How To Get FFEL Loan Forgiveness Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: Jamie Grill/Getty October 17, 2022 Zina Kumok has been a full-time personal finance writer since 2015. She’s a three-time nominee for Best Personal Finance Contributor/Freelancer at the Plutus Awards and a two-time speaker at FinCon, the premier financial media conference. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our loans reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the different types of lending options, the best rates, the best lenders, how to pay off debt and more — so you can feel confident when investing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. The Federal Family Education Loan Program was one of the United States’ first student loan programs. While the program ended on July 1, 2010, many borrowers still have FFEL loans. In fact, FFEL loans still make up of outstanding federal student debt. In the past, borrowers with FFEL loans had to jump through hoops to be eligible for loan forgiveness. Thanks to recent changes from the Biden administration, borrowers with student debt will find it much easier to qualify for relief. FFEL loans qualify for relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, but the deadline to apply for forgiveness is Oct. 31, 2022. Read below to see how the new rules work. What are FFEL loans
FFEL (also sometimes abbreviated FFELP) was a loan program allowing private lenders to disburse federal student loans. FFEL differs from the William D. Ford , where the U.S. Department of Education issues student loans directly to borrowers and has contracts with third-party to collect on those loans. Even though the program no longer exists, many FFEL borrowers still owe on their loans. Are FFEL loans federal or private
Although private loan companies administer FFEL loans, they are still federal loans. This means that FFEL borrowers are eligible for many federal perks and benefits, like some income-driven repayment plans, extended deferment and forbearance periods and loan forgiveness options. Do FFEL loans qualify for loan forgiveness
In the past, FFEL loans were not eligible for loan forgiveness through Public Service Loan Forgiveness or most income-driven repayment plans. Only Direct Loans qualified, so FFEL borrowers had to into a Direct Consolidation Loan if they wanted to pursue a forgiveness program. But these forgiveness programs require you to make payments for a certain number of years. Borrowers who consolidated their loans had to start from scratch with their repayment timeline. Even if borrowers had been making payments on FFEL loans for 10 years, they would have to make another 10 years of payments to be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after consolidating. However, in 2021, the Department of Education issued temporary rules for the program. Now, any payments made while working under a qualifying employer will retroactively count toward PSLF — even if you had an FFEL loan while making those payments. To qualify for this limited waiver, you must consolidate those loans by Oct. 31, 2022. If you apply before the deadline, you can retroactively have payments count toward PSLF. If you miss the deadline, those past payments will not count toward the repayment plan. You will still be able to apply for PSLF, but only future payments will count. For more information, visit the. You may have heard that the Biden administration is extending between $10,000 to $20,000 of student loan forgiveness to those with an annual income under $150,000. However, the program held by the Department of Education or consolidated by Sept. 29, 2022. Other ways to pay off FFEL loans
If you have an FFEL loan and want to see what your options are beyond the standard 10-year plan, consider one of the following alternatives. These options will not be affected by the Oct. 31 deadline for the PSLF forgiveness plan. Income-driven repayment plan
FFEL loans are eligible for several, which cut down your monthly payment to a percentage of your income. If you don’t wish to consolidate your FFEL loan, you may apply for the Income-Based Repayment Plan, which will set your payment at 15 percent of your discretionary income for 25 years. If you consolidate your FFEL loans into a Direct Consolidation loan, you’ll be eligible for and . These programs have different payment percentages and repayment terms. Your remaining loan balance is forgiven at the end of the income-driven repayment plan. But keep in mind that you’ll need to make payments for 20 or 25 years on these plans. Because of this, you’ll be in debt longer than if you stick with the standard repayment plan. Other federal repayment plans
In addition to the standard repayment plan, the federal government offers extended and . These result in lower monthly payments than the standard plan. Qualifying these plans requires consolidating your FFEL loans. The extended plan has a 25-year term, and payments can be fixed or graduated. The graduated repayment plan has a 10- to 30-year repayment period, and payments will start low and increase every two years. The main difference between these plans and an income-driven repayment plan is that there is no loan forgiveness at the term’s end. Also, borrowers often pay more interest under these plans. Refinancing
can result in a lower interest rate, which may lead to less interest paid over the life of the loan. Before the FFEL program ended, the interest rate for subsidized FFEL loans was 5.6 percent, and the interest rate for unsubsidized FFEL loans was 6.8 percent. Nowadays, you can find private lenders offering much lower rates. The downside of is that you’ll lose access to income-driven repayment plans and federal forbearance options. That’s because you will need to refinance with a private lender. Weigh the pros and cons and see which option fits your current financial situation. The bottom line
If you have FFEL loans and are searching for student loan forgiveness, you’ll need to consolidate your loans through a Direct Consolidation Loan. You can then apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness or an income-driven repayment plan, though it may take a few years to see your balance forgiven. If you’re interested in Public Service Loan Forgiveness, act quickly. The government’s limited waiver is open only through Oct. 31, 2022, and it’s best to apply early to allow enough time for processing. Learn more
SHARE: Zina Kumok has been a full-time personal finance writer since 2015. She’s a three-time nominee for Best Personal Finance Contributor/Freelancer at the Plutus Awards and a two-time speaker at FinCon, the premier financial media conference. Related Articles