Hi Heather,

Before I introduce myself and ask my question, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for this website, forum and all of the time you spend educating us about student loans. I have learned so much from this website and finally made the decision to join. My name is Michael, I graduated December of 2013 (MAT Special Education), and I begin repaying student loans 06/23/2014. I am in the process of changing from the “Standard Repayment Plan” to the “Pay As You Earn Plan.” The servicer of my Direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans is Fedloan Servicing. According to the eligibility quiz on the myfedloan.org website, I meet all eligibility requirements for the “Pay As You Earn Plan” and was redirected to the studentloans.gov website to complete an online request form. On 6/21/2014 I completed the “Income-Based (IBR) / Pay As You Earn / Income-Contingent (ICR) Repayment Plan Request” form on the studentloans.gov website. My question is regarding section 3 of the form, “Spousal Information.” I made an error in this section. I am married, we file a joint tax return, and we both have student loan debt (We did not consolidate our loans together). My wife is also in repayment and her Direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans are also serviced by Fedloan Servicing. I checked the first box (in section 3) which reads, “You file a joint federal income tax return with your spouse and your spouse has eligible loans.” The problem is, my wife’s loans are not eligible (she had loan balances prior to October 1, 2007) and we discovered this after we both signed and submitted the request form online. My questions regarding this error are as follows:

1.) Can this error be corrected after the form has been submitted?
2.) Will this affect my eligibility for or disqualify me from the “Pay As You Earn Program”?
3.) What will happen once it is discovered that I made the error?
4.) Will I need to resubmit a new request form?

Thank you very much for any insight you may offer. I have also e-mailed my loan servicer with this question but haven’t heard back thus far.

Sincerely,
Michael

Michael,

I think you’ll be fine.  Your servicer ought to be able to enroll your loans in PAYE and your wife’s loans in IBR.  You’re right to be in touch with them, but my guess is that they can process your application without additional forms.  Do stay on top of it though and monitor the process to make sure it all shakes down properly.  Let us know how it shapes up.

Best,
Heather