You might have to resubmit your student-loan repayment application.
The Department of Education confirmed to Business Insider that 6,000 student-loan borrowers received emails from Federal Student Aid to resubmit their income-driven repayment applications.
“Due to an error, you received an incorrect monthly payment amount,” the email said.
In June, the department confirmed to Business Insider that borrowers who shared their federal tax information with Federal Student Aid received incorrect $50 payments. Servicers corrected the payments and notified some affected borrowers that they did not need to submit a new application.
The department said that the borrowers who received the email to reapply for a repayment plan were those who manually updated their family size, and that FSA was unable to use the tax information on file to recalculate their payment amounts.
“FSA addressed this issue and most of the borrowers impacted were able to see updated monthly payment amounts within days of this coming to our attention,” Ellen Keast, the department’s press secretary for higher education, said.
The email recommended that borrowers apply for the new Repayment Assistance Plan, which became available on July 1 as part of President Donald Trump’s student-loan repayment overhaul.
The slew of changes to student-loan repayment has sparked frustration among borrowers who have struggled to get accurate information on their payments. In addition to incorrect payment amounts, some borrowers have struggled to reach their servicers to determine their repayment options, hindering their ability to manage their budgets.
Robin Binkley, a 38-year-old borrower, said that choosing the right repayment plan “is a decision that could affect my finances for many years, and I cannot understand why borrowers are expected to make these choices without accurate information or meaningful guidance.”
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