Loan servicers started mailing 90-day notices to SAVE plan borrowers on July 1, 2026, and the first wave of those deadlines lands on September 29, 2026. If you're one of the millions of borrowers who has been parked in SAVE forbearance since the plan was blocked in court, that date matters: miss it, and the Department of Education will automatically move you onto the Standard Repayment Plan or the new Tiered Standard Plan, whether or not that's the cheapest option for your income. Separately, the department has resumed collections on defaulted federal loans, and borrowers who ignore the Default Resolution Group's letters risk having up to 15% of their paycheck garnished with 30 days' notice.
None of this requires panic, but it does require a decision. You have real choices right now, and which one you pick can change your monthly payment by hundreds of dollars and your total repayment timeline by years. This guide walks through exactly how to evaluate your options before your own 90-day window closes, what happens if you do nothing, and what borrowers outside the US should check in their own systems since the underlying problem, income-based repayment or a fixed schedule, shows up everywhere from the UK to Australia.
Key Numbers to Know
A few figures explain why this deadline is worth your time. Notices are going out in waves through the end of 2026, so if you haven't received one yet, you likely will before your loans move off SAVE forbearance entirely by September 30, 2026. Borrowers who took out their first Direct Loan on or after July 1, 2026 generally have only two repayment options left: the Tiered Standard Plan and the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). Borrowers with loans from before that date can still choose Income-Based Repayment (IBR) until July 1, 2028, when PAYE, ICR, and SAVE close permanently and only RAP, IBR, or a fixed plan remain.
| Plan | Who Can Enroll | How Payments Are Calculated | Typical Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiered Standard Plan | New and legacy borrowers | Fixed payment over 10-25 years based on total balance; $50 minimum | Borrowers with steady, higher income who want a fixed payoff date |
| Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) | Required for most loans first disbursed on/after July 1, 2026; optional for legacy borrowers | Percentage of adjusted gross income on a sliding scale | Borrowers with AGI roughly under $80,000-$90,000 |
| Income-Based Repayment (IBR) | Legacy borrowers only, until it closes to new enrollment July 1, 2028 | 10-15% of discretionary income | Higher earners above the RAP break-even point; forgives sooner |
| Standard Repayment Plan (default) | Anyone who misses their 90-day window | Fixed payment over 10 years | Automatic fallback, not usually the cheapest choice |
Step-by-Step: How to Choose a Plan Before Your Deadline
Work through this in order, ideally the same week your 90-day notice arrives so you're not rushing the application near the cutoff.
- Find your exact deadline. Log into StudentAid.gov and check your account dashboard or the letter you received; deadlines are staggered by servicer and notice date, not a single date for everyone, and the last individual deadlines stretch into March 2027.
- Check your loan disbursement date. If your first Direct Loan was disbursed before July 1, 2026, you're a legacy borrower with access to IBR in addition to RAP and Tiered Standard. If it was after, RAP is your only income-driven option.
- Pull your adjusted gross income from your most recent tax return. This is the number both RAP and IBR use, so have it ready before you start the application on StudentAid.gov.
- Run the numbers on at least two plans. Use the Loan Simulator tool at StudentAid.gov to compare your estimated monthly payment and total interest under Tiered Standard, RAP, and IBR (if eligible) side by side.
- Submit your application, don't just browse it. Selecting a plan in the simulator doesn't enroll you; you have to formally submit the income-driven repayment application and, for RAP or IBR, consent to have your tax data shared with the department.
- Save your confirmation. Servicer processing backlogs have caused delays in past transitions, so keep a screenshot or confirmation number in case your account shows the wrong plan later.
How to Qualify for RAP or IBR
Both income-driven plans require documentation and, in most cases, a few weeks of processing time, so don't wait until the last few days of your window to apply.
- You need a completed federal tax return on file, or you'll need to manually document your income if you didn't file.
- You must consent to the IRS data-sharing agreement built into the online application, which lets your servicer pull AGI directly rather than you uploading pay stubs.
- For RAP, there's no upper income cutoff, but the percentage of income you pay rises on a sliding scale as AGI increases, so it stops being the cheaper option above roughly $80,000 to $90,000 for most household sizes.
- For IBR, you generally need to show partial financial hardship relative to a 10-year standard payment, though for loans taken out after 2014 this threshold is easier to meet than older IBR rules.
- Married borrowers filing jointly should check whether filing separately changes their AGI calculation enough to lower payments, since spousal income counts differently across plans.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
Missing your 90-day window doesn't put you in default and it doesn't trigger collections by itself. What it does is hand you a repayment plan you didn't choose. The department automatically enrolls borrowers who don't act into the Standard Repayment Plan, or the Tiered Standard Plan depending on loan type, both of which calculate payments off your balance rather than your income. For a borrower with a large balance and modest income, that can mean a payment two or three times higher than what RAP or IBR would have set. You can still switch plans after being auto-enrolled, but you'll be paying the higher fixed amount, and any overpayment isn't automatically refunded, until your new application is processed.
If You're Already in Default: How to Avoid Wage Garnishment
A separate but related problem is affecting a larger group of borrowers. Loans go into default after roughly 270 days of missed payments, and once that happens they're transferred to the Department of Education's Default Resolution Group. Involuntary collections, including wage garnishment of up to 15% of pay and seizure of tax refunds or Social Security benefits, resumed in 2026 after a multi-year pandemic-era pause, though the department has moved through the rollout in stages rather than garnishing everyone in default at once. Borrowers get 30 days' written notice before garnishment starts, and that window is your chance to act.
Call the Default Resolution Group at 1-800-621-3115 as soon as you get a letter. The call is free, and options like loan rehabilitation or consolidation into an income-driven plan can stop garnishment before it starts, not just after.
If You Live Outside the US
The SAVE plan and RAP are specific to US federal student loans, but the underlying decision, fixed payments versus income-linked payments, exists in most Tier 1 countries and is worth checking on your own account even if nothing in Washington affects you directly. In the UK, Plan 2 and Plan 5 loans are already income-linked by design, with repayment thresholds and interest rates that change every April, so the equivalent action is checking the Student Loans Company's annual threshold update rather than a 90-day notice. In Australia, HECS-HELP debts are indexed each June using a formula tied to inflation, and the compulsory repayment threshold changes with each federal budget, so the comparable step is checking your indexed balance on myGov after the June indexation date. In Canada, the Repayment Assistance Plan under the Canada Student Loans program recalculates your required payment based on income and family size roughly every six months, similar in spirit to RAP's sliding scale, and is worth re-applying for whenever your income changes materially.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Waiting until the deadline week to apply. Servicer processing has been backlogged before during plan transitions; apply as soon as you receive your notice.
- Assuming your servicer will pick the cheapest plan for you. Auto-enrollment defaults to a fixed plan, not necessarily the lowest payment for your income.
- Not updating your income if it's changed. If your AGI on file is from a higher-earning year, your RAP or IBR payment estimate will be inflated until you recertify.
- Ignoring Default Resolution Group letters. These aren't scam mail; they're your notice period before garnishment, and responding stops the clock.
- Forgetting to consent to IRS data sharing. Skipping this step is one of the most common reasons income-driven applications stall in processing.
Practical Tips for Managing the Transition
Set a calendar reminder for 60 days before your estimated deadline, not the deadline itself, so you have buffer time if the application gets kicked back for missing documentation. If you're unsure which servicer holds your loan, StudentAid.gov's dashboard shows this clearly and won't have changed even if your loan was previously serviced under SAVE. And if your income situation is genuinely in flux, consider RAP over IBR if you're a legacy borrower near the income break-even point; RAP's sliding scale adjusts more frequently, which can matter if you expect a raise or a job change in the next year.