Hi all,
I posted something similar on another forum but think I might get more input here and want to make sure anyone else on IBR with Great Lakes is aware of a potential issue.
I have run into an issue in which Great Lakes skips billing me for one month each year. Quite literally, I only make 11 payments per year, because they apparently don't bill the month that my IBR plan is regenerated after I re-certify. I am on auto pay and caught this only after 2.5 years of repayment.
I asked them about the impact that this would have on my (hopefully) anticipated forgiveness. The customer service agent said this is how they do it for "everyone" and it won't impact forgiveness because forgiveness is based off of actual years of repayment, NOT number of monthly payments made.
Anyone else experience this?
This opinion seems to be contradicted by Q28 of this doc, copied below:
28.What does “after 20 or 25 years of qualifying repayment” mean?
This means that you will qualify for forgiveness of any remaining loan balance after you have made the
equivalent of 20 or 25 years of qualifying monthly payments, and after at least 20 or 25 years have
passed.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/income-driven-repayment-q-and-a.pdfAppreciate your opinions on this! Would seem to also have a big impact on the potential "tax bomb" at the end of IBR.