'SAVE' student loan forgiveness plan under threat from courts, Trump

You could start getting big student loan bills again. The SAVE plan is being challenged in court, and experts say even if it survives that challenge, the Trump administration will likely terminate it. All of it as debt is snowballing. Borrowers in Illinois hold more than $62 billion in federal student loan debt. This one was very special to me. Cathy Broomduke remembers her accomplishments of being the first in her family to graduate college with a master's in human resources. But the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood resident also thinks about her $75,000 in federal student loan debt. It's like having a house that you can't physically enter, but knowing you have to pay for it. She's one of millions enrolled in the SAVE program and had brought her loan payments from about $900 to $300 a month and put her on a faster track to loan forgiveness of the balance. But the Trump administration could do away with it. Because it's an executive order and there's a new administration coming in, that SAVE payment plan is likely going away. Attorney Ray Kaplan helps borrowers like Broomduke manage student loan forgiveness. Kaplan says complicating matters further with the SAVE plan are the current court challenges. We're waiting on that decision from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. But in the meantime, what the Department of Ed said was, OK, rather than continue to have borrowers making payments under the SAVE plan, we're just going to put everybody into this SAVE forbearance, which is nice because you get a break from making your monthly payments. So now all of the payments are paused. But if SAVE is squashed, the full monthly payments will come back. If SAVE is going away, what do people need to know? What people want to know is that SAVE is not the only option. It probably was the best option, but there are other really good payment plans available. If you're employed by a government or not-for-profit organization, you might be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. And anyone can apply for an income-driven repayment plan. Those can also bring costs down and offer a path to forgiveness of the balance down the road. If you are paying under an income-driven repayment plan, it's either 20 years is the term or 25 years. And no matter what your balance is under IBR, income-based repayment, the entire loan balance plus all of the interest will be forgiven by operation of law. And so that's a very unique thing with federal student loans. Kaplan also says you should switch over to an income-driven repayment plan if you are like Lindsay Brockman. Now, with the SAVE program, I cannot get a second mortgage. Because Brockman's loan payments are currently under forbearance under SAVE pending that court challenge, she says she's being denied a loan to make home repairs. When you're applying for a mortgage, they want to know what your monthly expenses are, right? So if you're in forbearance, they're not able to see what that monthly student loan payment is going to be. Meantime, the veterinarian is also worried about her financial future as she chips away at $370,000 in student loans. I love what I do, but I sometimes wonder, was it worth it? Broom Duke says she's planning on getting into an income-driven repayment plan if SAVE goes away. I think about this loan almost every day. There's also another option to completely erase federal student loan debt. Under the law, you can apply for borrower defense relief. This can potentially give you complete loan forgiveness if your school was ever accused of misconduct or accused of misleading students about job placement rates. Watch breaking news on YouTube. Subscribe to ABC 7 Chicago Eyewitness News.