Hello,

I have been making payments to Sallie Mae for my consolidated federal loans for 5 years now under the Income Based Repayment Plan.

Question:

1.) Are these payments to Sallie Mae qualified payments for the Public Service Loan Program

OR

2.)  Do I have to consolidate/move my loans to another lender/program and start the 10 year payment clock over before my loans can be forgiven under PSLF?

Thank you.

The servicing company really makes no difference, as long as they are federal direct loans. Do your consolidated loans have the word “direct” in their title? If they are just federal stafford loans (FFEL) or private consolidated loans, unfortunately none of your payments will qualify. If they have the word “direct” in their names, then they are qualifying loans. Assuming your loans qualify, and you were working at a qualifying place of employment when you made your payments, then your payments should qualify. Fedloan servicing is the only company allowed to keep track and grant PSLF when 10 years of payments have been made, and your loans will move to them when you turn in your first employment certification sheet. When they transfer to Fedloan servicing, they supposedly contact the original servicing company of your loans and inquire how many payments you have made, and resume counting any future payments you make. If you think you have been making qualifying payments, I’d turn in an employment certification sheet just to make sure that your payments have counted. Better to find out sooner than later…plus it takes time for them to transfer your loans, so you’d be looking at a delay of a few months potentially.