Income Based Repayment
Through the Income Based Repayment or IBR play, you may be able to qualify for partial loan forgiveness. This is a federally run program that helps to lower your student loan bills if you are having a hard time affording them. This is one of four major programs that the government offers towards paying off your student loans. To find out how you may be able to lower your monthly payments on your student loans through IBR, continue reading below.
Eligibility?
In order to fully qualify for the Income-Based Repayment(IBR) program, you will need to have made eligible payments for 25 years OR 300 payments under the IBR program, you may qualify for this option. For payments to qualify for this program, they must have been made on or after July 1st of 2009. Not everyone will qualify for Income Based Repayment. In order to qualify for this program, you must have a partial financial hardship, in this case meaning that payments to you eligible loans exceed 15% of your discretionary income. Through the income-based repayment program, they will cap the maximum monthly payment at 15% of your discretionary income. This is the difference between your Adjusted Gross Income or AGI and 150% of the annual poverty guideline for your family size and state.
What is the award amount?
Through the income-based repayment program, you may be eligible to have up to 100% of your outstanding balance forgiven after 25 years worth of payments. In the event that you work in the public sector, you will only need to have completed 10 years or payment for your balance to be forgiven upon being eligible.
What loans qualify for Income Based Repayment?
The following loans will qualify through the income-based repayment program:
• Stafford loans
• Grad PLUS loans
• Consolidation loans, except loans that include Parent PLUS loans
For a full list of loans accepted and additional information please head to the official IBR website.
How to apply?
To apply for the income-based repayment program, you will need to submit the following two forms to your current student loan servicer: Fill out the IBR application here and you will also need to fill out an IRS Tax Form 4506-T.
Questions?
If you still have questions or would like to know more information please reach out to us here or you can go back to the Student Loan Repayment Assistance Programs page.