Options

Hi all, I was hoping to get the community's advice before I make the decision to switch out of SAVE on my way to PSLF. My situation is that I graduated in 2019, and had a job where I made little enough that my payment was $0. Then, COVID happened so payments were paused. I believe I was moved into SAVE from REPAYE and because of the lawsuit and income recertifications being continually pushed back, have not had to re-certify my income. So my plan had been to ride out the SAVE litigation while having no payment and then buy the months back later.

Now that SAVE litigation has ended, I have a bunch of questions: Is it accurate that these months won't count for PSLF and are not able to be bought back? Does it matter if the settlement is approved or not/will that affect what ultimately happens for our buyback ability? Is it accurate that I'll ultimately be able to buy back all the months during SAVE litigation?

If I'm not longer in a position where I can buy back the months post-litigation later and I'm ultimately going to need to get on a new plan anyway, I'm thinking it makes sense to choose a new plan ASAP so I can start my count again, despite that meaning I'm giving up my $0 payments (it's been a great run). With all the changes I'm just not sure how to approach it. Is IBR the cheapest for now, and then we all move over to RAP once it begins in July? I just want to make sure I'm thinking about all the options correctly and would appreciate any insight or things I might not be thinking about. Thank you!