Fill Out Unemployment Deferment Request Online

What the unemployment deferment is used for

During the deferment you are not required to make payments of principal or interest. Subsidized loans do not accrue interest that you owe; unsubsidized loans do, and unpaid interest may capitalize afterward, except on Perkins Loans, which never capitalize and which carry a six month post-deferment grace period.

The deferment is granted in stretches that end six months from the begin date for Direct and FFEL borrowers, or twelve months for Perkins borrowers, so staying on it requires periodic renewal requests until you hit the cumulative maximum.

Who qualifies

There are two routes through Section 2. The first is simple: you are receiving unemployment benefits and attach documentation showing your name, SSN, and eligibility for the benefits during the deferment period. The second route is for job seekers not on benefits, and it requires that all of these are true:

• You are diligently seeking, but unable to find, full-time employment in the United States, in any field and at any salary or responsibility level
• You have not turned down any full-time offers because you were overqualified, an answer that disqualifies Direct and FFEL borrowers but not Perkins borrowers
• You have registered with a public or private employment agency if one exists within 50 miles of your address; school placement offices, temp agencies, and job websites do not count
• For extensions of an existing unemployment deferment, you made at least six diligent attempts to find full-time work in the most recent six months

How to fill out the form

Complete your identifying information in Section 1, answer the Section 2 eligibility items in order, then in Section 3 set the begin date, which defaults to the date you became unemployed or dropped below full-time work unless you give a later date. There is also a checkbox to make interest payments during the deferment.

If this is your first request for your current stretch of unemployment and you are not attaching benefit documentation, the deferment can begin no more than six months before the date you submit the request.

How to submit it

Return the signed form and any documentation to the address shown in Section 6 of your copy; if no address is printed, send it to your loan servicer. Submit a separate request to each loan holder if your loans are held in more than one place, and note that spouses with a joint consolidation loan must each qualify and file separately.

Your loan holder may apply a forbearance while processing the request or to cover an existing delinquency, and you must tell it right away when you find full-time work.