Student Loan Payments

According to the Department of Education, all collection activities on federal student loans, including wage garnishment and collection calls as part of the CARES Act and the December memorandum extending relief, will be suspended through May 1, 2022.

1. Apply for an Income-Driven Repayment Plan
An income-driven repayment plan is a payment plan that ties your student loan payments to your income. They are typically for anyone with high student debt relative to their income, or those who have low incomes. Income-driven repayment plans are the best way that you can reduce your student loan payments without having to file bankruptcy and still afford to live. Even though these payment plans will not make your future student loan repayments go away (the forgiven remainder of your loans is usually considered taxable income), they will help you manage them better and relieve some of the financial strain associated with repaying student loans.

2. Explore All Forgiveness Options
You do need to make some desperate, yet proactive moves. One of these is to explore every student loan forgiveness option that you can find. If you qualify, several programs will relieve all or part of your debt and put it back on track for repayment terms that you can afford (oftentimes 15 years after graduation). Some of these include:

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness
• Income-Based Repayment Plan
• Perkins Loans Cancellation/Discharge for Teacher Cancellation/Discharge for Eligible Services
• Federal Student Loan Consolidation (which may lower your interest rate)
  
  

3. Look Into Refinancing Your Loans
Refinancing. By doing so, the goal is to obtain a better interest rate which can result in significant repayment savings over the life of your loan. You can even get help from our expert student loan counselors to find the right refinancing company for you so that you can successfully lower your monthly bills and meet all future student loan repayments on time.

4. Ask About Student Loan Forgiveness for Nurses
One last option to think about is signing up for a national service program like Nurse Corps, where when deployed overseas or in an underserved area, participants receive full student loan repayment. With this program, nurses can go into critical need areas that would otherwise be understaffed without having to worry about their student loans. 

5. Find out if you Qualify for Bad Credit Student Loan Refinance

6. Talk to a Lawyer About Settling Your Student Loans

Conclusion

Missing student loan payments can have some serious consequences, but there are steps that you can take to get back on track. The bottom line is that student loan repayment issues will only get worse the longer that they go unaddressed. Don't let this happen – help is available and waiting. If you cannot make future student loan payments, work with your applicable servicers or lenders as a starting point towards paying them off in full. Good luck!