SAN DIEGO — More than 8 million people have already applied for student loan forgiveness and the Department of Education is expecting millions more.
However, the online application is still under a short beta test, many seeking forgiveness are having trouble accessing it. Others still have questions on when the department plans to contact them for eligibility which is leaving a door open to scammers.
President Joe Biden’s one-time student loan forgiveness application is now online, and it's expected to provide debt relief to nearly 43 million borrowers.
On Monday, President Joe Biden spoke about the application process during a speech at the White House.
“Today, I'm announcing how millions, millions of people working in middle class folks can apply for and get this relief,” said Biden.
It was first announced in August that millions of student loan borrowers may be able to receive $10,000 or more in student loan forgiveness— if you have earned under $125,000 a year in income, or less than $250,000 for couples.
However, with trillions of dollars expected to ease financial debt to so many borrowers, scams are already targeting those seeking relief from the program —making current college students concerned to apply.
Which is why experts are warning borrowers on how scammers are targeting people.
“People are being contacted through email, text message and even social media saying that hey here’s the application to apply, there’s going to be an official way that this happens,” said David McClellan, the CEO and President of Social Catfish, a company dedicated to preventing online scams through reverse search technology.
McClellan says the Education Department will contact borrowers directly after they apply. “Emails that come out make sure that those are coming from you know government resources. If there are third parties that are authorized typically, they’ll have authorization on their website,” he said.
According to the Department of Education the online application is simple and should only take a minute or two to complete.
Borrowers will simply have to enter basic contact information and personal details and must certify that they meet the income guidelines.
Currently, the initiative is facing numerous lawsuits, if any of these lawsuits are successful it could lead to delays.
if you need to fill out the application, we have a link.
WATCH RELATED: Student loan relief coming to millions in the U.S. (August 2022)