Postponing payments
Understanding forbearance
Forbearance can help you avoid delinquency and default if you're facing temporary financial difficulty.
Forbearance lets you suspend or reduce your student loan payments under certain circumstances and for specified periods of up to one year at a time.
During forbearance, you will receive quarterly interest statements and have the option to pay the accrued interest. If you don't, any unpaid accrued interest will be capitalized.
Eligibility
For detailed information on your forbearance options, to see if you are eligible, and to apply, log in to your Manage Your LoansSM account. Select Postpone Payments, learn if you're eligible, and apply for forbearance.
Forbearance results in higher loan costs overall. You may want to look into deferment or a different payment plan.