Latest Updates
30 Jun 23
Forgiveness Blocked by Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has stopped Biden from continuing with his plan to forgive up to $20,000 of federal student loans for eligible borrowers.
Source
21 Jun 23
It’s official: Student loan payments will restart in October, Education Department says
The U.S. Department of Education says student loan “payments will be due starting in October." Interest on student loan debt will begin to accrue again September 1.
Source
1 Jun 23
The Debt Deal Solidifies A Date For Repayments
"If the legislation passes, that means all federal student loan borrowers will be expected to start making payments again after August 29. Their loans will accrue interest then as well."
Source
28 Feb 23
The Supreme Court Deliberates
"The Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed deeply skeptical on Tuesday of the legality of the Biden administration’s plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt, heightening the prospect that the justices would thwart efforts to forgive the loans of tens of millions of borrowers."
A grim update.
Source
26 Nov 22
An Unknown Extension
Annoyingly, we no longer know when repayments will start. Due to litigation over whether Biden can forgive your student loans, the administration has once again extended that date.
Payments "will restart only 60 days after the litigation over its student loan forgiveness plan resolves and it’s able to start wiping out the debt. Therefore, the soonest the bills could become due again would be late January, if the legal challenges clear up by the end of November, although that’s unlikely.... So borrowers have at least two more months without the bills and at most nine."
Source
15 Oct 22
The Forgiveness Form Released
The ED has started rolling out the form for forgiveness – if you're eligible, go
fill it out now.
Forgiveness, Explained.
TLDR - Now's a good time to only refinance private student loans and potentially hold off on federal student loans.
Now, let's get into the weeds...
First, you may be eligible for $10-20K in federal student loan cancellation. Here are the highlights:
- If you ever received a Pell Grant as an undergraduate student, you get up to $20K of cancellation. For everyone else, you can get $10K.
- Applies to Federal student loans that originated before July 1, 2022 (however, if you have federal loans from pre-2011 (Perkins/Stafford), they may not be included.) You are eligible if you make less than $125K by yourself or $250K as a married couple
Second, the Federal student loan pause is over on Jan 1, 2023. After that, interest will start accruing again, and payments will resume.
If you still have student debt left after the cancellation takes effect, start looking at your refinancing options before payments resume. Interest rates have been steadily rising over the last few months, but are still worth exploring to see what rate you receive. Juno members get access to exclusive refinancing discounts, and cash back offers available
here.
Just remember not to refinance anything that qualifies for cancellation. We work hard to find you low rates, but can’t beat cancellation.
For more details on loan cancellation, read below:
Which Loans are Included?
Federal Student Loans––including PLUS––that originated before July 1, 2022. However, if you have federal loans from pre-2011 (Perkins/Stafford), they may not be included.
What’s Forgiven?
For most eligible borrowers, up to $10,000 will be forgiven. If you ever received a Pell Grant as an undergrad student, you qualify for up to $20,000. The total amount you receive depends on the amount of your outstanding debt. For example, if you’re a Pell Grant Recipient with $13,500 in student loan debt, your relief will be capped at your total outstanding debt ($13,500).
Is there an income cutoff?
You must have an annual income below $125,000 for single filers, or $250,000 for joint or head of household filers to qualify. This will likely be based on adjusted gross income (AGI) from either your 2020 of 2021 tax returns. We don’t have all the details yet, but it appears to be a hard cutoff, meaning if you made $126K, you would not qualify for loan cancellation.
How Will it Work?
Details on this are still forthcoming. Some borrowers, who previously used an income-based repayment plan for undergrad loans, will get cancellation automatically. For everyone else, an application will be released in the coming weeks.
When Do Payments Restart?
If you have existing Federal student loans, your payments and interest accrual have been on pause since early 2020. Repayments will begin again on January 1, 2023.
For more information, be sure to check out the Federal Student Aid site
here––they’ve already added a detailed breakdown, FAQs, and will likely link to any applications to claim cancellation on this page. If you have any questions for us about this, we’re happy to connect with you. Transparently, though, we’re wrapping our heads around this in real-time just like you.
The Final Final Final Extension + 10k Forgiveness!
Wow! Lots to unpack but here are the highlights.
- Payments will resume on federal student loans starting January 1, 2023.
- Interest will begin accruing again on federal student loans starting January 1, 2023.
- Up to 10k of your federal student loans will be forgiven, 20k if you received a Pell Grant.
-
Some other perks for borrowers!
10k's a brewin'
"White House officials are currently planning to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower, after months of internal deliberations over how to structure loan forgiveness for tens of millions of Americans, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
"The White House’s latest plans called for limiting debt forgiveness to Americans who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, or less than $300,000 for married couples filing jointly, two of the people said. It was unclear whether the administration will simultaneously require interest and payments to resume at the end of August, when the current pause is scheduled to lapse."
Source
28 Apr 22
Biden is "taking a hard look" into forgiving some federal student loan debt
In a shift in communications, Biden now seems willing to forgive $10,000 of federal debt but not the $50,000 being asked by many leaders. We'll know more in the "next couple of weeks."
Source
5 Apr 22
Another Extension
Perhaps somewhat predictably, another extension of the federal student loan interest holiday has occurred. Bloomberg got the news first – the administration is planning on pushing the May 1 deadline to August 31. Enjoy a little sigh of simultaneous relief and frustration as they continue to kick a can down the road.
Source
4 Mar 22
Renewed Talk of Biden's Power
“The president is going to look at what we should do on student debt before the pause expires, or he’ll extend the pause,” says White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. He also said the White House would decide on whether to use executive action to cancel student debt “before the payments resume.”
Politico notes "Klain’s remarks are the clearest public comments from any Biden administration official in recent weeks indicating that the Education Department may further extend the freeze on federal student loan payments and interest."
Source
22 Dec 21
So much for that "final" extension; the new date is May 1, 2022
It's a Christmas miracle! The 0% and pause on payments has been extended once again – this time to May 1, 2022.
Previously, the Biden administration said that the January 31 deadline would be their final extension; Omicron had other plans though. Time to blast "Never Say Never" and go enjoy the holidays.
Source
6 Aug 21
0% Interest extended for the last time till January 2022
The Department of Education announced the "final extension of the pause on student loan repayment, interest, and collections until January 31, 2022."
Source
21 May 21
Student Loan Forgiveness Not Part of Biden’s Budget
Biden’s annual budget proposal, set to be released on May 27, 2021, will not cancel any student loan debt. Biden is still pushing for legislation that cancels student debt, but he has no intent to pursue this through an executive order.
Since student loan forgiveness was also not part of Biden’s infrastructure and stimulus packages, it appears that Congress will have to be the one to pick up this cause.
Source
12 Mar 21
Stimulus Passes Without Loan Forgiveness
Biden's massive stimulus legislation has passed, but what does that mean for you?
Well, there's no student loan forgiveness in the bill, so that 10-50k idea still has an unknown status. The administration says they'll push Congress to pass separate legislation regarding this, so it's not dead in the water, it's just still nonexistent.
No update to 0% interest either, which is still set to end Sept. 30, 2021.
Other noteworthy mentions of this bill? Student loan forgiveness is now exempted from taxation, and dependents left out of the first two rounds of checks are now eligible. That means that if your parents claimed you as a dependent on a tax return, you might be getting up to $1,400.
Source
17 Feb 21
Biden will ask DoJ to review legal authority for cancelling 10k
Biden and his team have repeatedly pushed back on Schumer's calls for 50k, and now says that any forgiveness above 10k should be based on borrower’s income and the kind of debt in question.
“Once his team is in place at the Justice Department ... he will ask them to conduct a legal review of his authority to act by executive action in conjunction with a policy review from his Domestic Policy Council on how executive action debt relief, if any, should be targeted,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
No change has occurred yet.
Source
4 Feb 21
Democrats Re-Introduce Resolution to Cancel 50k of Student Debt
Schumer is again calling for President Biden to cancel $50,000 of federal student debt per borrower. As a reminder, Biden's team has previously said they wouldn't use executive action and encouraged Congress to pass a bill instead. No real change is happening with this announcement.
Source
21 Jan 21
Interest Pause Extended Until Sep 30, 2021
"At the request of President Biden, the Acting Secretary of Education will extend the pause on federal student loan payments and collections and keep the interest rate at 0%."
Source
8 Jan 21
Biden’s Team Reiterates Support for 10k Forgiveness Plan
The President Elect’s transition team said they wouldn’t use a quick executive order, but rather support congressional action to forgive $10,000 of federal student loan debt per borrower. That means we might be waiting a while longer.
Source
23 Dec 20
Biden Says He’s Unlikely To Cancel 50k of Federal Loan Debt
The President Elect told the Washington Post “I’m going to get in trouble for saying this . . . for example, it’s arguable that the president may have the executive power to forgive up to $50,000 in student debt… Well, I think that’s pretty questionable. I’m unsure of that. I’d be unlikely to do that.”
Source
4 Dec 20
DeVos Extends 0% Interest on Federal Student Loans
The Secretary of Education has extended the relief measures including no interest on federal loans until January 31, 2021.
Source
22 Sep 20
Schumer Proposes Cancellation of 50k of Federal Student Loan Debt per Borrower
Senator Schumer submitted S.Res.711:
“This resolution calls on the President to take executive action to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers. Further, it encourages the President to (1) ensure that borrowers have no tax liability from the debt cancellation, (2) ensure that the debt cancellation helps close racial wealth gaps, and (3) pause student loan payments and interest accumulation on federal student loans for the duration of the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.”
Source
8 Aug 20
Trump Extends 0% Interest on Federal Student Loans
Through an executive memorandum, President Trump has extended the interest holiday, along with the other aforementioned provisions, until the end of 2020.
Source
27 Mar 20
0% Interest on Federal Student Loans
With the passage of the CARES Act, federal student loans are no longer accruing interest. The act suspended loan payments, stopped collections on defaulted loans and set interest rates to 0% for several months. It has since been extended.
Source
22 Mar 20
Biden Proposes Cancelling 10k of Federal Student Debt per Borrower
Biden tweeted “we should forgive a minimum of $10,000/person of federal student loans, as proposed by Senator Warren and colleagues. Young people and other student debt holders bore the brunt of the last crisis. It shouldn't happen again.”
Source
19 Jul 24
Legal Battles Prompt A Payments Pause for SAVE
"Eight million borrowers enrolled in the repayment plan known as SAVE will be placed in an interest-free forbearance while the administration deals with legal issues."
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