The SAVE plan no longer exists. If you were on it, your servicer will write to you, and from the date on that letter you have 90 days to choose a new plan. If you don’t choose, they choose for you, and that’s usually the most expensive plan you qualify for.
This is what to do, in order, starting today.
First: understand where you actually stand
Three things happened, and they compound.
SAVE was retired following a late-2025 legal settlement. It’s gone, not paused.
Interest resumed on 1 August 2025. Borrowers sat in administrative forbearance making no payments while interest accrued on the full balance. Nobody chose that; it happened while the legal position was resolved. Most people haven’t looked since.
On 1 July 2026 the replacements opened and servicers began writing to borrowers, staggered over months. Your letter may already have arrived, or it may not come for weeks.
The practical consequence of the second point: your balance is bigger than you remember. A $50,000 balance at 6.8% sitting in forbearance for twelve months accrued about $3,400. That’s now part of what you owe, and every future payment is calculated on the larger figure.
Step 1: Find your real numbers, today
Don’t plan around a remembered figure.
Log in at studentaid.gov and write down:
- Your current total balance across all federal loans.
- Your interest rate, or the weighted average if your loans differ.
- Your loan types. Direct, FFEL, Perkins and Parent PLUS are treated very differently.
- Your PSLF payment count, if you work in public service.
This takes about ten minutes and everything downstream depends on it.
Step 2: Find the date on your notice
Your 90-day window runs from the date on your servicer’s letter. Not from 1 July. Not from when your colleague’s arrived. Notices are deliberately staggered across months so servicers aren’t overwhelmed.
Check your post and your servicer’s online message center. If nothing has arrived, that’s normal, and you can still switch plans voluntarily at any point. Choosing early is better than choosing under time pressure.
If your window has already closed, call your servicer today. Being late is recoverable. Ignoring it is not.
Step 3: Work out what each plan costs you
This is the step people skip, and it’s the expensive one.
If your loans predate 1 July 2026 you likely have access to:
- RAP, the new income-driven plan
- The Tiered Standard Plan, new, fixed payments, no forgiveness
- IBR, still available and often cheaper than RAP
- ICR, mainly relevant to Parent PLUS borrowers via consolidation
- Standard, Graduated and Extended, the fixed-payment options
If you borrowed or consolidated on or after 1 July 2026, you have two: RAP and Tiered Standard.
The differences aren’t small. For a typical borrower with $42,000 at 6.8% earning $58,000, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive plan is around $29,000 over the life of the loan. Same debt, same person, different form.
Step 4: Apply the decision rules
If you work in public service and are counting months toward PSLF, this decision is already made for you. RAP counts toward PSLF. The Tiered Standard Plan doesn’t. Moving onto Tiered Standard stops your clock dead, and ten years of qualifying payments is worth tens of thousands of dollars. This is the single most expensive mistake available in the whole transition.
If you have a household of three or more, check IBR before RAP. IBR subtracts 150% of your poverty line before applying its rate, and that deduction grows with household size. RAP only takes off a flat $50 per child.
If you can comfortably afford the Standard 10-year payment, it’s almost always the cheapest option overall, because you pay the least interest. Only choose it if you can sustain it every single month for ten years.
If nothing is affordable, that’s what income-driven plans are for. On RAP the payment floor is $10 a month. Take the low payment and stay in repayment. Missing payments costs far more than choosing a slower plan.
Step 5: Apply, and get confirmation
Applying is free at studentaid.gov. It takes under an hour.
Keep a record of the date you applied and the confirmation. Processing can take weeks, and during that time you should keep making payments unless your servicer tells you otherwise.
What happens if you do nothing
Your servicer places you on a plan when the window closes. That plan is chosen administratively, not with your circumstances in mind, and it’s frequently the most expensive one you qualify for. For a public service worker it may also be a plan that does not count toward PSLF, quietly ending a forgiveness track you had been building for years.
Doing nothing is a decision. It’s just not one you get to make deliberately.
A warning about who contacts you
A confusing deadline affecting seven million people is exactly what fraud waits for. Expect calls, texts and adverts.
Nobody should charge you a fee to enroll in a repayment plan, apply for forgiveness or consolidate. All of it is free at studentaid.gov.
No legitimate organization will ask for your FSA ID password. Not the Department of Education, not your servicer, not anyone.
“Immediate forgiveness” doesn’t exist. Anyone promising it for a fee is running a scam. Report them at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
A checklist you can work through
- Log in at studentaid.gov and record your balance, rate, loan types and PSLF count.
- Find the date on your servicer’s notice and count 90 days forward.
- Compare every plan you qualify for using your real figures.
- If you’re on a PSLF track, rule out the Tiered Standard Plan immediately.
- Check whether the payment is genuinely affordable against your take-home pay.
- Apply through studentaid.gov and save the confirmation.
- Keep paying until the switch is confirmed.
Frequently asked questions
Is SAVE really gone permanently? Yes. It was retired following a legal settlement and isn’t returning. Borrowers must move to another plan.
How long do I have to choose? 90 days from the date on your servicer’s notice. Notices are staggered, so your deadline is personal to you.
What if I never received a notice? Check your servicer’s online message center and your postal mail. You can switch plans voluntarily at any time without waiting.
Why is my balance higher than I remember? Interest resumed on 1 August 2025 while SAVE borrowers were in administrative forbearance. That accrued interest is now part of your balance.
Will my payment definitely go up? For most former SAVE borrowers, yes, because RAP applies its rate to your entire income rather than only the part above a poverty threshold. How much depends on your income, household size and dependants.
Can I still get PSLF? Yes. PSLF is unchanged and RAP counts toward it. The Tiered Standard Plan doesn’t, so choose carefully.
What if I miss the deadline entirely? Call your servicer. You can still change plans after being placed on one administratively; you’ll simply have made some payments on a plan you didn’t choose.