How To Delay Payments On Student Loans

Installment Plans If Your Loan Is In Default

If your loan is in default, you may be eligible to switch to an installment plan based on your ability to pay. Your lender will ask you to file a financial statement, which you can get at www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/forms/fs.pdf .

An installment plan might make sense if you expect to have a steady income and will be able to stick to the new repayment schedule.

Refinance Your Loan If It Is Not In Default

If your loan is not yet in default:

• You may be able to refinance the loan which will extend your payments over a longer period of time, decreasing the amount of your monthly payments (but increasing the interest you pay over the course of the loan.)
• You may be able to have payments capped based on your income. This is known as "Income Based Repayment" or "IBR."  
  • For most eligible borrowers, IBR loan payments will be less than 10 percent of their income. 
  • Payments can be even smaller for borrowers with low earnings. IBR will also forgive remaining debt, if any, after 25 years of qualifying payments.
  • To quality for IBR, you must have a level of debt relative to your income to qualify. You qualify if it would take more than 15 percent of whatever you earn above 150% of poverty level  to pay off your loans on a standard 10-year payment plan

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