Borrowers who paid off the remaining balance of their federal student loans during the coronavirus pandemic may lament narrowly missing out on President Joe Biden’s recently-announced widespread forgiveness effort.
But according to the U.S. Department of Education, those borrowers can still benefit—all they have to do is ask for a refund.
Biden announced in August his administration would be cancelling between $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan debt for federal borrowers who meet certain income limits. The vast majority of federal borrowers will receive some type of relief, including an estimated one-third who will see their balance completely erased.
But the effort has been called unfair by some who have already repaid their debt. One potential solution: Those borrowers, assuming they they paid off their debt during the pandemic payment pause, can request a refund from their servicers now, and then apply for cancellation when the online form becomes available in early October.
It is unclear how many borrowers this would actually benefit from the refund, as the majority of people with federal loans have made no payments at all during the pandemic pause, never mind paid off their balance completely. Still, for those who regret doing so, they may be able to get a refund and benefit from the one-time relief.
If you consolidated your loans after March 13, 2020, refunds aren’t available for any payments made during the pause but prior to the consolidation.
And those who made payments since March 13, 2020 that brought their balance below the full forgiveness amount they are eligible for—$20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, $10,000 for everyone else—but did not pay off their federal debt completely will automatically receive a refund after they submit the cancellation application, according to the Education Department.
So if you had $12,000 in federal loans and paid off $3,000 during the payment pause, you will receive $1,000 back if you are eligible for $10,000 in forgiveness.
They can also call and request a refund now—or wait for the Education Department to return their funds automatically. As Fortune reporter Kaitlyn Koterbski detailed, it took her just a few minutes to call her servicer and request a refund on the day Biden announced the on-time student loan relief.
She hasn’t received the funds yet—the servicers say it could take weeks—but borrowers on Reddit report that the refunded amounts are being reflected in their current loan balances.
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