Is your student loan going sour? If you can't make payments on your Direct loan for reasons such as unexpected personal problems or poor health and you don't qualify for a deferment, you may request forbearance of loan payments. During forbearance, you may make either no payments or smaller payments than originally scheduled for a limited period of time. You may request forbearance of principal, interest, or both. Note that even if you receive a forbearance for the interest, it will continue to accumulate during the forbearance period and will be capitalized when the forbearance ends.