The Department of Education provided only a vague explanation for the suspension of student loan forgiveness under IBR, suggesting it was paused “while our systems are updated to accurately count months not affected by the court’s injunction" directed at the SAVE plan.
The department may be referring to a federal appeals court ruling earlier this spring that expanded the court’s injunction blocking SAVE to include the entire underlying regulation that governs the SAVE plan. Some elements of these regulations also indirectly impact other income-driven repayment plans, including IBR. For example, the regulations allowed for certain deferment and forbearance periods to count toward student loan forgiveness under all income-driven plans (ICR, PAYE, SAVE, and IBR).
Nevertheless, nothing in the recent court decisions associated with the SAVE plan legal challenges requires the department to halt student loan forgiveness under IBR. And no court has ordered the department to suspend discharges under IBR – something that is expressly required under statutes previously enacted by Congress.
Student loan borrower legal groups have previously accused the Trump administration of using the recent court orders involving the SAVE plan to justify policy decisions that harm borrowers.
