Texas, Florida, and California had the largest number of borrowers who received an automatic student loan discharge this week.
Today, the White House released data showing the number of borrowers in each state who were eligible for automatic loan relief under the Saving on A Valuable Education, or SAVE income-driven repayment (IDR) plan.
That followed the Education Department’s announcement this week that 153,000 borrowers with an original loan balance of $12,000 or less who have been in repayment for 10 years had their student loans debt discharged, resulting in the elimination of $1.2 billion.
The discharge is part of debt relief for borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan, which was not expected to take effect until July but was accelerated last month.
Read more: Do I qualify for student loan forgiveness?
Borrowers in every state have had their loans canceled under this action. Eligible borrowers received an email from the Education Department on Wednesday. Borrowers can also log into their StudentAid.gov account to find out if they’re eligible.
“The state-by-state SAVE plan debt forgiveness numbers show that President Biden’s leadership is making a real impact on people’s lives in every state [and] demonstrate that we won’t ever stop fighting to make higher education more affordable and accessible for more Americans,” Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education, said in a press statement.
Discharges are happening on a rolling basis as SAVE borrowers reach the required 10 years of repayment.
Unlike the one-time payment adjustment that is available regardless of which income-driven repayment plan you’re enrolled in, borrowers need to be enrolled in SAVE to benefit from this discharge.
For every $1,000 borrowed above $12,000, a SAVE borrower can receive forgiveness after an additional year of payments.
Around 7.5 million borrowers are enrolled in the SAVE plan.
Key aspects of SAVE that make it different from other income-driven repayment plans include:
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Debt discharge for borrowers with an original loan balance of $12,000 or less that have been in repayment for 10 years.
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The most borrowers must pay toward their undergraduate loans is 5% of their discretionary income, down from 10%.
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No borrower making less than 225% of the federal poverty level will have to make a monthly payment.
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Borrowers won’t be charged with unpaid monthly interest, so balances won’t grow if they make their payments — even if the monthly payment is $0 because their income is low.
Borrowers who have not yet enrolled can sign up for SAVE at StudentAid.gov/SAVE.
The Biden administration has discharged $45.6 billion for 930,500 borrowers under income-driven repayment plans, which include the one-time payment adjustment and the SAVE discharges.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has discharged almost $138 billion for more than 3.9 million borrowers.
Ronda Lee is a personal finance senior reporter for Yahoo Finance and attorney with experience in law, insurance, education, and government. Follow her on X @writesronda
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