What is the IDR Account Adjustment?
The Income Driven Repayment (IDR) Account Adjustment (aka the One-Time Payment Count Adjustment) is a temporary initiative that will significantly benefit borrowers seeking Income Driven Repayment Forgiveness (IDRF) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). These adjustments aim to bring thousands of borrowers closer to loan forgiveness by providing more opportunities to earn qualifying payment credits.
- Periods in repayment.
- Time spent in forbearance, provided they had 12 consecutive or 36 cumulative months in forbearance.
- Most deferments before 2013, as well as economic hardship deferments after 2013.
- Months prior to loan consolidation.
- Apply the highest credit from your oldest loan across all of your loans. NOT on a weighted average!
- Credit will be awarded even if you were not making payments or enrolled in an IDR plan.
- Non-creditable periods: It’s important to note that generally time spent in an in-school deferment, grace period, or default will not be credited towards forgiveness.
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3 simple steps to get student loan forgiveness:
Consolidate (via studentaid.gov) by April 30, 2024 if you have non-direct loans or multiple direct loans with different payment histories.
Find out if you need to consolidate and how to do it!
Enroll in an IDR Plan, like the new SAVE Plan. You will enroll as part of the consolidation process or can enroll at any time if you’re not consolidating.*
Compare repayment plans.
Calculate monthly payments.
Track your progress. Learn more.
*For those who consolidate, you will enroll in a repayment plan as part of the consolidation process. DO NOT enroll in a repayment plan for a second time after the consolidation, unless you want to change your repayment plan.
Top five things you should know from student loan experts.
1. Everyone with federal student loans qualifies for forgiveness.
All Income Driven Repayment plans have a forgiveness component. All you need to do is repay your loans under and IDR plan to get forgiveness. General forgiveness timelines are below. Get more detailed SAVE Plan forgiveness timelines here.
- SAVE: 10-25 years
- PAYE: 20 years
- IBR: 20-25 years
- ICR: 25 years
2. You can consolidate previously consolidated loans.
If you have FFEL consolidated loans, you MUST consolidate by April 30, 2024, to benefit from the IDR Account adjustment. If you have multiple loans, including consolidated and unconsolidated, you can consolidate again without losing any retroactive credit. Your loans will in fact get the highest payment count towards forgiveness of any underlying loan.
3. Enrolling in an Income Driven Repayment plan will ensure you continue to accumulate credit towards forgiveness.
If you have not reached the required months to receive forgiveness, you must enroll in an IDR plan to continue getting credit. You can technically enroll in an IDR plan at any time, but the sooner you do the better. After April 30, 2024, you will only get credit for every month you are enrolled in an IDR plan.
4. Parent Plus loans are complicated. Get help before consolidating.
Parent Plus loans have different rules. You should get help before consolidating. Learn more.
5. Track your progress.
You can track progress towards PSLF on your studentaid.gov or MOHELA accounts. Soon you should be able to track progress towards IDRF on your studentaid.gov account, as well. The short video to the right will show you how to do it through your studentaid.gov account.
This other video provides guidance on tracking your PSLF progress through MOHELA.
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