If you have federal student loans and haven't paid close attention to the paperwork arriving in your inbox this summer, there are two deadlines worth knowing about right now. Miss either one, and you could end up on a repayment plan or interest rate you didn't choose.

The SAVE Plan Exit Clock Is Running

Starting July 1, loan servicers began sending notices to borrowers still on the SAVE repayment plan, giving them 90 days to switch to a legally available plan. Anyone who lets that window close without acting gets automatically enrolled into either the Standard repayment plan or a new Tiered Standard plan, neither of which may match what fits an individual borrower's income or budget. If you're on SAVE and haven't picked a replacement plan yet, that clock has already been running for weeks.

Two New Plans Worth Actually Comparing

Borrowers now have access to a Repayment Assistance Plan, which bases monthly payments on income and number of dependents, alongside the new Tiered Standard option. These aren't automatically better or worse than what you had before, they're different tools that fit different situations, which makes this a genuinely worthwhile moment to sit down and compare numbers rather than letting an automatic enrollment decide for you.

A Rate Discount With Its Own Deadline

Separately, federal borrowers who enroll in autopay by September 30 lock in a 1 percentage point interest rate reduction that runs through mid-2028. That's a real, guaranteed savings on interest costs for anyone carrying a federal loan balance, and it requires nothing more than signing up for automatic payments before the cutoff.

Final Take

Between the SAVE plan exit window and the autopay discount deadline, there are two concrete actions worth taking before the fall: pick a repayment plan deliberately instead of defaulting into one, and enroll in autopay if you haven't already. Both are simple administrative steps, but both come with real deadlines attached, and missing them costs actual money rather than just paperwork hassle.

Written by Deniss Slinkins
Millionaire Core