To encourage repayment, the Department of Education has announced that it is offering 1% autopay discounts provided the borrower signs up by September 30.
Remember, the payment will be made automatically even if wrong.
Setting up another account and transferring funds to it to cover the auto-payment may be wise as errors are being reported.
We are now past the July 1, 2026 date where the Working Families Tax Cuts Act takes effect which means a lot has changed for the federal student loan repayment system.
The notices are the result of the Department of Education (“ED”) ending the SAVE plan, a Biden-era income driven repayment program that has been bogged down in lawsuits over the past several years. Borrowers who have remained on a SAVE forbearance where no payment was due will be in for quite a shock when new payment notices are issued.
There are still around six million borrowers on a SAVE forbearance. Most servicers started sending out 90 day notice letters starting July 1 – but Nelnet is reporting that it will not be able to send these notice letters until March 2027. If that is your client, there is the possibility that some people will be able to stay in a SAVE forbearance until the summer of 2027.
First and foremost, if you pay your taxes using a credit card, most credit card companies have coded this into their system so that following a bankruptcy, you would likely receive a bill for the non-dischargeable IRS debt. So don’t pay with a credit card.
When can taxes be discharged in a bankruptcy?
There are a few rules that apply to allow taxes to be discharged.
If you have tax debt, and you are doing nothing about it, here is what can happen:
Own a business?
Student loan payment way up?
Make sure you are reporting your income correctly and qualify for the lowest income driven plan payment.
I noticed today that the interest rates just hit 7% again. They briefly touched 6% a couple weeks ago. For anyone who has locked in a rate closer to that 6%, you might want to take advantage of that now. Word has it that the Fed may actually increase rates once this year, and leave them unchanged the remainder of the time. Anyone on the fence waiting for a rate reduction may as well give that up and go ahead with their plans if this outlook prevails. Or give up on purchasing a home right now and see what next year brings. There are forces pulling all kinds of directions now as to what the future holds.
Anyone who has bought in the past couple years is likely under water. While Florida still has an overall increase in population, property sales and corresponding values have dropped over the past couple years. This means that short sales may come back — if someone needs to move now, but their property is underwater, it’s best to try for a negotiated short sale where any deficiency is waived. This has to be specifically negotiated; it doesn’t happen automatically. No one wants to be sued for the balance owed years later after you’ve given up the home. You also don’t want that reporting negatively on your credit.
We work with local realtors to try to get that deficiency waived, buy time to complete the sale etc. Reach out if you are facing this kind of situation and see what options may exist for you.
While the payment count was removed from the studentaid.gov site, there is a back door you can use to see how many years you have left on an IDR until your student loans are forgiven — if you call your servicer, who knows what answer you’ll get. If you use this hack, make sure to take a screen shot in case you’ll need later for some reason. You never know.
Step 1) Log in to studentaid.gov
Step 2) Open another browser tab and go to https://studentaid.gov/app/api/nslds/payment-counter/summary
Ever wonder what those little individual codes in the bottom-left corner mean on Mohela correspondence? Here’s what we’ve found so far:
| February Consumer Lunch
February 10, 2026
Attestation Process is Game Changer for Discharging Federal Student Loans
Christi Arkovich, Arkovich Law Bob Branson, Branson Law Tammy Branson, Branson Law
This CLE program explores the Department of Justice and Department of Education’s 2022 guidance that loosened the three-prong test for discharging student loans in bankruptcy through the new attestation process. Attendees will learn about how to analyze loan types and borrower eligibility, how to navigate the detailed attestation form, and borrowers who have successfully used the process. The program also covers how to file and handle these uniquely streamlined adversary proceedings—often resolved without litigation—key differences between bankruptcy schedule calculations and the attestation form, drafting consent final judgments, and practical considerations on fees, billing, and getting paid.
Consumer Lunches are no charge and via zoom. |
Zombie second mortgages are becoming quite a problem nowadays. The typical story is that someone took out debt for either a home purchase or home improvement/repair prior to 2008. They likely have not received statements, and are current on their first mortgage. Out of the blue, they are contacted by phone or letter, and often a foreclosure is filed. The goal of the debt buyer is to obtain a down payment, a payment stream for a debt that is often twice the value initially borrowed. Then that debt is resold at a tremendous profit.
Because of the short notice, the homeowner frequently starts making payments on this zombie debt, fearing foreclosure – even under circumstances where the homeowner hasn’t received mortgage statements and has received a 1099-C indicating the debt was cancelled years ago.
Don’t agree to this type of forced modification. If you hire an attorney, the debt likely can be reduced substantially or even eliminated entirely. But if you start paying them, it is very hard to assert the legal violations that rendered the debt uncollectible.
Reboot Your Life: Tampa Student Loan and Bankruptcy Attorney Blog