<prompt> Human: I owe 93k on my student loan. Heres the kicker and why Im here.The loan itself is, so far as my mother and I can tell, 100 in her name with no cosigner. I pay the monthly bill as its mine. So far so good. My parents about 8 or so years ago declared bankruptcy. The student loan that I was paying the fees on one day vanished from the system it was in. For half a second, I thought this debt was absolved. But no. The loan was moved to a holding company ECMC. I found out that it was in a holding state until the bankruptcy was over. I still paid money every month toward the loan and I saw the principle drop. Good I said no different in life. All should be well.Until today.My parents financial affairs are in order and the loan was moved back to the original company it was with. Now heres the kicker. There is a letter stating that 82k of interest accrued in the years it was on hold, so now my loan amount is almost doubled what it used to be. The monthly payments are only 100 more than I pay now 500600 but the term is up to 24 years. I was around 10 more years left before I got the new today. I essentially lost all my work towards student loan payment ending.I am crushed.Aside from trying to refi to a lower interest its somewhere in the 6-7 range, I dont know what the hell to do. My mom doesnt even have a job anymore. I can make the payments,but those years feel like dog years.Has anyone had this happen? Seen this happen? Have any thoughts? I could use any help or suggestions.Thank youAnon student loan guyPS - theres like a little part of me that thinks, she has no job, loan whole in her name, what if we just dont pay it. I dont know the legal there but Im sure it has to be a bad idea.  <response>: This is all general information and not intended to be specific legal advice.What youre describing here sounds an awful lot like a Parent Plus loan through the old Federal Family Education Loan FFEL program. If thats right, then your mom may have access to income-driven repayment IDR plans. Your moms payment may be 0, depending on her income if she files taxes jointly, the joint income. For example, an individual filing taxes alone with no income will always get a 0 payment. If you or your mom can afford to pay the loan off, IDR may not be the best option, as it will cost more over time -- but it lowers monthly payments, and keeps the loan out of default and away from hurting your credit.Assuming this is a FFEL Parent Plus loan, she will have to consolidate the loan to access IDR. Consolidation repays the old loan with a new loan at roughly the same value and interest rate, but now in a new federal program with access to income-driven repayment plans. The federal government runs an online application at under the Repayment Consolidation tab. More detailed information about consolidation and IDR is available at under the Repayment tab. One thing to note is that a Parent Plus loan is only eligible for Income-Contingent Repayment and Income-Sensitive Repayment, but thats generally a horrible program, and then only if it is part of the newer Direct program and not the FFEL program. Thats what consolidation fixes for old loans. The other repayment plans either are not available to Parent Plus loans PAYE, REPAYE, IBR or are hot garbage Income-Sensitive Repayment. There are some public resources for information about student loans you can consider too. You could contact your federal representatives Senate and House, as they may have constituent services with knowledge of student loans. Same for your state attorney generals office -- they may have a similar program. They may be able to talk to ECMC or the loans present servicer to help answer a why payments went up; b whether something went wrong and if so possibly how to fix it; and c what future options are. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also runs a complaint program for student loans and lists FAQs, but Im not very familiar with how helpful it is. All of these are free services to help get you information and try to fix problems. Two last things: You mentioned refinancing for a lower interest rate. If the loan is refinanced with a private lender, it loses all IDR options forever. There is no way to turn a private loan back into a federal loan, and few private loans have options similar to IDR. And second, everything you can do to the loan, you can do for free. If someone approaches you or your mom offering a benefit or service for a fee related to a federal student loan, it may be a scam. 