Having a portion of your debt forgiven can offer big relief, but it's not the only debt relief route you can take.

With debt forgiveness ... repayments according to your income and family size. After 20 or 25 years of repayments, the ...

which ties monthly student loan payments to earnings and family size, and offers a shorter path to loan forgiveness.

Debt forgiveness has consequences. For example, you may have to pay taxes on the amount forgiven. Contact your credit card issuer to learn about your options if you're about to miss a payment.