Public Service Loan Forgiveness Expansion
The omnibus government spending bill that went through on Friday, March 23, looks positive for college goers. Due to compromises to pass the bill before another government shutdown, hundreds of millions of dollars were added to financial aid programs. While most of those programs help fund students while they are attending college, the bill also provides some good news for borrowers pursuing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Ameritech Financial, a private document preparation company that assists borrowers in applying for federal repayment plans, helps borrowers understand PSLF eligibility and align themselves with the requirements if applicable.
“PSLF has seemed to be one of the most confusing student loan programs that the Department of Education has offered,” said Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial. “Our clients, as well as countless borrower stories in the news, have shown that the program may be too complicated. The new spending bill takes an important step toward improving it.”
While the Trump administration proposed eliminating PSLF, the spending bill, which funds the government through September 2018, added $350 million to the program in a one-time installment. Furthermore, the additional funds have been provided to fix one major point of confusion in the PSLF eligibility requirements.
The program requires applicants to have worked for a public service or government agency while making 120 qualified payments. Those payments must have been made while in a qualifying repayment plan, which is most commonly one of the four income-driven repayment plans (IDRs). However, the first IDR became available in 2009, two years after PSLF was introduced, so many participants may have remained in an ineligible plan, such as the graduated or extended plans.
This new spending bill amends the repayment requirement to include those other repayment plans. This expansion demonstrates a switch in focus to the intent of the work, which is public service, rather than the details of repayment, which in many cases seemed to have been miscommunicated to — or misunderstood by — borrowers.
“It’s promising that the government is fixing this problem that left so many borrowers feeling duped out of forgiveness,” said Knickerbocker. “At Ameritech Financial, we have a history of helping to align our clients who work for a PSLF-eligible employer in eligible repayment plans to give them a good shot at forgiveness after 120 payments. With these new rules, we hope that more borrowers receive the forgiveness they earned through a decade of public service employment.”
About Ameritech Financial
Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education.
Ameritech Financial is a member of the Association for Student Loan Relief (AFSLR), and each representative on the phone has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA).
Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional Customer Service.
