Student Loan Forgiveness FAQs

Highlights:

• Some borrowers may have their federal student loans forgiven under the Biden Administration's February 2024 student loan forgiveness proposal.
• Student loan borrowers who are enrolled in the SAVE plan (Saving on a Valuable Education) may have those loans forgiven.
• If your student loan is eligible for forgiveness, you'll receive a communication from the loan servicers or Department of Education.

Some borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan may have their student loans forgiven under the Biden Administration's February 2024 student loan forgiveness proposal.

SAVE Plan

The Biden Administration made an announcement in February 2024 canceling debt for federal student loan borrowers who are enrolled in the SAVE plan (Saving on a Valuable Education). SAVE is an income-driven repayment plan that calculates your monthly payment amount based on your income and family size. The SAVE Plan lowers payments for almost all people compared to other income driven repayment plans, because the payments are based on a smaller portion of the borrower's adjusted gross income. Beginning in February 2024, the SAVE Plan will give borrowers who originally borrowed $12,000, or less, forgiveness after as few as 10 years. More elements of SAVE are expected to go into effect in summer 2024 to lower payments even more for borrowers with undergraduate loans.

How do I know if my student loans are forgiven?

Emails were sent to federal student loan borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan in February 2024 notifying them that they were approved for forgiveness and would not need to take any further action. Loan servicers have begun processing the forgiveness and federal student loan borrowers will see their loans forgiven on their accounts. The U.S. Department of Education will continue to identify and discharge borrowers enrolled in SAVE who are eligible for this forgiveness on a regular basis.

I received a communication that says my student loan was forgiven. How come?

The federal government has decided to cancel the student loans of certain consumers. Although Equifax^® cannot tell you whether or not your loans are eligible for forgiveness, you can get more information about your student loans from the loan servicer.

How do I know if this communication about student loan forgiveness that I received is legitimate?

Please reach out to your student loan servicer to verify that the communication you received is legitimate.

Equifax Consumer Care may be able to provide the loan servicer contact information. You can call 1-888-Equifax (1-888-378-4329) 9am to 9pm (ET) Monday through Friday, and 9am to 6pm (ET), Saturday and Sunday.

The communication says my student loan was forgiven, but there's still a student loan balance on my Equifax credit report. What can I do?

If your student loan has been forgiven and the balance is still on your Equifax credit report, consider contacting the lender first. You may be able to straighten out the matter and the lender will report the updated information to Equifax. Lenders and creditors reporting inaccurate or incomplete information are responsible for updating it with each bureau they report to.

You can also submit a credit report dispute for free. At Equifax, you can create a myEquifax^™ account to file a dispute. Please allow up to 30 calendar days for the dispute to be processed.

If my student loan is forgiven but I made a late payment, does the late payment still show up on my Equifax credit report?

Yes, the late payment will appear on your credit report because student loan forgiveness does not cancel out late payment history.

If my student loan is forgiven, how long will it appear on my Equifax credit report?

How long information stays on your Equifax credit report depends on the status of the student loan. Paid as agreed accounts remain on your Equifax credit report for 10 years from the date it was reported by the lender. Accounts that have a late payment history will generally remain on the credit report for seven years from the date of the missed payment.

Since my student loan has been forgiven, how will this affect my credit scores?

Credit scores can vary for several reasons, including the data on which the scores are based and the credit score models used to calculate them. You can get Equifax credit reports and a VantageScore^® 3.0 credit score based on Equifax data by creating a myEquifax account. You can enroll in Equifax Core Credit™ for a free monthly Equifax credit report and a free monthly VantageScore 3.0 credit score, based on Equifax data. A VantageScore is one of many types of credit scores.