Forbearance
If you are not eligible for a deferment and you are unable to make your scheduled payments but intend to repay your loan, your loan holder may allow you to temporarily postpone or reduce your payments. A forbearance will provide you relief from paying your student loan payment for a limited time and will help you maintain a good credit rating.
Unlike deferment, whether your loans are subsidized or unsubsidized, you will be charged interest during forbearance. If you are not able to pay the interest during your forbearance period, keep in mind that your loan balance will increase because the interest will continue to accrue and this will increase your total debt.
As is true with deferment, in most cases you are not automatically granted a forbearance; you must formally request one from your loan holder. You might have to provide documentation to support your request.
You might be granted a forbearance if you are:
willing but unable to make your payments due to personal problems
serving in a medical or dental internship or residency
adversely affected by military mobilization or local/national disaster
serving in a position under the National Community Service Trust Act of 1993 (PLUS loans are not eligible)
teaching and pursuing the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program
making payments on certain federal student loans that are equal to or greater than 20 percent of your monthly gross income
This is not a complete list of conditions that might qualify you for a forbearance. You will need to contact your loan holder for more information.