Date Received: 2023-09-20
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have been on an Income Driven Repayment plan, specifically REPAYE, since 2021. I was automatically moved to the SAVE program this summer, but my original REPAYE payment amount of {$82.00} did not update to the lower SAVE payment. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called and spoke with an agent about this. The agent agreed that his payment should be about {$41.00} on SAVE and said he would submit a request to fix it. It turns out that he submitted an entirely new application, despite me already being in the program. I decided to wait and see what would happen - but then I saw that in my MOHELA portal the payment amount went up even more to {$210.00}, which is almost five times what he should be paying. I called and spoke with an agent who again calculated the SAVE payment amount, said it should be {$41.00}. I was told to wait for the application to be processed and that it would be fixed. The application was again approved, but the payment is again incorrect - {$130.00}. I called today, and was told that the calculation missed my wifes student loan debt even though this number was provided both in my initial application for REPAYE and in the second application for recalculation. They are now doing a third recalculation to lower this payment. I asked her about the interest that is growing and my PSLF payment count due to the forbearance they put me on while I wait. There is no resolution to this despite it being their error. I was encouraged to follow up at the end of XXXX, since this has been ongoing. I am extremely frustrated since this is obviously their error. I was on REPAYE with the correct information, but somehow my information was screwed up while transferring to SAVE. There is no ownership, nor is there any timely resolution being made. I can not afford what they are asking me to pay.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: WY
Zip: 82001
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-20
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: As of XX/XX/XXXX I have made the 120 payments to be eligible for XXXX. According to Mohela, I have to wait 90 business days for the certification form to be processed and another 90 business days after that for forgiveness to actually happen. Furthermore, one must be currently employed with the non-profit organization when forgiveness happens. These delays add almost another 6 months during which one can not seek alternative employment in the private sector, amounting to more than a 10 year commitment as the program advertises.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: IL
Zip: 60586
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: In XX/XX/2023 I received a lump sum payment from my employer in the amount of {$3700.00}. That lump sum payment should have been applied to my payments for the next 12 months or the next IDR date, whichever is sooner. I called over 10 times and sent over 20 messages. However, my payment was NOT applied correctly. I am receiving form emails back saying " You spoke to someone on the phone. '' My payment was applied to interest/XXXX XXXX when no bill was due. The lump sum payment covers more than 12 months ' worth of IDR payments toward PSLF. I need my lump sum payment to be applied correctly, as requested, to my payments without exception. Also, my payment amount was increased under XXXX which doesn't make sense as my income didn't change however no explanation can be provided and the two amounts for the separate portions of the loan do not add together. Finally, my IDR recertification date is not reflected correctly in the account as to what MOHELA states that it actually is. This should be corrected.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: VA
Zip: 22304
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I have 4 loans and 23 of the payments are not being counted because loan services did not calculate payments correctly. Mohela had discard payments from XXXX. I have made 120 payments as a public service employee.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MD
Zip: 20653
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I opted out of the XXXX forbearance program when my loan was with XXXX XXXX. when Mohela took over my student loans they put me into the forbearance. I contacted them and they told me I had to recertify my ibr program to get out of the forbearance. I didn't feel like that was fair but I went ahead and I recertified for the XXXX. this did take my loan out of forbearance. I don't know for how long because the next time I checked, it was in forbearance again. I call customer service again they tried to tell me I had to recertify again I told them I would not and I did not have to because I had already recertified and I opted out of the XXXX forbearance. they got rude with me and said that " well most people do the forbearance '' and I told them I didn't care what most people did I opted out I wanted my loans immediately taken forbearance and put into the repayment because my ibr repayment is {$0.00}. I got a notice yesterday that due to the forbearance program that they put me in against my will against my wishes that I now have to pay them XXXX by XX/XX/XXXX. I am beyond fed up with this as I continue to try to take care of this even though it's not anything that I did wrong. I did all the proper steps. I opted out of the forbearance program. I've recertified my ibr. I have taken care of this student loan for more than 10 years without a problem until I experienced the servicer Mohela. I need them to correct my loan by back dating taking off that forbearance. correct every month for that XXXX that I should have been counted for XXXX and not in forbearance and get rid of the {$7000.00} payment that I have no idea what it's even for.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: AL
Zip: 356XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I hold loans with MOHELA in the amount of approximately XXXX from medical school. In fall of XXXX, I consolidated them together and applied for the PAYE plan. Due to the student loan pause, I held off on making payments, saving so that I would be ready when it restarted. On XX/XX/XXXX I applied to switch from PAYE to the SAVE plan for lower monthly payment and interest subsidy, as my monthly interest is way above what I can afford to pay at this point in Residency. It has been left processing since that day, with no further information from MOHELA. I attempted to call in late XXXX and early XXXX, and was given basically no information after being on hold for almost an hour. The people attempted to reach out to supervisors, and I was passed along multiple times, but no one had an answer. I was eventually told that it is just " stuck '', it is broken, it can not be processed and they aren't sure why. I was told I was " stuck '' on PAYE during the first call, but then in early XXXX I was sent a message stating I was on standard repayment and my first payment would be around XXXX a month. I called back, was on hold again for over an hour, and given the same run-around. This time I was told it is still stuck, but I was transitioned off of PAYE to standard and they weren't sure why, but they couldn't change it back. After an extended time, I was told that I would be placed on forebearance starting in XXXX. When I asked about the interest subsidy, as I should be on SAVE and not having increasing interest with payments, I was told they can not do anything about it till it is fixed. I was told after it is fixed, I may possibly be able to file a complaint to have it adjusted but this is not guaranteed. I am extremely frustrated as I sent in the information over 2 months ago, and they have given me no answer or timeline despite multiple hours and calls. I am also having increasing interest when I should not.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: VA
Zip: 240XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: My husband and I have a direct consolidated spousal loan. We both work in public service. We have well over the XXXX qualifying payments. I applied for forgiveness in XXXX and the portion of loans that came from me were forgiven and we were told my husband would also need to apply to have the rest forgiven. He applied in XXXX of XXXX and waited because we knew processing times were long. 6 months later, he called to check on the progress and was told his application for forgiveness was processing. We waited several more month and called again and were told it was still in process. Following that, our loans were transferred from XXXX to Mohela so after waiting a few months, my husband called Mohela only to be told that there was no forgiveness application on record. So he submitted the forgiveness application form again. When I went online to check on the status, it said the application was cancelled. So I called again and the rep on the phone told me it was cancelled because the name on the form didn't match any existing accounts. He looked into the issue and saw that indeed my husband 's name is attached to the loan and said it was a mistake that they didn't process the application. He said he would have it reviewed and added a note about the issue. He told me to give it XXXX business days to have it fixed but it still says that the application was cancelled. We are beyond frustrated at this point. We having been calling and submitting info for help for about XXXX years now and have gotten nowhere. The problem seems to be with the fact that my husband and I have different last names and the loan is under my name but since the loans came from my husband originally they need his employment verification ( which he has already submitted but they refused them ). Is there anyone that can actually help resolve this situation? We are now at XXXX payments out of the XXXX required ( so XXXX payments over ) and everytime this company says they are going fix the issue, we wait and nothing happens. Now we are looking at payments starting up again and will have to pay over a XXXXXXXX XXXX a month on a loan that should have been forgiven by now. We have called over and over again and can not get anyone to help. We even tried to get an administrative forbearance while they figure it out and although we were told once again that we could get one, that never happened either. Please help! Thank you!
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: WA
Zip: 986XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: Mohela recently moved my student loan account into repayment status. However, the servicer calculated my monthly payment incorrectly when it transitioned my account to the XXXX plan. There is no math on planet XXXX that shows how Mohela arrived at a monthly payment amount of {$530.00}, due XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, my monthly payment was calculated to be {$410.00} under the XXXX plan. I have not recertified my income since that date. Now that the XXXX plan is effective and uses 225 % of the XXXX XXXX XXXX instead of the 150 % figure that XXXX used, the monthly payment should have decreased. That means " gone down, '' for the kind folks at Mohela doing their best to keep up. In addition, my spouse 's repayment increased from approximately {$180.00} to over {$500.00}. Clearly, Mohela has calculated monthly payments incorrectly under the XXXX plan XXXX has not accounted for the appropriate family size *and* has ignored the requirement to prorate monthly payments among spouses when both owe student loans and are on income-driven repayment plans. The Mohela logline that " some borrowers will have a higher monthly payment '' after the XXXX plan recalculation is not an adequate explanation, as demonstrated by the facts above. On XX/XX/XXXX, I used the " Contact Us '' feature at Mohela to request a correction of the repayment amount but I have not received a response.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MA
Zip: 018XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-20
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Don't agree with the fees charged
Consumer Complaint: After transferring my loan from nelnet I contacted Mohela on XX/XX/18 after being on hold for nearly two hours about my payment being incorrect. Under the SAVE plan I was estimated at {$100.00} on their site as well as on federalstudentaid.gov. Theyre attempting to charge me {$280.00} which is payment under a standard non income driven repayment plan. It also lists a different amount under my current repayment plan the customer service representative could only repeat the amount of my loans and read off a script on repayment options, while reiterating that its just an estimate I had that same day resubmitted my application via studentaid.gov and recertified my income through mohela and studentaid.gov which the representative could not answer to me if it was accurate or if it would change it
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: VA
Zip: 232XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX XXXX : Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Educations ( ED ) Office of Federal Student Aid. We have received your inquiry regarding the Federal Direct Student Loan that is currently being serviced by MOHELA. Your concern, as we understand it, is regarding your anticipated refund for your {$70000.00} made on XX/XX/XXXX is not yet received. MOHELAs records indicate the refund was sent to your bank. Your bank returned the payment to the US Treasury. US Treasury refunds are processed within XXXX business days. Student loan interest will resume starting on XX/XX/XXXX, and payments will be due starting in XXXX. MOHELA will notify you before payments restart. On XX/XX/XXXX, ED announced several changes and updates that will bring borrowers closer to forgiveness under IDR plans. These adjustments to accounts include conducting a one-time revision of IDR payment counters to address past inaccuracies and permanently fix IDR payment counting by reforming EDs IDR tracking procedures going forward. This adjustment process has now begun for every borrower account that has at least one Direct Loan or one ED-held FFEL Program Loan . All payments identified to be counted will be communicated to your servicer to make the one-time update to your account. We have already begun reviewing loans that have been in repayment long enough to qualify for IDR forgiveness ( borrowers who have been in repayment for XXXX or XXXX years ). Please be assured we are continuing to identify and notify borrowers who reach the necessary forgiveness threshold of XXXX or XXXX months worth of qualifying payments, depending on the repayment plan and type of loan. Notifications will be sent out every two months until next year, at which point all borrowers who are not yet eligible for forgiveness will have their payment counts updated. If this review results in you being eligible for IDR forgiveness, you will be contacted and given the chance to opt out of receiving the forgiveness. As your servicer, MOHELA will notify you directly after your forgiveness is processed. We have provided some information on the one-time adjustment below. More information is available at https : //studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment. The account adjustment will count time towards IDR forgiveness, including : any months in a repayment status, regardless of the payments made, loan type, or repayment plan ; XXXX or more months of consecutive forbearance or XXXX or more months of cumulative forbearance ; any months spent in economic hardship or military deferments in XXXX or later ; any months spent in any deferment ( with the exception of in-school deferment ) prior to XXXX ; and any time in repayment ( or deferment or forbearance, if applicable ) on earlier underlying loans that are part of a consolidation loan. Generally, repayment status includes any periods where the borrower was enrolled in a repayment plan. Repayment status does not include periods in forbearance, deferment, bankruptcy, or default. However, certain periods of forbearance, deferment, or default will count towards forgiveness in the circumstances described above. Any borrowers with loans that have accumulated eligible time in repayment of at least XXXX or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if they are not currently on an IDR plan. Borrowers will continue to see the XXXX related forbearances counted towards IDR and PSLF forgiveness. At this time, we can not confirm if you will receive immediate forgiveness, how much additional time may be included as qualifying repayment, or when approximately your loans may be forgiven. All months your account has been in forbearance due to the COVID-19 emergency will count towards your eventual discharge. Student loan interest will resume starting on XX/XX/XXXX, and payments will be due starting in XXXX. MOHELA will notify you before payments restart. Thank you for your feedback. Sincerely, Federal Student Aid -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Original Message -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 77520
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A