Do you have Federal student loans? Is your repayment plan based on your income? If the answer is ‘yes’ to both, then you must re-certify your income each year with your student loan servicer.
Your servicer should notify you of your recertification requirement each year. But if you somehow miss this notice, you should be prepared to recertify your income each year; otherwise, your payment amount may go up.
To see when it’s time to recertify, go online and check your student loan account, or call up your servicer. Then put it on your calendar each year – Google Calendar has a feature allowing you to make an event recur annually – so you don’t miss it. If possible, tie this in with another annual event, like tax time, your annual physical, or someone’s birthday.
At some point, recertification should become automatic. But like anything else in the Federal student loan world, you shouldn’t rely on these things to work out in your favor. Cover yourself by finding out what needs to be done and when.
