There are a few options for student loan forgiveness and discharge offered by the Department of Education. Each of them is different. Some of the things that make them different are eligibility restrictions and application process. Go find out about the Department of Education student loan forgiveness application below.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness
After making 120 qualifying monthly payments in an eligible repayment plan while working full time in an eligible public service job, your remaining debt on eligible student loans will be canceled by the Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which is also more known as PSLF.
Apparently, you do not have to pay anymore as all the rest of the debt is forgiven. The ones that are forgiven include the outstanding interest and principal balance. If you as a borrower have paid more than 120 times, you will get the additional payments. It is stated that there is no need for the 120 qualifying payments to be consecutive. Due to the fact that you and the other borrowers are not allowed to make 120 qualifying payments in less than 10 years, it takes a minimum of 10 years to qualify.
There is also the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness or TEPPSLF program. This one provides forgive eligible student loans that were reloaded in the graduated and extended repayment plans $700 million. The students can get it if the last year of payments are at least as much as they would have been under an income driven repayment plan.
If you want to apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness, there is the PSLF Help Tool that you have to use. Go to StudentAid.gov/PSLF to find it. the system will know whether you are working for an eligible employer or not. Besides, it will also enable you to file an Employment Certification Form or apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
- Teacher Loan Forgiveness
To apply for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness, you will have to submit a Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application to the loan servicer or servicers. Here is the link that will take you to the application: https://studentaid.gov/app/downloadForm.action?searchType=library&shortName=teachfrgv&localeCode=en-us. Take note that it is a must for the chief administrative officer at the school to the educational service agency to complete the certification section of the application form.
- Loan Forgiveness for Volunteering
The recipients of the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award have a chance to apply the award to the student loans through the My AmeriCorp portal. Please select Create Education Award Payment Request and then specify Loan Payment as the Payment Type. As a borrower, you will have to reach out to the PSLF loan servicer if you are interested in applying for the education awards or transition payments as a lump sum payment that qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Do not forget to include the date and the number of transition payments as well as the number that was applied as a lump sum payment toward the student loans when filling the Employment Certification Form or ECF. Another thing that should be included is a statement that the lump sum payment was from a transition payment for service in the Peace Corps that the lump sum payment should count toward PSLF.
- Total and Permanent Disability Discharge
To apply for the Total and Permanent Disability Discharge based on the certification of the doctor, it is a must for the doctor to sign the TPD Discharge Application. Go to DisabilityDischarge.com to find such an application. It is available as a printable PDF form. Aside from this version, you can also complete the online Application Wizard. Feel free to request the application form to be sent to you through email by calling 1-888-303-7818. Not only that, two other ways include faxing 1-303-696-5250 and sending email to disabilityinformation@nelnet.net.
- Death Discharge
To apply for the Death Discharge, you have to give a proof of death to the loan servicer. Make sure to include an original or certified copy of the death certificate. Actually, you can also include a photocopy of it.
- Closed School Discharge
For those who want to apply for the Closed School Discharge, it will be needed for you to submit a Closed School Discharge form to the loan servicer. Before anything, you should confirm that the college is included on the list of the U.S. Department of Education of closed schools.
- Borrower Defense to Repayment Discharge
To be able to apply for the Borrower Defense to Repayment Discharge, you need to submit an application. This kind of application is able to be found on the official website of the U.S. Department of Education.
- False Certification Discharge
In order to apply for the False Certification Discharge, you have to submit the appropriate form to the loan servicer. Click the following link to get the form: https://studentaid.gov/repayment-forms/library.
- Unpaid Refund Discharge
It is possible for you to be eligible for an Unpaid Refund Discharge for your federal education loans if the college did not return some or all of your federal education loans borrowed during the academic term when you withdrew from a college.
- Discharge after 20 or 25 years in an income-driven repayment plan
Since the forgiveness will be automatic, there will be no need for you to apply for the 20 or 25year forgiveness. However, you must continue to repay your loans until you are notified that the rest of the balance has been forgiven. If there are any extra payments, do not panic as you will get them back.
From the information above, it can be concluded that a few student loan forgiveness are automatic while some others require you to submit an application form. Please contact the loan servicer to get the application form. Besides, you can also call the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243). If you are wondering if there is a fee to apply for the student loan forgiveness, the good news is that there is no one and it is guaranteed to be 100% free.