Biden administration begins canceling student loan debt for 804,000 borrowers. Also, have you enrolled in Biden's new loan payment program? Reset users are paying much less.

[SaysWho?]

1. The cancellation:

 

Biden administration begins canceling student loan debt for 804,000 borrowers - ABC News

ABCNEWS.GO.COM

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The Biden administration is canceling student loan debt for 804,000 borrowers who qualify under income-driven repayment plans but haven't received it because of errors

 

 

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The notices will come as part of the Biden administration's previously announced efforts to cancel debt for 804,000 borrowers who qualify for relief under their repayment plans but haven't yet received it because of what officials have called administrative failures.

 

The emails were set to start going out on Monday, according to a copy of the confirmation notices to borrowers that ABC News has exclusively obtained.

 

It's expected that 800,000-plus borrowers will be notified of some relief in the coming weeks, and by the end of the day Monday, the Department of Education estimated that it had wiped the debt of more than 200,000 people.

 

Around 614,000 people are expected to have their entire student loan debts canceled, while the others might have remaining loans that they took out at different times.

 

The relief is targeted at people who enrolled in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which allow student loan debts to be forgiven by the federal government once payments have been made for 20 or 25 years, depending on the plan.

 

2. There are a ton of details on the new repayment plans, but they're looking to be much more affordable when this kicks in. Users using this calculator:

 

Federal Student Aid

STUDENTAID.GOV

 

Some story successes:

 

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Holy shit, using the calculator, my estimated monthly payment will drop from about $400 to about $39/month! And I only have about a year left until full forgiveness.

 

Edit: officially switched and it actually went from $435 to $94. Still great!

 

Thanks, Jobama!

 

Quote

My payments went from 375 to 185. What a savings!

 

 

[AlwaysDyingX]

How do I get some of this free money?  Is this only for the poors?

 

Edit: But seriously going to look into this for my wife! 

[SaysWho?]

2 minutes ago, BasemntDweller2 said:

How do I get some of this free money?  Is this only for the poors?

 

This should help figure out what works best for you: 

Federal Student Aid

STUDENTAID.GOV

 

 

Use the calculator there to figure out the best way forward. I know $32k is the cutoff for $0 monthly, but benefits of paying a smaller part of your monthly income I don't think have restrictions. A lot of the repayment affects new students as well, so it looks like a better attempt to fix high educational costs.

[crispy4000]

This is the only calculator people should be using:

 

Student Loan Forgiveness Calculator (Including 2023 SAVE Plan)

WWW.STUDENTLOANPLANNER.COM

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Want the best student loan forgiveness calculator? Compare the New REPAYE / SAVE plan to existing options to find the best repayment path.

 

Factors in everything you need to make a smart decision.

 

Well, everything but the odds of the government honoring this 20-25 years from now, or whenever your time comes.

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, SaysWho? said:

A lot of the repayment affects new students as well, so it looks like a better attempt to fix high educational costs.

 

For those who have or will graduate soon, sure.

 

For those graduating a decade from now, I shudder to think of what their loan balances will look like.  No one's paying loans off on their own by then.  The government will just be writing big fat checks to the servicers, who are writing big fat checks to the colleges, who are writing big fat checks for their sports programs and student life initiatives.

[SaysWho?]

21 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

will recently graduate

 

bro, this combination of words is tripping me out.

[crispy4000]

Will graduate soon, sorry.  Lack of sleep from a late night parenting.

[Pikachu]

Applied for SAVE, brought my payment down from $200 per month to $60 

[TUFKAK]

I guess I’ll need to look into this when I’m home but I was on an extended plan before the pause, I’m fine staying there considering my rates are 2.8-3.6

[Massdriver]

Here is something that may be helpful to married couples. The SAVE Plan excludes spousal income for borrowers who are married and file separately. This could make a big difference in certain scenarios. For instance, if a spouse that has the loans makes a lot less money than a spouse without loans, this could allow the spouse with loans to qualify for a lot cheaper monthly payments. Moreover, if that same spouse qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness by working for government or non profit, they could end up paying minimal monthly payments and run the clock out over the next 10 years and get the rest forgiven. In best case scenarios, one could end up paying almost nothing if their income is low enough. In some more moderate scenarios, one might only service the interest on the loan and not even have to pay a dime on the principal. 

 

One other niche scenario. If you're married filing separately in a community income state like Texas or California which requires couples to split their income 50-50 on their tax returns and one spouse with a lot of loans has a far lower income than the other, one can check with their loan provider to see if they'll accept a W2, pay stubs, or other forms of certification from their employer and still qualify for the ultra low payments. This could end up saving people 10s of thousands of dollars. You just have to be careful because filing separately will result in fewer deductions, tax credits, and low thresholds for higher incomes, so you need to calculate if it's worth it. In many scenarios it overpays for itself 10x over.  In other scenarios, having the income splits 50-50 could be beneficial to a higher income earner with loans. So make sure you check into all the possibilities!

 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

This whole financing college shit is surely much easier than making everyone pay marginally higher taxes so that education is free

[unogueen]

Why should any one pay for 'higher education'. Don't you want a better society? Or just flames on everyone's asses.

[TUFKAK]

9 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

This whole financing college shit is surely much easier than making everyone pay marginally higher taxes so that education is free

We only care about corporate profits and investments bro.

 

A lifetime of student loan payments to creditors is making some people very rich. 
 

we’re not a country we’re a corporation.

[Spork3245]

11 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

This whole financing college shit is surely much easier than making everyone pay marginally higher taxes so that education is free

The most amazing thing to me has always been the argument of “I don’t want to pay for some else’s school!”… like, fucker, you already do, it’s called public elementary and high school and almost no one seems to give a fuck about paying for that.

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

The most amazing thing to me has always been the argument of “I don’t want to pay for some else’s school!”… like, fucker, you already do, it’s called public elementary and high school and almost no one seems to give a fuck about paying for that.

 

I don't want to pay to put someone else's fire out, fuck the fire department!

[Spork3245]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I don't want to pay to put someone else's fire out, fuck the fire department!

This actually happened in some small town awhile ago: you could “opt in” as to whether or not you paid for the fire department as a service, someone who wasn’t paying house caught on fire, the fire department showed up and waited until it began to spread to the property of someone who was paying before taking action. #LibertarianUtopia 

[Massdriver]

3 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

The most amazing thing to me has always been the argument of “I don’t want to pay for some else’s school!”… like, fucker, you already do, it’s called public elementary and high school and almost no one seems to give a fuck about paying for that.

I would agree that most people don't complain that public schools exist, but plenty people complain about paying school property taxes every year.

[TUFKAK]

42 minutes ago, Massdriver said:

I would agree that most people don't complain that public schools exist, but plenty people complain about paying school property taxes every year.

Why should I as a child free person pay for someone else’s life choices! End the tyranny that is property taxes!

[Spork3245]

49 minutes ago, Massdriver said:

but plenty people complain about paying school property taxes every year.

 

I'd argue that those people tend to complain about property taxes in general

[GeneticBlueprint]

1 hour ago, Massdriver said:

I would agree that most people don't complain that public schools exist, but plenty people complain about paying school property taxes every year.

 

This but also the loud religious cohort that hates public schools is hard to ignore too. Especially if you're in a state where they have any sway.

[Chris-]

21 hours ago, Massdriver said:

Here is something that may be helpful to married couples. The SAVE Plan excludes spousal income for borrowers who are married and file separately. This could make a big difference in certain scenarios. For instance, if a spouse that has the loans makes a lot less money than a spouse without loans, this could allow the spouse with loans to qualify for a lot cheaper monthly payments. Moreover, if that same spouse qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness by working for government or non profit, they could end up paying minimal monthly payments and run the clock out over the next 10 years and get the rest forgiven. In best case scenarios, one could end up paying almost nothing if their income is low enough. In some more moderate scenarios, one might only service the interest on the loan and not even have to pay a dime on the principal. 

 

One other niche scenario. If you're married filing separately in a community income state like Texas or California which requires couples to split their income 50-50 on their tax returns and one spouse with a lot of loans has a far lower income than the other, one can check with their loan provider to see if they'll accept a W2, pay stubs, or other forms of certification from their employer and still qualify for the ultra low payments. This could end up saving people 10s of thousands of dollars. You just have to be careful because filing separately will result in fewer deductions, tax credits, and low thresholds for higher incomes, so you need to calculate if it's worth it. In many scenarios it overpays for itself 10x over.  In other scenarios, having the income splits 50-50 could be beneficial to a higher income earner with loans. So make sure you check into all the possibilities!

 

 

PAYE plans already allowed for spousal income to be excluded, but given that a number of tax credit require MFJ it's something of a false choice (and an obscenely inefficient system).

[CitizenVectron]

Biden administration to forgive $4.9 billion in student debt for 73,600 borrowers

WWW.CNBC.COM

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The Biden administration announced Friday it would forgive $4.9 billion in student debt for 73,600 borrowers.

 

[MarSolo]

So I’m enrolled in SAVE and paying $25 a month, which then gets forgiven in 2040. It’s cheaper to do this version than pay it outright like I originally had planned to.

[TheBladeRoden]

I just checked and it's still the same

[Pikachu]

On 1/19/2024 at 12:47 PM, MarSolo said:

So I’m enrolled in SAVE and paying $25 a month, which then gets forgiven in 2040. It’s cheaper to do this version than pay it outright like I originally had planned to.

 

The amount forgiven becomes taxable income. Make sure you are prepared for the tax bomb.

 

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/student-loan-forgiveness-tax-bomb

[MarSolo]

YEEESSSSSS BITCH:

[best3444]

I missed the boat by 10 years. Really amazing this in place. I unfortunately paid off all my student loans a while ago. 

[Jason]

15 minutes ago, MarSolo said:

YEEESSSSSS BITCH:

 

IRS rn

 

[CitizenVectron]

Biden cancels nearly $6 billion in student debt for 78K public service workers

WWW.NBCNEWS.COM

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The White House has approved nearly $144 billion in federal loan forgiveness for about 4 million borrowers in total, according to the administration.

 

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The 78,000 eligible public service workers include teachers, nurses and firefighters, according to the White House.

"These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law," Biden said in a statement touting the move.

 

[CayceG]

Who said Biden wasn't doing something about the national debt!

[GeneticBlueprint]

Biden to Announce Student Loan Debt Relief Plans for Millions - The New York Times

WWW.NYTIMES.COM

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Officials said that 10 million borrowers could see debt relief of at least $5,000. The plan, set to be announced in Wisconsin, could help rally support among young voters.

 

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The plan targets five groups of people with student loans for different levels of relief.

• People whose loans have grown beyond the amount they originally borrowed because of interest would have up to $20,000 of that interest wiped away, leaving them to repay only the amount they originally borrowed. People making less than $120,000 a year, or couples making less than $240,000, would qualify for having all of their interest forgiven. Officials said that 23 million people would most likely have all of their interest-related balances waived from that provision.

   

• About two million borrowers who already qualify to have their student loans waived under existing programs have not applied for relief. Under the new rules, the Education Department would be authorized to cancel the debt for those people without their having to apply.

   

• People who took out federal student loans for undergraduate degrees and began repaying them more than 20 years ago would automatically have the debt canceled under the new plan. Graduate students who borrowed money and began repaying 25 years ago would have their debt canceled. Officials said that about 2.5 million people would qualify under that rule.

   

• People who borrowed money to attend colleges that have since lost their certification or their eligibility to participate in the federal student aid program would have their debt canceled. Officials did not say how many people that would affect.

   

• People who are especially burdened with other expenses — such as high medical debt or child care — could apply to have their student loans forgiven. Officials did not estimate how many people might qualify for what they called the “hardship” programs.

 

[GeneticBlueprint]

It will undoubtedly face legal challenges that will tie it up beyond election time. So if the Biden ticket doesn’t win you can count on the next administration to just cancel it. 

[SaysWho?]

5 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

It will undoubtedly face legal challenges that will tie it up beyond election time. So if the Biden ticket doesn’t win you can count on the next administration to just cancel it. 

 

The plan, not the debt.*

[GeneticBlueprint]

9 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

The plan, not the debt.*

lmao yeah. I worded that poorly. 

[MarSolo]

I’m going to ask a ridiculously stupid question: there’s no way Trump, if he wins reelection, could come in on day one and say “anyone’s whose loans got canceled under Biden are immediately uncanceled” right?