BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – President Biden announced last week that he’s offering relief to federal student loan borrowers.
But many of you have expressed concerns about how and when a portion of your debt will be forgiven.
This has all been a bit confusing for those of us who have federal student loan debt.
Many people tried logging on to their loan servicers website immediately following the president’s announcement to see if a portion of their debt had been canceled, but many of those sites crashed.
That’s why Student Loan Hero is stepping in to clear up some confusion.
“If you’ve filed a tax return within the last year, if you pay your taxes, if you’ve got a W-2, things like that, then the government should already know what your income is so it should be more or less automatic,” said Senior Economist for Student Loan Hero, Jacob Channel.
Automatically for many, but for others, there’s an application process.
“Maybe their income isn’t necessarily stable, maybe they work for themselves, or they’ve got some job where they’re not necessarily paid the same, or they still haven’t paid their taxes from 2021. There will be a form that’s made available probably on the Department of Education’s website, maybe on studentaid.com, where borrowers can go fill it out and apply for student loan debt,” Channel said.
There is one catch though: your income must be less than $125,000 for individuals, and less than $250,000 for married couples.
The deputy director of the national economic council said applications for loan forgiveness are expected to be available by mid-October, and once the application is complete, you can expect to see the adjustment in four to six weeks.
The Director of Student Financial Services and Retention at Samford University said the best thing to do now is reach out to your loan servicing company.
That way you’ll know exactly how much you owe, and what steps, if any, you need to take to get the loan forgiveness.
And if you’ve forgotten who your loan servicer is, you can locate them by visiting online or calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at (800) 433-3243.
The servicers can then direct you to the next steps.
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