--- title: The Government Is Emailing 8 Million Student Loan Borrowers Who Automatically Qualify for Forgiveness description: The Department of Education is emailing 8 million borrowers who qualify for automatic student loan forgiveness. Here's what to know. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 500 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2022-10-19T17:09:19.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:26:42.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - News word_count: 568 canonical: https://money.com/automatic-student-loan-forgiveness-email/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Woman with a sign in front of the White House that reads "President Biden: Thank you for canceling student debt!"](https://img.money.com/2022/10/News-Millions-getting-student-loans-forgiven.jpg?crop=0px%2C14px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) Check your email. The Department of Education is beginning to notify millions of federal student loan borrowers who qualify for automatic loan forgiveness. The department started emailing certain borrowers Tuesday to let them know that they won’t need to apply to have up to $20,000 of federal debt forgiven. In total, some 8 million borrowers will automatically qualify for [President Biden’s forgiveness plan](https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-who-qualifies/) without needing to fill out the [student loan forgiveness application](https://money.com/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-how-to-apply/). “You don’t need to take any action if you are interested in receiving federal student loan debt relief,” the email from the Education Department states. “We already have the information we need from you.” The department will begin processing automatic debt forgiveness after Nov. 14, according to the email. ## Who qualifies for automatic student loan forgiveness The Education Department already has the necessary information to forgive the debt of approximately 8 million federal student loan borrowers. The core requirement to qualify for forgiveness is adjusted gross income, or AGI, for either 2020 or 2021. The income cap for single filers is $125,000, while the cap for joint filers is $250,000. The government can automatically verify income information for folks who filled out the 2022-2023 [FAFSA](https://money.com/how-to-apply-for-fafsa/) or enrolled in a federal [income-driven repayment plan](https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/plans/income-driven). Still, best way for borrowers to know if they qualify for automatic forgiveness is to wait for confirmation directly from the Department of Education. On the other hand, those who want to opt out of automatic student loan forgiveness must do so by Nov. 14, the department said. Some folks may choose to opt out to skirt paying [state income taxes on their forgiveness](https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-state-taxes/). To opt out, the department said borrowers need to contact only one of their loan servicers to deny the forgiveness benefit. ## Why you may want to apply anyway Borrowers who qualify for automatic forgiveness but want the department to start processing forgiveness before Nov. 14 have the option to manually apply using [the form on studentaid.gov](https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief/application). (Due to [legal hurdles](https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-lawsuit/), the Education Department won’t begin processing forgiveness for anyone until [Oct. 23](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moed.198213/gov.uscourts.moed.198213.27.0.pdf) at the earliest.) "It's easy, simple and fast," Biden said of the application process during a speech Monday, when he unveiled the [official student loan forgiveness form](https://money.com/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-how-to-apply/). The application requests only basic information such as name, date of birth, Social Security number and contact information. At the bottom, it asks applicants to self-certify that they meet the $125,000 or $250,000 income requirements. "No forms to upload, no special login to remember," Biden said Monday. Applicants who provide false information on the form face federal perjury charges. One downside of such a simple forgiveness process is that [scammers are out in full force](https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-scams-increase/). Government agencies, including the Education Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are on high alert. On Monday, Biden said his administration will not be reaching out to people to help them with their applications or to request sensitive information. "If you get a call pretending they're from the government trying to help you with your loans, let's be clear, hang up," Biden said. Borrowers should verify any communication purportedly coming from the Education Department. The department said it will email folks only using the following addresses: [noreply@studentaid.gov](mailto:noreply@studentaid.gov), [noreply@debtrelief.studentaid.gov](mailto:noreply@debtrelief.studentaid.gov) or [ed.gov@publicgovdelivery.com](mailto:ed.gov@publicgovdelivery.com). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/automatic-student-loan-forgiveness-email/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Student Loan Debt", "item": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Government Is Emailing 8 Million Student Loan Borrowers Who Automatically Qualify for Forgiveness" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/automatic-student-loan-forgiveness-email/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/automatic-student-loan-forgiveness-email/", "name": "The Government Is Emailing 8 Million Student Loan Borrowers Who Automatically Qualify for Forgiveness", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-10-19T17:09:19.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/automatic-student-loan-forgiveness-email/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/automatic-student-loan-forgiveness-email/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:26:42.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "The Government Is Emailing 8 Million Student Loan Borrowers Who Automatically Qualify for Forgiveness", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/10/News-Millions-getting-student-loans-forgiven.jpg?crop=0px%2C14px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Millions-getting-student-loans-forgiven" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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