Administrative Forbearance

A regular forbearance is something you request during a rough patch. An administrative forbearance is placed on your account for the servicer’s or the government’s own reasons: a processing backlog, a natural disaster declaration, or litigation over a repayment plan. The SAVE plan forbearance that began in 2024 is the best-known example, pausing payments at a 0 percent interest rate while the plan was litigated.

The catch is the clock. In the SAVE forbearance, paused months count toward neither income-driven forgiveness nor Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), so a year of relief can quietly add a year to your finish line. When a servicer parks your account, ask in writing whether the months count, and check your payment counts on StudentAid.gov afterward.