PSLF Buyback Explained: Who Qualifies, What It Costs and How Your Missing Months Get Counted

Short answer: PSLF Buyback lets you pay for past months you spent in deferment or forbearance while working in public service, so those months count toward the 120 qualifying payments. You need 120 months of certified qualifying employment first, the loan has to be a Direct Loan with a balance, and the cost is roughly what you would have paid in those months, usually based on your income-driven payment at the time. Once you get an agreement, you have 90 days to pay.

Last updated: November 4, 2026. Checked against 34 CFR 685.219 (eCFR), StudentAid.gov's PSLF Buyback page and its SAVE plan FAQ.

At a glance:

• Created by: the PSLF rule finalized November 1, 2022 (the Department first called it "hold harmless"). The current rule sits at 34 CFR 685.219(g)(6).
• Lookback: as far as October 2007, when PSLF began, or the first disbursement of your Direct Consolidation Loan if that's later.
• The most common use today: months in the SAVE forbearance that began in mid-2024.
• Months that can't be bought back: in-school, grace, default, bankruptcy and disability monitoring periods, and months on the Repayment Assistance Plan or the Tiered Standard Plan.
• Payment window: 90 days from the agreement date, in one payment or several.

You put in the years. Buyback is how the months catch up

Here's the situation Buyback was built for. You've worked for a school district, a hospital, a city or a nonprofit for a decade. Your employment is certified. But the PSLF tracker says 109, or 112, or 116. Somewhere along the way your loans sat in forbearance, maybe during a job change, maybe because a servicer put you there, maybe because SAVE was frozen in court.

The usual move in that spot is to keep paying and wait for the count to reach 120 on its own. That works, but it can mean paying another year or more on a balance that's due to be discharged, after the public service is already done.

Buyback flips that. Instead of adding new months at the end, you pay for the old months in the middle. The work already happened. Buyback lets the payment side line up with it.

But before you count anything as a Buyback month, there's one check worth making first. Some of those "missing" months may already count.

Months that may already count without Buyback

PSLF credits some deferment and forbearance months automatically, as long as you were working full time for a qualifying employer. Under 34 CFR 685.219(c)(2)(v), those are:

• Cancer treatment deferment
• Economic hardship deferment
• Military service deferment and post-active-duty student deferment
• AmeriCorps forbearance
• National Guard duty forbearance
• Department of Defense Student Loan Repayment Program forbearance
• Administrative forbearance and mandatory administrative forbearance

The one exception: months while you're on the Repayment Assistance Plan don't get this credit.

So a borrower who sees "forbearance" on an old statement shouldn't assume it's a Buyback month. If it was one of the types above, it may be a tracker correction instead, and it costs nothing extra. Buyback is for the rest: general forbearances, most other deferments, and the SAVE forbearance.

Who qualifies for Buyback

StudentAid.gov sets out a short list. All of these have to be true:

• 120 months of certified qualifying employment. Buyback opens only once your employment already adds up to 120 months. Any uncertified job gets certified first with a PSLF form. Our page on the PSLF form for employers covers that piece.
• A Direct Loan with a balance. Loans that are paid off, forgiven or discharged don't qualify. FFEL and Perkins loans have to be in a Direct Consolidation Loan first.
• Months inside your qualifying employment. You can buy back only a month when you were working full time for a qualifying employer.
• Only the months you need. You can buy back the months it takes to reach 120, not more. Buying back older months to get a refund on later payments isn't allowed.

And a few limits on which months can be used:

• Consolidation resets the window. Months on loans that were later rolled into a consolidation loan can't be bought back. Buyback works on the current consolidation loan, from its first disbursement date.
• No RAP or Tiered Standard months. Months while a loan was on either plan can't be bought back. Tiered Standard payments don't count toward PSLF at all, so the plan you're on now shapes the months ahead. Our PSLF hub explains which plans count.

What Buyback costs, with hypothetical examples

The amount is meant to be what you would have paid back then. StudentAid.gov describes the rules this way:

• On an income-driven plan right before or after the gap, and the gap was under a year: the lower of those two monthly payments.
• In SAVE on or after July 18, 2024: the income-driven payment from the plan you were on right before you enrolled in SAVE.
• Not on an income-driven plan around the gap: the Department asks for your tax information for that year (or a statement that you didn't have to file) and your family size, then uses the lowest income-driven amount you were eligible for, or the 10-year Standard amount if that's lower.
• Tax and family information not sent within 30 days: the 10-year Standard amount.
• Parent PLUS loans that haven't been consolidated: the 10-year Standard amount.
• If it works out to $0: nothing is due, and the Department moves ahead with the discharge when it sends the agreement.

The three examples below are hypothetical. The Department sets the real figure in your agreement.

Example 1: a teacher with a short gap. Ana has taught in a public district since 2015. In 2019 she spent six months in a general forbearance between IBR payments of $180 (before) and $220 (after). The gap was under a year, so the lower payment applies: 6 × $180 = $1,080.

Example 2: a nurse with SAVE forbearance months. Malik works at a nonprofit hospital. He was on PAYE at $340 a month, switched to SAVE, and then spent ten months in the SAVE forbearance. His tracker shows 113, so he needs only 7 months to reach 120. Using the plan he was on before SAVE: 7 × $340 = $2,380, not the $3,400 that all ten months would cost.

Example 3: a county caseworker with an older gap. Joy spent eight months in a general forbearance in 2013 and wasn't on an income-driven plan then. The Department asks for her 2013 tax information. Say her lowest income-driven amount that year was $95 and her 10-year Standard amount was $410. If she sends the information within 30 days, the cost is 8 × $95 = $760. If she doesn't, it's 8 × $410 = $3,280. Same months, very different bill.

That last example is the one to remember. Most of what drives the cost is paperwork and timing, not the months themselves.

How a Buyback request moves, start to finish

A Buyback request goes in through PSLF Reconsideration in your StudentAid.gov account, with "PSLF Buyback" picked as the reconsideration type and a confirmation that you have 120 months of qualifying employment. An automated confirmation email follows. StudentAid.gov says status isn't shown online, and the Department replies by email.

If you're eligible, the Department or your servicer sends a Buyback agreement with the amount due. The full amount has to reach your servicer within 90 days of the agreement date, and it can be split into more than one payment. Once the bought-back months post and you reach 120, the remaining Direct Loan balance moves to PSLF discharge review.

A few details shape the timing:

• Regular payments keep going. You keep paying your monthly bill while the request is pending and during the 90 days. Amounts beyond what was needed can be refunded after discharge, but only if you have no other outstanding loans.
• Some steps void the agreement. Submitting a new PSLF form, paying off, consolidating or having the loan discharged after the agreement is sent voids it. Payments made toward it are then credited as regular payments instead of refunded. StudentAid.gov does say you can consolidate after you've bought back.
• Who to ask about an agreement. StudentAid.gov says to contact your servicer if it's Aidvantage, CRI, Edfinancial or Nelnet. If MOHELA services your loans, it says to contact Federal Student Aid directly.
• Expect a wait. The Department's own figures, cited in an October 30, 2026 class action, showed about 88,000 Buyback requests pending at the end of April 2026. Our page on the PSLF Buyback lawsuit covers that case and what it asks the court to order.

Because the agreement can be voided by an ordinary step like a new employment form, the order of things matters. Getting employment certified, the month count confirmed and the plan settled before the agreement arrives keeps the 90-day window clean.

Smart next steps

• Confirm your real gap. Check whether any "missing" months are types that already count before treating them as Buyback months.
• Know what drives the cost. The plan you were on around the gap, and getting tax information in within 30 days, set most of the price.
• Get it reviewed before you request. A call to (877) 770-0380 gets your federal loans and PSLF record reviewed with a specialist, who can go over your employment dates, your month count and whether Buyback, a plan change or both fit.

If you were moved out of SAVE and are picking a plan now, our page on being placed in the Standard plan after SAVE and the PSLF employer rule in court cover the other moving parts.

What to have ready before you call

• Your employers and dates since you started public service, and which ones are already certified.
• Your current PSLF count and any months marked ineligible (screenshots are fine).
• Any letters about forbearance, including SAVE forbearance notices.
• Tax returns for any gap years when you weren't on an income-driven plan.

Related reading: PSLF for nurses, PSLF requirements for teachers, student loan forgiveness programs, and the PSLF hub.

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