September is an important month for many federal student loan borrowers this year. Two important deadlines are coming up now:
- September 30, 2026: Deadline to sign up for auto pay to receive a temporary 1% interest-rate reduction.
- Late September/early October: The first group of borrowers who received notices about the end of SAVE are reaching their 90-day deadline to choose a new repayment plan.
1. Sign up for auto pay by September 30th to get a temporary 1% interest-rate reduction
If you have Direct Loans and sign up for auto pay by September 30, 2026, you can receive a 1% interest-rate reduction on your student loans. If you are already enrolled in auto pay, you don’t need to sign up again, and you should automatically get this benefit. The temporary interest rate reduction runs through June 30, 2028. You can sign up for auto pay through your online account with your loan servicer or by calling your servicer.
What you should do now to get the interest rate reduction:
- Log in to your online account on your loan servicer’s website and check whether you are enrolled in auto pay.
- If you aren’t enrolled in auto pay, sign up on your online account with your servicer before September 30, 2026.
- If you have multiple servicers for your Direct Loans, you need to check each of your accounts and repeat these steps.
Once you are signed up for auto pay, check your accounts regularly to make sure your payments are processed correctly and the right amount is being taken from your account. If you have any issues with your auto payments, contact your servicer.
Unfortunately, this interest rate reduction is only available for Direct Loans that were issued after July 1, 2012. For more information, see here.
2. If you’re still in SAVE, check your notices to see if your 90-day deadline is coming up
The SAVE plan is ending. Notices started to go out in early July to let people know they have 90 days to apply to switch to a new plan. If borrowers don’t act within 90 days of their notice, they will be moved to a standard plan, which is likely to require higher monthly payments.
Some borrowers will reach their 90-day deadline in late September, but not all. Borrowers are being sent notices on different dates, and the 90-day period starts on the date of the individual notice, so borrowers have different deadlines to change plans. Some borrowers have not yet received a notice, so their 90-day period has not yet started.
For more information, see our short webinar on the SAVE plan ending (run time: 12 minutes).
Did you get a notice in early July?
If you received your 90-day SAVE notice during the first week of July, your deadline may be coming up at the end of September. he notice you get often won’t tell you an actual date to switch plans. Instead, it will just say you have 90 days from the date of the notice to switch, so you may have to do some math to figure out your deadline. If you get multiple notices with different dates, you should go by the earliest date to be on the safe side.
What you should do if your deadline is coming up:
- Choose a new repayment plan. You can use the Repayment Calculator or call your servicer to see whether there is another plan you can apply for that you can afford and that makes sense for your situation. You may be eligible for a different IDR plan that bases your payments on your income and family size. RAP, IBR, PAYE, and ICR are all IDR plans.
- You can apply for IDR plans online at studentaid.gov/idr. You can also contact your loan servicer for help switching plans, including switching into fixed plans.
- If you can’t afford any plans, you can contact your loan servicer and request a temporary forbearance. A forbearance will temporarily stop your payments and keep your loan from becoming delinquent or defaulting. But forbearances have downsides: there are limits on how long you can be in forbearance, and interest will continue to accrue while you’re in forbearance, so your balance will increase. Forbearance is a temporary fix, not a long-term solution, but it can buy time to figure out how you’ll manage your loans while preventing your loan from going into default.
- If you don’t apply to switch plans before your 90 day deadline is up, you will likely be placed on the Standard or Tiered Standard plan, depending on whether you have any loans issued after July 1, 2026. The Standard and Tiered Standard plans are more expensive for many borrowers than the IDR plans.
- Don’t panic: Even if you miss the deadline and are switched to a standard plan, you can still apply to switch to an IDR plan or request a forbearance later.
If you haven’t received your notice to switch yet:
If you’re still on the SAVE plan and don’t think you’ve received a notice yet to switch, pay close attention to any notices you get from your servicer. Check your email, your mail, and your inbox on your online account with your servicer.
You do not have to wait until you receive your notice to switch plans. You can switch plans now if you are ready. Switching soon might be a good choice if you want to make progress on paying down your loan or earning credit toward loan forgiveness in Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or Income-Driven Repayment (IDR).
