PSLF Buyback Program: How to Purchase Missed Qualifying Payments

A family medicine physician in her ninth year of PSLF discovers she has 14 months of payments that don't count — her employer wasn't certified on time, her servicer misapplied payments during a forbearance period, and a brief gap between residency and fellowship knocked out another three months. She's staring at a $287,000 balance wondering if she's lost years of progress. She hasn't. The PSLF Buyback Program exists precisely for situations like hers.

This article explains exactly how the buyback program works, who qualifies, what it costs, and how to execute it without losing money or time.

What Is the PSLF Buyback Program?

The PSLF Buyback Program — formally called the PSLF Payment Count Adjustment and Buyback provision — allows borrowers to retroactively "purchase" months that would have counted toward PSLF's 120 qualifying payments but didn't, typically because they were in a forbearance or deferment period during which they weren't making income-driven repayment (IDR) payments.

The program was codified through a negotiated rulemaking process and officially became available in 2024. It is administered by the Department of Education and processed through MOHELA, which now handles all PSLF accounts.

The core mechanic: if you were working for a qualifying employer during months when your loans were in forbearance or deferment, you may be able to make a lump-sum payment equal to what your IDR payment would have been during those months, and receive qualifying payment credit for each month purchased.

This is separate from the one-time IDR Payment Count Adjustment (which ran through 2024 and automatically credited certain historical periods). The Buyback Program is an active, borrower-initiated process requiring an application.

Who Qualifies for the PSLF Buyback Program?

To be eligible for a buyback, you must meet three conditions simultaneously:

1. You are at or near 120 qualifying payments. The program is specifically designed for borrowers who would have already reached forgiveness — or are within reach of it — if not for the missed months. The Department of Education has generally required that borrowers have at least 120 qualifying payments including the buyback months they're purchasing. You cannot use buyback to add payments in the middle of a ten-year timeline; it's a finishing tool.

2. You were employed by a qualifying employer during the months you want to purchase. Every month you're buying must have corresponding qualifying employment. Use PSLF Form (formerly ECF) to certify that employment if you haven't already. Residency programs, academic medical centers, VA hospitals, and most county hospital systems qualify. For a current list of confirmed employer types, see our PSLF Employer List 2026.

3. The missed months were in forbearance or deferment — not in a repayment plan that simply didn't qualify. If you were in a graduated repayment plan or a standard plan that happened to have payments that didn't qualify for IDR reasons, that's a different issue. Buyback applies to periods where no payment was required because you were in forbearance or deferment.

Common physician scenarios that create buyback-eligible gaps:

• Administrative forbearance during loan consolidation
• Forbearance between training programs (residency to fellowship gap months)
• COVID-19 forbearance (March 2020–August 2023) — this is the largest potential buyback pool for attendings
• Servicer-applied forbearance that borrowers didn't request or know about
• Economic hardship deferment during intern year before IDR enrollment

How the PSLF Buyback Program Qualifying Payments Are Calculated

This is where precision matters, because the amount you pay per month is not arbitrary — it's calculated based on what your IDR payment would have been during each specific month you're purchasing.

The Department of Education uses your adjusted gross income (AGI) from the relevant tax year, your family size at the time, and the IDR plan you were enrolled in (or the plan you would have been enrolled in) to calculate the hypothetical payment. For most physicians in training, this produces a surprisingly low number.

Example — Resident Physician: A PGY-2 internal medicine resident in 2021 earning $60,000 with a family of one on IBR would have had a monthly payment around $300–$350. If she was in COVID forbearance for 12 months, her buyback cost for those 12 months is approximately $3,600–$4,200 — to potentially receive 12 months of PSLF credit toward a $280,000 balance.

Example — Fellowship Physician: A cardiology fellow in 2022 earning $72,000 on REPAYE (now defunct, similar to what IBR would calculate) with a $320,000 balance would have had a monthly payment around $420. If she has an eight-month forbearance gap from 2022, the buyback cost is approximately $3,360 to recover eight qualifying months.

Example — Early Attending: A family medicine attending earning $220,000 in 2023, filing jointly with a spouse earning $60,000, with a $190,000 balance on IBR, would have had a payment around $1,800/month. Buying back six forbearance months from that year costs approximately $10,800 — still rational if those six months are what separates her from forgiveness on a six-figure balance.

The math is almost always favorable when the balance is large. According to AAMC's 2023 Medical School Graduation Questionnaire, the median medical school debt at graduation is $200,000, with 25% of indebted graduates carrying more than $300,000. At those balances, even expensive buyback months produce a strong return.

How to Apply for the PSLF Buyback Program: Step-by-Step

The application process is borrower-initiated and requires coordination with MOHELA and the Department of Education.

Step 1: Confirm your payment count is near 120. Log into studentaid.gov and check your PSLF payment tracker. If your count plus the months you want to purchase would equal or exceed 120, proceed.

Step 2: Certify your qualifying employment for the buyback period. Submit a PSLF Form (SF-EFC) covering every employer during the months you want to purchase, if you haven't already. You cannot buy a month your employer can't certify. For hospitals and health systems that have changed ownership or status, see our guide on PSLF Employer Eligibility Changes 2026.

Step 3: Submit a buyback request to MOHELA. As of 2024, this is done via a written request submitted through your MOHELA account. The request must specify:

• The months you want to purchase
• The employer covering each month
• Your AGI and family size for the relevant tax years

Step 4: MOHELA calculates your buyback amount. You'll receive a payment quote within 30–60 days. Do not pay before receiving an official quote — the amount must match the IDR calculation, not your own estimate.

Step 5: Make the lump-sum payment. Payment must be made in a single transaction. You cannot pay in installments. Once received and processed, the qualifying payment count is updated.

Step 6: Submit your PSLF forgiveness application. If the buyback puts you at 120, submit the PSLF application immediately. Processing times have ranged from 30–90 days. Track status on studentaid.gov.

For a full walkthrough of the overall PSLF application process, see our PSLF Application Process Step-by-Step guide.

Strategic Considerations for Physicians

Don't assume the buyback will always be approved. The Department of Education has discretion in the process, and requests covering periods far in the past or involving complex employment situations can require documentation. Keep pay stubs, W-2s, and employer verification letters for every year of training.

COVID forbearance is the biggest opportunity. The 42-month COVID payment pause (March 2020–August 2023) is the largest single pool of potentially buyback-eligible months in PSLF history. If you were employed by a qualifying employer during any of that period, verify whether those months were automatically credited or whether you need to pursue buyback. Many physicians who were attendings during 2020–2023 had their COVID months auto-credited through the IDR Adjustment; others did not.

Filing status matters for your buyback calculation. Your IDR payment — and thus your buyback cost — is based on your AGI. If you filed jointly during the years in question, your spouse's income is included. If you filed separately, only your income counts. The right filing strategy during PSLF pursuit is complex; our article on married filing separately vs. jointly for PSLF covers this in detail.

Refinancing before buyback is an irreversible mistake. Once you refinance federal loans into a private loan, PSLF eligibility is permanently lost — there is no path back. If you have buyback-eligible months, exhaust that option completely before considering refinancing. Our PSLF vs. Refinancing guide for attending physicians walks through how to make that comparison with your actual numbers.

IBR is the current default plan for new enrollees. With SAVE vacated by the 8th Circuit in March 2026 and PAYE closed to new enrollees as of July 1, 2026, IBR is the operative IDR plan for physicians who need PSLF-qualifying payments going forward. Payments under IBR are 10% of discretionary income for new borrowers (those without loans before July 2014) or 15% for older borrowers. This affects what your buyback calculation will look like if you're purchasing recent months.

Don't wait until you're at 119 payments to investigate this. Start the employment certification process early — every year in training, not just at the end. Gaps in employer certification create the exact conditions that require buyback. Regular annual recertification also protects you from future gaps; see our PSLF Annual Recertification Guide for Doctors.

FAQ: PSLF Buyback Program Qualifying Payments

What is the PSLF Buyback Program and who is it for? The PSLF Buyback Program allows borrowers who are at or near 120 qualifying payments to purchase credit for months when they were in forbearance or deferment while working for a qualifying employer. It's designed primarily for borrowers who would already be eligible for forgiveness if not for those missed months. Physicians who had periods of administrative forbearance, servicer-applied forbearance, or the COVID payment pause are the most common candidates.

How much does it cost to buy back a PSLF payment? The cost per month equals what your IDR payment would have been during that month, calculated using your AGI and family size for the relevant tax year. For physicians in training earning $55,000–$75,000, this is typically $250–$450 per month. For early attendings earning $200,000+, it can be $1,500–$2,000 per month. The payment must be made as a lump sum.

Can I buy back COVID forbearance months for PSLF? Yes, in many cases. The COVID administrative forbearance period (March 2020–August 2023) created a large pool of months that many borrowers are eligible to purchase. Some borrowers had these months automatically credited through the one-time IDR Payment Count Adjustment. If yours weren't, a buyback application through MOHELA may allow you to purchase them — provided you had qualifying employment during that period.

Does the PSLF Buyback Program apply if I'm only halfway to 120 payments? Generally, no. The buyback program is intended for borrowers who are at or will reach 120 qualifying payments including the months being purchased. It is not a mechanism for adding payments mid-pursuit. If you're in years three or four of a ten-year trajectory, your strategy should focus on maintaining qualifying employment and IDR enrollment — not buyback.

What happens to the buyback payment amount if I filed taxes jointly with my spouse? Your buyback cost is calculated based on the AGI from your tax return for the relevant year. If you filed jointly, your spouse's income is included in the AGI used to calculate what your IDR payment would have been, which raises your monthly payment — and thus your buyback cost per month. If you filed separately, only your income counts. This is why filing status during PSLF pursuit has real financial consequences in both directions.

Run Your Own Numbers

Every physician's debt situation is different. Use the MedDebt Calculator to model your exact repayment strategy — PSLF vs. aggressive payoff vs. refinancing — with your actual loan balance, specialty, and income.

It's free, takes 2 minutes, and shows you net worth projections by year.

Disclosure: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Loan program details change — always verify current rules on studentaid.gov. MedDebt may earn a referral commission if you refinance through links on this site.