 TITLE: What Is Income-Based Repayment? CONTENT: Are There Downsides to the Student Loan Income-Based Repayment Plan?\n--------------------------------------------------------------------\nIBR can provide much-needed relief to federal student loan borrowers who are struggling to get by, and if your income doesn't increase much over time, you may even qualify to have a portion of your student loan debt forgiven. However, there are also some disadvantages to consider before you apply:\n*   **Longer debt term**: Instead of the standard 10-year repayment plan with federal loans, your repayment term will be 20 or 25 years, depending on when you first started borrowing federal loan money. If 10 years sounds like a long time to be in debt, the idea of doubling that time (or more) may not sound too appealing.\n*   **Interest**: Because your repayment term will be extended to up to 25 years, you'll end up paying more in interest than if you were to stay on the standard plan. Your payments may not even be enough to cover the accrued interest, which means your student loan balance may grow over time.\n*   **Taxable forgiveness**: While you may qualify to have a portion of your debt forgiven after your repayment term ends, that amount will be taxable as income. Depending on how much it is, you may end up with a sizable tax bill, which you'll need to plan for, so you don't end up in debt to the IRS.\n*   **Recertification requirement**: You'll need to remember to recertify your income and household size every year to continue to have your payments based on your income. If you forget, your payments will go back to what they were before until you provide the necessary information. END