Resources: Student Loans & PSLF
Plain-language explainers on federal forgiveness and repayment programs.
Does a Late Student Loan Payment Still Count Toward PSLF?
It depends on your repayment plan. On the Repayment Assistance Plan, a late payment does not count as a qualifying payment toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, because federal law requires RAP payments to be on time. On IBR, ICR, PAYE, or the 10-year Standard plan, the Department of Education’s guidance says the same thing, but ... <a title="Does a Late Student Loan Payment Still Count Toward PSLF?" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/pslf-late-payment-rule/" aria-label="Read more about Does a Late Student Loan Payment Still Count Toward PSLF?">Read more</a>
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The Student Loan “Golden Letter”: What an IDR Forgiveness Notice Means
A student loan “golden letter” is a notice telling a borrower they’re eligible to have their loans forgiven. The notices are real: in the week of August 14, 2026, the Education Department emailed a new batch of borrowers to tell them they had reached the payments required for forgiveness under an income-driven repayment plan. Borrowers ... <a title="The Student Loan “Golden Letter”: What an IDR Forgiveness Notice Means" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/student-loan-golden-letter/" aria-label="Read more about The Student Loan “Golden Letter”: What an IDR Forgiveness Notice Means">Read more</a>
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The Student Loan Tax Bomb, Explained: Who Owes What When Forgiveness Becomes Income
If you’ve spent twenty years making payments on an income-driven plan, the last thing you expect at the finish line is a bill. That changed on January 1, 2026. Student loan debt cancelled after December 31, 2025 can count as taxable income on your federal return, and borrowers who reach forgiveness under an income-driven repayment ... <a title="The Student Loan Tax Bomb, Explained: Who Owes What When Forgiveness Becomes Income" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/student-loan-tax-bomb/" aria-label="Read more about The Student Loan Tax Bomb, Explained: Who Owes What When Forgiveness Becomes Income">Read more</a>
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RAP or IBR? The One-Way Door Isn’t the One You Think.
Can you switch from IBR to the Repayment Assistance Plan and switch back later? Yes. Under 34 CFR 685.209(i), a borrower repaying under an income-driven plan may “change at any time to any other repayment plan for which the borrower is eligible,” and RAP carries no re-enrollment bar of the kind PAYE and ICR both ... <a title="RAP or IBR? The One-Way Door Isn’t the One You Think." class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/rap-vs-ibr/" aria-label="Read more about RAP or IBR? The One-Way Door Isn’t the One You Think.">Read more</a>
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Your PSLF Payment Count Dropped: What the Education Department Has Said and What to Do Now
The Education Department says PSLF qualifying-month counts on StudentAid.gov are incorrect. What it has said, what it hasn't, and what to document now.
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The 1% Student Loan Autopay Discount: How to Get It Before September 30
If you’re repaying federal student loans and you aren’t enrolled in auto pay, you have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on September 30, 2026 to claim a rate cut four times the size of the old one. The 1% student loan autopay discount is a temporary federal interest rate reduction: enroll in auto pay with ... <a title="The 1% Student Loan Autopay Discount: How to Get It Before September 30" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/student-loan-autopay-1-percent-discount/" aria-label="Read more about The 1% Student Loan Autopay Discount: How to Get It Before September 30">Read more</a>
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MOHELA Says You’re Past Due and You Were in SAVE Forbearance: How to Document and Dispute It
Updated August 6, 2026. The Department of Education has since confirmed the error: a spokesperson told Business Insider on August 5 that the issue affected a small number of borrowers at one servicer, that it has been fixed, and that impacted borrowers will be notified of the error by email. No affected-account count or timeline ... <a title="MOHELA Says You’re Past Due and You Were in SAVE Forbearance: How to Document and Dispute It" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/student-loan-past-due-forbearance-dispute/" aria-label="Read more about MOHELA Says You’re Past Due and You Were in SAVE Forbearance: How to Document and Dispute It">Read more</a>
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Your SAVE Plan Notice: What It Says and What to Do in Your 90 Days
Your servicer's notice starts a hard 90-day clock to pick a new repayment plan. What the notice says, what the auto-enrolled default costs, and the order to work through it in.
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The Repayment Assistance Plan, As It Actually Works: Formula, Subsidies, Fine Print, and the Case Against It
The Repayment Assistance Plan sets payments at 1 to 10 percent of full adjusted gross income, waives unpaid interest only on on-time payments, and forgives what is left after 360 payments. The formula, the fine print, and the documented case against the plan's design.
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Federal Student Loan Update: July 2026 — What Changed and What It Means for Borrowers
Six federal student loan changes took effect in July 2026, from the SAVE 90-day notices to the new Repayment Assistance Plan. What changed, and what to do about each one.
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The PSLF Employer Rule Was Struck Down. Here’s What It Means for You — and Your Employer
By The Finnita Team For months, public-service workers across the country kept checking the same question: would a new federal rule let the government strip their employer of eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness? On June 30, 2026, one day before that rule was set to take effect, a federal court struck it down. U.S. ... <a title="The PSLF Employer Rule Was Struck Down. Here’s What It Means for You — and Your Employer" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/pslf-employer-rule-struck-down/" aria-label="Read more about The PSLF Employer Rule Was Struck Down. Here’s What It Means for You — and Your Employer">Read more</a>
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What Do I Do When My Student Loan Program Gets Cancelled? A Borrower’s Playbook
A federal student loan program getting cancelled is one of the most unsettling things that can happen to a borrower, and in 2026 it has happened to millions of people at once. A plan you enrolled in, paid into, and built a budget around can be struck down by a court, retired by Congress, or ... <a title="What Do I Do When My Student Loan Program Gets Cancelled? A Borrower’s Playbook" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/student-loan-program-cancelled/" aria-label="Read more about What Do I Do When My Student Loan Program Gets Cancelled? A Borrower’s Playbook">Read more</a>
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What Happens When You Miss Your IDR Recertification: A Borrower’s Worst Day
When a nurse at a public hospital we will call Alanna first enrolled in an income-driven plan paired with Public Service Loan Forgiveness, the math worked the way it is supposed to. Her monthly payment fell by almost 70 percent, and she picked up roughly two years of retroactive credit toward forgiveness. Then she missed ... <a title="What Happens When You Miss Your IDR Recertification: A Borrower’s Worst Day" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/missed-idr-recertification/" aria-label="Read more about What Happens When You Miss Your IDR Recertification: A Borrower’s Worst Day">Read more</a>
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The 11 Most Common DIY Mistakes in Federal Student Loan Enrollment
Corrected August 10, 2026. An earlier version of this post said that consolidating restarts the PSLF qualifying-payment count from zero. Under 34 CFR 685.219(c)(3), a Direct Consolidation Loan carries the weighted average of the qualifying payments made on the Direct Loans that went into it, so Direct Loan credit is recalculated rather than erased. The ... <a title="The 11 Most Common DIY Mistakes in Federal Student Loan Enrollment" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/common-diy-pslf-mistakes/" aria-label="Read more about The 11 Most Common DIY Mistakes in Federal Student Loan Enrollment">Read more</a>
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Federal Student Loan Enrollment Is Like Doing Your Own Taxes — and Why Most People Don’t
By Erik Caso, Co-CEO Filing your own federal taxes is free. The IRS publishes every form, the instructions are public, and for most households there is even free software that does the arithmetic for you. Nobody is stopping you. And yet more than half of American taxpayers pay someone else to do it anyway. I ... <a title="Federal Student Loan Enrollment Is Like Doing Your Own Taxes — and Why Most People Don’t" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/why-pay-for-student-loan-service/" aria-label="Read more about Federal Student Loan Enrollment Is Like Doing Your Own Taxes — and Why Most People Don’t">Read more</a>
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The Specialist’s Case — Why Finnita Only Does One Thing — and What That Means for Borrowers
By Erik Caso, Co-CEO Finnita is a student loan enrollment service that does one thing. It enrolls federal student loan borrowers into the repayment and forgiveness programs they qualify for, and it keeps them enrolled through every annual recertification. That is the entire business. We do not refinance loans. We do not sell tuition benefits, ... <a title="The Specialist’s Case — Why Finnita Only Does One Thing — and What That Means for Borrowers" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/the-specialists-case/" aria-label="Read more about The Specialist’s Case — Why Finnita Only Does One Thing — and What That Means for Borrowers">Read more</a>
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Which Student Loan Plan Am I On? A 2026 Field Guide
Not sure which federal student loan plan you're on in 2026? Here's how to check your StudentAid.gov account and what each plan means now.
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PAYE and ICR Are Sunsetting in 2028: What Borrowers on Those Plans Should Do Now
By The Finnita Team Updated August 5, 2026. This post previously described an open conflict between the RISE regulation and the Department’s borrower guidance over whether PAYE closed to new enrollment on July 1, 2026 or July 1, 2027. The Department’s current guidance no longer states the later date. Passages describing the July 1, 2026 ... <a title="PAYE and ICR Are Sunsetting in 2028: What Borrowers on Those Plans Should Do Now" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/paye-icr-sunset-2028/" aria-label="Read more about PAYE and ICR Are Sunsetting in 2028: What Borrowers on Those Plans Should Do Now">Read more</a>
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The July 2026 PSLF Employer Rule, Explained for Borrowers and Employers
By The Finnita Team Updated July 21, 2026. On June 30, 2026, a federal court vacated this rule in full, one day before its scheduled July 1 effective date; a second federal court in Washington, D.C. reached the same conclusion. The rule never took effect and has no legal force. The existing PSLF employer-eligibility rules ... <a title="The July 2026 PSLF Employer Rule, Explained for Borrowers and Employers" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/pslf-employer-rule-2026/" aria-label="Read more about The July 2026 PSLF Employer Rule, Explained for Borrowers and Employers">Read more</a>
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The SAVE Plan Is Ending: What the 7 Million Borrowers in SAVE Forbearance Should Do
SAVE was vacated March 10, 2026. More than 7 million borrowers must pick a new plan within 90 days of their notice. Here are the options and deadlines.
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Federal Student Loan Changes Taking Effect July 1, 2026: The Complete Summary
By The Finnita Team Updated August 5, 2026. This post previously described the PSLF employer-eligibility rule as taking effect July 1, 2026. A federal court vacated that rule in full on June 30, 2026 and it never took effect; PSLF employer eligibility is unchanged. The post has also been updated for the RISE rule’s “professional ... <a title="Federal Student Loan Changes Taking Effect July 1, 2026: The Complete Summary" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/federal-student-loan-changes-2026/" aria-label="Read more about Federal Student Loan Changes Taking Effect July 1, 2026: The Complete Summary">Read more</a>
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The Finnita Outcomes Report: Methodology and Results
Finnita publishes the full methodology behind every outcome we measure: $468/mo savings, 98% enrollment, automatic refunds, 6-8 weeks to enroll.
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Why Finnita Will Never Refinance a Federal Student Loan
Finnita will never refinance a federal student loan. Not because it would be bad business, but because it would be bad for borrowers. Refinancing replaces a federal loan with a private one, and in that single transaction every federal protection that came with the original loan is gone. Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility, income-driven repayment, ... <a title="Why Finnita Will Never Refinance a Federal Student Loan" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/why-finnita-never-refinances-federal-loans/" aria-label="Read more about Why Finnita Will Never Refinance a Federal Student Loan">Read more</a>
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Why 89% of Borrowers Fail to Enroll in Forgiveness Programs On Their Own
Corrected August 10, 2026. An earlier version of this post said that consolidating restarts the PSLF qualifying-payment count from zero. Under 34 CFR 685.219(c)(3), a Direct Consolidation Loan carries the weighted average of the qualifying payments made on the Direct Loans that went into it, so Direct Loan credit is recalculated rather than erased. The ... <a title="Why 89% of Borrowers Fail to Enroll in Forgiveness Programs On Their Own" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/why-89-percent-fail-pslf-on-their-own/" aria-label="Read more about Why 89% of Borrowers Fail to Enroll in Forgiveness Programs On Their Own">Read more</a>
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Income-Driven Repayment Plans After the SAVE Shutdown: A 2026 Guide
Updated August 6, 2026. This guide was written before the July 1, 2026 changes took effect. It has been updated to reflect them: RAP is live, PAYE and ICR closed to new enrollment on July 1, 2026, the Parent PLUS consolidation window has closed, and the Tiered Standard plan’s PSLF treatment now follows the regulation’s ... <a title="Income-Driven Repayment Plans After the SAVE Shutdown: A 2026 Guide" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/idr-plans-after-save-shutdown-2026/" aria-label="Read more about Income-Driven Repayment Plans After the SAVE Shutdown: A 2026 Guide">Read more</a>
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Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): How It Actually Works in 2026
PSLF forgives student loans after 120 qualifying payments. Here's how the program works in 2026, with SAVE transition and the new employer rule.
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The Complete Guide to Federal Student Loan Forgiveness in 2026
By Erik Caso, Co-CEO — April 17, 2026 Updated August 5, 2026. This post previously stated that PAYE stops accepting new enrollments on July 1, 2027. Both PAYE and ICR closed to new enrollment on July 1, 2026 under the RISE final rule, and the Department’s current borrower guidance no longer gives a later date. ... <a title="The Complete Guide to Federal Student Loan Forgiveness in 2026" class="read-more" href="https://finnita.com/blog/federal-student-loan-forgiveness-2026/" aria-label="Read more about The Complete Guide to Federal Student Loan Forgiveness in 2026">Read more</a>
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