<prompt> Human: I have 36k in student loans, consolidated into a federal consolidation loan.Im late on my payments. I was in forbearance until October, and that was my last month of forbearance. This completely fell off my radar. I owe 390 per month, and though I can finally afford that, I cant afford the past due amount. I have other bills that I need to pay, and Im freaking out.I cant send extra every month. I want to switch to a different plan with a lower monthly payment until I get my other debt paid off, which should be by the end of 2018 ironically I have a plan for this debt payoff that is going swimmingly, and then switch to the standard repayment so Im not paying this off into retirement. They want me to pay 3 months of the 390 before they switch me into a lower payment of 191. Is there any way to fix this, or am I going to have to figure out a way to come up with a lump sum of the past due amount?We make too much money to qualify for IBR or income based repayment. We just SUCK with money in general, even though we make more than what we need to live on. Weve got debt, stupid stupid debt that we are aggressively trying to pay down, and a stupid car payment that we have 2 more years on.  <response>: If you make to much for an IBR then you should be able to pay it off. Theres really nothing you can do but pay the man. If youve had loans long enough, like car loans, you can usually call them once a year and skip a payment which gets put to the end of your loans. 