UPDATE: see our latest post: http://www.holdfasttodreams.org/pslf-non-payments-count-for-trumps-executive-order/
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order today (August 8, 2020; see https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-continued-student-loan-payment-relief-covid-19-pandemic/) which has extended the previous student loan relief issued on March 20, 2020. The executive order will:
“[P]rovide such deferments to borrowers as necessary to continue the temporary cessation of payments and the waiver of all interest on student loans held by the Department of Education until December 31, 2020.”
That means student loan borrowers can continue to defer payments and during deferment, the interest will be waived. We don’t know whether that means deferred payments will count towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), but we will continue to update you once we find out.
Of course, if you would like to continue to pay down your student loans, that will be allowed under the executive order: “All persons who wish to continue making student loan payments shall be allowed to do so, notwithstanding the deferments provided pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.”
Please be sure to check with your loan servicer and the Department of Education for your own student loans/situation, as well as updates to this information.
