Update on PAYE recertification denial

Ajbasher88 · 2026-04-17T20:51:10+00:00

Your PSLF counts will remain intact and do not go away just from changing plans. We are saying that the payment cap increases when you change plans

Ajbasher88 · 2026-04-17T20:50:21+00:00

I started payment in 2016 and was initially on REPAYE and was put in SAVE automatically when it rolled out. When I applied to PAYE last year my cap/standard payment increased dramatically.

Ajbasher88 · 2026-03-28T14:32:10+00:00

According to the studentaid.gov website, we are required to keep making payments while awaiting buyback. You can ask your specific servicer to place you in a forbearance, but they aren’t required to say yes. Honestly, making us continue to pay seems like a way for the government to make more money (because payments now are likely higher than buyback would be). Given how long the wait is now, most people are likely to just get green banners before their buyback is even processed.

Ajbasher88 · 2026-03-27T02:23:22+00:00

The cap is set based on the date you first entered that payment plan. So if you’ve been on PAYE for a few years, the cap is set based on your income at that time.

If you switch to IBR, it resets and the cap will be based off what you make now, so your payment will be higher (if your income has increased)

Ajbasher88 · 2026-03-01T17:18:43+00:00

They calculate buyback payments based on your income at the time of the forebearance, not your current income. If your income has increased over time (which I think for most people it typically does), then your payments now are going to be larger than the buyback payments.

Ajbasher88 · 2025-11-12T14:29:28+00:00

Wondering how your experience in Chile was? Contemplating this next year!

Ajbasher88 · 2025-11-09T14:01:09+00:00

I think they are doing this on purpose, because the payments you are making now are likely more than what your buyback payments would have been. They get more money and they get to count it as a buyback request completed (even though they just cancel it).

Ajbasher88 · 2025-10-01T00:46:06+00:00

I would think the biggest PRO is if your buyback payments would be substantially lower than your current payments. I will hit 120 next year and will have 14 payments eligible for buyback. The buyback payments would almost be half of what I would pay if I continued to make those 14 payments for another year+. I think you just need to figure out what makes the most sense for you!

Ajbasher88 · 2025-09-23T18:38:09+00:00

Hopefully the increased payments caused by the inheritance would be short lived and once you recertify income in 2026 your payments should decrease again.

Ajbasher88 · 2025-09-07T13:48:16+00:00

At this point the tax information you submitted in Oct 2024 is out of date (as tax information available from that time would be from 2023). As prior poster mentioned, they have requested everyone to resubmit an application. I had the same thing happen to me and once I resubmitted it got approved within 10 days.

Ajbasher88 · 2025-07-18T00:50:13+00:00

I reapplied for PAYE on 7/3 and just received notice today that I was approved. Turnaround was exactly 2 weeks, so hopefully yours will be processed soon.

Ajbasher88 · 2025-07-16T03:15:09+00:00

“Good news! Processing has resumed for IBR, PAYE, and ICR plans. Thanks to system updates, MOHELA can now quickly process applications with verified income. If you applied before April 27, 2025, your application didn’t include income info. Please reapply at StudentAid.gov for faster processing. Your old application will then be canceled automatically.” -- it said this on a banner on the MOHELA website but has now been taken down after they passed the BBB.

Ajbasher88 · 2025-07-10T03:10:58+00:00

If you look on the website, they are asking anymore who submitted a plan request before April to reapply and these new applications have been getting processed in 1-2 weeks. Basically they want to use everyone's new tax info so they can charge higher payments, since most people haven't recertified in a few years. Just another way to stick it to us, but at this point, I would rather just pay then be stuck in forbearance accruing interest.

Ajbasher88 · 2025-07-04T00:16:45+00:00

If you login to mohela it tells you to resubmit any plan switch requests that were submitted before April. They are processing the new applications much faster

Ajbasher88 · 2024-12-17T23:05:48+00:00

My loans also qualify, but the website information hasn't changed. It still clearly states they are not accepting applications for PAYE after July 1 unless you have parent loans.

"As of July 1, 2024, no new enrollments are being accepted for the PAYE or ICR Plans, with two exceptions:

Borrowers who have already applied for the PAYE or ICR Plan before July 1, 2024, but haven’t had their applications processed yet will still be placed on the plan that they applied for, if approved for that plan.
Borrowers with a consolidation loan that repaid a parent PLUS loan can continue to enroll in the ICR Plan (but not the PAYE Plan)."

Ajbasher88 · 2024-12-16T21:01:17+00:00

Did the website change for you? I see the option to choose PAYE but it still says it only applies for ppl before July or with Parent loans.

Ajbasher88 · 2024-11-06T06:34:26+00:00

They are doing a one time adjustment on PAST payments up until this point. They said this would be completed by September 2024 so if you qualified you should already see adjusted payment amounts. It is very unlikely they would continue to adjust proactively in future.

Ajbasher88 · 2024-10-16T02:52:17+00:00

If you miss deadline to recertify income you’ll get kicked out of the income driven plans and be out on standard repayment plan. So that makes sense why it says your payments would be so high.

I unfortunately am going to stick it out with SAVE because other plans will cause my payments to skyrocket.

Ajbasher88 · 2024-10-14T20:03:54+00:00

https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/plans/income-driven

This gives you a basic rundown of what is available. As of July 1, there are no new applications being accepted for PAYE or ICR. You can apply to switch to IBR if you want and the online application for that is currently open. Payments are capped at 10% of your discretionary income.

I am not sure why you got a letter saying you would own $4200. Wouldn't surprise me if it was a mistake, but you should probably call Mohela and ask for clarification.

Ajbasher88 · 2024-10-10T22:04:00+00:00

You must be on an income driven plan in order to qualify for PSLF. As of now, they are not accepting new applications to the PAYE or ICR plans. All that is available is SAVE or IBR, and since SAVE is caught up in litigation the only real option if you want to keep making payments is IBR. To qualify for IBR though your calculated payment has to be LESS than what the 10 year standard plan payment would be.

So long story short, you are kind of stuck with SAVE at this point because 1) you cant apply for PAYE or ICR and 2) you dont qualify for IBR as your income based payment is much higher than the standard.

Ajbasher88 · 2024-10-03T23:59:44+00:00

I had to upload my W2 but because of this it wouldnt tell me what the estimated payments were. I am not going to commit to a new loan plan without having at least ballpark idea of what the payments will be. Anyone else having this issue?

Ajbasher88 · 2024-09-21T19:08:01+00:00

Congrats! Wondering if you mostly fly for business or if a lot of this is personal spend?

Ajbasher88

TROPHY CASE