More than 7 million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE income-driven repayment plan are about to receive notices giving them 90 days to choose a new repayment plan, and the online system they must use to do so is actively malfunctioning. According to Forbes, the problems are widespread and poorly timed, arriving just days before the Education Department launches the most significant changes to federal student loan programs in decades.
What the Glitches Look Like
Borrowers using the income-driven repayment application at StudentAid.gov are encountering a range of technical failures. CNBC reported multiple specific bugs in the system, including a failure to adjust married borrowers' payments proportionally by accounting for a spouse's federal student loans, an inaccurate warning displayed to borrowers who are simply recertifying income for IBR rather than switching plans, and erroneous or incomplete information about current monthly payment amounts.
Borrowers posting publicly on Reddit have flagged additional breakdowns. One medical school graduate reported receiving a "404 Not Found" error every time they selected an IDR plan while trying to consolidate loans before residency. Another asked whether any accurate IBR calculator exists, citing widespread reports of miscalculated payment amounts. The Education Department's own guidance, last updated in March, continues to describe the online application as the fastest and most accurate method, citing electronic import of federal tax information as the recommended approach.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon outside the White House in Washington, D.C., June 10, 2026. Source: Forbes
July 1 Piles on Three Simultaneous Changes
The timing compounds the risk for borrowers. Starting July 1, the Education Department will simultaneously execute three major shifts. First, it begins notifying more than 7 million SAVE plan borrowers that the program is ending and they have 90 days to select a replacement IDR option such as IBR or PAYE, or be moved into a Standard repayment plan that may produce unaffordable payments and erase progress toward loan forgiveness. Second, the department launches a brand-new plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP, which uses a tiered payment formula, an interest subsidy, a principal benefit, and its own distinct rules around forgiveness credit. Third, a new Tiered Standard repayment plan goes live on the same date. The department has never before launched a major new repayment plan while simultaneously phasing out an existing one.
Advocacy groups and watchdog organizations have warned that staffing reductions at the Education Department and reduced oversight of loan servicers and contractors make executing this volume of simultaneous changes extremely difficult.
Who Is Most Exposed
The stakes are especially high for borrowers already under financial pressure. According to New York Fed labor market data, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates held at about 5.7 percent in the first quarter of 2026, while the underemployment rate stood at 41.5 percent, meaning many borrowers still carry student debt while earning less than their degrees anticipated. The New York Fed has also documented the return of federal student loan defaults following the pandemic pause, a trend that adds urgency to the repayment plan transition.
For SAVE borrowers who do not successfully navigate the broken application system and switch to a qualifying IDR plan, the consequence is placement into a Standard repayment plan. That shift could mean significantly higher monthly bills and the loss of accumulated credit toward income-driven repayment forgiveness, which requires 20 or 25 years of qualifying payments depending on the plan.
What Borrowers Can Do Now
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's student loan resources allow borrowers to compare repayment options and file complaints if servicers or application systems fail them. Borrowers who encounter errors on the IDR application are encouraged by advocacy groups to document the problem, try again through a different browser or device, and contact their loan servicer directly as a backup path, since the online tool is not the only way to submit an IDR application.
The IDR system has carried a backlog and processing problems for more than a year, dating back to when the Education Department shut it down in response to legal challenges over the SAVE plan. The addition of new plan launches and a mass-notification campaign for 7 million borrowers beginning July 1 means the system faces its highest demand precisely when its reliability is most in question.
Final Thought: Borrowers in SAVE have a 90-day window starting July 1 to avoid being pushed into a Standard plan that could cost significantly more each month. A broken application system makes completing that switch harder, and the consequences of missing the deadline, including lost forgiveness progress, are not reversible.
Sources
- Forbes: Student Loan IDR Apps Glitching Before July 1 Overhaul
- Cnbc — Student Loan Borrowers Glitches
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Student Loans
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York — College Labor Market
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York — Federal Student Loan Defaults Return After Pandemic Pause