COVID-19 FINANCIAL RELIEF
We’re here to help you navigate this financial crisis
Summer can help you make sense of new guidelines and keep you on track for savings—both today and over the life of your loans. We’re offering our tools for free to help borrowers in response to COVID-19.
COVID-19 FINANCIAL RELIEF
We’re here to help you navigate this financial crisis
Summer can help you make sense of new guidelines and keep you on track for savings—both today and over the life of your loans. We’re offering our tools for free to help borrowers in response to COVID-19.
Summer makes it easy to start saving
Maximize your savings
Stay informed and make sure you’re saving today with new zero-dollar payments and interest fee waivers.
Compare your options
Enroll in programs that fit with your long-term goals—and start getting credit today toward forgiveness.
Sign & submit—all online
We’ve streamlined the process and will even double-check your servicer forms to help reduce costly mistakes.
Guided enrollment tools to maximize your savings
Check your eligibility and track your progress
By syncing your loans, in just a few seconds we can determine which federal benefits you qualify for.
Syncing also allows you to track all your federal loans in one simple dashboard.
Lower your payments
Based on your income, you could qualify for lower monthly payments—even down to $0 if you’re out of work.
We’ll guide you through checking your eligibility and enrolling for an Income-Driven Repayment plan.
Already in IDR and need to recertify? You can do that with Summer too.
Get loan forgiveness
If you work in a public sector or non-profit career, you can qualify to have your remaining debt forgiven after 10 years.
We’ll help you erase your debt through Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Summer makes it easy to start saving
Check your eligibility
We’ll check different savings programs to see which ones you’re eligible for.
Compare your options
Get a rundown of the programs that best fit your situation.
Sign & submit—all online
We’ll double-check your forms to help reduce costly mistakes.
Guided enrollment tools to maximize your savings
Check your eligibility and track your progress
By syncing your loans, in just a few seconds we can determine which federal benefits you qualify for.
Syncing also allows you to track all your federal loans in one simple dashboard.
Lower your payments
Based on your income, you could qualify for lower monthly payments—even down to $0 if you’re out of work.
We’ll guide you through checking your eligibility and enrolling for an Income-Driven Repayment plan.
Get loan forgiveness
If you work in a public sector or non-profit career, you can qualify to have your remaining debt forgiven after 10 years.
We’ll help you erase your debt through Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
BORROWERS HELPING BORROWERS
How does Summer work?
We typically partner with organizations to guide their members through student loan repayment with premium tools, phone consultations, and application assistance.
To support borrowers who are affected by the Coronavirus outbreak, Summer is offering free access to our savings tools to all borrowers, until May 1, 2020.
How does Summer work?
We partner with paying organizations to guide their members through student loan repayment with premium tools, phone consultations, and application assistance.
Interested in using our tools? Talk to your employer about partnering with Summer. In the meantime, join the waitlist for early access to our savings tools.
We’re here to help you become debt-free.
Our team draws on years of experience to simplify your student loan experience. Our unique approach comes from both our own experiences as borrowers, and from our partnerships with leading institutions like Yale.
“My situation is frustratingly complex with many types of loans. It’s been remarkable to have Summer in my corner helping me with a customized plan, saving me nearly $20,000 this year! I couldn’t have done this alone.”
Corry P.
"Summer was a ray of hope for us at a time when we were feeling completely overwhelmed by our family’s large amount of student debt. We truly appreciated having Summer on the line with us when we called our loan servicers to discuss the many complicated plans."
Sue and Tom P.
“With the information that Summer provided, I was able to reduce my interest rates and expect to save nearly $10,000 over the life of my loan.”
Peter S.
"I have had major anxiety about my accumulated student loan debt and interest. I was thrilled with how easy to manage and pay down my loan with Summer's help."
Jennifer C.
"The Summer program is educational and helpful. It helps me understand my student loans. I wish I knew about Summer when I first took out the loans in 2005 because I would have understood the whole process 100% better and signed up for a better deal."
Clare P.
“Summer is the TurboTax of student loans. The platform took a weighty, overwhelming and convoluted decision making process and helped me break it down, step by step.”
Norma G.
We’re here to help you become debt-free.
Our unique approach comes from years of experience working in student loan policy and from our partnerships with Yale and other leading institutions.
More importantly, we’re borrowers too. We know what it’s like to deal with student loan debt.
“My situation is frustratingly complex with many types of loans. It’s been remarkable to have Summer in my corner helping me with a customized plan, saving me nearly $20,000 this year! I couldn’t have done this alone.”
Corry P.
"Summer was a ray of hope for us when we were feeling completely overwhelmed by our family’s student debt. Trying to navigate the government’s confusing repayment plans was like opening a can of worms. We truly appreciated having Summer on the line with us when we called our loan servicers. Thank you Summer!"
Sue and Tom P.
“With the information that Summer provided, I was able to reduce my interest rates and expect to save nearly $10,000 over the life of my loan.”
Peter S.
"I have had major anxiety about my accumulated student loan debt and interest. I was thrilled with how easy it is to manage and pay down my debt with Summer's help."
Jennifer C.
"Summer is educational and helpful. It helps me understand my student loans. I wish I knew about Summer when I first took out the loans in 2005 because I would have understood the whole process 100% better and signed up for a better deal."
Clare P.
“Summer is the TurboTax of student loans. The platform took a weighty, overwhelming and convoluted decision making process and helped me break it down, step by step.”
Norma G.
COVID-19 Resources
We’ve done the homework on all the acronyms and regulations so you don’t have to.
An overview of the provisions of the bill and what they mean for student loan borrowers in repayment.
The provisions in the CARES Act apply to “federally held” student loans. So what does that mean? We’ll break it down by each loan type.
There are a few cases in which borrowers will need to contact their servicers. We outlined them to make it easy to figure out your next steps.
DID YOU KNOW?
50% of borrowers qualify for federal income-driven repayment plans and less than 20% are enrolled
We’re here to help you conquer your debt.
Frequently asked questions
Summer helps you identify, compare, and enroll in the best repayment and forgiveness programs based on your unique loan situation.
Before we submit it to your servicer, Summer reviews each and every application document to check for potential rejection reasons and to avoid servicer mistakes. This helps avoid timely and costly application rejections and issues. (If your loan servicer makes a mistake or rejects your application, it can set you back months—or sometimes up to a year—to make the correction.)
Imagine filing your taxes without the help of an accountant or tax software—that’s how it can feel to sort through the student loan landscape on your own. And that’s why Summer is here to help!
Summer was created by a team of student loan borrowers who experienced first-hand the complexity of the student loan repayment process and knew there had to be a better way. Since 2017, we’ve been creating tools to help borrowers reduce their monthly loan payments by enroll in savings and forgiveness programs.
No. We are offering open access to our tools and resources to borrowers affected by COVID-19.
Summer is a public benefit corporation with a mission to help student loan borrowers manage the burden of debt. We partner with paying organizations (like financial institutions, employers, and unions) to guide their members through student loan repayment with premium tools, individual consultations, and application assistance.
COVID-19 is having unprecedented financial, social, and health impacts across the U.S., and many borrowers are struggling at this time. We are doing our part to help alleviate this burden.
The CARES Act is federal legislation for economic relief. It includes provisions like stimulus checks, small business loans, updates to unemployment, and changes to student loans. The benefits for qualifying student loans include a halt on payments and interest for federally held student loans. Both the payment freeze and interest waiver have been extended until December 31, 2020.
If your loans are federally held and qualify for the benefits in the CARES Act, then you don’t need to make payments right now! Your loans also won’t accrue interest during this time.
To lock in lower monthly payments when the payment suspension is over, you can use Summer’s income-driven repayment tool to compare plans and choose the one that’s right for you.
It depends on what type of loans you have! Most federal loans issued after 2010 qualify. Summer’s loan sync tool connects to Federal Student Aid so that you can see all of your loans in one place and make sure you qualify. Our team of student loan specialists can also help with any questions!
Even if you don’t have to make payments right now, you can enroll in income-driven repayment (IDR) to lock in lower monthly payments in 2021. IDR plans calculate your monthly student loan payment based on your income. If you currently don’t have income, your monthly payment could be $0.
You can use Summer’s IDR tool to compare plans and choose the one that’s right for you.
Yes, you can keep making loan payments if you have a stable income and want to pay off your loans more quickly. Because qualifying loans aren’t accruing interest right now, it can be a good way to make a dent in the principal of your loans. You can read more about optimizing payments on our blog.
If you recently lost your job or had a significant reduction in income, enrolling in an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan could lower your monthly payments.
Income-driven repayment is an umbrella term referring to several federal repayment plans that all have monthly payments calculated based on your income and family size. If you’re out of work, your monthly payments could be as low as $0.
Enrolling in IDR is a great way to free up cash that you may need for groceries and other important items. Per the recent government announcement, interest will not accrue on your student loan balance during this time. If you’re still seeing interest accrue, the interest waiver should be applied automatically and will be retroactively applied to the date of the announcement: March 13, 2020.
Enrolling (or staying enrolled) in IDR has several distinct benefits. Income-driven repayment plans will help ensure that your monthly payments—even if reduced to $0—will count towards IDR forgiveness and programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
While your application is being processed (which can take several weeks), you can also contact your servicer and request a temporary deferment or forbearance if you can’t make a payment that’s due soon. Many servicers have limited resources and staff right now. We encourage you to reach out via email so there is a written and time-stamped record of any request to your servicer in addition to calling.
If you are already enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan and your income recently decreased, you can recalculate your repayment plan to lower your monthly payments. You do not need to wait until your recertification deadline to do this if your income has changed.You can use Summer’s tool to submit the form and lower your payments.
If you are fortunate enough to be working in a stable, salaried job and you’re able to make your student loan payments, you should continue doing so in your current plan. If you have private student loans, this may be a good time to think about refinancing them. The Federal Reserve recently lowered interest rates, which means that you may qualify for a lower interest rate on your loans. If you’ve already refinanced your loans, you may be able to do so again for an even lower rate!
You can find more information on optimizing your loan payments on Summer’s blog.
