A couple months ago, I noticed that my “account-related letters” from prior years had disappeared from my online profile account through Fed Loan Servicing, which administers PSLF. That included letters that certified my employment for the last six years, the ones I’ll need when I apply for loan forgiveness.

Fortunately, I have saved those documents in hard copy and PDF form. Today I called to ask about it. At first, the guy said I should just refresh my browser and they should appear. I reiterated that letters from prior years are no longer available, they are gone, and asked him to check with his supervisor.

The supervisor confirmed that the policy on account-related letters has changed. Fed Loan Servicing now purges account-related letters that are older than a year from online accounts. He said I can still request those prior year documents and receive them by postal mail, but we all know what that means.

Remember to save your documents immediately or you may never see them again.

Good advice. I noticed this too. I went ahead and asked them to send me electronic copies of all prior letters just so I have a back-up. It’ll take 7-10 business days, and will probably take them that long to give me some stupid reason why they can’t. Fortunately, I think I have most of the stuff saved anyways, at least the important info. I’d recommend saving bank statements too, so you have *some* record of making payments. Definitely hold onto all your employment certification docs. That’s something you’ll never want to lose.