If you're having difficulty making payments, you can take a look at your possible options here for Student Loan Refinancing or here for Private Student Loans. Please ensure you thoroughly review all options prior to considering forbearance.
Forbearance helps clients who are experiencing temporary financial hardship. In certain situations, you may be eligible for forbearance, which temporarily postpones principal and interest payments to avoid delinquency and/or default. The most common reasons for forbearance include the following:
- Decrease in income (e.g., reduction in hours, unpaid leave, or change from full-time to part-time employment)
- Loss of employment
- Significant increase in costs that are essential to the home or family (e.g., increase in medical expenses, emergency home repairs, or child care)
- Unpaid maternity/paternity leave
Clients are eligible to receive up to 12 months of forbearance on their Earnest Student Loan Refinance or Earnest Private Student Loan over the life of the loan. Please note this includes Skip-A-Payment, which is processed as a 1-month forbearance and counts against the total 12-month forbearance allowance over the life of the loan.
To request a forbearance on your loan, please call our Client Happiness team to complete the application over the phone. You can call our team at (888) 601-2801, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, excluding holidays.
Please note that simple daily interest will continue to accrue on your loan while it is in forbearance. Unpaid Interest on Earnest private student loans, also known as In-School Student Loans, may be capitalized (added to the Unpaid Principal) at the end of each forbearance, as permitted by law and your loan agreement. Interest will not be capitalized for refinanced student loans (Earnest Private Student Loan Refinance and NaviRefi Loans).
All forbearance requests must be received no less than five business days prior to the beginning forbearance date. Requests received less than five business days before the desired start date will be reviewed and processed for the subsequent billing cycle. Payments remain due until approval is granted. If you do not hear back from our team within five business days of making the request, please reach out to us for an update by clicking the "Get In Touch" button found at the bottom of this article.