Is a student loan forgiveness offer by phone or email a scam?
Unsolicited student loan forgiveness offers are almost always scams. Genuine forgiveness programmes are administered through official government portals — never by cold call.
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Explanation
Student loan relief scams target borrowers with promises of instant forgiveness or reduced payments in exchange for a fee or your loan servicer login credentials. They may claim to be affiliated with the government or your loan servicer, use official-sounding names, and reference real government programmes to add credibility. The campaigns surge whenever forgiveness is in the news, because genuine policy changes create exactly the confusion — and hope — that these operations feed on.
The two things they ask for map to two different frauds. An upfront fee is advance-fee fraud: legitimate forgiveness and income-driven repayment programmes are free to apply for directly through your government's student loan portal, so the fee buys nothing that was not already free. Your servicer login is worse — with it, a scammer can change your contact details so you stop seeing warnings, redirect correspondence, harvest the personal data in the account, and in some schemes divert your payments while your loan quietly goes delinquent.
Some operations also push you to sign a power of attorney or third-party authorisation on the first call, which lets them act on your loans without you. Decline all of it. Check your eligibility yourself on the official portal, deal with your servicer directly, and if you have already paid a company or shared credentials, change your password, notify the servicer, and report the company to your consumer protection agency.
Common red flags
- Upfront fee required to process forgiveness or reduced payments
- Caller asks for your federal student loan login or Social Security number
- Promises guaranteed forgiveness regardless of your loan type or employment
- Pressure to sign a power of attorney or third-party authorisation immediately
What to do now
- Do not pay any upfront fee for loan relief
- Check your government's official student aid website for legitimate programmes
- If you gave login credentials, change your password immediately
- Report the offer to your national consumer protection agency
Frequently asked questions
Are there legitimate third-party companies that help with student loans?
Some legitimate non-profit credit counselling services exist, but they are accredited by recognised bodies and do not charge upfront fees. Always verify accreditation independently.
The caller referenced a real forgiveness programme by name. Doesn't that make them legitimate?
No — citing real programmes is the standard credibility trick. Real programmes never require a paid intermediary, so anyone charging to enrol you in one has told you what they are regardless of how accurate their programme knowledge sounds.
I gave a company my loan servicer login. What should I do first?
Change the password immediately, check that your contact details and bank information in the account are unchanged, and call your servicer to flag the account. Then revoke any authorisation you signed and report the company.