PSLF Buyback: turn your SAVE forbearance months into PSLF credit

Will buyback finish you sooner than paying? Check it in two minutes with our free PSLF Buyback calculator.

Who can use PSLF Buyback

• 120 months of certified public-service employment. Your qualifying employment must already add up to 120 months on studentaid.gov. Buyback isn’t a way to bank months for later.²
• The buyback has to finish your 120 payments. If you’d still be short of 120 after buying months back, you can’t use it yet.²
• Direct Loans with a balance. FFEL and Perkins loans must be consolidated into a Direct Loan first.²
• Months in deferment or forbearance while you worked full-time for a qualifying employer. The SAVE forbearance (from about July 2024) qualifies.^2,1

What it costs

You pay what you would have owed on an income-driven plan for those months, never more than the 10-year Standard payment. If your income was below the poverty line in that period, the buyback can cost $0.²

• Gaps under 12 months, if you were on an income-driven plan just before or after: the lower of those two payments, times the number of months.¹
• Otherwise (most SAVE borrowers): the Department asks for your tax return and family size for each calendar year, and uses the lowest income-driven payment you qualified for then. If you don’t send them within 30 days, it uses the 10-year Standard payment, which is usually much higher.¹

How to request it, step by step

1. Certify all your employment. Use the PSLF Help Tool on studentaid.gov so every qualifying month is on record. You need 120.⁵
2. Submit a PSLF Reconsideration request on studentaid.gov and choose “PSLF Buyback” as the reason. There is no separate buyback application.²
3. Answer document requests within 30 days. For long gaps, that usually means tax returns and family size for the months being bought back.
4. Keep paying while you wait. Federal Student Aid says you must keep making your payments until the review is done; those payments count too.¹
5. Get your offer. The Department or your servicer sends a buyback agreement with the amount to pay.¹
6. Pay the full amount within 90 days of the date on the offer letter. If you don’t, or if you submit a new PSLF form, consolidate or pay off the loan after it’s sent, the agreement is void and anything you paid counts as a normal payment, not refunded.¹

How long it takes

There is no official processing time and you can’t check your status online: the Department contacts you by email when it’s done.³ About 88,000 requests were pending on April 30, 2026. That month the Department decided more requests than it received for the first time (6,870 vs 4,790) and approved 96% of them. At that pace, expect roughly 10 to 13 months, sometimes much longer.³

Is it worth it?

• Yes, if you’re close to 120. Every month bought back brings tax-free forgiveness a month closer, and the rest of your balance is forgiven.⁵
• Compare the price with simply working longer. If the offer is high, making a few more payments on RAP or IBR may cost less than buying the months back.
• Don’t wait on Congress. A bipartisan bill, the PSLF Inclusion Act, would count SAVE forbearance months automatically, but it is not law. Buyback is a Department rule, so it can also change without a vote.⁴

Leaving SAVE now? See which plan gives you the lowest PSLF payment in the calculator (set PSLF to Yes): it also estimates how many SAVE months you may be able to buy back. More on what counts for PSLF and on the SAVE forbearance.

Frequently asked questions