Government Changes Rules on Debt It Already Wasn't Forgiving

The Department of Education announced new rules for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Borrowers must now verify their repayment plan and loan type qualify. This matters to the seventeen people nationwide who have successfully navigated the program without dying of old age.

PSLF requires ten years of payments while working for a qualifying employer. The government defines qualifying as "we'll tell you after you've made 119 payments." The new rules clarify which loans count. Previous rules also clarified which loans count. Those rules replaced earlier rules that clarified which loans count. Sensing a pattern yet?

Borrowers should check if their loans are Direct Loans. If you have FFEL loans, you're f*cked unless you consolidate. Consolidation resets your payment count to zero. So you get to start your ten-year journey over. The government calls this "helping borrowers access relief." Mortgage brokers in 2007 showed more restraint with language.

The program has existed since 2007. As of 2024, it maintained a rejection rate that would make Harvard blush. Most denials stem from borrowers having the wrong loan type, wrong repayment plan, or wrong employer. The remaining denials stem from breathing on a Tuesday.

Here's what changed: expanded eligible loan types, more qualifying repayment plans, and updated employer certification requirements. Translation: they've added seventeen new ways to think you qualify before denying you anyway. The process now requires less paperwork and more blind faith in federal bureaucracy.

Retail traders who bought student loan servicer stocks thinking this news meant more business deserve what's coming. These are the same geniuses who buy umbrella company shares when it rains. Public service workers will keep making payments. The loans will keep accruing interest. And somewhere in a D.C. office, a bureaucrat is drafting the 2027 rule changes that will clarify these clarifications. Your grandchildren might see forgiveness. Your loans definitely won't.

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