My student loans are currently consolidated under the PSLF program and in repayment under IBR. My principal loan balance is about $177,206 and I have about $50,000 in unpaid interest.  I’ve been researching the REPAYE program to see if it’s worth switching to and would like to clarify some details about the program because my payments would decrease from $750 in IBR to $450 for REPAYE. 

1) Does switching from IBR to REPAYE reset the progress made to PSLF payments thus far? I’m 7 years into the 10 year loan forgiveness for PSLF. Would changing to REPAYE reset the clock back to 10 years?

2) My current loan is consolidated with Federal Loan Servicing. My understanding that switching to REPAYE will capitalize my loan’s interest of $50,000, meaning my loan will grow from $177,206 to $227,206 under REPAYE.  If I continue to make my payments under PSLF for the remaining 3 years, will the entire loan amount, including the interest that was capitalized be forgiven under PSLF?  or am I responsible for the additional $50,000 that was added to my loan?

3) My understanding is that the biggest disadvantage of REPAYE over the other repayment methods is that loan forgiveness will only happen in 25 years whereas the other methods can be 20 years or less. However, with the PSLF option this disadvantage seems to be moot. Are there any pitfalls or disadvantages of switching to REPAYE that I should be aware of? Right now the program sounds almost too good to be true and I can’t find any season why not to apply for this.

Thank you all you so much.

-Eric