Public Service Loan Forgiveness – 40 Tips to Save Thousands

Student Loan Planner

Travis Hornsby, CFA, CFP®

Updated April 5, 2022

I’ve advised thousands of borrowers on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. I started doing this after my wife had a terrible experience with FedLoan Servicing. This guide is going to show you my top 40 tips to maximize your benefits under the PSLF program.

I seriously wish this list of 40 tips existed back when we made all our mistakes. Also, open our new PSLF calculator up in a new tab so you can see how much you could personally save.

Note: The executive action taken by President Biden October 6, 2021 is extremely important for borrowers. If you have Direct loans, you need to submit an ECF form through studentaid.gov/pslf. If you have FFEL loans, you need to consolidate first and then submit an ECF form. These actions needs to be taken by October 31, 2022 to receive additional credit towards the PSLF program. Additionally, all suspended payments between March 13, 2020 and December 31, 2022 count towards PSLF as well provided you were working at a qualifying non profit or government employer full time.

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Where things went wrong with PSLF for Us

The first thing we didn’t know? Apparently, only the Direct loan program loans qualify. Because of this, we lost four years of credit while she worked in health care at a not-for-profit hospital. Then, we filed the PSLF form and had her loans transferred to FedLoan Servicing.

Despite her payments for over three years on an IDR Plan (Income-Based Repayment), half of her loans only showed one month of payment credit. We ran the numbers and rather than fight FedLoan Servicing any longer, we just decided to refinance student loans and pay them back as fast as possible.

I don’t want anyone else to become a PSLF program horror story like us. I started Student Loan Planner® to help clients with huge student debt burdens come up with a plan to pay back their loans and save every dollar possible throughout the process. Check out these 40 tips on PSLF to maximize your benefits under the program.

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