From CNN Business:

Student loan forgiveness is happening ahead of schedule for borrowers enrolled in the Biden administration’s new income-driven repayment plan called Saving for a Valuable Education, or SAVE. Starting next month, borrowers in the plan who have been in repayment for at least 10 years will get their remaining student debt cancelled along with a slew of additional SAVE perks.

The White House announced the early rollout of the loan forgiveness benefits, which were originally scheduled to begin in July, stating “why wait when you can get people help early?” The Education Department will start automatically discharging the loans of eligible borrowers in February.

To be eligible for forgiveness under SAVE, borrowers must have at least 10 years of qualifying payment history; originally borrowed $12,000 or less of federal student loans for higher education; and be enrolled in the SAVE program.

Waves of additional borrowers will see their remaining loan balances disappear based on how much they borrowed and how long they’ve been in repayment, and even months spent in qualifying forbearance and deferment periods, including the recent three-and-a-half-year moratorium, will count toward payment history for income-driven forgiveness. Additional benefits tied to the SAVE plan are still slated for July.

The new benefits are expected to particularly help community college borrowers, low-income borrowers, and those struggling to repay their loans. The Education Department says it will alert borrowers potentially benefiting from the new forgiveness timeline, especially if they originally borrowed $12,000 of federal student loans or less.

President Joe Biden encourages all borrowers who may be eligible for early debt cancellation to sign up for the SAVE plan. So far, about 7 million people have signed up for the program, with 3.9 million qualifying for $0 monthly payments under the plan. The main goal of this program is to give Americans a little bit of breathing room.



Read more: Student Loan Forgiveness Coming Early for Borrowers in SAVE