On March 27, 2026, the Education Department (ED) announced that SAVE borrowers will start receiving notices from their servicers beginning July 1, 2026. Borrowers will have 90 days from the receipt of their notice to leave the SAVE plan. If you haven’t switched plans within 90 days, you will automatically be placed into the Standard Repayment plan.
Wondering what you should do for these last few months in the SAVE administrative forbearance? Summer is here to help you navigate your options depending on your priorities.
4 Takeaways on the SAVE Transition Period
- Now is the time to create your action plan: While you don’t need to switch plans until you receive a formal notice from your servicer on or after July 1, 2026, it’s a great time to identify which repayment plan you want to enroll in and start planning to resume making payments on your loans
- All loans will be transitioned out of SAVE: You’ll have 90 days from receipt of your loan servicer’s notice to switch into an active Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan. If you don’t take action, your loans will automatically be enrolled in a Standard repayment plan. The Standard plan often yields a higher monthly payment.
- Forgiveness progress is protected: Switching plans won’t affect any time you’ve accrued toward PSLF or IDR Forgiveness. Just remember, time spent in the SAVE forbearance doesn’t count toward forgiveness, and interest has been accruing since August 1, 2025.
- New repayment plan launching soon: The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is launching July 1, 2026, and will be available to almost all federal loan borrowers.
Identifying Your Situation and Potential Next Steps
The benefit of remaining in the SAVE forbearance for a little longer is that you currently have no payments required on the loans enrolled in SAVE, which can provide immediate relief and help with short-term cash flow. However, interest accrual resumed on loans enrolled in SAVE starting August 1, 2025, and these loans will need to transition out of SAVE by the fall of 2026.
Your best path forward will depend on your overall priorities and goals for your student loans.
Borrowers Pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
If you are working an average of 30 hours or more per week for a qualifying public service employer and actively working toward the required 120 qualifying payments needed for PSLF, your forgiveness date is effectively being pushed back because every month spent in this forbearance does not count toward PSLF. Switching into a PSLF-eligible plan will allow you to resume accumulating qualifying payments again.
Paths to consider:
-
Switch to an available, PSLF-eligible repayment plan: This is a good option if you want to resume your progress toward forgiveness and have a household income above $80,000. Current PSLF-eligible plans, also referred to as legacy IDR plans, include the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plan, or, if eligible, the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan.
This path makes sense if:- You can afford to make payments under a legacy IDR plan. Keep in mind that your monthly payment under any legacy IDR plan is likely to be more affordable than the Standard plan, but not as low as the SAVE plan. Additionally, your monthly payment may be higher if your income has increased over the past few years.
- You are close to 120 PSLF qualifying payments, and wish to continue making progress. Switching to a legacy IDR plan now may avoid long application processing times expected as millions of borrowers switch plans in the summer of 2026.
-
Stay in the SAVE forbearance until Fall 2026: This option can be ideal because you aren’t obligated to make payments on your loans for now, although interest is accruing. Please note that your forgiveness will be delayed by the amount of time you remain in this forbearance.
You should continue on this path if:- You will have lower monthly payments under the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), available July 1st, compared to the legacy IDR plans. Summer estimates lower payments under RAP if your household income is less than $80,000 annually. You can always change IDR plans later.
- You aren’t close to 120 qualifying payments and prefer the temporary payment pause, understanding the delay in forgiveness.
- You want more time to financially prepare for monthly payments resuming.
Things to consider:
- Pick the IDR plan with the lowest monthly payment - there’s no upside to paying more than the minimum monthly payment when you’re pursuing PSLF. The Education Department (ED) will process your Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) under any IDR plan once you hit 120 qualifying monthly payments. Summer’s IDR tool can help you identify an eligible plan with the lowest monthly payment, which will be calculated based on the rules of the plan you choose.
- Expect servicer processing delays. Servicers may take two or more months to process IDR applications, especially as they manage a historic backlog of applications. This may only grow as millions of borrowers switch plans between July and October 2026. This means your payments may not resume immediately.
- RAP is worth considering if you make around or under $80,000. Launching July 1, RAP calculates payments at 1-10% of your adjusted gross income with a $10 minimum. The plan also provides valuable subsidies based on your income and family size. If you’re a lower-income borrower, this could result in a very low qualifying monthly payment.
If you’re thinking about PSLF BuyBack
Borrowers pursuing PSLF who have already been confirmed as having 120 months of qualifying employment can buy back months in forbearance or deferment, which would result in forgiveness under PSLF. If you’re approved for buyback, you’ll make a lump sum payment equivalent to what your IDR payment would have been if you weren’t in deferment or forbearance. Nearly any deferment or forbearance that doesn’t already count toward PSLF can qualify for buyback.
Important caveats for PSLF BuyBack:
- Processing times for buyback requests have been extremely slow. ED has stated that the current backlog has a waiting period of about two years.
- Technically, you have 90 days from the date you receive the agreement to make your payment. However, it may be difficult to make multiple months’ worth of payments in a short time frame.
- Only apply if you already have 120 qualifying months of employment; otherwise, your application will be rejected.
- When you’re ready for buyback, you must provide specific language with your request, which you can find on studentaid.gov.
Borrowers NOT Pursuing PSLF
If you are looking to keep your monthly payments low, you’ll need to switch to a different repayment plan. As a reminder, time in the SAVE forbearance has not counted toward IDR forgiveness. If you want to resume progress, the sooner you switch plans, the better.
Options to consider:
-
Switch to an active Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan now: This is a good option if you want to resume your progress toward IDR forgiveness, and have a household income above $80,000. Active IDR plans, also referred to as legacy IDR plans, include the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plan, or, if eligible, the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan.
When does this option make sense:- You can afford to make payments under a legacy IDR plan. Keep in mind that your monthly payment under any legacy IDR plan is likely to be more affordable than the Standard plan, but not as low as the SAVE plan. Additionally, your monthly payment may be higher if your income has increased over the past few years.
- You want to resume making progress toward the 20-25 years required for IDR forgiveness. Switching to a legacy IDR plan now may avoid long application processing times expected as millions of borrowers switch plans in the summer of 2026.
-
Stay in the SAVE forbearance until Fall 2026: This option can be ideal because you aren’t obligated to make payments on your loans for now, although interest is accruing. This path may be appealing as you wait for the new IDR plan to launch, or if you want more time to financially prepare for payments resuming. Please note that your IDR forgiveness will be delayed by the amount of time you remain in this forbearance.
Things to consider:- If you have many years left before forgiveness, compare legacy IDR plans and RAP carefully. RAP’s lower minimum and interest subsidy (which prevents your balance from growing even when payments are small) may make it the better long-term option for many borrowers. Just remember, this plan won’t be available until July 1. Summer estimates lower payments under RAP if your household income is less than $80,000 annually. However, you’ll have to repay for 30 years before earning forgiveness, compared to 20-25 years for the legacy plans.
- Each IDR plan has pros and cons. Summer’s IDR tool can help you identify an eligible plan with the lowest monthly payment, which will be calculated based on the rules of the plan you choose.
- Expect servicer processing delays. Servicers may take two or more months to process IDR applications, especially as they manage a historic backlog of applications. This may only grow as millions of borrowers switch plans between July and October 2026. This means your payments may not resume immediately.
Currently, Summer’s IDR tool can help you evaluate your eligibility for the legacy IDR plans. By July, our tool will calculate payments under RAP.