Mark Your Calendar: Automatic Student Loan Forgiveness Payments Start Processing Nov. 14
Written by
Selena Fragassi
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Nicholas Morine
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Of the 40 million Americans that President Biden says will receive relief as part of his administration’s student loan forgiveness program, a good amount will be eligible for automatic payments. Up to 8 million people in fact, according to Fortune.
If you’re one of them, you’ll want to mark Nov. 14 on the calendar — it’s the date when those payments will start processing.
As GOBankingRates previously reported, the government fully launched the application this week through which anyone with federal student loans can apply to seek up to $10,000 of their outstanding balance forgiven ($20,000 for those with Pell Grants). Already 8 million people have applied, according to Forbes.
But there are some who don’t need to fill the app out at all, as they are automatically eligible. According to Fortune, the group includes mostly individuals who filled out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for the current school year — or already have an income-driven repayment plan set up for federal loans as their pertinent financial information is already on file.
Automatic Loan Forgiveness Recipients Receiving Email Confirmation
Many of those eligible for automatic loan forgiveness have also started receiving email confirmations of their status, as Fortune has reported.
“You don’t need to take any action if you are interested in receiving student loan debt relief!” the email declares, according to those who have posted about the notification on social media. However, the government does warn that Nov. 14 is also the deadline for opting out, for anyone who chooses to do so.
However, there are some who don’t want the money: They live in states where the loan forgiveness would be taxed. In one notorious case, lawyer Frank Garrison of the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a civil case over the automatic relief payments for this reason.
Because of that lawsuit, the government now allows automatic recipients the chance to opt out by Nov. 14. Anyone who doesn’t do so will have their relief payment automatically processed, per Insider.
With the opt out deadline, that also means those automatic recipients also have to wait until this date for the government to start working on their case. However, if you want your loan relief to process before Nov. 14, you can still fill out the official app to get the process underway sooner.
It’s relatively easy to fill out and takes under two minutes, according to Forbes. The app is open through December 2023 and can be accessed here.
Though, per Insider, the Student Aid office says your best option is to fill the paperwork out by mid-November so that you can get the relief funds before loan repayments resume in January 2023.
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