Speaker 1: After college, career school, or trade school, you might find yourself with student loans. While repaying your loans can seem intimidating, we have many tools and resources available to help you through the process, including a variety of repayment plans designed to meet your goals and needs. Federal Student Aid offers repayment plans that fit into two groups. Fixed Payment Repayment Plans and Income-Driven Repayment Plans. On a fixed repayment plan, your total principal balance is broken up into regular monthly payments that are designed to see your loans paid off within a fixed number of years. On an income-driven repayment plan, your income and family size determine your monthly payment amounts. Income-driven repayment plans typically lead to loan forgiveness after a set number of years in repayment. We have three fixed repayment plans. The Standard Repayment Plan, the Graduated Repayment Plan, and the Extended Repayment Plan. On the Standard Repayment Plan, your monthly payment amount will lead to your loans being paid off within 10 years. However, if you have a direct consolidation loan, you'll have up to 30 years to pay off your loan. If you don't select a repayment plan, you will automatically be placed on the Standard Repayment Plan. With the Graduated Repayment Plan, you will start with a lower monthly payment than on the Standard Repayment Plan. Every two years, your monthly payment amount will increase so that you'll still pay off your loans within 10 years. If you have a direct consolidation loan, you'll have up to 30 years to pay off your loan. On the Extended Repayment Plan, you'll make payments over a longer period of time, which can be helpful if you have more than $30,000 in direct loans and want a lower monthly payment than the Standard Repayment Plan offers. You'll have either a fixed payment amount or a graduated payment amount that will lead to your loans being paid off within 25 years. Keep in mind that while you might have a higher monthly payment amount on the Standard Repayment Plan, you will pay less over time compared to the other two fixed repayment plans because your payments will cover more of the accrued interest and principal balance. We also offer four income-driven repayment plans. The Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE Plan, the Pay As You Earn, or PAYEE Plan, the Income-Based Repayment Plan, known as the IBR Plan, and the Income Contingent Repayment Plan, or ICR Plan. On an income-driven repayment plan, your monthly payment amount is based on your income and family size. If your income or family size goes up or down, then your payment amount will change as well. Each of the income-driven repayment plans has its own benefits and eligibility requirements. Your loan type will also affect whether you're able to enroll in a specific plan. Visit studentaid.gov slash IDR to learn more. Although income-driven repayment plans aren't designed to have your loans paid off within a specific period of time, your remaining balance is forgiven after 20 or 25 years, and sometimes even sooner. Loan Simulator can help you figure out which repayment plan makes the most sense for you and your loans. You can use Loan Simulator to estimate your monthly payment amount, your repayment period, and your total amount paid over time. This tool can also help you compare different repayment plans. Loan Simulator can even help you determine whether you should consolidate your loans. To use Loan Simulator, visit studentaid.gov slash loan dash simulator. And to explore all of our available repayment plans, visit studentaid.gov slash plans. Once you have a good idea of which repayment plan or plans you're interested in, you can switch plans by contacting your federal loan servicer. We work closely with loan servicers to handle payments. You can log in to studentaid.gov to find contact information for your loan servicer. Or if you're interested in an income-driven repayment plan, you can apply online at studentaid.gov slash idr. Once you're on a repayment plan that fits your financial goals, you'll receive an updated billing statement from your loan servicer with your new monthly payment amount. You'll make your payments through your loan servicer. Your servicer will provide instructions for how to make a payment, so if you have any questions, make sure to follow up with them. To stay on track with payments, you have the option to set up AutoPay. Your payment will automatically be taken out of your bank account each month, and you'll get a 0.25% interest rate deduction on direct loans. After following these steps, you'll be set up to successfully pay off your student loans. And remember, you can change your repayment plan at any time for free. If you have any questions, reach out to your loan servicer or visit studentaid.gov slash help dash center. And for more information about student loan repayment, visit studentaid.gov slash repay101.