He paid off his student loans at 71 — months later, he was told 15 payments didn’t count: ‘They clawed it back’

In November 2025, Knierim’s Federal Student Aid dashboard showed he had met all obligations for student-loan forgiveness and no further payments were needed. He retired soon afterward, but a few months down the line, the relief came undone.

“I thought I was done, they gave me that notification that I was done, and then they clawed it back,” Knierim said, according to Business Insider. “I didn’t know where that came from, or what to do,” he added. Now, his loan servicer is asking him to pay at least another 18 months of debt at around $470 monthly, International Business Times reports.

Knierim had taken the student loans to put his children through school, and at least 10 years of public service at Metra was supposed to absolve him of the loan’s $62,000 balance.

Moneywise reached out to Knierim for comment but didn’t hear back in time for publication.

Why the Department of Education rescinded its offer

The U.S. Department of Education, according to a Forbes report, publicly confirmed that it deliberately reversed and rescinded some student loan forgiveness credits under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program to correct what it described as system errors.

To qualify for student loan forgiveness, you must meet the PSLF program’s conditions, including making 120 monthly payments, or 10 years. These payments must also be made while working full-time for qualifying organizations like government agencies and not-for-profit organizations.

When Knierim made his payments years ago, his loan servicer incorrectly logged 15 of them as “qualifying” toward his PSLF count. Based on that faulty data, the system automatically determined that he had hit his payment milestone and issued him an official congratulations.

Knierim, who was on an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan, was unaware that those 15 payments he had made were under the Temporary Expanded PSLF program and fell below the required amount under his income-driven repayment plan, and neither the system nor his servicer caught the error.

Months later, amidst reports of similar issues across the program, federal authorities audited accounts to clear up systemic coding errors, and Knierim’s account was flagged.

This led to the loan forgiveness status being stripped and his account pushed back into active repayment. In Knierim’s defense, he says his record is spotless. “I have a flawless payment history,” he said. “I have never missed a payment, and I paid what they told me to pay.”

He has since disputed and withheld the new payments, which, according to Business Insider, has led to his credit score falling by over 200 points, with a notice warning that his account is delinquent and at risk of default.

Here’s what to learn from Knierim’s story

Knierim is now in a tight spot, as he must care for his sick wife and can’t come out of retirement to take on a full-time job to keep repaying the loan. His experience points to a few steps worth taking if you are also pursuing student loan forgiveness.

For starters, don’t rely entirely on the Federal Student Aid dashboard to track your repayment progress — in case of a system glitch or reset. Instead, keep your own payment receipts. You can also download or take screenshots of payment counts, forgiveness credit and any relevant system messages like the discharge notice Knierim received. These will come in handy if you’re ever in a dispute with your loan servicer.