Date Received: 2023-11-03
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: Hello. I am a long-time XXXX XXXX XXXX who is dealing with many mistakes from MOHELA that are preventing me from getting PSLF loan forgiveness. I have sent in all necessary paperwork, consolidated all loans, and recertified my qualifying employment each year for years. I have worked at this qualifying school since XXXX, and I have made more than the required 120 payments, so my loans should be forgiven. MOHELA has made mistakes and has delayed correcting them since my loans were transferred to them from XXXX. MOHELA and/or Federal Student Aid needs to remedy this mistake. My loans were marked as forgiven and closed, and then for no reason, they were reset to reflect only 10 qualifying payments. I should have been forgiven in XXXX. I ask that you please help remedy this situation as soon as possible. I want to continue to serve as a teacher, and I need this to be resolved for my own financial and personal well-being. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do on my end. Please help me remedy this situation so that I can move on with my life.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: GA
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-03
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My account was put into forbearance and I have been unable to get an explanation from MOHELA. In addition, I submitted a request through their internal messaging system on XX/XX/23 asking when my PSLF would be completed as I am at 120 payments. Its now XXXX and Ive not had a response and my account is on forebearance.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: RI
Zip: 028XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My entire monthly payment of {$1200.00} was applied to interest only. Nothing was applied to the principal. My loan servicer is MOHELA and this practice, to my knowledge is illegal. My account has not been placed in administrative forbearance. I submitted an official complaint through their process as well.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: CA
Zip: 93012
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I chose to pay off the total amount of my loan. The website said to call the companies number to pay off and to request a pay off letter. I tried calling several days for several hours at a time. I could not reach anyone and my interest was increasing every day. So I paid my loan online, according to the amount listed on the companies website and the federal loan website. As my loan was processing, interest was continuing to increase. I called and finally reached someone after 3 hour wait time. The person on the phone told me that any additional interest would be removed after my payment finished processing. After my payment went through, it still showed a balance of interest. This meant my loan was not yet paid off and I wouldn't receive a " paid in full '' letter. I tried to contact the phone number three days in a row but was on hold until the company closed for the day. I finally chose to pay off the interest so that my account could be " paid in full '' and not have any outstanding balance. The company mishandled my payment, as it showed the amount due as being under " principle '' of the Student Loan Gov website but under " interest '' on the company website. I believe I accrued interest that should not have been charged by company and I was forced to pay additional funds because of lack of communication.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: IL
Zip: 60616
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/28 I wrote to Mohela why the money wasn't pulled out from my checking. They sent me the generic paper which states it can take up to three days. If I make the payment myself then Mohela will still take out the original auto payment. Which will be my entire paycheck and will bounce everything. So I waited and kept looking for the payment to be withdrawn Now today XXXX my account says no pending payment and now says past due. I did NOT and have not received any correspondence from them about what is going on. Do I pay it manually or are they going to take the money. My first message I did say I am NOT paying late fees. I just wrote to them. Like I told them, I have enough stress in my life and adding this is upsetting and ridiculous. I just need to know what is the issue with the XXXX payment and NOT send me a generic letter.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MA
Zip: 015XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I was given incorrect information from MOHELA regarding if I should consolidate my student loans to get the highest payment count to have all of my loans forgiven. I had a total of XXXX direct loans with different payment counts ranging from XXXX. I questioned if I needed to consolidate my loans in order to have all of them forgiven because I was concerned about XXXX of the loans having only XXXX payments. During a call with MOHELA in XX/XX/XXXX, I was told since all of my loans are Direct Loans they would receive the highest payment count. I also addressed the issue again with a supervisor in XX/XX/XXXX whom I never heard back from after he needed to get my files from XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX out of XXXX loans got discharged after reaching the XXXX-payment requirement. The loan that didn't get discharged only had XXXX payments. I had already left my qualifying employer ; therefore, I was unable to get the additional XXXX qualifying payments to have the remaining {$3500.00} forgiven. I paid the balance, but had I been given the correct information from MOHELA, I could have consolidated the loans to get the highest payment count tp get the {$3500.00} forgiven with the other loans.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: FL
Zip: 33172
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: With the restart of loan payments and being a member of XXXX, I called MOHELA to ack about recalculating my monthly amount. The agent in the phone helped me to submit a request for recalculation and submitted a one month forbearance for me while the request was processed. She said to check back in XXXX as it was a one month forbearance only and I would need to request an additional month or two if my paperwork was not processed. I recently received a statement saying I didnt pay the > {$400.00} owed in XXXX per my regular statement and that I additionally owed for XXXX and have an outstanding balance of >> {$800.00}. I will call again Monday to attempt to correct.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: IN
Zip: 46321
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Problem with your payment plan
Consumer Complaint: At the end of XX/XX/XXXX I called MOHELA to update my employment status ( I was unemployed since XX/XX/XXXX and struggling to find a new job- now employed as of XX/XX/XXXX ) and to inquire about the XXXX plan before enrolling. Aligned with media, Department of Education, and Biden Administration messaging on the plan, the MOHELA agent confirmed there is 0 % interest under the XXXX plan, that I can pay more than my monthly payment without losing this benefit, and that my loans would be placed into the XXXX plan in XX/XX/XXXX. At that point, I decided to enroll/apply. The agent walked me through the online application. At XXXX point, there was an option to adjust a forbearance payment for the following month. I inquired about this and the representative said to keep it at $ XXXX and did not provide counsel regarding that it is placing my loans in a voluntary forbearance period which makes all outstanding and accrued interest in that period eligible for capitalization after 6 months even though I asked about what the forbearance amount meant. After a few weeks, I noticed my plan hadnt been switched yet and still showed my monthly payment amount pre-pandemic payment pause. I called MOHELA again to ask about this. That agent corrected me on the 0 % interest details. They stated that interest does accrue and that the government subsidy just pays the difference between my monthly payment and the monthly interest accrual amount to prevent additional interest from being applied to my balance. I acknowledge that this is an improvement to help stop runaway interest, BUT it means that anything I pay is applied to monthly accrued interest ( which is $ XXXX a month, then outstanding interest, then my principal balance ). So I am still struggling to make my payments to my student loans mean anything and as a result, Im discouraged from paying anymore than I need to pay. Furthermore, they indicated that my XXXX plan has yet to be approved and wouldnt go into effect until XXXX or XXXX ( now confirmed to go effective XXXX ). As a result, Id have an additional 2 months of interest accrued. When I mentioned what I had been told by the other agent, they could only apologize for the incorrect information I was provided. I also asked about how to go about updating my income once I start a new job and was told I was not required to do so as it would automatically update based on tax information in 1 year. Despite this, I plan to start making payments as soon as I can now that I have started a new job. Even though they will make impact at all. I sent an electronic message to MOHELA on their website asking for details on the forbearance and resulting interest capitalization I would not have agreed to had their agent communicated this to me in response to my question when I applied in XXXX. I have not heard back after a few weeks. During the pandemic payment freeze, I knew making payments would be an opportunity to pay down outstanding interest, but it was also a chance to increase my saving ( for a house down payment and general saving ). That savings ended up paying for part-time courses in a different field that would help increase my salary and work opportunities as well as an out of state move for a better paying opportunity at the additional high cost of longstanding ( 8 year ) relationship. I had looked into refinancing through private methods in the past, but am declined due to my income to debt ratio, even with a co-signer. At this point, I am forced to live with my mom as a XXXX with a XXXX XXXXXXXX with median pay for my field/position in order to make somewhat meaningful student loan payments. There is no hope of buying a home anytime in the next XXXX years ( because of savings and I refuse to pay an additional bump in my mortgage rate just because I have student loans ). No hope of marriage ( because I cant get someone else tied into my debt trap ) and no hope to ever have kids because I struggle to support myself due to the student loan debt. My student loan debt trap has literally derailed my life plans. As a student, all my mandatory debt counseling and reassurance from educated and financially savvy parents led me to believe that my student loan repayment options would be reasonable, my loans will be paid off, and I would be able to buy a house, get married, and have kids. This is far from the case.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: IL
Zip: 605XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I need to file a complaint against my student loan servicer Mohela. I have both subsidized and unsubsidized loans currently in forbearance. I want to pay the interest, but they won't let me specify which loan to apply the payment to. As a result, one of my loans is continuing to compound interest. The first time I called on XX/XX/XXXX, it took over two hours for a callback, and I spent almost three hours on the phone, including an hour waiting for a supervisor. The representative suggested online payment allocation, but their website clearly states that it's not possible to target subsidized or unsubsidized loans online. It says one must call or submit a standing payment, which I have done. Once I got ahold of a supervisor she assured me they could submit a request to split payments evenly between both loans, covering the interest and then splitting the remaining amount to the principal of both loans. It took an hour for the supervisor to process this. However, after a couple of weeks, I made another payment which was only applied to a single loan. This payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX. On my next call ( XX/XX/XXXX ), there was no callback option, and I waited for over two hours to get through. The representative didn't seem to have clear notes from the previous call ( XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX ). When I asked if she saw the notes from the supervisor I spoke with the first time I called and the request for my payments to be split evenly, she said, " I'm sorry, there is no request for that, and no standing payment instructions on the account. '' She went on to say that I could use the website to allocate payments to the individual loans. I had to politely correct her and explain to her what the payment page states on their own website. I expressed my frustration with the situation and she assured me that she would be able to apply my last two payments appropriately. However, she put me on hold, and I waited for over an hour. I thanked her for that but raised the concern of future payments. She insisted that I needed to submit an online form to ensure online payments were split evenly after she had no idea about not being able to target my loans directly, I explained I already did that and sought confirmation for future payments. She put me on hold again to consult with a supervisor, and upon returning, she stated that the form for the standing payment instructions wouldn't work after she claimed this was what I needed to do. She claimed I needed to make a minimum payment, even though my loan was in forbearance. I explained there is no minimum payment, as my loan is still in forbearance, and my goal was to cover interest while in forbearance and make additional principal payments after covering the interest. I then asked why the previous supervisor I spoke with didn't mention this and assured me that everything was in order. I requested to speak with another supervisor. However, she put me on hold, I waited for over an hour and never returned. I later found out that their offices closed while I was waiting on hold, and no one addressed my questions. To make matters even more confusing, I later noticed that the representative did apply for one payment correctly that was made on XX/XX/XXXX, even though she initially claimed she couldn't because I didn't make the minimum payment. However, she processed this without returning to the call to address my questions or concerns. What's even more perplexing is that she only processed it for one payment, not the two payments mentioned previously. This has left me even more bewildered and frustrated, as I still haven't received answers to my questions or had my issues resolved.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: AZ
Zip: 85027
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Need information about your loan balance or loan terms
Consumer Complaint: Mohela won't tell me if they are processing my teacher loan forgiveness ( not pslf but the teacher one ) form or when it will be processed. The website said it would be processed within 10 business days but it has been longer than that.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: KY
Zip: 402XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A