Borrowers who have reached the 120-payment milestone for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program in September are finding that the payments made from July through November are not appearing on their online trackers. The Education Department has told lenders that updates can take between 60 and 90 days, yet many accounts remain unchanged months later. In the meantime, borrowers continue to remit roughly $500 each month, unsure whether the extra cash is necessary or merely a precaution.
The uncertainty is amplified by the fact that the Department’s system glitch began with the July 1, 2026 rollout of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s new loan limits and repayment-plan options. The error is a database malfunction, not a traditional backlog, meaning that entries are not being written to the borrower’s history even though the payments have been received.
Technical glitch in the Education Department’s loan system
Since July 2026, a wide swath of borrowers have reported that their July and August payments failed to register in the PSLF tracker. The problem originated from internal changes to accommodate the new statutory limits, and it persisted through August, September, and the following months. An August correction adjusted counts for borrowers who had been in non-qualifying forbearance or on Extended and Graduated plans, but it did not resolve the underlying database failure. State student-loan ombudspersons have highlighted the issue, and 33 members of Congress asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon to respond by November 18, 2026.
What borrowers can do while waiting
Continuing payments
Even though the tracker is stalled, the Department still counts qualifying payments once they are finally recorded. Any payment made after the 120th is refunded after the forgiveness is approved, but the refund can take 3 to 6 months to appear. For a borrower paying $500 a month, missing October through January would represent $2,000 tied up until the refund is processed, likely not arriving until late summer 2027. Those extra dollars act as insurance: if the final count were to drop to 118 because two earlier months were deemed ineligible, the additional payments would automatically fill months 119 and 120, preventing a delay in forgiveness.
Requesting forbearance
Borrowers who cannot afford the interim outlay may ask their servicer to place the loan in forbearance after the 120th payment is confirmed. A forbearance month does not count toward PSLF, so if the true count ends up being 118, the borrower would need two more qualifying payments once the forbearance ends, followed by another review. The safe approach is to verify personal records before requesting forbearance, minimizing the risk of falling short of the required 120 qualifying payments.
Steps to document and protect your claim
First, download the MyAid data file from StudentAid.gov and take a dated screenshot of the current PSLF tracker. Repeat this each month until the loan is discharged. Second, build a personal ledger that lists every payment since the first qualifying month, the repayment plan used, the amount paid, and the employer’s name; the PSLF checklist outlines which months qualify. Third, submit a certification form that covers employment through the month of the 120th payment, if you have not already done so. This form initiates the forgiveness review.
If you can sustain the $500 monthly payment, keep autopay active and retain each billing statement as proof of the payments the tracker is missing. If cash flow is tight, send a written request for forbearance to your servicer and wait for written approval before skipping a payment. Should the count remain unchanged 90 days after certification, file a complaint with the Federal Student Aid Feedback Center, then with the CFPB or your state’s student-loan ombudsperson, specifying the months that are absent.
Ultimately, the borrower bears the responsibility for monitoring both the payment count and employment certifications. Skipping payments without an approved forbearance can cause a delinquent status and a drop of 90 points or more on a credit score, a risk many commenters have already experienced. While pending litigation such as the Weingarten v. McMahon class-action may offer future relief, it does not provide an immediate solution. The most reliable protection remains meticulous record-keeping, continued payments or an approved forbearance, and timely certification through month 120.
