Exciting news! The official announcement came from The White House and Department of Education today/ The Biden administration is extending the pause on federal student loan payments and interest to August 31, 2022.
SAVI is hosting a webinar TODAY (Wed., April 6) at 3 p.m. CT to explain what these changes mean for you.
This continues the policy that’s been in place since March 2020. As a reminder, here’s what this means:
- For Direct and federally-held FFEL loans, no payment is due and your interest rate is 0%. You can make payments, but you are not required to.
- Commercially-held FFEL loans and Perkins loans that are not in default DO NOT qualify for this payment and interest suspension.
- Private student loans DO NOT qualify for this payment and interest suspension, but your lender may have implemented a forbearance program, so it’s best to contact them directly about that.
- If you are on track to use the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program (and are meeting the employment and loan type requirements of that program), the months in administrative forbearance because of the pandemic DO count toward your 120 qualifying payments even if you aren’t making payments. You can read more about changes to PSLF here.
No action is needed on your part at this point, but do keep an eye out for any emails from Savi as additional changes and recommendations are continually announced. Today’s announcement also included information noting that when payments do resume, borrowers in delinquency and default will get a ‘fresh start’. When we know more details, know you will be the first to know.
If you have questions about what this extension means for you in the meantime, check out our help center here.
ICYMI: We’re hosting a webinar TODAY at 4 p.m. ET to explain what these changes mean for you. We invite you to join by registering for the workshop here. Can’t make it today? No worries! You can check the schedule of upcoming events here.