID-19: Refunds for Payments During Suspension

Posted on May 18, 2021 by askHFTD

Did you make a student loan payment during March 13, 2020 to September 30, 2021? You didn’t need to and could receive a refund! Under several COVID-19 relief measures, the suspension of payments was scheduled to last from March 13,…

Tagged with: coronavirus, COVID-19, refund
Posted in blog, COVID-19

3 Possible Areas of Student Loan Forgiveness

Posted on April 16, 2021 by askHFTD

During the US Senate Committee on Heath, Education, Labor & Pensions hearing for the nomination of James Kvaal to serve as Undersecretary of Education on April 15, 2021, we saw a few Congress members ask Mr. Kvaal questions about the…

Tagged with: COVID-19, loan forgiveness, PSLF, public service loan forgiveness
Posted in blog, COVID-19

PSLF Approval Statistics in 2020

Posted on March 22, 2021 by askHFTD

In the latest release of PSLF statistics from the Department of Education, we see that the number of unique borrowers with PSLF discharges processed as of November 2020 is…3,776. To us, that sounds a bit low, but keep in mind…

Tagged with: department of education, PSLF, public service loan forgiveness
Posted in blog