Back in September, the word from the U.S. Department of Education was that an online application for one-time federal student loan forgiveness was expected to be released by “early October.”
No application was yet available online by Monday — Oct. 10 — though the Education Department continues to tell borrowers to expect one in October. Keep an eye on StudentAid.gov — and don’t jump at any emails that suggest you need to pay a fee. That’s the sign of a big scam.
Right now, though, it’s wait and see on that application. You’d have until Dec. 31, 2023, to submit it.
Partisan-driven legal challenges are putting student loan forgiveness efforts in flux and drawing into question whether some monthly loan payments would start being reduced as early as January. Some might even question if debt relief could be derailed here in a pile up of lawsuits filed by conservatives and six GOP-led states.
The concern is that financially vulnerable borrowers who have had nearly three years of no payments on many federal student loans could face a high risk of delinquency once payments resume next year. But conservatives say the Biden administration has no grounds to invoke the HEROES Act of 2003 to offer widespread forgiveness in a national emergency.
The Education Department said in a court filing last week that it would not discharge any student loan debt under the plan before Oct. 23.
In the coming weeks, the department will be continuing to communicate with loan servicers, according to…
