GREENSBORO, N.C. — Emails are going out today from the Department of Education to 153,000 people telling them their student loan payment has disappeared. It's been forgiven. This round of student loan forgiveness is $1.2 Billion.
Who got their loans forgiven?
Borrowers who are enrolled in the SAVE plan, have made at least 10 years of payments and borrowed $12,000 or less originally.
This student loan forgiveness is automatic, the borrowers who get it have to do nothing to make sure it happens. But scammers are going to try to trick everyone with a student loan to think otherwise.
"That's the downside of the waivers that the current administration is putting out because it creates a believable narrative for the scammers. So if you get an email that says you need to call us or do this or pay a fee they should report it to the Federal Trade Commission," said Betsy Mayotte, Founder, and President of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors.
This latest round of student loan forgiveness with the SAVE plan is not the last. In fact, it's supposed to happen every couple of months until they clear loans that were originally $12,000 or less. Which means you have time to get on a SAVE plan. Even if your initial loan wasn't $12,000 the SAVE plan can help.
"If your calculated monthly payment is lower than the amount of interest that is accruing on your loan every month, the government is going to forgive that difference in interest so your balance is never going to go up," said Mayotte.
The end-all-be-all for student loan information is always StudentAid.gov. This is the official site to check your account, the SAVE plan, or any payment plan.