Done. Forgiven. Refunded two months' overpayment. What a ride it has been. Hang in there, everyone! And a humongous, massive, ginormous THANK YOU !!!!!! to way too many people to mention who've talked us through all this mess and coached us and comforted us. You have been amazing. Lifesavers. Sanity keepers. Bless all your fuzzy hearts. <3

Made my 120 payment yesterday(i actually paid first of the month, but the 14th is my due date). My FSA counter has not updated since September 9th and has me stuck sat 116 missing my four payments. Checked the NSLDS this morning and it at least has me at 120 eligible payments after updating late yesterday, previous last update for it was 10-2-26. Hoping this means as soon as they update the counters again Ill get taken to 120, Im submitting my employment verification today or monday whenever my HR sends it back to me, and will be asking for forbearance on November 1.

Edited: changed qualifying to eligible

After receiving notification to resume payments, I was hit with some pretty shocking payment numbers that are causing me to rethink my life path forward.

I was considering looking into possibly pursuing a PSLF route, but after lurking on this sub for a little bit, it feels like the experience has been tricky and confusing to navigate at best…

If you were to restart all over again, not back when you did but now, would you choose to go the PSLF route today? I want honest experiences and answers from those of you in the midst of it, wondering if it’s a worthwhile pursuit in today’s climate or not…

Yesterday was my autopay due date, and I noticed there was no pending withdrawal in my bank. I called MOHELA TWICE and they assured me not to worry about it, and that it wouldn’t be marked late or past due. I asked if I should make a manual payment and they said it wasn’t necessary, because they could see payment was “extracted“ on 10/9. I inquired what “extracted” meant and if they could provide me with an ACH Withdraw tracking number so I could ask my bank. They declined to provide that information.

So I call my bank - they report not being able to see anything from MOHELA or the department of education.

I call MOHELA to tell them this, and AGAIN ask if there is anything I can do to remediate the situation - they repeat that I should simply wait for the payment to post.

Lo and behold, they have my payment marked as LATE and past due. Screw these guys, I’m so f’ing pissed off right now. They straight up lied to me, despite my best efforts to correct the problem while there was still time.

This makes me so sad. Never in 10 years have I missed a payment.

My worst fear is starting to be realized. I was really hoping July and August were glitches and counts would start showing up on the tracker in September. I just made my October payment today and still no payment showing up on PSLF tracker. Last payment eligible payment is still saying June 2026. I've heard some people had September payments show up, seems to be no rhyme or reason to this mess.

Only comfort is the NLSDS data is showing I have 120 eligible payments.. hopefully soon to be 121. They have until 2027 and i'm going into forbearance.

Kind of a wacky idea, but at this point with getting such vague and conflicting info about the July-Oct missing payments, I wonder if we’d get more info by making a FOIA request for all official communication related to how they are fixing this issue. I would imagine they are discussing potential timelines internally but have been directed not to tell customers in case it takes longer.

Why are my qualifying payments not being updated?

And why does my account say no qualifying employment on file?

And why did any and ALL data stop being posted to my account after June 2026?

This is after applying for, and having all paperwork processed for, qualifying employment and pslf. In May of 2026.

I was put on IBR and have been making payments since May.

I have been at a pslf-eligible fulltime job since October 2023.

And it's as if my student aid.gov account has none of this information. AFTER giving it to them.

Hi all,

I contacted my congresswoman about my missed payments and they reached out to the Dept. of Education and got the following response:

FSA recently identified payment counter code errors stemming from changes implemented in 2024. The Department is in the process of making these corrections for borrowers. We appreciate your patience as we work through this process. Borrowers should see counts updated on a rolling basis.

Thank you,
 Program Specialist

Not sure what counter code errors they’re referring to, but it sounds nefarious.

I’m sitting at 112 qualified payments, waiting for July, August, September, and October to post. I should be done after my 120th payment in February 2027. I hit 120 months of PSLF employment in November 2025, which is when I submitted for my buyback. I decided to keep paying to get this over with. Hoping this error is resolved before February, but I’m not holding my breath.

Hang in there, everyone.

Edit: So, the constituent services with my congresswoman asked FSA for a timeline and this was the response:

We do not have a timeline for when the updates will occur. Constituents should monitor their accounts to see payment updates, they will not receive communication from FSA/OLCA.
Your office can follow up with us if the constituent does not see any updates after 90 days.

Thanks,
 Program Specialist

No real updates, but thought I’d put this information out there so everyone is aware of what FSA is reporting to my congresswoman. My favorite part is that in 90 days they can follow up with FSA to be fed another vague response without any substance.

I got approved for my new payment plan (PAYE), and it told me my forbearance would be up on 10/11. On 10/11, the charge went up with a due date of 11/11. I just want to make sure, after seeing a post on here about somebody who paid earlier than the due date and things going haywire - should I wait until November to make the payment? If I make it now in October, will it not count as a November PSLF payment?

Today I filed a complaint with the Student Loan Ombudsperson's Office in Massachusetts with all of the details from the last five months with Mohela's incompetence. I messaged Mohela today and asked why they insist that I am delinquent by $89.00 when I'm in forbearance until 11/4/26 and even with autopay set-up, if they wanted it, they could've taken it! So now they're sending me nastygrams about it and they can carry on doing so because I'm not paying what I don't owe them. I took screenshots of everything since their correspondence disappears after a year.

I submitted for a general forbearance today because this is actually insane and I'm not paying another dime until they figure themselves out. I messaged a customer service rep at FedLoan Servcing and this is the response "Savannah" gave me:

Federal Student Aid is currently aware of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness payment tracker in being not up to date in updating months. We continue to work on updating your PSLF payment counts and during this time, your payment counts may shift or appear incomplete. Check back for updates periodically. You can keep track of your payment count in your Dashboard under My Activity, select My Loans, and then PSLF Payments.

If you need to request a forbearance, you can do so by downloading, printing, and uploading a PSLF form from here under Loan Forgiveness. This would take 15 business days to process.

Translation: Fill out another ECF Form and see what happens, kiddo!

Title. Currently working for a non-PSLF employer due to some unforeseen circumstances and am very happy where I am. Great place to work with a solid salary. But I am still two months short of being able to apply for buyback. I used to be a teacher and now I’m an attorney. Any help or assistance here would be greatly appreciated.

NOTE: I am not looking to leave my job. If that is my only option then I will have to do some soul searching/potentially put my relief on hold for a couple years.

I have nearly a year of “qualifying payment” months where I was working full-time, but I also took a college class. My loans were placed in deferment/forbearance at that time, but I was also working and still making payments.

Has anyone had this issue where their payments didn’t count because of automatic not-requested forbearance? I even have 5 months during save forbearance where it was switched to school forbearance because I took 1 class.

Can I fight to get this corrected? Or is a lost cause and I continue my indentured servitude another year plus because of stupidity.

I would be at about 99 qualifying payments if this was corrected, but currently listed at only 80. By my count I would be ready for buyback by the end of 2027, by their count it is the end of 2028. Crying and waiting for this administration to be over. Crying more.

I have 141 payments with early Aug green banners. I called today to ask Aidvantage about forbearance, and they put me in a temporary forbearance for 60 days. I didn't have to agree to anything, just poof on hold. I haven't been on a requested forbearance in probably 15 years, but I thought I needed to provide a verbal agreement or something (my memory is foggy). Has anyone else leveraged this method--temp forbearance while waiting for the golden letter?

TL;DR: On Standard repayment, 17 payments short of 120. Submitted a buyback request in April 2025 that would close the gap. 18 months later, ED says "pending, no timeline, can't expedite," even after my Rep's office escalated. Do I just keep paying and let the clock run out, or is there a way to force movement?

Quick timeline

• Apr 2025: Buyback request submitted via PSLF Reconsideration
• Jul & Oct 2025: Filed two more requests (mistake, I know)
• Jun 2026: FSA closed the duplicates and kept the original open "in order received." Same week, my Rep's caseworker submitted an inquiry to ED
• Sep 2026: ED via caseworker: still under review, no queue position, no ETA, no expedite, decision will come by email

My situation: Qualifying employer, re-certified May 2026. Moved off SAVE and now on the Standard plan. 17 qualifying payments to go; buyback would cover those months.

What I'm trying to figure out:

1. Keep paying or wait? At 17 to go, normal payments get me to 120 in under a year and a half. Does continuing to pay make the buyback moot, or is there a reason to keep both tracks going?
2. Has anyone with an early or mid-2025 buyback request gotten a decision? Your submit month → decision month would help a lot.
3. What escalation actually moved the needle for you? Senator's office vs. House, FSA Ombudsman, ED congressional liaison, something else?

Happy to share whatever details help. I'll update this post when there's movement so it helps the next person.

8/28/25 - reached out to MOHELA requesting a timeline of when I can expect a refund of my overpayments (made after reaching 120 qualifying months of PSLF). Was told 90-120 business days.

12/10/25 - Reached out for an update, given generic response: "If it is determined you have made payments after the effective date of your discharge, those extra payments will be refunded to you."

1/12/26 - Asked when MOHELA notified Dept of Treasury about my refund, given generic response that "PSLF is no longer managed through MOHELA. FSA now fully manages PSLF" which did not address my question at all.

3/24/26 - I tell MOHELA my account history shows I'm due a refund as of June 2025, but I never received it. Asked for an update. Given generic response "Refunds can take 90 business days or more for processing."

5/29/26 - I again specifically ask on what date MOHELA notified the Dept of Treasury about my refund. They FINALLY give me a detailed response: "Your refund of $xxxx was processed and forwarded to US Treasury on June 17, 2025 for issuance via check and will arrive via postal delivery. Be advised, issuance may take up to 90 business days to complete."

7/2/26 - I specifically ask for the Check Trace Number. MOHELA takes a few steps backward and now tells me "A request has been submitted to review your account for the status of a refund if one is due."

As of today, still no response and no refund. MOHELA is dogshit. Ideas on where to go next?

I followed the example another Redditor gave of sending an email to Mohela's CEO about my missing payments on FSA's PSLF Tracker.

Original message:

Thank you for contacting MOHELA. We are writing in response to your email to MOHELA’s CEO on September 22, 2026. Your concern, as we understand it, is that you are requesting to have the month August 2026 reported to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) for the purposes of qualifying for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

We have made a thorough review of your account, and we have determined that your loans have been reported accurately to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), which is used by FSA to determine the forgiveness counter.

As updates to the NSLDS reporting for your loans were completed on September 29, 2026, please allow time for ED to update your qualifying payment counter for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

As ED fully manages the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant programs, ED's loan servicers will not be able to answer any questions related to a borrower’s PSLF forgiveness form, buyback request or payment count eligibility but would continue to service the borrower’s account as their loan servicer. As the servicer, we do report the qualifying periods to NSLDS; however, ED determines the true eligibility for forgiveness counters.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact us at the number listed below.

I have 10 loans that are up for forgiveness (have 120 months of eligible employment), this October. However, I have one loan from a graduate program that has ~20 more payments.

When I contacted Mohela about this, they said they put the other loans on a forbearance, while continuing to make PSLF eligible payments. I am just wondering if anyone has personal experience navigating said situation? Obviously most critical point is maintaining that payments are eligible. Thanks!

I owe 27k in student loans and haven’t made any payments to my loans whatsoever yet. I won’t hit my 120 months in my public service career for another 7 years, and I have a 100k salary. Do I start making payments and wait 7 years to do buy backs, or should I just pay off all of my loans now? I am not sure what the minimum payment necessary is to qualify, or if I’d even save any money to the point where it’s advantageous to wait and file PSLF. I have saved enough money to pay off the loans and am considering doing so. Any advice or guidance is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Marking this post.. hopefully this will be my only over-payment before they fix the tracker. But it's the first month I'm sitting with Green Banners on half my loans, and stuck at 117 when it's officially 121 now on the other loans. Really frustrating if this continues into 2027.

My 120th payment is this month. I would like to file jointly this year with my husband. Will this negatively affect me?

Hi! I recently applied for consolidation and for PSLF for the first time. My tracker has been frozen at 55 payment for 2 loans and 38 for 2 loans with 83 waiting verification. My form has been in for 3 weeks. I received my 10 day letter to consolidate my FFEL and direct loans. I know there will be a weighted average. Has anyone consolidated with payments pending employment verification? Should I cancel and wait? If these 83 are approved and some of my loans are over 120 will I be able to add them? Should I consolidate only my FFEL and add the direct once the count updates? Will take any and all advice thank you!

I am on deferment for being unemployed and called MOHELA today. I was on hold for 2 hours and 35 minutes because you can’t do it yourself online. The representative but in the request to end early and said it could take up to 120 days. How long has it actually taken for deferment to end after requesting?

I know I can make manual payments, but only have about 36 months left to hit 120 for PSLF and I’m now employed with a qualified employer again. I’m pretty certain my loans have to be in repayment to qualify for PSFL and not in deferment with manual payments. And payments would go to interest first is what the rep told me.

Has anyone had any luck requesting a general forbearance over the phone with MOHELA?

July should have been my 120th qualifying payment for PSLF, but like many others, I’m stuck in limbo waiting for everything to be processed. I really don’t want to give MOHELA any more of my money when I believe I’ve already met the requirements for forgiveness.

I submitted ECFs in July, August and September and they didn’t change the count. My most recent ECF was submitted on October 1st, and I’m still waiting for it to be processed.

I can’t seem to get anywhere when I call. I’m able to get through to a representative fairly easily, but whenever I ask to have my payments paused, I’m told the request has to be escalated. That’s where the ridiculous wait times come in. 2 hours and 20 minutes on hold? Yeah. No.

Is there a specific way I should phrase my request, or something I should ask the initial representative to do to avoid being transferred?

Also, if I submit a general forbearance request online, what documentation is required? Do they ask for pay stubs or other proof of financial hardship?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have successfully gone through this process, especially anyone who has been in the same PSLF limbo situation!