Deadline of January 31, 2022 to file PSLF applications to avoid an extra year of payments under an IDR!

There’s a lesser discussed requirement for TEPSLF: If the borrower is not in an IDR plan at the time they apply for TEPSLF, the previous 12 months of payments and the last payment made have to be at least as much as they would have paid in an IDR plan.  If they weren’t, the borrower would have to make potentially higher payments for a year in an IDR plan before they rec’d forgiveness.

However, if the borrower has been in the Covid Forbearance since March 2020 and they filed for TEPSLF now, they would meet that requirement because everything has been set to $0. They would need to file before the Covid Forbearance is over (1/31/2022) to avoid this issue with TEPSLF.

Also Note: The PSLF Temporary Waiver makes TEPSLF unnecessary for now as all repayment plans are eligible.  If a borrower wasn’t ready for TEPSLF until after 1/31/2022, they may be eligible through the Waiver.

So act now to avoid having to make an extra YEAR of payments!