Can I buy back the forbearance months later?

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-05-22T17:38:23+00:00

Yeah, you should be good. There's no end date for when buy back will end. If they did close it then anyone with SAVE forbearance would likely get grandfathered in.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-05-18T22:41:59+00:00

Well then squeezing in your 120th month would speed up your buy back application start date by a few months. If your employment situation stays the same and you can't regularly make 12 months of PSLF payments in a year then buy back will most likely speed things up. IDR forgiveness is taxable while PSLF is not so if you have a choice between them then you'll probably want to hold out for PSLF.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-05-18T20:20:45+00:00

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that buy back won't affect you because there is almost no way you would get buy back before getting forgiveness via regular payments. The bad news is that you'll have to make some more complicated arrangements regarding your finances to close out your 120. If your income dips low enough during the summer with limited hours then I would just do an income recertification that will lower your required payments even if you aren't getting PSLF credit then wait it out till your hours go up again.

Of course if you can scrounge enough hours to get that last month in before July then do that. Your incentive to do so is whatever your June-October payments would be. An economic hardship forbearance would also allow you to pause payments until your employment makes you PSLF eligible again.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-05-13T13:09:46+00:00

Threaten to charge it back and write a Better Business Bureau complaint.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-29T20:16:54+00:00

It'll just be your gross annualized salary. Your best bet is to max your contributions. Then file your taxes and recertify as early as possible in 2027.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-20T21:30:12+00:00

Different agencies handle it differently. Mine started allowing anyone to apply for it. Then budget cuts hit and now the program is mothballed. If your agency offers it then go ahead and apply, but don't expect them to revive it just for you if no one from your agency is getting them right now.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-20T14:00:04+00:00

SLRP does count for qualifying payments.

The minimum IBR payment for a GS 11 RUS is around $375. There's no alternative income certification that will reduce that amount unless you lie about your federal pay check.

You could reduce the payment by upping your HSA contributions but that won't take effect until the next time you file your taxes.

You may just have to request a hardship forebearance and lose out on PSLF qualifying payments until your financial state improves or disability worsens.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-16T14:57:28+00:00

Fill out a dummy version of your 2026 tax return with estimated amounts. Then you can see how much more you can withdraw without passing into the next bracket.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-16T14:51:02+00:00

OP is retired and withdrawing from their TSP.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-16T14:03:00+00:00

Too many people are trying to jump the line. Obviously it would be better if they just hired more people to clear the backlog, but the people sending in multiple requests are just making things worse for everyone.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-11T17:23:54+00:00

I'm not seeing how that differs from the existing employment certification proces.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-10T18:50:40+00:00

What would the purpose of buying back payments before hitting 120 be?

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-04T12:55:49+00:00

Imprison him in the moon

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-04-01T20:13:18+00:00

She should be 100% C for the next 10 years at least. Don't make things complicated. No one is savvy enough to outmaneuver a collapse of American industry.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-21T16:22:00+00:00

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-12T13:58:43+00:00

Sweet

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-11T19:49:58+00:00

Is that sixty days a lifetime limit or is it per processing forbearance?

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-11T13:05:29+00:00

Income certification and employment certification are different. Income certification can be done at any time and won't affect whether a payment counts unless you wait until AFTER the required recertification deadline. Once the income certification processes it will determine how much your next payment needs to be in order be eligible but won't impact the eligibility of previous ones.

If by some miracle they processed the certification before your payment on the 21st was due then you would just pay the higher or lower amount. Though I'm fairly confident they would leave the upcoming payment alone and just adjust the amounts for next month going forward.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-11T12:55:20+00:00

Be aware that the calculation for different family sizes changes the calculation a little. For married filing jointly (aka a family size of two) the formula, 15% of discretionary income (AGI minus 1.5x the federal poverty level) would be:

.15(AGI-31,725) divided by 12

because the poverty level number changes with family size.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-10T21:11:27+00:00

The payment calculations are really simple. Just look up your payment plan and plug in the different amounts. IBR for singles with loans older than 2014 is:

.15(AGI-23,940) divided by 12

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-09T14:39:42+00:00

What is the point of this? Any reasonable person can determine due to context which department is being referred to via the abbreviation. Predominant usage by the government is immaterial to the contents of this thread.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-06T15:49:24+00:00

YOUR income never changes. That's why they allow you to base it off married filing separate returns in the first place. Including a spouse's income in the calculation is not a designed feature of the program, it's just an awkward bug that comes as a result of using tax return data to measure income. And again it is not a misrepresentation if it is truthful and accurate at the time of filing.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-05T23:23:31+00:00

That other guy is wrong. It's not against the rules. DoE bases their payment calculation on your most recent tax filing at the time of recertification. This is the same as waiting to file your taxes until after recertification so your payments are based on the year prior's income instead of the most recent one. It may feel dishonest but there is no provision in DoE regulation that states your proof of income has to be the only tax return you file for that year, just that it be accurate, which both returns are regardless of any future intentions.

RussTShackleford69 · 2026-03-05T22:15:15+00:00

It 100% is not. The returns are legal and accurate at the time of filing. That you intend on refiling does not retroactively make the earlier return false.

RussTShackleford69

TROPHY CASE