Do Sallie Mae Loans Qualify For Pslf

The outstanding balances on Sallie Mae’s private student loans are rarely forgiven. However, if Sallie Mae transferred your loans to Navient, you may be eligible for the student loan forgiveness programs that the U S. Department of Education offers. Visit the Federal Student Aid website, studentaid, to find out what kind of loans you have and what financial aid programs you qualify for. gov.

Programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Income-Driven Repayment Forgiveness, and Teacher Loan Forgiveness are available to cancel federal loans. Additionally, any loans that would qualify for the Navient settlement or the borrower defense to repayment were transferred to other servicers years ago, making the private loans that Sallie Mae owns and services ineligible for those opportunities.

Depending on your financial situation, settlement or student loan refinancing may be an option if you’re struggling under the weight of your private loans. Make an appointment to speak with a student loan lawyer if you need assistance determining your options.

Can Sallie Mae loans be forgiven?

Sallie Mae rarely forgives student loan debt. It expects borrowers and their cosigners to keep up with loan payments whether they are employed in the public sector, have been making payments for years, or encounter a financial crisis that makes it difficult for them to make the required monthly payments. If you experience a physical or mental disability that prevents you from working permanently or if you pass away, Sallie Mae will only release you from your obligation. A disability discharge would cancel the remaining loan balance if it were granted.

The recent Navient lawsuit settlement is ineffective because only federal and private student loans—which Sallie Mae transferred to Navient years ago—are covered by it.

The agreement the Education Department reached last month to cancel $6 billion in loans for borrowers who committed fraud does not either. Only federal student loan borrowers will benefit from that deal. Read more about borrower defense to repayment.

Will Sallie Mae loans be forgiven?

Borrowers with loans from Sallie Mae are unlikely to benefit from the White House’s proposed comprehensive student loan forgiveness program.

Approximately 8% of $1 in student loan debt is held by private borrowers. 71 trillion overall student debt in the United States. However, they are not included in the student loan forgiveness programs that democratic senators like Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren advocate for. Only those with federal student loan debt would be eligible for the relief they are advocating.

Similar to this, only borrowers with loans held by the Education Department have been eligible for the relief measures approved by the Biden administration throughout the pandemic, such as the PSLF Waiver and IDR account adjustments.

Given that the government has a history of only forgiving federal student loan debt, it is unlikely that Sallie Mae loans will be forgiven.

Learn More: Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Sallie Mae moved loans to Navient

Sallie Mae was America’s largest student loan provider until a few years ago. It was both a lender and a debt-collection agency, profiting from both sides of its loans. But then the federal government stopped providing the federal guarantees and subsidies that Sallie Mae had been relying on for years. Due to this, the business decided to spin off its predatory private loans and Federal Family Education Loans to Navient, a new student loan servicer it had established.

Sallie Mae concentrated on providing options for refinancing student loans and private student loans after that change.

How to determine whether a Sallie Mae loan is federal or private is given here:

If Sallie Mae has your student loans today, then those are private student loans.

If Sallie Mae moved your loans to Navient, those might be federal FFEL Loans or private loans.

If Navient moved your loans to Aidvantage, then those are federal loans.

Learn More: How to Get Rid of Private Student Loans

Options if you can’t afford Sallie Mae loans

Pause student loan payments temporarily. Sallie Mae will let you pause payments temporarily with a deferment if your income drops because you’re returning to school or are still in residency. But if you’re struggling to make the monthly payments and are nearing delinquency due to job loss or a change of income, the company doesn’t typically grant forbearance opportunities like the ones offered by government and some private lenders.

Ask for an interest rate reduction. Even if forbearances are hard to come by, Sallie Mae will generally allow you to get a more budget-friendly payment amount by temporarily lowering your interest rate a few points. Another short-term option is to make interest payments while you work on improving your financial situation.

Refinance for a lower interest rate. Student loan refinance can help lower your interest rate and extend your repayment period, depending on your credit score and income. Use an online marketplace like Credible to shop around. Note: After historic lows throughout the federal student loan payment pause, refinancing rates have crept up. If you’re going to refinance, do it sooner rather than later.

File student loan bankruptcy. If you’ve exhausted your repayment options and refinancing is off the table, filing bankruptcy may be your only option for a long-term solution. Student loan discharges due to bankruptcy are scarce, but not impossible — you must file a lawsuit known as an adversary proceeding and prove the loans pose an undue hardship. Recent bankruptcy court decisions and lawmakers’ backing of relief for overburdened borrowers suggest that things might change for private student debt. Read more about private student loan bankruptcy.

There are steps Sallie Mae borrowers can take to make their loans more manageable, even though they can’t rely on general student loan forgiveness to erase their debt. If you want to find a way to quickly pay off your student debt, let’s talk.

Schedule a phone call with me. I’m a lawyer with years of experience assisting people with their loans so they can accomplish their own objectives, such as beginning a family, purchasing a home, retiring, and so forth.

UP NEXT: Private Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

FAQ

Is Sallie Mae considered a federal student loan?

Visit the National Student Loan Data System to locate your servicers. Since Sallie Mae only services private student loans, we are not listed on any federal list of student loan servicers. But if you have any inquiries about your Sallie Mae private student loan, please contact us at 855-429-9755.

Which loans do not qualify for PSLF?

PSLF is only available for loans you received through the Direct Loan Program. You are ineligible for PSLF if you have loans from the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program, or any other student loan program.

How do you get Sallie Mae forgiven?

But it can be challenging to qualify for federal student loan forgiveness, and forgiveness is not an option if you have a private student loan through Sallie Mae. There are, however, repayment options, including refinancing. Student loan refinancing from SoFi comes with flexible terms, competitive rates, and no origination fee.

Does PSLF apply to private student loans?

Private student loans are not qualified for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Private education loans cannot be consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan and are not eligible for PSLF.