I know a lot of folks are trapped in similar waters. So here goes.

I made a 120th payment on my final loan July 20. Like many here, the site won't move forward to credit me. It is has been over 40 days, and I took the Bot's advice to email the Ombudsman. I just received a response. A lot of the same blah blah blah, BUT! The response indicates that they just escalated my buyback reconsideration from 1/6/25 to proper department (?) for further review.

This will help me very little, I imagine, as my final payment is in, I am in forbearance, and I have done everything else they recommend. But if anyone else has a dangling buyback app and wants some attention, a letter to the Ombudsman to review your situation may help.

Who knows? Maybe this review can get me out of there aside from the dashboard issue. Anyway, my wheel is squeaking.

Here is the complete official response I received:

Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid. This message is in response to your inquiry about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. Your case number is 36920477. Retain this number for reference.

Payment information takes 30-90 days to appear on your StudentAid.gov account. When the system updates for July, your account will be updated.

Your PSLF Payment Reconsideration requests submitted 1/6/2025 has been escalated to the proper department for further review.

As we are updating PSLF payment counts, we are also working to review approvals for forgiveness. A final review of your account will be done in order to process forgiveness which will take at least 90 business days. If your PSLF form is approved for forgiveness, your loan servicer will be notified and you will also be notified that the entire remaining balance of your eligible Direct Loans will be forgiven, including all outstanding interest and principal. If you made payments after your 120th qualifying payment, those payments will either be applied to other outstanding federal student loan debt or refunded to you.

Your federal student loan servicer will apply the discharge to your federal student loan. It will take the servicers some time to process the discharge. You will first receive a notice from the Department of Education (ED) that you have been approved for forgiveness followed by a separate notice from your servicer once the discharge is complete.

Additionally, if you believe you have reached 120 qualifying payments, but the updates are not yet reflected in your StudentAid.gov account, you may contact your federal student loan servicer directly to request a forbearance. However, if your PSLF form does not meet the program requirements and is denied, the forbearance period will not count and any interest that accrued may be capitalized (added to the unpaid principal amount of your loan). If you continue to make payments, any overpayments will either be applied to any other of your outstanding federal student loans or refunded to you.

We hope this information has been helpful to you, and we are closing your case. If you have any questions, reply to this email or contact us. Our hours are Monday: 8 a.m.–9 p.m. Eastern time (ET), Tuesday–Wednesday: 8 a.m.–8 p.m. ET, Thursday–Friday: 8 a.m.–6 p.m. ET and Saturday–Sunday: Closed. We are closed on all federal holidays. 

Sincerely,

Federal Student Aid

I logged onto FSA this morning and saw my loan balance is now $0! Thank you to this community for all your support over the years, especially during the SAVE forbearance madness!

I was reluctant to hope and rely on ever getting PSLF. In the beginning in 2015 it was still a new program and people hadn't gotten forgiveness yet, then everyone's applications for PSLF were getting rejected, then there was the forced SAVE forbearance when they wouldn't even let us switch to a qualifying repayment plan and I lost 11 months of progress, then they were trying to disqualify certain employers from PSLF eligibility and I work for a very blue state with a 120th payment when the new rules were supposed to go into effect. It's been infuriating and stressful but I'm glad to finally be done!

Full Timeline

7/01 Made 120th Qualifying Payment

7/09 MOHELA Payment Due Date

7/10 Submitted ECF

7/15 email from FSA acknowledging employer signature

7/16 email from FSA there's an update

7/16 GREEN RIBBONS!!!

8/25 FSA GOLDEN LETTER!!!

8/26 MOHELA shows $0 balance

8/27 MOHELA PSLF Discharge Letter

9/03 FSA Reflects $0 Dancing People

I got my green ribbon/banner on August 6th! Anyone else in the same boat? Looking to connect with that cohort to keep each other posted as to when we (hopefully!) receive golden letters in September!

As of this morning, my total loan balance and next payment due date have been updated on FSA, stated update as of 9/1. The only part still not updating is the qualified payment tracker, despite finalized/approved ECFs. This tells me that data is getting through, but they are still selectively not updating that one, most important piece. Is this what happened last summer, too? Or was none of the data getting through, including updates loan balances/next payment due dates?

Submitted my buyback request in April 2026. Had no idea about the ridiculous timelines to buyback offer until stumbling into this subreddit today so ffff me and all of us, I guess. Buuuut what am I supposed to do? I reached my 120 in March but the ticker hasn’t moved and still only shows 107. Mohela won’t pause payment until ED says so and now I’m saddled with $500+ a month to pay while I wait for this mess to move along. Am I supposed to just keep paying this each month? Is there anything I can do?!

Navigating this stuff really boggles my brain.

I am a Public School teacher and I have been since about 2013. I had a Federal Perkins Loan so I consolidated in 2014 and I have been on an IDR since 2014 as well. I finally got my act together and did all my employment certification. According to the dashboard I have made more than 120 qualifying payments and both my loans have full green bars. On 8/19 I had a letter under My Activity saying that my Loan Forgiveness is in Progress.

My most recent notification was that I did not have any loans which qualify for PSLF. Everything I have read and been told was that Direct Consolidation was recommended for PSLF if you have any loans which were not Direct Loans. Why am I getting a notification saying the loans don't qualify?

I'm seeing that the process is in limbo and may take 6 months to resolve, but based on what I an sharing - should I ignore the notification (I have two loans and I got the notification twice)? Who do I contact? My loan servicer? The department of ed? Did I mess up?

I recertified my income 2 months before the IDR recert due date stated in my account and am approved to remain on PAYE. However I am still not seeing my newly calculated monthly payment amount. I called MOHELA and they said my application was approved but the amount still needs to be calculated and that this process actually does take 90 days so I shouldn't have recertified "so late" and that they recommend folks recertify as soon as they get the first reminder letter. It feels like a sick joke that they need 90 days to update their calculation? I can literally see what my new monthly payment amount is using the PSLF calculator...

MOHELA rep said I might be placed in a second forebearance while they calculate my new monthly payment (first one was just to process/approve my recert app) or I might just be charged the standard amount which is upwards of $1K and not at all the correct amount.

Anyone else in the same boat? My next payment due date is the 17th and I'm getting nervous.

I know a ton of us are waiting for those July/August payments to get updated on FSA. My question is what are we doing moving forward? The majority of my loans hit 120 in August, 1 will hit 120 with my September payment. Currently, unless the "glitch" gets corrected soon, I plan to pay an extra payment in October and then asking for forbearance. The hospital I work for has a different system that I can submit my form through and on that I can say that I hit 120 and request forbearance (not sure how it'll work once it hits FSA though). I'm sure it's not, but is that a safe plan to do you think? I just know I can't keep paying my new payment amount past October. It's way too much. I've submitted my ECF and plan to every month until I do this and I've submitted a reconsideration request since that's what someone at FSA told me I can do since it's been well over 30 days. I hate that we are all in this. My dashboard of course updated on 9/1, but not my payment counts, those haven't been updated sine 6/15. What a time.

Just wanted to share that I was able to submit a buyback while my 120 month ECF is still pending and the tracker has not yet updated. I did notice that the employment certification tab included the recent dates but the count of payments didn’t go up.

I’m not sure if they are taking longer to process non-forgiveness ECFs because of the payment fiasco. I’m also still missing July - September on my tracker.

Before when I tried it without the ECF, the system told me I didn’t have enough certified months.

May not save a lot of time but being able to submit the buyback as soon as I certified 120 months of employments feels like a win given the long timeframes.

Hi! I’m seeing a lot of posts about people waiting for their last couple of payments to post (I’m in the same boat). It just made me curious what payment count people are or were at before the “error”.

Just checking to make sure I'm on the right track here. Reached 120 qualifying months of employment 4/26. I'm at 98 qualifying payments. My income has increased significantly. I've applied for new IBR, and waiting on that to be processed. I submitted buyback request 5/26. I'm planning to go into general forbearance as soon as my IBR is processed while waiting for my buyback offer. Is there anything I'm missing? Am I on the right track? (Obviously a lot of waiting in my future)

My employer certifications and payment counts finally updated. I’m up to 88 payments.

I have a handful of payments that were ineligible because I was arbitrarily placed in forbearance. Other months I was only part time (although 2 part time jobs at different eligible institutions). Is there anything I can do for the months at least that were ineligible because of forbearance? Can I make a payment and buy back those months?

Any advice at-large after reading my post? I know these threads are oversaturated, so I apologize for any redundancy. I appreciate those of you who read and who might comment.

With all the deferments and plan changes, I just realized that this month is my 120 month of qualifying employment for my undergrad loans. It would be 120 payments if I am able to buyback the 27 months I was on the SAVE plan. But, I have graduate loans that won't hit 120 until next July. Should I submit a buyback for just my undergrad loans, or wait for all the loans to have 120 qualifying payments?

I would love some advice from experienced buyback re on my timeline for PSLF plus buyback from all of you that have been through the process

In October 2026 I will have 119 qualifying payments including one eligible month of buyback from September 2018, making me at 120.

After my October payment posts, should I apply for PSLF and the buyback of one month and go into forbearance while I wait?

Or should I pay November just in case and start the buyback process after the November payment posts?

I was hoping to avoid the November payment because my payments are so high ($1400 a month) and I’m hurting every month. But the buyback process seems so unreliable and long. I’m not sure what to do.

My dashboard says autopay scheduled for the 19th and the amount listed for each loan is $0. The gray bar at the very top also says "Total Payment Due: $0.00" However, the green text under the gray bar says "Your auto pay amount of $XXX.XX is scheduled for 09/19/2026. Can anyone clarify this PLEASE!! I have been stressing out about this for far too long. Are they snatching my money or not?

For context, I am in the July/Agust group whose payments did not show up on DoED website. July would be 120 for me. Also, for anyone thinking of contacting the servicer, I emailed MOHELA a week ago, they just sent me a form response saying it's not their fault or responsibility the payments are not showing up.

1. I just re certified my PAYE plan, and the estimated monthly payment was nearly 5x more than what I have been currently paying. Is this accurate?

2. Can someone please explain buyback to me? I have made 85 qualifying payments and have 10 payments that were ineligible due to forbearance. I’ve heard the buyback offers take awhile. Should I apply now?

Thank you so much for any help!!!!!!!

I have autopay. My payment date is on the 13. The 13 is a Sunday this month. Is this new rule goin for count my payment as late since banks are often closed and don’t process payments until Monday? Am I stupid? Should I go manually pay?

So despite being on a qualifying IDR plan since 2017, I have 2 years of payments that were marked as ineligible. I have confirmed with MOHELA and FSA that I was in the correct plan so FSA said to submit a Reconsideration request. Anyone else submit one of these? And how long did it take to hear back?

Hi all, I’ve been on IBR for PSLF for 18 months. Recently I got a letter saying my IDR application has been received - but I never sent a new one in. My original was accepted before Trump 2. I just got a letter today saying I have a new payment amount and it’s nearly doubled. Did something in the news happen to trigger this?

Is administrative forbearance capped at 60 consecutive days, or can it be extended if loan servicer has not completed processing, or can it be restarted after submitting new documentation? Anyone experience this?

Is anyone else just planning on waiting for buyback even if it takes 2 years? My 120th payment will be in October but with 6 months to buyback. I was in admin forbearance for 3 months due to a messed income recert (not on my end) but then they retroactively made it 6 months, honestly that part is whatever at this point.

But sure, I could pay for 6 more months and be done, but I did my time! I worked 10 years and then some! I want to cut back to part time or take a sabbatical and I’ve been looking forward to doing that at the end of this year for a longggg time.

I fulfilled my part and I don’t want to give the government 6 more months of payments and full time work just because they’re disorganized. I just don’t see a lot of people choosing this option

Hi everyone. I'll try to be short, as the story is common. I have had a lot of mental health struggles in my background. I'm not good with paperwork/executive function tasks. Despite that, I got all the way through grad school! Yay me!

I've been paying on my loans on and off, with some unemployed gaps, since 2012. About 10 years ago, I took a job at a public university. I started on SAVE/PSLF. In 2018, my employment certification fell off for some reason. I applied and it just stood there pending.

I came to this forum a lot; I saw that people said 'its okay to recert it all later, it will count.' So, my task avoidant mind did that. Now, as I approach my 120, I've been trying to get my plan updated and my employment recertified for years.

I have tried to change programs to IDR and it has been pending (2 requests) for 8 years. I tried to recert my employment last year and I don't even see it on the dashboard. :( I'm so exhausted by this.

I called them today. After hours on hold, a MOHELA rep said that they 1. don't know why I have pending IDR requests but everything should be fine as they approved one in June. I said "it isn't showing up as my plan and doesn't show my payment, it only shows forbearance." They said "I don't know why, just wait and see if it clears up." 2. I asked about my employment certification and they said it looks like they never got anything.

This community has been so great for so many people. I know I'm just another brick in the wall, but if anyone has advice or can share in my frustration; I'd appreciate it. I'm going to turn on some Radiohead and have a beer, because this is ... just.... a little too much.

Here is an imgur to some screen shots, if someone has any ideas.

https://imgur.com/a/JzelXVr

Hi. Does it matter that they recertified in August even though it's not due till December. I'm on IBR and did set up the automatic access to my tax returns. They sent it for me without me knowing it until I received an email after the fact and now Mohela has processed it although I have not heard from them about it. When I check FSA they have the new date which happened after I switched from Save to IBR so I don't know why it would be recertified in August for December.