President Biden just announced that millions of borrowers will have $10,000 to $20,000 of their federal student loans forgiven. He also announced that federal student loan payments will continue to be stalled through Dec. 31, 2022. Here’s what we know so far.

1. Individual borrowers who make under $125,000 annually are eligible for up to $10,000 in forgiveness.

2. Married borrowers who filed their taxes jointly will be eligible for $10,000 in forgiveness if they make under $250,000 annually.

3. Current and former Pell Grant recipients are eligible to receive up to $20,000 in forgiveness if they meet the income requirements.

IOScholarships urges borrowers to go to https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement/ for more information and to sign up for automated emails that will provide updates.

5 tips to prepare and make payments more affordable when Federal student loan payments resume in 2023.

1. Update your address or contact info if needed

Make sure your contact information is up to date in your profile on your loan servicer’s website. Wrong contact information could make you miss important updates.

Here’s a checklist.

• Email address
• Physical mailing address
• Phone number
• Bank account information (It’s been a while; maybe you don’t use the account you have linked to your loans anymore.)

2. Take a look at the minimum amount you’re required to pay

Your situation might have changed during the pandemic as you might have used the money you would have needed to spend on student loans to pay for something else. So it’s a good idea to get info about your payment and take a look at what your spending has been like over the last few months to figure out how much of a monthly student loan payment can fit into your budget. Be ready as your payment will be due no sooner than 21 days after servicer sends the billing statement.

3. Take action now if you want to lower your monthly payments

If your situation has changed, and the required minimum payment is a bit too high one option to consider is enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan. With this payment plan, your required minimum payment is dependent on how much money you’ve earned that month and family size, and if your pay is low enough, they can reduce your monthly payments to as low as zero dollars.

You can apply for an income-driven plan through your servicer’s website in about 10 minutes and processing should take no more than two weeks.

But there are some cons to income-driven plans. One major downside to these plans is that payments may be small or even 0 which may feel great in the moment but you are accruing interest on that and multiplying your loan debt year over year. If you plan to take advantage of the income driven repayment plan don’t think it as your long-term repayment plan.

4. Reach out to your loan servicer if you’re unable to make payments

Reach out to your servicer and have that conversation as soon as possible, so you know what your options are. If, for example, you’re currently unemployed, one option you may have is unemployment deferment. This lets you postpone your loan payments for up to another 36 months.

5. Be proactive and take a look at your options now!

The time to act is now, before the year-end. To learn more about the end of forbearance go to www.Studentaid.gov.

What is a Scholarship?

Eligibility for a scholarship is based on merit. Examples of merit scholarships include those that are awarded based on academic, ethnicity and community leadership, special interests, or special talents. 

At IOScholarships our STEM scholarships which total about $48 million are usually awarded by private and corporate scholarship providers, such as foundations, companies, professional membership organizations and non-profit organizations. However, we have access to best STEM scholarships at prestigious universities such as Stanford Knight-Hennessy Scholars program

A few hundred colleges and organizations award full-tuition academic scholarships based on the student’s high school grade point average (GPA), admissions test scores and academic leaderships.

The average IOScholarships is about $5,000 and the maximum is $500,000 for full-ride scholarships.

To apply for scholarships, use IOScholarships free scholarship matching tool. Every dollar you win is about a dollar less you’ll have to borrow. Apply today! To get more information on how to win scholarships read the following article:

https://ioscholarships.com/founder-of-ioscholarships-shares-her-tips-on-getting-free-college-money/

5 consejos para los pagos de préstamos federales estudiantiles

Aquí hay 5 recomendaciones que puedes considerar para prepararte

1.      Actualiza tu información de contacto

Asegúrate de que tu información de contacto esté actualizada en tu perfil en el sitio web de tu administrador de préstamos. Una información de contacto incorrecta podría hacer que se pierdan actualizaciones importantes. Datos importantes para actualizar incluyen:

– Dirección de correo electrónico

– Dirección postal física

– Número de teléfono

– Información de la cuenta bancaria (Ha pasado un tiempo; tal vez ya no uses la misma cuenta que tienes vinculada a tus préstamos).

2.      Entérate de la cantidad mínima que debes pagar

Es posible que tu situación haya cambiado durante la pandemia, ya que puedes haber utilizado el dinero destinado a pagar la deuda de préstamo estudiantiles en otros gastos. Así que es una buena idea obtener información sobre tu pago y echar un vistazo a cómo han sido tus gastos en los últimos meses para averiguar qué cantidad de pago mensual del préstamo estudiantil puedes comenzar a pagar. Tu pago lo tendrás que pagar 21 días después de que el servidor envía el estado de cuenta que incluye la fecha de vencimiento del pago, el interés próximo y la cantidad de pago.

3.      Actúa ahora si quieres reducir sus pagos mensuales

Si tu situación ha cambiado, y el pago mínimo requerido es demasiado alto una opción a considerar es inscribirte en un plan de pago basado en los ingresos. Con este plan de pago, el pago mínimo requerido depende de la cantidad de dinero que hayas ganado ese mes, y si tu sueldo es lo suficientemente bajo, pueden reducir tus pagos mensuales hasta cero dólares.

Puedes solicitar un plan basado en los ingresos a través del sitio web de tu administrador de préstamos en unos 10 minutos y la tramitación no debería tardar más de dos semanas.

Sin embargo, los planes basados en los ingresos tienen algunas desventajas. Una de las principales desventajas de estos planes es que los pagos pueden ser pequeños o incluso puede ser que no tengas que pagar nada, lo que puede parecer maravilloso en el momento, pero se están acumulando intereses y multiplicando la deuda del préstamo año tras año. Si planeas aprovechar el plan de pago basado en los ingresos no lo pienses como tu plan de largo plazo.

4.      Llama a tu gestor de préstamos si no puedes hacer los pagos

Ponte en contacto con tu administrador de préstamos y tén esa conversación lo antes posible, para saber cuáles son tus opciones. Si, por ejemplo, actualmente estás desempleado, una opción que puedes tener es el posponer el pago por desempleo. Esto te permite posponer los pagos de tu préstamo hasta otros 36 meses”.

5.      No ignores tu próxima fecha de pago

Y este es el último consejo: sé emprendedor y analiza cuáles son tus opciones en este momento. El momento de actuar es ahora, antes de que acabe el año. Para obtener más información sobre los pagos de los préstamos estudiantiles federales, visita www.Studentaid.gov.