6 Signs You’re Doing Student Loan Repayment Wrong (And How To Fix It)

Student loans have been anything but stable over the last several years. Rules have changed. Programs have come and gone. Timelines have paused, restarted, and shifted again.

That environment makes it very easy to end up on the wrong path, sometimes without realizing it.

Below are several signs we consistently see among physicians, dentists, veterinarians, and other high-income professionals when their student loan strategy isn’t aligned with their bigger financial picture. These issues often show up quietly, but addressing them early can prevent unnecessary costs and lost progress over time.

1. You haven’t reviewed your repayment plan since the SAVE changes

For a long time, many borrowers assumed they could simply wait out the uncertainty around the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan.

That’s no longer a reasonable option.

On December 9, 2025, the SAVE lawsuit settlement made it clear that the SAVE plan is effectively over. The rule that created SAVE has been fully vacated, meaning the legal foundation for the plan no longer exists. While the court still needs to formally approve the settlement, the outcome isn’t really in doubt. The Department of Education has already stated that borrowers will need to get off SAVE imminently.

Here’s what that means in practical terms.

Remaining in SAVE forbearance is not a safe or neutral choice. Borrowers who don’t proactively switch plans risk being moved by their servicer into a different repayment option by default — potentially one that’s more expensive or less appropriate for their situation.

This matters because so many borrowers are still on SAVE. Roughly seven million people remain enrolled, and many have not recertified their income in years. Budgets have often been built around little or no required payment.

Payments under Income-Based Repayment (IBR) and Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) will likely be meaningfully higher. But it’s best to choose a plan now rather than risk losing control over where you might land.

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2. You’re pursuing loan forgiveness but ignoring tax planning

If you’re on an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, taxes are not a separate topic: they’re part of your student loan strategy.

Income-driven payments are based on your adjusted gross income (AGI). That means several things can influence what you pay toward your loans, including:

Retirement contributions.
Health savings accounts (HSAs).
Filing status decisions.

A common issue we see is borrowers doing tax preparation but not tax planning. Filing a return correctly is important. But once the year is over, most planning opportunities are already gone.

For example:

Choosing married filing jointly vs. separately affects IDR eligibility and payment caps.
Filing separately can limit Roth IRA contribution options.
Waiting until tax time can create avoidable cleanup work.

When student loans are a major part of your financial picture, tax planning needs to happen during the year, not after it ends.

3. You aren’t tracking your PSLF or IDR payment counts

If you’re pursuing PSLF, you should know exactly where you stand. The PSLF payment tracker and IDR tracker on studentaid.gov allows you to see:

Which months are fully qualified.
Which months need employment certification.
Which months are marked ineligible.

Payments that need employment certification are often fixable with updated forms. Ineligible payments may require follow-up, resubmission, or in some cases, PSLF reconsideration.

Submitting a PSLF form once per year is one of the simplest ways to avoid unpleasant surprises later.

If you’re approaching the finish line, PSLF buyback may also be an option. This allows you to pay for certain past forbearance months once you’ve reached 120 months of eligible employment.

4. Your IDR application has been stuck for months

Another red flag: you applied for a new income-driven plan long ago, and nothing has changed.

Many applications submitted before mid-2025 were impacted by system issues, SAVE-related confusion or automatic selections that no longer exist.

You may need to resubmit your application if:

It was submitted before summer 2025.
It requested SAVE or the “lowest payment” option.
It has been pending for months without resolution.

In some cases, you may also need to reconsider how income is documented, such as using recent pay stubs instead of tax returns when income has changed significantly.

Leaving an application in limbo can mean extended forbearance and lost progress toward forgiveness.

5. You refinanced without fully understanding the trade-offs (or haven’t considered it at all)

Refinancing is neither automatically good nor automatically bad.

It can make sense if:

You are not pursuing PSLF or IDR forgiveness.
Your goal is full repayment.
You can secure a meaningfully lower interest rate.
Your emergency savings is solid.

But refinancing permanently removes your loans from the federal system. That means:

No forgiveness programs.
Less flexible forbearance options.
No IDR payment safety net.

We often recommend building flexibility into a refinance by choosing a longer term with the intention to pay extra, rather than locking yourself into the shortest possible timeline.

On the flip side, delaying refinancing when forgiveness is clearly off the table can also be costly if you’re paying higher interest than necessary.

6. You’re not staying up to date on student loan changes

Student loan rules have been changing quickly. If your contact information isn’t updated with your servicer or studentaid.gov, you may miss important notices. If you’re relying only on generic emails, you may struggle to tell what actually applies to you.

Staying informed doesn’t mean reacting to every headline. It means:

Knowing when a change affects your repayment strategy.
Understanding which updates matter for your career stage.
Having a process for revisiting your plan as your income grows.

Why doing nothing is the most expensive option

If any of these signs sound familiar, it’s worth stepping back and reviewing your strategy in the context of your full financial plan. Small adjustments, made at the right time, can save years of payments or tens of thousands of dollars.

If you want help assessing your best path forward, profession‑specific financial planning from SLP Wealth can make all the difference.