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If I repay my Direct Loans under IBR, Pay As You Earn, or ICR plan, and all of my payments qualify for PSLF, will I have a remaining balance on my Dir
For IBR and Pay As You Earn, the answer is generally yes. If you enter one of these plans
immediately upon entering repayment, and each of your payments under one of those plans qualifies
(that is, each payment is on-time and made while working for a qualifying employer), there should be
some balance left to be forgiven after you have made 120 qualifying payments. The only reason that
there would be no remaining balance after making 120 qualifying payments under the IBR or Pay As
You Earn plan is you pay more than what is due under your repayment plan each month, causing you
to pay off your loan in full before receiving forgiveness.
For ICR, even if you enter the plan immediately upon entering repayment, and even if each of your
payments under the plan is a qualifying payment, forgiveness is not guaranteed. Under the ICR plan, it
is possible that you will repay your loan in full prior to making 120 qualifying payments; however, this
will not be true for most borrowers.