SLRC / refinance

Income-driven payment estimator

See what an income-driven payment would be, with the formulas applied as the regulations actually write them, and what refinancing out of one would cost you.

Estimates, not financial advice. Check anything that matters with your loan servicer before you act.

What kind of loans are they?
Show what refinancing would cost you2 questions

Federal loans can be forgiven, and their payments follow your income. Refinancing ends both, permanently. Working out what that is worth needs these two.

Who do you work for?
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Parent PLUS cannot use RAP, which changes the answer.

Loans from July 2026 use RAP and the longer Tiered Standard.

Out of 120. Your servicer holds the real count.

Leave at 0 if you have never been on one. These months count toward forgiveness, so omitting them makes staying federal look more expensive than it is.

RAP takes $50 a month off per dependent. A spouse is not one.

Used by IBR, and it is a different number from dependents.

Modelling assumptions

Compares money paid soon against money forgiven decades away.Why this matters.

The result updates as you type, so this button is for when you are done rather than something you have to press. Your figures stay in your browser and are never sent anywhere.

By SinghLast reviewed

The three formulas

RAP

A percentage of your entire adjusted gross income, set by the band your income falls in, divided by twelve, less fifty dollars per dependent, then a ten dollar floor.

There is no poverty-guideline deduction anywhere in RAP, which makes it behave unlike every other income-driven plan. It also makes the band edges hard cliffs: at $100,000 the payment is $750 a month and at $100,001 it is $833.34. Thefull band and cliff table is here.

IBR

Fifteen percent of discretionary income divided by twelve, or ten percent for borrowers with new borrower status, capped at what the ten-year standard payment would have been at election. Discretionary income is your income less 150 percent of the poverty guideline for your family size.

The cap matters for high earners and is often omitted. Without it, a model will show an IBR payment far above the statutory maximum and make staying federal look worse than it is.

ICR

The lesser of twenty percent of discretionary income and a twelve-year fixed amortization adjusted by an income percentage factor. ICR uses 100 percent of the poverty guideline, not the 150 percent used by IBR and PAYE. Describing ICR as simply twenty percent of discretionary income overstates the payment for higher earners with small balances. For them the twelve-year figure is the smaller of the two and is the one that binds, so the uncapped description quotes a number above what ICR actually charges.

ICR is closed to new enrolment and terminates on 30 June 2028. We do not hold a verified current income percentage factor table and the tool applies a factor of 1.0, which is stated on themethodology page rather than hidden.

Two numbers that are not the same number

Dependents and family size

34 CFR 685.209(b)(9) defines family size "for all IDR plans except the Repayment Assistance Plan". RAP instead uses dependents, meaning individuals qualifying under section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code who were claimed on your federal return.

The practical differences: a spouse is not a dependent and produces no RAP reduction, though they do count toward family size for IBR. A dependent you support but do not claim gives you nothing under RAP.

This is why the form asks for both, and it is a common source of error in other tools.

Which plan produces the lower payment

There is no general answer, and anyone offering one is guessing. The pattern is roughly:

  • Larger households and lower incomes usually do better under IBR, because it protects 150 percent of the poverty guideline scaled to family size while RAP protects nothing and offers a flat fifty dollars per dependent.
  • Borrowers whose balance is growing usually do better under RAP, because uncovered interest is not charged and a matching principal payment reduces the balance every month.
  • Anyone near a RAP band edge should look at the cliff before assuming, since a small change in income can move the payment noticeably.

Note also that the lowest payment is not automatically the best plan. IBR reaches forgiveness at 240 or 300 payments against RAP's 360, and months paid under RAP do not count toward IBR forgiveness even though the reverse does count.

Related: RAP in full andwhich plans survive past 2028.

Common questions

How is the RAP payment calculated?

A percentage of your entire adjusted gross income based on which band it falls in, divided by twelve, less fifty dollars per dependent claimed on your federal return, with a ten dollar monthly floor applied last. There is no poverty-guideline deduction, so the percentage applies to all of your income rather than to the portion above a threshold.

How is the IBR payment calculated?

Fifteen percent of discretionary income divided by twelve, or ten percent if you have new borrower status, capped at what a ten-year standard payment would have been when you elected the plan. Discretionary income is your income less 150 percent of the poverty guideline for your family size.

Why do RAP and IBR ask for different household numbers?

Because they use different definitions. RAP uses dependents claimed on your federal return, and a spouse is not a dependent. IBR uses family size to set the poverty-guideline deduction. A tool that collects only one of these will get one of the plans wrong, which is why this one asks for both.

Can my income-driven payment be zero?

Under IBR and PAYE, yes: a computed payment below five dollars becomes zero. Under RAP, no. 34 CFR 685.209(g)(3)(ii) sets a ten dollar minimum, except that the final payment may be less. A borrower with no income owes ten dollars a month under RAP and nothing under IBR.