Has anyone else had to deal with the issue of a month gap between getting annual IBR documentation approved and the first payment on the new payment schedule? This removes a month of payment. Great Lakes and MOHELA both have this issue. As an example, if you submit your annual IBR documentation in November and it gets approved in November, they then schedule your first payment in January instead of December. Won’t this effectively remove a month a of PSLF-eligible payments? The loan servicer solution is just to make whatever payment amount you want in December, but would this be on a qualifying payment plan if the old payment schedule ends in November and the new payment schedule doesn’t start until January?

You should be notified 90 days prior to your renewal date, and they should be processing your request early enough so there’s no “gap.”

For instance, my payment cycle ends in March, but I am normally notified at the end of December to submit my annual paperwork.

I would have a long conversation with them because a gap every year would effectively add nearly a year to your PSLF track.

Yeah I’ve resolved the issue for myself with MOHELA and helping someone else with Great Lakes, both submitted well in advance of the annual IBR due date. I was just curious if this has been a widespread issue with loan servicers. MOHELA’s comment was that their computer system defaults to skipping a month, which seems ridiculous.