Public Service Loan Forgiveness delays are leaving borrowers waiting as payment counts on their dashboards have been temporarily paused because of data issues. Some people who say they made their 120th payment are still waiting for relief to be processed.
Federal Student Aid said payment counts are now static. The notice said updates or correspondence tied to those counts will resume once the issues are resolved.
Federal Student Aid notice
PSLF forgives student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years of qualifying payments. The program’s Buyback option is meant for borrowers whose missed months in deferment or forbearance could still put them at the relief threshold, which makes any pause in payment counting more than a paperwork problem.
The Education Department’s latest status report said there were 88,000 pending Buyback applications as of April 30, 2026. The department said some borrowers have submitted multiple Buyback requests, which inflates the number of pending requests.
Borrower accounts and billing
Borrowers have also reported incorrect billing statements and erroneous notices saying their accounts were delinquent. The Education Department has said some qualifying payments were removed because of Biden-era coding errors, adding another layer to accounts that already need review.
The department said it “remains committed to ensuring that every qualifying payment is properly credited to a borrower's account.” Borrowers who do not want to keep paying can request a forbearance, though interest will still accrue.
July 1 changes
The timing matters because the problems are unfolding alongside repayment changes that took effect on July 1. Nearly 100 organizations wrote that “The federal student loan system is undergoing several drastic changes all at once,” and urged emergency oversight so borrowers are not harmed while the changes continue.
The practical next step for borrowers is to keep checking their accounts while the data issues are cleared. The unresolved question is when the payment-count system and the Buyback backlog will move again.
