How Do I Find Out Where My Student Loans Are
The following information will be useful for anyone who wants to find out how much student loans they owe.
This is a complicated process, and there are many things that can affect the amount of money you owe. Here are some of the most important factors:
-The type of loan you have (private/federal)
-Whether or not you borrowed money for graduate school
-How much money you have borrowed in total
-The interest rate on your loans
How Do I Find Out How Much Student Loans I Owe
When it comes time to manage your student loan debt, the first question to ask is, “how much student loan debt do I have?”
Unfortunately, finding your student loan balance may not be easy if you have multiple loans. Here we will tell you how to find your student loan balance totals, plus give you strategies to pay them off.
Knowing the answer to the question, “how much student loan debt do I have?” will not only help you see how far you’ve come when you’re in the payment process, but it can also be beneficial if you’re looking to refinance your loans. It is also good to track your balance to be sure payments are being applied correctly.
How Much Student Loan Debt Do I Have?
When you’re ready to focus on your finances and gather information about your debts, one question that may come up is, “how much do I owe in student loans?”
If you’ve received student loan funds, you may have an idea of what you owe, but that does not give a full picture of your total debt. In most cases, interest accrues on the loan from the date you received the funds. Therefore, the total student loan balance is often higher due to interest being added.
To find out how much you owe in student loans, it’s good to know whether you have federal or private student loans. If you are unsure which you have, or you have both types, determining your student loan total will take a little more effort.
How to Find Student Loan Balance for Federal Loans
Check the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) to find your total federal student loan balance. You can access the system using your Federal Student Aid ID, the same ID you use to fill out the FAFSA.
The NSLDS will provide information on the type of federal loans you have, the amount borrowed, the disbursement dates, the current status of the loans and the outstanding balance. With this information, you can determine the current total balances of all your federal student loans.
How to Find Student Loan Balance for Private Loans
To find your private student loan balance, you may have to do a little more work since there’s no centralized system for private loan information.
The first thing to check is your credit report. You can obtain a free credit report once every twelve months. The report will contain information about your loan providers, loan balance and payment history for loans.
This should provide a good start to determine the balances, although credit reports do have mistakes sometimes. If something seems inaccurate, try finding your original loan contracts, then follow up with the loan provider directly.
You can also check with your school’s financial aid office for any information they have on loans you received.
student loan forgiveness
If you are employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization, you might be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Keep reading to see whether you might qualify.
PSLF Resources
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Help Tool
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application
Limited PSLF Waiver Information
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program FAQ
Submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Reconsideration Request
Qualifying for PSLF
To qualify for PSLF, you must
be employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization (federal service includes U.S. military service);
work full-time for that agency or organization;
have Direct Loans (or consolidate other federal student loans into a Direct Loan);
repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan*; and
make 120 qualifying payments.
To ensure you’re on the right track, you should submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF Form) annually or when you change employers. We’ll use the information you provide on the form to let you know if you are making qualifying PSLF payments. This will help you determine if you’re on the right track as early as possible.
*This provision will be waived through October 31, 2022 as part of the limited PSLF waiver. Learn more.
Suspended Payments Count Toward PSLF and TEPSLF During the COVID-19 Administrative Forbearance
If you have a Direct Loan and work full-time for a qualifying employer during the payment suspension (administrative forbearance), then you will receive credit toward PSLF or TEPSLF for the period of suspension as though you made on-time monthly payments in the correct amount while on a qualifying repayment plan.
To see these qualifying payments reflected in your account, you must submit a PSLF form certifying your employment for the same period of time as the suspension. Your count of qualifying payments toward PSLF is officially updated only when you update your employment certifications.
Digital signatures from you or your employer must be hand-drawn (from a signature pad, mouse, finger, or by taking a picture of a signature drawn on a piece of paper that you then scan and embed on the signature line of the PSLF form) to be accepted. Typed signatures, even if made to mimic a hand-drawn signature, or security certificate-based signatures are not accepted.
Note: In-grace, in-school, and certain deferment, forbearance, and bankruptcy statuses are not eligible for credit toward PSLF.
Have questions? Find out what loans qualify and get additional information about student loan flexibilities due to the COVID-19 emergency.
Qualifying Employer
Qualifying employment for the PSLF Program isn’t about the specific job that you do for your employer. Instead, it’s about who your employer is. Employment with the following types of organizations qualifies for PSLF:
Government organizations at any level (U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal) – this includes the U.S. military
Not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Serving as a full-time AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteer also counts as qualifying employment for the PSLF Program.
The following types of employers don’t qualify for PSLF:
Labor unions
Partisan political organizations
For-profit organizations, including for-profit government contractors
Contractors: You must be directly employed by a qualifying employer for your employment to count toward PSLF. If you’re employed by an organization that is doing work under a contract with a qualifying employer, it is your employer’s status—not the status of the organization that your employer has a contract with—that determines whether your employment qualifies for PSLF. For example, if you’re employed by a for-profit contractor that is doing work for a qualifying employer, your employment does not count toward PSLF.
Other types of not-for-profit organizations: If you work for a not-for-profit organization that is not tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, it can still be considered a qualifying employer if it provides certain types of qualifying public services.
Full-time Employment
For PSLF, you’re generally considered to work full-time if you meet your employer’s definition of full-time or work at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater.
If you are employed in more than one qualifying part-time job at the same time, you will be considered full-time if you work a combined average of at least 30 hours per week with your employers.
If you are employed by a not-for-profit organization, time spent on religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing as a part of your job responsibilities may be counted toward meeting the full-time employment requirement.
Eligible Loans
Any loan received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program qualifies for PSLF.
Loans from these federal student loan programs don’t qualify for PSLF: the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program. However, they may become eligible if you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.
Student loans from private lenders do not qualify for PSLF.
Under normal PSLF Program rules, if you consolidate your loans, only qualifying payments that you make on the new Direct Consolidation Loan can be counted toward the 120 payments required for PSLF. Any payments you made on the loans before you consolidated them don’t count. However, if you consolidate these loans into a Direct Loan before October 31, 2022, you may be able to receive qualifying credit for payments made on those loans through the limited PSLF waiver. Learn more.
The PSLF Help Tool will tell you whether you need to consolidate some or all of your loans.
Qualifying Payments
A qualifying monthly payment is a payment that you make
after Oct. 1, 2007;
under a qualifying repayment plan;
for the full amount due as shown on your bill;
no later than 15 days after your due date; and
while you are employed full-time by a qualifying employer.
Most of the PSLF qualifying payment rules have been suspended through October 31, 2022. Under this temporary waiver, you may get credit for payments you’ve made on loans that would not normally qualify for PSLF. These payments will count even if you didn’t pay the full amount or on-time. However, only payments made after Oct. 1, 2007 can count as qualifying payments. For more information, visit the limited PSLF waiver page.
You can make qualifying monthly payments only during periods when you’re required to make a payment. Therefore, you can’t make a qualifying monthly payment while your loans are in
an in-school status,
the grace period,
a deferment, or
a forbearance.
If you want to make qualifying payments, but you’re in a deferment or forbearance, contact your federal student loan servicer to waive the deferment or forbearance. However, you can still receive credit toward PSLF during the COVID-19 payment pause.
Your 120 qualifying monthly payments don’t need to be consecutive. For example, if you have a period of employment with a nonqualifying employer, you will not lose credit for prior qualifying payments you made.
The best way to ensure that you are making on-time, complete payments is to sign up for automatic debit with your loan servicer.
Can I qualify sooner by making higher monthly payments?
No. You must make payments to cover 120 separate monthly obligations. Paying extra won’t help you qualify for PSLF sooner.
You may prepay, or make lump-sum payments, which would apply to future months, for up to 12 months, or when your next income-driven payment (IDR) plan is due. For example, if you recertified your IDR and your monthly payment was $100, but you paid $1200 for the first month’s payment, that payment would count as 12 separate payments for that year. You would not need to make another payment until the next 12-month cycle. These payments would count as qualifying payments toward PSLF forgiveness once you certified your eligible employment for the 12-month period.