(Mohela Student Loan) Pointer

(Mohela Student Loan) Pointer is an independent study guide and calculator for people dealing with U.S. federal student loans. It is unofficial: not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to MOHELA, the U.S. Department of Education or Federal Student Aid. There is no login, and it cannot see your account, make a payment or submit anything for you. What it does instead is explain how federal student loans work and do the arithmetic on figures you type in, offline, with nothing leaving your phone.

What the app does

The simulator is already filled in when you open it. Four sliders — balance, rate, extra payment and income — and everything recomputes as you drag; there is no Calculate button anywhere in the app. Two payoff curves share one chart, two scenarios sit side by side with the difference called out rather than left for you to subtract, and the answer is written as one plain sentence too: Adding $50 a month finishes this 4 years 1 month sooner and saves $4,288 in interest. Every assumption is listed underneath.

Nine more calculators cover the rest:

• RAP payment — the new Repayment Assistance Plan: income bracket, dependents, the $10 floor, and the balance forgiven at 30 years.
• IBR, PAYE and ICR — discretionary income from the 2026 poverty guidelines, all three compared.
• Fixed plans — Standard, Tiered Standard and Extended priced against each other.
• Extra payment — what an extra amount buys in months and dollars.
• Interest and capitalisation — daily accrual, a grace period, and what capitalising costs.
• Auto Pay saving — what the 1% reduction is worth, two ways.
• Consolidation rate — the weighted average of up to four loans, rounded up to the eighth.
• PSLF progress — where you stand against 120 payments.
• Borrowing limits — the 2026-27 annual, aggregate and lifetime caps, and the loan fee.

Around them sit twelve chapters in the order the loan happens, from who holds your loan as against who services it, through interest, the plans and the 1 July 2026 changes, to forgiveness, consolidation and scams. Also inside: all 8 repayment plans with terms, eligible loans and the catch on each; 17 forgiveness, discharge, deferment and forbearance programmes; 51 questions answered, 47 terms explained, 26 checklist items; search across chapters, answers and definitions at once; and 17 official links, each opened with the address visible.

What it does not do

This app is not a lender and not a servicer. It cannot sign in, look up a balance, make a payment, change a due date, enrol you in Auto Pay, submit a form, or tell you your PSLF count. It does not lend or disburse money, cannot process or check an application, and reaches no account at all. It will never ask for your FSA ID or a password. For anything that touches your actual loan, use the servicer's own site or StudentAid.gov — the app links you straight there.

Key facts about the programme

• 1 July 2026 reshaped repayment: two new plans arrived, borrowing caps changed, Grad PLUS ended, Auto Pay moved to a 1% reduction, and SAVE ended by court order.
• Income-driven payments come from discretionary income, which depends on the published poverty guidelines and household size.
• The Repayment Assistance Plan has a $10 minimum payment and forgives the remaining balance at 30 years.
• PSLF is counted in qualifying payments, 120 of them, not in years of employment.
• Interest accrues daily, and unpaid interest can be capitalised — added to principal, after which it earns interest itself.

The facts come from published sources named in the app: the servicer's help centre, StudentAid.gov, Federal Student Aid rate announcements and the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines. Where a rule is not published in full, the app says so. There is no account and no server of the developer's own, nothing you type is sent anywhere, and saved data can be cleared in Settings; adverts come from Google AdMob, which collects a device advertising identifier as the privacy policy sets out. Every figure is an educational estimate, not a quotation, and nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice. This app is independent and unofficial: for your real balance, your real payment and anything you must submit, go to the servicer's own site or https://studentaid.gov