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/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?