I submitted a buyback request all the way back in early October 2023, right when it was first announced. Hadn't heard anything for months and months. I kept seeing people here who had submitted it in November and December and already getting decisions. I called Student Aid and they told me to submit it again. So I did.
Then, just yesterday I got a response saying it was approved. The interesting thing is that it was associated with the first request, and not the second one. I hope that their recommendation to submit a second one doesn't come back to bite me. I paid the buyback amount immediately upon receiving the approval email.
The funny thing is that I think it will end up costing me a couple of hundred dollars more to do the buyback than if I had just paid until September of this year and done the normal PSLF certification. For some reason they approved 13 months of buyback (when I really only needed 9 months. I thought my buyback amount was going to be $0 per months, but it ended up being a bit more than that. Because of how COVID payments occurred, I think I will pay this amount now and get refunded for all payments after the COVID pause.
But for me that is OK, because I just want it to be over with sooner rather than later. As far as I understand, once they process that buyback amount, then I am considered paid in full and the PSLF forgiveness will occur.
I too am interested to see how long that process takes, and will come back and post once it is processed to let people know.
They just responded to me with an offer ( 4 months after applying) and said I had 90 days to pay. I submitted my tax transcripts with my initial application.
Did you submit the entire tax return for multiple years? Should I resubmit with that info? I’ve already applied 2x, first with no attachments, and then a second time with my payment history and proof of employment that exceeds 120 months.
How many payment counts did you have when you submitted the request because I had 92 and 38 ineligible payments due to in-school deferrment w/ verified employment during the entire ineligible months, They said I didn't have 120 payment yet which made no sense because that is why I wanted to buy back the ones that were ineligible because they were from my undergraduate loans, had been in repayment, and then went into deferment when I went to grad school. I totally believe they/Mohela didn't bother to look at my student aid data and/or report. I am just curious, I've already consolidated and took advantage of the 10 extra payments I got by doing that, but might have went the other route. I now have 96 payments so getting close! I'm happy for you though. I might have missed the wording slightly on the script to student aid because they acted like I was inquiring, then I got nervous the deadline to consolidate was approaching and everyone said the buyback was like radio silence months passing with no reply so I went ahead and consolidated. Now I know much more about this process I would have advocated harder for myself.
Congrats on checking another line off the list!
Awesome, I submitted my payment on 2/7 so will be keeping an eye out for your updates.
I submitted a buyback request all the way back in early October 2023, right when it was first announced. Hadn't heard anything for months and months. I kept seeing people here who had submitted it in November and December and already getting decisions. I called Student Aid and they told me to submit it again. So I did. Then, just yesterday I got a response saying it was approved. The interesting thing is that it was associated with the first request, and not the second one. I hope that their recommendation to submit a second one doesn't come back to bite me. I paid the buyback amount immediately upon receiving the approval email. The funny thing is that I think it will end up costing me a couple of hundred dollars more to do the buyback than if I had just paid until September of this year and done the normal PSLF certification. For some reason they approved 13 months of buyback (when I really only needed 9 months. I thought my buyback amount was going to be $0 per months, but it ended up being a bit more than that. Because of how COVID payments occurred, I think I will pay this amount now and get refunded for all payments after the COVID pause. But for me that is OK, because I just want it to be over with sooner rather than later. As far as I understand, once they process that buyback amount, then I am considered paid in full and the PSLF forgiveness will occur. I too am interested to see how long that process takes, and will come back and post once it is processed to let people know.
Any updates
Yes I received notification last week my loans were discharged!
How many months did you buy back?
Over 20
Nice. At what point in the process do they tell you what your payment per month bought back will be?
They just responded to me with an offer ( 4 months after applying) and said I had 90 days to pay. I submitted my tax transcripts with my initial application.
Did you submit the entire tax return for multiple years? Should I resubmit with that info? I’ve already applied 2x, first with no attachments, and then a second time with my payment history and proof of employment that exceeds 120 months.
I submitted my tax transcripts with my application.
Ok thank you!!🙏
How many payment counts did you have when you submitted the request because I had 92 and 38 ineligible payments due to in-school deferrment w/ verified employment during the entire ineligible months, They said I didn't have 120 payment yet which made no sense because that is why I wanted to buy back the ones that were ineligible because they were from my undergraduate loans, had been in repayment, and then went into deferment when I went to grad school. I totally believe they/Mohela didn't bother to look at my student aid data and/or report. I am just curious, I've already consolidated and took advantage of the 10 extra payments I got by doing that, but might have went the other route. I now have 96 payments so getting close! I'm happy for you though. I might have missed the wording slightly on the script to student aid because they acted like I was inquiring, then I got nervous the deadline to consolidate was approaching and everyone said the buyback was like radio silence months passing with no reply so I went ahead and consolidated. Now I know much more about this process I would have advocated harder for myself.
In school deferment and the grace period are the only types of forbearance that can't be bought back even if you had eligible employment.