President Joe Biden’s new student loan forgiveness backup plan, called SAVE, aims to halve most borrowers’ payments on undergraduate loans.

Any borrower with a federal loan in good standing is eligible, according to the White House. And anyone enrolled in REPAYE, the existing pay-as-you-earn program, will automatically be rolled into SAVE.

A direct application website will go online later this summer, according to the White House. Borrowers who want to get started now can enroll in an existing Income-Driven Repayment plan and should automatically be rolled into SAVE.

Some changes will go into effect this summer for borrowers on SAVE, according to the White House, including:

• A pause on payments for people who make less than 225% of the federal poverty level. That means you will not owe loan payments if you are a single borrower earning $32,800 or less or a family of four earning $67,500 or less in 2023.
• People who make their regular monthly payments will not have to pay additional unpaid interest. That means that if $70 of interest accrues on your balance each month, but your payment is set at $50, you will not be charged the remaining $20.

The White House claims the new plans will bring debt relief to millions. It says many borrowers will see their monthly payments slashed, and people making less than $15 an hour will not have to make any payments.

The SAVE program is likely to come under harsh political and legal scrutiny. It’s also not clear whether loan servicers are prepared to update millions of accounts.

The U.S. Department of Education will push for the debt forgiveness program under the authority of the Higher Education Act, a different strategy than last time. That federal rulemaking process is time-intensive and likely will take months, if not longer.

“This new path is legally sound,” Biden said Friday. “It’s going to take longer, but, in my view, it’s the best path that remains to providing for as many borrowers as possible with debt relief.”

Importantly, Biden’s SAVE program doesn’t press pause on current payment plans.

Unless and until borrowers get a notice that they are on a SAVE plan, they should plan to resume their current federal payment plan this fall. The SAVE program doesn’t have a clear rollout date, but the White House says that people who apply for an IDR plan this summer should be processed and approved in time for the first federal payment due date this fall.