How to Submit an Income-Driven Repayment Application

As of early October, the Department of Education has reopened online applications for income-driven repayment and federal loan consolidation after a two-month hiatus related to the SAVE lawsuits. Still, borrowers should expect lengthy application processing delays. You’ll be placed in an administrative forbearance while your application is pending.

Applying for income-driven repayment online is typically faster and easier than submitting a paper form; the Federal Student Aid office estimates the process takes 10 minutes or less. You can also download a paper request form and submit it to your student loan servicer, which is the company that sends you a bill every month.

» MORE: SAVE lawsuits block Biden’s student loan plan, pause payments for millions

What you'll need to apply for income-driven repayment

To apply online, you’ll need to log into your studentaid.gov account using your FSA ID. All applicants (online or paper) will need to provide personal information, such as:

• Address.

• Email address.

• Phone number.

The application also requires you to provide financial information, such as:

• Your family size.

• Most recent federal income tax return or transcript. (The IDR Data Retrieval tool will link your tax information directly to your application.)

• Information about your spouse’s income if you filed taxes jointly.

If you didn’t file taxes or your income has changed since your most recent tax return, you’ll typically need to submit proof of income earned within the last 90 days, such as:

• Pay stubs.

• Letter from your employer stating your gross pay.

• Signed statement explaining your income, if formal documentation is unavailable.

If you’re unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits, you’ll still need to submit proof of unemployment income. If you don’t have any income, you can self-certify as such on the application.

Once you fill in the application, you'll see which repayment plans you qualify for. You'll select one, then confirm all the information you supplied is accurate and sign the application.

Paper IDR applications during the SAVE forbearance

To submit a paper application for any IDR plan (including the newest IDR plan SAVE), borrowers must submit a PDF to their servicer. Follow these steps to access and submit the paper IDR application:

• Download the PDF application in English or Spanish. Your can print the application and fill it out by hand, or complete it on your computer.

• Follow the instructions on the PDF. You'll need to include income documentation such as a recent tax return, W2, pay stub, bank statement or interest or dividend statement.

• Log into your servicer's website and upload your IDR application and income documentation. If you printed out the form, you may also mail or fax your application to your servicer.

Your servicer will follow up with you once it receives and processes your application. Expect a "lengthy" processing delay, especially if you're applying for SAVE, the Education Department says.

What happens after you apply for income-driven repayment?

After you submit your application, your servicer will confirm receipt via email or letter. Due to the SAVE lawsuits, servicers are not currently processing IDR applications. Once processing resumes, servicers may place your loan into processing forbearance. During this time you don’t need to make any payments, but interest will accrue and be added to the amount you owe when you start repayment.

Borrowers who enroll in the SAVE Plan may further be placed into general forbearance if litigation remains ongoing. In general forbearance, interest does not accrue, but time spent in forbearance doesn't count toward PSLF or IDR forgiveness.

Under normal circumstances, processing IDR applications after they're received takes about four weeks. Upon completion, you’ll receive a new bill with the amount you owe, and payments will restart.

Submit recertification information every year

Applying for income-driven repayment is not a one-and-done application process. You’ll typically need to recertify every year. Otherwise, your payments will revert back to the standard repayment plan, and that could mean a bigger monthly bill.

Your student loan servicer will let you know when you need to recertify well before the deadline.

You’ll have to recertify similarly to when you first applied using the same form on studentaid.gov or by submitting a paper form to your servicer. You’ll need to provide the same information you submitted when you first applied.

If you need help applying, contact your servicer

Your servicer can help you through the process of applying for or recertifying income-driven repayment.

Third-party sources that ask for money to get you enrolled are often a student loan scam. There is never a fee to process an income-driven repayment application, and you never need to pay anyone to apply on your behalf.

» MORE: Student loan customer service: What your servicer can do