Happy August, folks! The summer heat isn’t the only thing making borrowers sweat. The Department of Education has been sending out notices related to IDR payments and PSLF counts which have borrowers either scared to death or boiling mad.

But don’t worry: we’ve got a handle on it, and we’re going to provide you with some very helpful tips to help you stay in control of your student loan account. So wipe your brow, crank the A/C, and let’s dive in.

PSLF Buyback

While we still have no processing updates on PSLF Buybacks, at least now we know why. The lawsuit from 2025 that mandated those monthly updates only required them for a period of six months (yours truly missed this little detail amidst all the legalese).

One resource we monitor for Buyback info is Reddit, and there are plenty of people there discussing their Buyback applications and offers. But the latest posts don’t paint a good picture.

For example, one borrower who submitted an application in December of 2024 just got his buyback offer last week. The borrower had to wait 18 months to get an offer which only covered a six-month period. They might have been better off simply making six more payments, applying for PSLF, and moving on with life. But it’s hard to say without knowing the numbers.

This and other posts indicate to us that the Department of Education is still processing applications from the first year of the SAVE forbearance. There is still a lot of uncertainty regarding exactly what documentation they will request for borrowers who request 13+ months of buyback. Actual offers for periods greater than one year will provide a lot of clarity on that front.

In fact, if you have received a buyback offer which covers more than 12 months of forbearance, we would love for you to email us at Help@studentloanprofessor.com. But so far, we haven’t seen any.

Issues with IDR Processing

The Department of Education started sending out notices that some borrowers received incorrect IDR payments (we reported on this last month when we saw online payment estimates of $50). Apparently, some people received very low payment statements and made those erroneous payments.

The Department of Education also announced that many IDR applications submitted before July 1 were cancelled with no notice to the borrower. Therefore, if you submitted an application before July 1, and you haven’t heard anything, we recommend checking your servicer’s inbox. If there’s no payment plan acceptance letter there, you probably need to submit another application ASAP.

Tracking Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Have you received a notice that your PSLF count is going down? If so, hopefully you’ve picked yourself up off the floor and resumed normal breathing by now. As you’ve probably figured out, this is a system error. Some indicators point to recent employer certification submissions triggering the problem. But we think the issue is more widespread than that.  The good news is that the Department of Education has acknowledged the “system error” and is working to fix it.

Some student loan advisories sent out a flurry of emails over the past two weeks telling borrowers to take screenshots of their counts and/or download all their PSLF letters. If you know what your proper count is (and your FSA page still shows the correct counts), then sure, you can take those preventive measures.

But for many borrowers, it’s too late. Their count is already wrong. And as far as those certification letters go, it’s always been our recommended best practice that you download and save those in a dedicated folder. You just never know when you might need them.

While our team is not happy about this issue with PSLF, we’re certainly not in panic mode. This is just the latest in a long stream of system errors that we’ve learned to cope with for the past 15 years. Forgiveness tracking and IDR processing have always been glitchy, and they’re becoming increasingly so as student loan policy becomes more politicized and changes more frequently.

Best Practices

While we’re discussing these issues, let’s take a moment to lay out some best practices for staying on top of your student loans, and what actions to take if problems arise. 

1. Always download and save important communications to a dedicated student loan folder. The most important documents are consolidation letters, IDR enrollment/recertification letters, and PSLF payment counts.
2. Make a habit of logging into your servicer and FSA accounts monthly for a quick review. Do the numbers generally look accurate? PSLF counts, payment amounts, last paid amount, SAVE/RAP interest subsidies, loan balance moving up or down, etc. The more familiar you are with these websites and your numbers, the easier it is to spot problems.
3. Read every notice! We know there is an increasing amount of fluff communications coming out from servicers and FSA. And we’re all busy. But with most of our readers having six figure debt on the line, you must take the time to review these communications to see if they are important.  Be sure you have quick login access from your phone to make this process much quicker and easier.
4. If you spot an error or receive a notice, stay calm! I know this stuff is stressful, but 99% of issues are fixable. And these types of glitches mentioned above usually resolve themselves. If FSA puts a big banner across the screen saying they are aware of an issue and they are working on it, you probably don’t need to do anything at all…especially if you’re already doing #1 and #2.
5. If action is needed, think about who to contact, and how:
   1. If you’re a Student Loan Professor annual client, simply forward your notices or concerns to us. This is important. We have no direct communication with your servicer or FSA. If you don’t alert us to issues, or even to IDR recertifications coming due, then we don’t know. We want to be your first step in the process.
   1. For those of you doing it on your own, not everything requires a phone call. Both servicers and FSA have customer service emails you can use. If the issue won’t critically impact you in the next week or so, just fire off an email and go from there. Of course, phone calls are more interactive and can also lead to quicker resolution and better information. But you also need to ensure you are contacting the right people. Some issues are handled at the servicer level, such as incorrect payment calculations. Other issues are handled by FSA (studentaid.gov), such as these PSLF payment counts.

Auto Renewals and Electronic Tax Info Retrievals

When applying for or renewing an IDR plan, the online applications have always asked for your permission to electronically tap into the IRS database, pull your tax returns, and identify your AGI. This is a handy tool which saves a ton of time for both completing an application and the processing of it.

But when the Department of Education rolled out the new Automatic IDR Recertification feature (meaning you no longer have to manually recertify each year), they did something we really don’t like: they combined these two permissions into one.

Now, whenever you complete an IDR application and allow them to pull your tax info, you are also giving them permission to automatically recertify your IDR plan each year, and usually with no notice that it is happening. Here is why this is a bad thing…

If you’ve seen our presentations or keep up with our newsletters, you know we’re big on tax and income documentation strategies. We discuss tactics like married filing separate, tax extensions, amending taxes, pay stubs, “I currently have no income”, and other methods to help you get the lowest payment possible. We are firm believers that you need to proactively think about the timing and the supporting documentation for your IDR recertification each year.

However, when you (inadvertently) turn on this automatic feature, you lose that control. And lately, we’ve seen the Department of Education recertifying people way too early, and long before borrowers were even thinking about it.

So, what can you do? Simple. Every year when you recertify, set a little reminder on your calendar 90 days later to login to FSA and disable this feature. Here’s how:

How to turn off automatic IDR recertification

1. Log in to StudentAid.gov.
2. Click your name/arrow in the upper-right corner.
3. Select Settings.
4. Select Financial Information Access from the menu.
5. Under Income-Driven Repayment (IDR), look for the notice that says “Consent on File.”
6. Click Revoke Consent.
7. Enter your name as the electronic signature and confirm Revoke Consent.

You’ll be prompted to turn this back on when completing your next IDR recertification. And it is simply a check box in the application itself. So you turn it on, complete the app, then repeat the process again.

Litigation Update

This is just a quick aside to let you know that most of the big lawsuits we’ve been covering recently are no longer of concern. The PSLF changes are defeated. The Department of Education is no longer required to provide IDR Processing or Buyback data.

There is a lawsuit filed by a borrower to try and get some restitution for being forced out of REPAYE and into the SAVE debacle. But it doesn’t seem to have any legs under it. We’ll let you know if it develops.

Don’t Sweat it Alone

There’s certainly plenty to sweat in the student loan world this summer. But an alarming notice, incorrect payment count, or unexpected change to your account doesn’t necessarily mean disaster. The key is knowing what to watch, keeping good records, and taking action when it’s actually needed.

As always, we’re standing by to help. Whether you’ve received a scary notice about your account, spotting something that doesn’t look quite right, or you just want to review your strategy to maximize savings, help is only a click and Zoom call away!

Stay cool out there. We’ll keep sweating the student loan details for you.