To submit a general forbearance request on your federal student loans, contact your loan servicer and complete the General Forbearance Request form (OMB No. 1845-0018), available on studentaid.gov or from the servicer directly.1Federal Student Aid. General Forbearance Request Form Approval is at the servicer’s sole discretion, so how clearly you document your hardship matters. If granted, payments pause or shrink for up to 12 months at a time, but interest keeps accruing on every loan type, including subsidized loans, and that cost compounds once the pause ends.
What You’re Actually Asking For
General forbearance temporarily stops your payments, extends the time to make them, or reduces them below your normal schedule when you’re dealing with financial difficulties, medical expenses, reduced income, or similar hardships. Each approval covers up to one year, and most servicers allow up to three cumulative years of general forbearance over the life of the loan.2eCFR. 34 CFR 685.205 – Forbearance
The word “general” is doing real work here. It distinguishes this discretionary request from mandatory forbearance, which your servicer must grant if you qualify. The form itself states the rule plainly: “Your loan holder has sole discretion in whether to grant your general forbearance request, and, if granted, for what period your forbearance will be applied.”1Federal Student Aid. General Forbearance Request Form
Before filing a general request, check whether you fit a mandatory category: AmeriCorps or similar national service, qualifying teaching service under Teacher Loan Forgiveness, a medical or dental internship or residency, a Department of Defense repayment program, National Guard active state duty for more than 30 consecutive days, or total monthly federal student loan payments equaling or exceeding 20 percent of your gross monthly income.2eCFR. 34 CFR 685.205 – Forbearance If any of those fit, ask your servicer for the mandatory version instead. Approval is guaranteed in those cases.
How to Submit the Request
Every step runs through your servicer, so start by logging into studentaid.gov to confirm who services each of your loans. If more than one servicer holds your loans, you need to submit a separate request to each.
Get the form from studentaid.gov or the servicer’s website. Many servicers also accept forbearance requests through their online account portal or by phone, so check what channels yours offers before printing anything. The form itself asks for your account number, the reason for the hardship, and the period of forbearance you want.
Because the decision is discretionary, the strength of your supporting documentation shapes the outcome. Pull together what fits your situation:
- Income documentation such as recent pay stubs showing reduced earnings, a layoff notice, or proof of unemployment benefits.
- Medical evidence such as hospital bills, insurance statements, or a letter from a doctor if illness or injury is the cause.
- A short, specific hardship statement explaining why you can’t make payments now and when you expect that to change.
The hardship statement doesn’t need to be long, but specifics beat generalities. “I was laid off in March and my unemployment covers rent but leaves nothing for loan payments; I expect to return to work within six months” is a stronger case than “I’m having financial difficulties.” Submit through whatever channel the servicer accepts. If you mail the form, send it with tracking. If you use the online portal, save the confirmation.
What to Do While You Wait
Your monthly payments stay due until the servicer officially approves the forbearance. Stopping payments before approval arrives can get you reported as delinquent. Call the servicer right after you submit to confirm they received the request and to ask about processing time.
If you genuinely cannot pay while the request is pending, say so during that initial call. Some servicers can backdate the forbearance to cover the review period, but there’s no guarantee. The safer move is to submit early, before a payment is missed rather than after.
Once a decision is made, the servicer will notify you of the forbearance period, the terms, and when repayment resumes. During an approved forbearance, the account is reported to credit bureaus with a forbearance comment rather than as delinquent, which is one of the main reasons to get formal approval instead of simply skipping payments.3Nelnet. Credit Reporting
What Forbearance Really Costs
Payments pause. Interest doesn’t. It accrues on every federal loan type during forbearance, including Direct Subsidized Loans that normally get an interest subsidy during deferment.4Federal Student Aid. Deferment and Forbearance On a $30,000 balance at 5 percent, a 12-month forbearance adds roughly $1,500 in unpaid interest.
When the forbearance ends, that unpaid interest capitalizes: it’s added to the principal, and future interest then accrues on the higher balance.5Nelnet. Interest Capitalization Over a 10- or 20-year loan, even one capitalization event can cost thousands.
You can make voluntary payments during forbearance without penalty.6Federal Student Aid. FAQ – Deferment and Forbearance Covering even the accruing interest with small monthly payments is the single most effective way to limit the long-term damage. A lump-sum interest payment at the end works too.
There’s also the forgiveness cost. Months spent in general forbearance generally do not count toward the 120 qualifying payments for Public Service Loan Forgiveness or toward income-driven repayment forgiveness. Each month of forbearance is a month that pushes your forgiveness date back. One past exception is worth checking: under the IDR Account Adjustment, the Department of Education credited borrowers with 12 or more consecutive months, or 36 or more cumulative months, of forbearance toward IDR and PSLF.7Federal Student Aid. Payment Count Adjustments Toward Income-Driven Repayment and PSLF If you’ve had significant past forbearance, log into studentaid.gov to see whether any of those months were credited. Going forward, the ordinary rule applies.
Options to Weigh Before You File
General forbearance is a last resort for most borrowers. Two alternatives are usually better, and your servicer is required to tell you about them.
Deferment
Deferment also pauses payments, with one big advantage: on Direct Subsidized Loans, the government covers the interest.4Federal Student Aid. Deferment and Forbearance No accrual, no capitalization on those loans. Qualifying grounds include unemployment, economic hardship, half-time or more enrollment in school, and active military service. If you qualify for deferment, take it over forbearance.
Income-Driven Repayment
If the problem is low income rather than a brief emergency, an income-driven repayment plan sets your monthly payment as a share of discretionary income, with payments as low as $0 depending on income and family size.8Federal Student Aid. Income-Driven Repayment Plans Available plans include Income-Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn, and Income-Contingent Repayment, with payments ranging from 10 to 20 percent of discretionary income depending on the plan.
Even a $0 IDR payment counts as a qualifying payment toward PSLF and IDR forgiveness. You keep your forgiveness clock running, avoid delinquency, and often pay no more than you would under forbearance. The tradeoff is paperwork: an application up front and annual income recertification.
If the Request Is Denied
Because general forbearance is discretionary, the servicer can say no. Payments remain due on schedule, so the first move is to ask why the request was denied. Often it’s documentation rather than eligibility: a missing pay stub, a vague hardship statement, an incomplete form. Fix the gap and resubmit.
If the denial holds, pivot. Ask the servicer to evaluate you for deferment or help you apply for an income-driven plan. These are often better outcomes than the forbearance would have been.
What you don’t want to do is nothing. Federal student loans go into default after 270 days of missed payments, which opens the door to wage garnishment, tax refund seizure, and loss of future federal aid eligibility. A phone call to your servicer about any relief option is worth far more than silence.