How Many Years Is the Limit for Forbearance on Student Loans?

When you are not able to make payments on your student loans, avoid damaging your credit score with missed payments by applying for forbearance. If your lender grants forbearance, it will allow you to make lower payments or no payments at all for a specific time period with no penalties.

How Forbearance Works

People who are experiencing financial hardship or illness are eligible to apply for forbearance. Contact your lender to find out how to apply and continue making payments as scheduled until your forbearance is granted. When your loan is in forbearance, you will either be able to make lower payments as dictated by your lender or, if your lender agreed to a complete forbearance, no payments at all. However, interest continues to accrue on your loan balance each month, even if your loan was subsidized. Therefore, if your payment amount is less than the monthly interest, your loan balance will be higher when you end forbearance than it was when you started.

Overall Limit

Federal student loans have an overall limit of three years of forbearance. After your three years are up, you must begin making regular payments again on the payment plan of your choice. Lenders of private student loans might have different forbearance limits. If you have private student loans, read your loan agreement or contact your lender to learn more about the forbearance policy.

Limit Per Application

Lenders can only grant forbearance requests in increments of 12 months or less. If your forbearance period is about to expire and you still need to postpone or lower your payments, you must apply for forbearance again. Reapply at least two months in advance of your expiration so your application has time to be processed before your forbearance expires.

Alternatives

Before applying for forbearance, apply for deferment if you are in school, unemployed, in the military or experiencing severe economic hardship. Deferment is similar to forbearance, but it completely suspends payments and, in most cases, is not subject to a three-year limit. Plus, interest does not accrue during deferment on any government-subsidized loans. Another alternative, if you have federal student loans, is to apply for the income-based repayment plan. This bases the monthly payment on your income and family size and in some cases allows you to skip payments altogether until your income increases.