You Can Suspend Your Federal Student Loan for Two Months
President Trump said today that borrowers of federal student loans can miss payments for 60 days. But this does not happen automatically.
From a press release from the Ministry of Education:
All borrowers with federal student loans are automatically charged a 0% interest rate for a period of at least 60 days. In addition, each of these borrowers will have the option to pause their payments for at least two months to provide them with more flexibility during a country’s emergency.
All borrowers with federal student loans are automatically charged a 0% interest rate for a period of at least 60 days. In addition, each of these borrowers will have the option to pause their payments for at least two months to provide them with more flexibility during a country’s emergency.
To suspend payments, you must contact your loan agent and ask. Your loans will be deferred, which means no payment will be due.
Typically, interest will continue to accrue while your loans are on hold, but the president announced last week that interest will be waived on most federal student loans . In general, this means that you will not have to pay on loans for two months, and during this time you will not be charged interest.
However, you must ask for a waiver . For most federal student loans, you will have interest automatically waived, but you must call your support staff or contact them online and ask them to be lenient with you as decided by the Department of Education.
If, as of March 13, you are more than 31 days overdue on your federal student loan, your payment schedule will be automatically suspended for a 60-day period.
According to the press release, if you are seeking loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, you should continue to pay. You will still be automatically waived interest and your payments will be applied to your principal.
According to the president, the 60-day suspension period could be extended if necessary.