Income Based Repayment on Loans?

[11Q13]

So apparently I'm behind the times, and Obama passed some bill last year establishing income based repayment. Since I functionally have an AGI of $0, I don't have to pay any of my loans right now. I called up loan holders and began to set this up, however I ran into something peculiar when I called up my Perkin's loan company. They told me that they don't do income based repayment... I was under the impression that it was a law that was passed, and that they don't have the option to not do it. Are they trying to swindle me like every other loan company because they know it will decrease my payment, or can they actually opt out of the income based repayment?

[za232]

I looked into this some too. They are correct that Perkins does not qualify for IBR. However, if you consolidate all of your loans (including Perkins) with a federal direct consolidation loan, then your consolidation loan DOES qualify... (I think)

http://www.finaid.org/loans/ibr.phtml