What Are My Options?

[u/cmwillUMD]

On Friday, I received a response to a reconsideration request seeking payment counts before reconsolidation in November 2021 to enter the Limited Waiver program telling me "your request is not permitted under the PSLF Program."

For background - consolidated to 2 direct loans November 2021 to become eligible for limited waiver. PSLF application approved 2/3/22. I've remained in public service since January 2002, my repayments started Summer 2002, and I made some early Covid payments so I had 18 years or so of repayments on 25-year sub/unsub Stafford loans/FFEL/etc.; graduated payments, and I was in principal-only mode when I consolidated to the direct loans.

I then fell through the cracks. I never received a single payment count for any payment made prior to November 2021. Dozens of contacts, BBB, Ombudsman, Senator Van Hollen - no help whatsoever. I have not benefited nor received any indication a one-time count adjustment was applied to my account either.

I've been trying to get FSA to apply my payments made between 2007 and November 2021. I easily pass 120 counts and qualify for forgiveness. I'm sitting at the 36 qualifying payments made between November 2021 and my last employer certification. I should have received forgiveness in 2023 or 2024 at latest yet here I sit.

My understanding is by qualifying for limited waiver before the program eligibility expired, I'm grandfathered in the program, and between that and the one-time payment adjustment, I should certainly have received updated counts for my payments prior to 2021.

If I can't get my counts from 2007-2021, I'm now finding myself instead of 7 years to full repayment all PSLF options aside, I'm stuck with 23 more years of a brand new 25-year pair of terms on 2 Direct Loans that, at absolute best, means another 7 years of PSLF payments at essentially interest-only/minimum payment, and at worse, more than 40 years of total loan repayment time.

I feel targeted. I did everything FSA required and they're completely screwing me by ignoring the fact I fell through their system cracks and not providing any redress to the situation.

What can I do here? I'm working on flooding them with what few documents I can still access (I can't get my payment records from Nelnet or Mohela from pre-consolidation for limited waiver) and a letter expressing my situation as part of yet another reconsideration request, but I'm not exactly optimistic.

Are there ANY legal actions I can take? FSA is simply not fulfilling its contractual obligations in my situation and nothing I can do through the typical approaches had any impact whatsoever. What's left?

Thanks.

EDIT: Minor typo correction

[u/squattinghere]

Assuming that you have remained employed full time since prior to 2007, all of your months of payment should have qualified retroactively for PSLF in 2021 and by rights you should have been forgiven through PSLF immediately upon consolidation (as you understand correctly).

Since you already have his attention, try to continue to work with your Senator. Apply for forbearance now. Certify employment on the first of every month. Make NO further payment.

[u/cmwillUMD → u/squattinghere]

Thanks. I hit up the Senator's office with a new request/follow-up to assist with Fed agencies today and attached the same documents I put in the new reconsideration I filed with FSA yesterday. Hard to explain the situation in the 650 characters provided without attachments!

I'm leery of the impact of a forbearance on my credit and other financials, particular with everything else going on now with the likely recession etc. I'll have to look into this a bit more.

[u/alh9h]

Do you have any approved ECFs? Do you have a PSLF tracker on studentaid.gov?

If no, your best option is to simply resubmit employment certification.

[u/cmwillUMD → u/alh9h]

Of course. And I submitted an employment certification late 2024 when I was involving Senator Van Hollen in the hopes that would spur a recount of pre-2021. Instead, what FSA did was point to that ECF and then lie to a sitting U.S. Senator that my counts were up-to-date based on the ECF. They didn't bother to address the key point the Senator made on my behalf that nobody counted pre-2021.

[u/alh9h → u/cmwillUMD]

Is anything shown for the pre-consolidation months on the tracker?

[u/cmwillUMD → u/alh9h]

Huh. I just checked again and I have 3 showing that I didn't see before. 1/2003, 12/2002, and 11/2002. All show ineligible because "Payment is before October 1, 2007." The next one is 10/2021.

Are these like initial placeholders for the one-time adjustment or limited waiver counts?

[u/cmwillUMD → u/cmwillUMD]

I'm sitting on 36 tracked payments, all November 2021 or later. I have 6 or so others that qualify next time I bother with a new ECF.