The 10 Frequently Asked Questions About The End of CARES Act
Keeping track of all the possible solutions to student debt reform is almost as elusive as tracking the end of the Covid 19 CARES Act forbearance. Although scheduled to expire at the end of September, there has been no apparent plan to address how to restart tens of millions of borrowers making payments to servicers that will be understaffed and overwhelmed.
We have compiled 10 commonly asked questions regarding the end of the CARES Act which, unless extended, will end on September 30th, 2021.
1. Are my federal student loan payments due October 1, 2021?
If Biden does not extend the forbearance, relief will end on September 30th and loan payments would resume. This does not mean that all student payments will be due on that date. Individual due dates will be communicated by the student loan servicer to the borrower
2. What is the interest rate on my student loans when student loan payments restart?
Your student loans should restart at the same interest rate that they were at prior to the forbearance period which began March 2020. No new interest has accrued since then and effectively your interest rate has been 0% during this time period.
3. I have private student loans. Won’t my interest rate change starting October 1?
Private student loans were not covered under the temporary student loan forbearance, so payments were never paused.
4. Will I still have the same student loan servicer?
Most student loan borrowers will have the same student loan servicer that they had before the Covid-19 pandemic. If your student loan was sold or transferred, you would have received correspondence from your previous student loan servicer.
5. How do I contact my student loan servicer?
You do not have to wait for the end of the forbearance period to contact your servicer. You can contact them anytime. Don’t want to wait on-hold for an hour? Let TitanPrep handle the update for you.
6. How will I know if student loan payments will restart after September 30, 2021?
If the current schedule is not altered, the pause will expire September 30th. The Department of Education will inform you in writing that your regularly scheduled payments will restart.
7. Should I change my income-driven repayment plan?
If you are enrolled in an income driven repayment program and your income, marital status or family size has changed over the past 12 months, now might be a good time to review your plan. Everyone should verify that their contact and reference information is still accurate.
8. I haven’t made any federal student loan payments since March 2020. Do I get credit toward student loan forgiveness?
The best thing about the CARES Act pause is that all of the months still count as credits toward completion of your repayment plan even if you were not required to send in a payment.
9. Will Biden extend the student loan payment pause beyond September 30?
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tina Smith and Edward J. Markey sent letters to the CEOs of all federal student loan servicers requesting information about the steps the companies are taking to transition millions of federal student loan borrowers back into repayments once the moratorium ends.
10. Will my student loans get cancelled?
There’s no guarantee either way whether student loan relief will be extended or canceled. The best decision you could make currently is to ensure that you are in the best position for whatever happens when October 1st arrives. Speak with a TitanPrep Case Manager today