The change follows President Donald Trump’s administration’s elimination of SAVE, a Biden-era income-driven repayment plan designed to provide cheaper monthly payments and a shorter route to debt relief. According to Business Insider, loan servicers began notifying affected borrowers on 1 July, although notices are being issued in waves rather than to everyone at once.
For borrowers, the timing matters because the 90-day period begins when their notice is issued. Some have yet to receive one, and servicers expect notices to reach all SAVE borrowers by the end of 2026. That means 29 September is the first deadline in a broader transition rather than a single cut-off applying to everyone enrolled in the programme.
The repayment overhaul has already created difficulties for some people moving away from SAVE. Borrowers have reported larger monthly bills, errors in payment calculations and problems obtaining assistance from their loan servicers since the administration’s changes took effect.
Borrowers Who Do Not Choose Will Move to the Standard Plan
The immediate decision facing affected borrowers is whether to select a new repayment plan themselves before their individual 90-day period expires. Those who do not make a choice will automatically be moved onto a standard repayment plan.
According to reports, that automatic transfer would leave borrowers facing the most expensive monthly payments. Some people who have already transitioned away from SAVE have reported increases amounting to hundreds of dollars, illustrating the financial consequences borrowers can encounter as the repayment system changes.
The administration’s student loan repayment overhaul took effect on 1 July. Alongside eliminating SAVE, it introduced new repayment plans, requiring people previously enrolled in SAVE to reconsider how they will repay their federal student debt.
The timetable is not identical for every borrower. Those receiving notices later in the year will have their own 90-day periods, while the people contacted at the start of July are the first group approaching the end of that window.
Lawsuit and Lawmakers Challenge the 90-Day Transition
The forced transition has also become the subject of legal and political challenges. An ongoing lawsuit is seeking to halt the automatic transfer of borrowers who do not voluntarily leave SAVE within their allotted timeframe.
Democratic lawmakers have separately urged the Education Department to give borrowers more time. In April, Senator Elizabeth Warren led colleagues in calling for an extension to the transition period, arguing that borrowers needed sufficient information and assistance before choosing another repayment arrangement.
“These borrowers deserve to have the time, critical information, and support necessary to successfully enroll in another affordable repayment plan and continue to pay down their loans,” the lawmakers said.
The Education Department has maintained the 90-day requirement. According to Business Insider, Nicholas Kent, the department’s undersecretary, said the timeframe gives borrowers “ample time to explore repayment options that best suit their needs and plan accordingly”.
For now, that requirement remains in place. The first affected borrowers therefore have until 29 September to select a replacement plan before an automatic move to standard repayment, while later groups will face separate deadlines as servicers continue sending notices through the end of 2026.
