Federal student loan borrowers are reporting a new email from the Department of Education telling them their income-driven repayment application produced an incorrect monthly payment because of an error and that they have to submit an entirely new IDR application to fix it.

The email lands in the middle of the tightest deadline window borrowers have faced in years. The Department began sending 90-day notices to more than seven million SAVE plan borrowers on July 1, which puts the decision deadline for the first wave of them at September 29. Anyone forced to reapply is losing days they don't have.