Date Received: 2023-10-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: Hello, The MOHELA Payment Calculator has been down for over XXXX weeks now causing me to be unable to pay off any of my loans. I want to pay off the entirety of XXXX of my student loans, however, I am completely unable to due to MOHELA 's " under maintenance '' Payment Calculator being required to be used to do a loan payoff. I have tried to contact customer service on Monday, XX/XX/23 and Wednesday, XX/XX/23, however, wait times are extreme ( over XXXX hours ) and I have never received a callback despite asking the automated service to have a customer service agent call back. I have looked elsewhere online ( XXXX, XXXX, etc ) and many other borrowers have the same issue. I have interest accruing on a loan I want to payoff because MOHELA 's systems are down, which is frustrating, doubly so that MOHELA has provided no timeline as to when this will be fixed and I am unable to get in touch with customer service. Thank you for your assistance is resolving this issue.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: PA
Zip: 190XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-29
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: I applied for XXXX program on XXXX and it's still pending. Mohela mailed me a bill that doesn't include XXXX, but on website doesn't show payment due. I go to message center and I can't even send a message, and their phone line does not get to a representative for hours. I need to know I don't owe any payments when student loan repayment starts up again in two days. The government needs to provide guidance on this as millions of us are being required to pay again.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: DC
Zip: 200XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-29
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Problem with your payment plan
Consumer Complaint: I initially submitted a request to MOHELA on XX/XX/2023 to switch my IDR plan to the new SAVE plan. They denied my first request for no apparent reason, saying that I was ineligible for the SAVE plan. I submitted a second request, which was also denied, saying that my payment amount would be higher after the switch, which was not the case. I submitted a third request, which was ultimately approved, but the payment amount applied on my account was substantially higher than what the calculated payment was supposed to be. I contacted MOHELA and asked them why the payment amount was so different, and the individuals I spoke to " had no idea where that payment amount came from '' and submitted it to be reviewed and reprocessed yet again. While this was being investigated, I decided to consolidate my loans to take advantage of the limited-time IDR Waiver program in effect currently. As part of this consolidation effort, the application asked me which plan I would like to be on, to which I responded that I would like to be on the SAVE plan. Apparently, MOHELA tried to process the IDR plan request that traveled along with the consolidation request before the consolidation actually occurred, resulting in them denying the request yet again since I " had no eligible loans. '' Based on discussion with MOHELA, this " should never have happened. '' I contacted them another time this week ( on XX/XX/XXXX ) and they said they would have to reprocess the IDR plan request, which may take up to 35 days at this point due to volume. This whole process has been a nightmare and reeks of incompetence. The fact that it's been over 2 months and they have yet to successfully and accurately process a single SAVE plan request I've submitted is unbelievable. Now I'm being told I have to get in the back of the line yet again, which is going to negatively impact my pursuit of PSLF and getting qualifying payments if they have to put my account on a " processing forbearance '' while they learn how to manage the SAVE plan.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: VA
Zip: 22043
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: Back at the end of XXXX I mailed my PSLF form to MOHELA. I never received any sort of communication from them informing me that my application was received or that my loan was being transferred to them or that my application was processed or anything else. I went ahead and created an account with their website anyway. Since the payments are supposed to be starting back up, I logged on XX/XX/XXXX to see if I needed to get anything set up for making payments. When I looked at my applications, the ONLY application form that I ever sent, and therefore the ONLY application form they ever received, was marked as a duplicate on XX/XX/XXXX. How can the ONLY application form that has ever existed for my account be a duplicate? It's apparent that no one is actually looking at what they are working on and are just randomly marking applications as duplicates, probably so they don't have to bother with processing them to save time, which only creates more work for themselves when they have to figure out what went wrong. I then used their website to send them an email on XXXX The website said I would receive an answer within 3 business days. Today, XXXX marks 6 business days, and I have yet to received even so much as an automated response telling me my message was received. So, todayXXXX XXXX, I sent the same exact message again, and I also noted that I would be submitting a formal complaint, as their service has been unacceptable. I want ALL correspondence with them to be in writing, as I simply do NOT trust them to competently handle anything, since I learned from various online forums that this is FAR from a unique problem, and I have no way to record any phone calls with them. Even if I did, it is impossible to get anyone on the phone. My PSLF form was put in the mail before the end of XX/XX/XXXX, so it was mailed into them in time. Now, it is nearly time for me to resubmit the annual PSLF form, and my first one was never even looked at. I will NOT be submitting that form before they process the one sent a year ago, because it would be a very real possibility that that form, too, would be marked as a duplicate. As I mentioned above, I have also seen in various online forums that this is NOT a unique problem. MOHELA has done this to THOUSANDS of PSLF forms. They also seem to almost never give consistent answers to people 's questions, and they take NINETY BUSINESS DAYS, or longer!, to process EVERY FORM. This is entirely unacceptable ; there is no reason for it to take so long, no matter how much corresondence, applications, etc. they are currently receiving. I can't even get my loan to be transferred to them because of this ; I shudder to think what it will be like once they finally are the ones handling my loan. To support my complaint, I have attached 5 screenshots from my MOHELA website account. The first is a screenshot of all forms for me received by MOHELA, showing that only 1 form was ever received by them ( which is correct ), but it was marked as a " Duplicate Form '', despite the fact that there is only 1 form total EVER submitted for me. The second screenshot is of my sent box in my messages area of my MOHELA account, showing the 2 sent message. The third and 4th screenshots are of the messages themselves, XXXX XXXX the message I sent XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX XXXX the message I sent XXXX The fifth screenshot is of my MOHELA messages inbox, showing an empty inbox, clearly attesting to the fact that, despite it being twice the 3 business days I was told to wait for a response, I have yet to receive any sort of response from them.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: PA
Zip: 17112
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I participated in the PSLF program from XXXX. I annually updated my employment status and made over 120 qualifying payments during that time. In XX/XX/XXXX, my XXXX account showed that I had qualified for full forgiveness of all my loans. However, after the switch to Mohela, the account statement showed that I still owed {$10000.00}. When I queried after this, I was told it was because this part of the balance belonged to my husband ( we consolidated our loans in the XXXX ). My husband has worked for the federal government or the military since XXXX so we submitted PSLF forms that proved his qualifying employment. We submitted the forms using the upload tool on the Mohela website, but Mohela doesnt show any record of receiving them. We also mailed a hard copy with a note with no resulting change on the account as shown on the website. However, even though Mohela supposedly didnt receive the PSLF form, the website now shows that we have made 127 qualifying payments on the remaining mystery balance ( {$10000.00} ). During the last 3-4 months, Ive been informed repeatedly that I was required to pay back the balance ( which also changed a couple of times ), and was given three different monthly payment amounts. I have called Mohela multiple times about the issue and been put on hold for no less than two hours each time. Every call resulted in the customer service rep telling me that they are waiting for the federal loan people to approve the discharge and that they will put the account on a forebearance until then. Unfortunately, my account still doesnt show a forebearance and the most recent correspondence from Mohela is that I am still expected to fork out nearly {$1000.00} per month on an {$11000.00} loan that should already be forgiven. In addition to being frustrated that this account has shown that it was qualified for forgiveness for over a year, I am also confused why the monthly payment amount Mohela is demanding is so high for such a small loan balance. In short, this loan should have been forgiven over a year ago, but since the transfer to Mohela, my account is a complete disaster. The company has been so... disorganized? Greedy? Crooked? I'm afraid if I make payments on this balance that I will never receive a refund after the loan is finally forgiven ( if its ever forgiven! ).
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: VA
Zip: 22901
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: I reached out to MOHELA on XX/XX/2023 to apply for a standard 20 yr repayment plan. I was told my application would take 7-10 business days to process. Two months and several phone calls later ( after very long wait times ) my application is still " in process '' and now the bill that was issued is incorrect. It shouldn't take 2 months to process a standard repayment plan application. MOHELA is paid to service federal student loans and they are not doing their job. I shouldn't have to endure horrible customer service and the other financial consequences, for a loan servicer 's poor planning and preparation.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: CO
Zip: 801XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have not received a bill from my loan servicer, MOHELA, though my account on XXXX says my loans are now in repayment. I am very concerned about defaulting on my loans because of their negligence. I attempted to make a payment through their phone system yesterday, but it told me I currently owe XXXX dollars- I know that is not true. I have called them several times over the past month, but it always tells me their wait times are outrageous. Today I called and the system said I would wait 119 minutes. I have to work during normal working hours and I don't have time to wait that long.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: CA
Zip: 94596
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My loans are serviced by Mohela. I had already planned for repayment to resume and had set up auto debit. I received a letter last week stating my loans had been put in administrative forbearance, which I did not request, as this harms me as interest will continue to accrue. I want to resume payment immediately as I am working toward my XXXX payments for forgiveness under PSLF.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 77007
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Consumer Complaint: I have applied for PLSF prior to XX/XX/2022. I have the required XXXX payments and yet done loans showing XXXX payments remaining and XXXX payments remaining. I show XXXX ineligible payments that should be counted towards eligibility.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 77396
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-04
Issue: Problem when making payments
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: Whenever SOFI/Moehla takes the payment directly from my bank account they apply to a different loan and then start calling, emailing and harassing me for my payment saying it is late.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NY
Zip: 11787
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-12
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: No
Consumer Disputed: N/A