My Husband Proudly Serves in the US Army But Has Student Loans

“Dear Steve,

My husband is in the US Army has been proudly servicing since 1998.

He is considering retirement (he has prior service before 1988 which counts towards his 20 years).

He has about $44,000 left of his student loans. His loans were consolidated since shortly after 1998 (his graduation from vet school).

We don’t seem to be making a dent in this loan even though we have made payments faithfully. We have two younger sons and we are hoping we could pay for their schooling vs. having this loan for the next 10-15 years.

I just heard about the PSLF program, but from what I can tell he would not be eligible for this because he didn’t apply for this prior, he is not on a 10 year repayment plan and he would have to stay in the military until after 10/1/2017. Can anyone help me to find out if he would qualify for this program?

Carol”

Dear Carol,

While everyone thanks the troops, the wives of solders deserve a big thank you as well for your sacrifices. Thank you for your service.

You were wise to catch on to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

Do You Have a Question You'd Like Help With? Contact Debt Coach Damon Day. Click here to reach Damon.

Below is my interpretation of the program specifications. You should feel free to call the Department of Education or your loan servicer to discuss the situation with them as well. You can email them here.

The PSLF program does not say he has to be on a ten year loan. It says he has to make 120 on-time, full, scheduled, monthly payments. It says only payments made after October 1, 2007 qualify.

The Department of Education has a form they say “you should submit to us and a process that you should follow so that we can assist you in tracking your periods of qualifying employment and your qualifying payments.”

So this really is a decision you have to make about if staying in for the next four years to eliminate the student loans is something you are willing to do and the benefit of having the remainder of the loans forgiven is worth it.

Let me know.