The CARES Act helps most individual federal loan borrowers. There is a provision for student loan assistance programs that will benefit all student loan borrowers, but Private and FFEL loan borrowers need to contact their lender or services to see if they offer this new benefit.

Summary of Cares Act Stimulus changes for federal loans:

• Suspend Student Loan Payments for the next 6 months (Excludes some FFEL and Perkins)
• No interest charges will be applied to federal student loans
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness Credit Months will include the 6-month period
• Employers can get a tax deduction up to $5250 per employee for company contribution to employee federal student loans
• Borrowers in default can get up to 6 months of credit toward loan rehabilitation

PayForEd recommends that you go to the National Student Loan Database System (NSLDS) and print a list of all your current federal loan balances. This will give you some backup in case of an error. You will need your FSA ID and Password to get access to the NSDLS.