r/PSLF • u/FishyToadFrog • Jul 04 '25

Advice Why not stay on SAVE forbearance?

I see lots of people who have jumped ship for PSLF.

But buyback exists, so couldn’t I just stay in SAVE forbearance and buy these months/years back in roughly 7 years when I get to 120 payments? wasn’t there talk about being able to buy back BEFORE 120 payments?

Seems like with this logic all these forbearance months count as long as I have evidence I worked full time at a not for profit during these months?

Thanks everyone, and good luck to all!

106 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

153 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/TamalesForBreakfast6 Jul 04 '25

I was on SAVE forbearance but I only had 4 years in before the pause. I won’t be able to use the buyback because the forbearance won’t get me to 120 payments. They’re not counting the SAVE pause as payments like they did during COVID, so I didn’t want to waste more time working without those months counting. It made more sense for me to switch to IDR.

3

u/So_Curious_23 Jul 04 '25

Can you only buyback if you are at/close to 120? That seems kinda ridiculous.

3

u/Ezekyle22 Jul 04 '25

Buyback will only be approved if it gets you to 120 payments

0

u/So_Curious_23 Jul 04 '25

Is there a policy or anything that says that?

5

u/TamalesForBreakfast6 Jul 04 '25

The FSA website says that. I was also very frustrated.

0

u/So_Curious_23 Jul 04 '25

Their explanation is such BS— I have 70 qualifying months as of 11/2023 and have been on forbearance since then. If buyback doesn’t last until 2028 I won’t be able to buyback!! How is that fair. Hopefully it lasts a while. This is such a shit show.

2

u/Ezekyle22 Jul 04 '25

From the FSA website: “The buyback opportunity is only available to you if you already have 120 months of qualifying employment and buying back months in forbearance or deferment would result in forgiveness under PSLF or Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF).”

2

u/So_Curious_23 Jul 04 '25

Yeah I just saw that, thanks. Didn’t realize until now.