Hello,
First and foremost, I'd like to thank this community for being an invaluable source of information. The people in this community (for the most part) seem to genuinely want to help others and show empathy and patience. Seeing this gives me a bit of hope for humanity.
I have been following this community and reading through posts. I have some questions specific to my situation, which I believe I know the answers to (from this community and posts) but I would like some input from others. Apologies in advance for the long post and the various questions.
I reached 120 months of qualifying employment in March (2026). My qualifying payment count is at 99. I waited until this month to submit my ECF just to be certain; it was approved today. My PSLF counts show up to April 2026 and haven't been updated to remove the "No employer data" for the few months I just certified yet. My plan is to wait a few days to see if the no employer data falls off and if May 2026 shows up on the counts, and then apply for buyback. I would have 21 SAVE months to buyback, or 20 SAVE months and one random 2018 forbearance month that I can't figure out what that was. If matters I consolidated my loans in 2017.
** Question: When you apply for buyback, do you need to list the months you want to buy back? So would I need to list 02-2018, 06-2024, 07-2024, 09-2024 to 03-2026? If you do list the months, can you list more than what is needed to hit 120?
I am not planning to stay at my qualifying employer much longer, but I would like to start making payments while still in qualified employment. I understand buyback is backlogged and taking an average of 18 months to process, and I understand the risks of leaving qualified employment. My AGI last year was $104k, MFS, and my loan balance is around $88k. When I go to change repayment plans on studentaid dot gov, it gives me $903 for IBR (I would be old IBR), $1007 for ICR, and then $567 for Standard Repayment. Other student loan calculators show RAP would be around $846.
** Question: It says the Standard Repayment plan counts toward PSLF. Can I safely move to this plan since it is the lowest monthly cost? I'm unsure since it says in other text that consolidated loans might not count. Also, I cannot select this plan on the website. It says to contact my servicer, which is Mohela. When I go to the Mohela site, it says I need to call to move plans. Is this the correct method for getting on Standard Repayment?
The next questions are related to buyback. Regarding the buyback amount, the site says:
>Your payment amount will be based on the lowest IDR amount you were eligible for at the time of the deferment or forbearance. If the 10-year standard payment is lower than your calculated IDR payment, then the 10-year Standard payment amount will be used.
** Question: Can I assume my buyback amount will be 21 months x $567 standard payment amount, minus whatever months I pay going forward while in repayment + qualified employment?
** Question: When you get the buyback offer, can you select what months to buyback? If you are in repayment, is it deducting the oldest months or the more recent months from the buyback? For example, I have six months to buyback in 2024 but my income was higher that year and I filed MFJ. If I go into repayment and make six payments, when I get my buyback offer, can I choose not to buy back the 2024 dates, but the others? I'm not sure if that makes sense.
** Question: If I'm in repayment and only submit an ECF maybe every few months, since there is a concern on timing and an ECF submitted after a buyback offer invalidates the buyback offer, will Dept of Ed ask for employment certification before calculating buyback to take into account current months? Or at that point will they just use what they have and then after I pay the buyback amont, I would submit an ECF and ask for a refund? Would I even need to submit an ECF, or just request a refund for the months paid?
Another related question. I've seen on two different posts here, from different people, that if you leave qualified employment but continue making payments, those months would be refunded. Is this correct? It sounds odd to me, but people on here said this would be the case.
** Question: Assume I stay in qualified employment for six more months and make qualifying payments on standard plan for those months, then submit final ECF and leave qualified employment, and continue to make the standard plan payments until I receive a buyback offer lets say in 18 months. My buyback would be 21 minus the 6 months paid, so 15 months. Then would I be able to request a refund for the 12 months (or more) that was paid on standard plan while not in qualifying employment?
I can try to find the posts where this is mentioned. Again, apologies for how long the post is. I've been thinking about this and strategizing for a very long time. I want to make sure I make the right moves and think things through. I really appreciate any advice / insight. Thank you!