In addition to lowering monthly student loan payments, IBR forgives any remaining debt — including interest — after 25 years of payments. Most borrowers will pay off their debt before then, but under current law, if there’s anything left after 25 years, the amount forgiven would be taxed as income to the borrower.

A bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R.2492, would prevent debt forgiven through IBR from being taxed as income. Loan forgiveness is supposed to wipe the slate clean for responsible borrowers, not create a new financial obligation.

Many of you have already taken action, helping to persuade over 20 Members of Congress to sign on in support of the bill. We need your help to bring more on board! If you haven’t already, please take a moment to urge your representative to support H.R. 2492.

If you are interested in taking action (and I really hope that you DO choose to take action), you can click over to the IBR website and use their pre-formatted web page to send a message to your Representative. Please do so and help fix a bogus loophole in this Bill!

Take Action for Real Loan Forgiveness!
In addition to lowering monthly student loan payments, the new Income-Based Repayment (IBR) program forgives any remaining debt – including interest – after 25 years. Most borrowers will pay off their debt before then, but under current law, if there’s anything left to forgive after 25 years, the amount forgiven would be taxed as income to the borrower.

A bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 2492, would prevent the taxation of debt forgiven through IBR. Loan forgiveness is supposed to wipe the slate clean for responsible borrowers, not create a new financial obligation. Current law exempts some kinds of loan forgiveness from taxation, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but not IBR.

Please take a moment to write to your representative and urge them to support H.R. 2492 and ensure there’s really a light at the end of the tunnel for responsible borrowers.

Now granted, if I keep on keeping on, then I don’t qualify for this program, but rather I qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. However, I did submit an automated message to my elected officials by clicking here. It only took a minute or two and hey, if enough people contact their legislators then something might happen.

Give it a shot – there are a lot of student loan borrowers who can benefit from this legislation.