Date Received: 2023-09-17
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: According to XXXX, once XXXX relief pause on student loan ends, " payment amount will return to what it was before your payments were paused ( unless you've recertified or switched plans since the payment pause began ) ''. Prior to the pause, my XXXX plan was XXXX. I HAVE NOT recertified or switched payment plan and is still currently listed as having XXXX as my XXXX plan. Prior to the pause, my monthly payment was {$190.00}. Around XX/XX/XXXX, I logged in to Mohela and noticed my new monthly payment was listed as {$1800.00}. I sent several messages to Mohela requesting explanation but was told my payment increased because I did not recertify my income in the past several years. I responded that due to XXXX XXXX related student loan pause, studentaid.gov has announced that recertification is not required from the time the pause started until at least 6 months after the pause ends. Therefore, there should not be a penalty to not recertifying my income during the student loan pause ( in fact, not recertifying is one of the criteria for keeping payment amount the same ). Mohela agent was not able to comment further. Several months later, my estimated monthly payment reverted to {$190.00}. Unfortunately since the pause ended, I checked back on my account again and now the monthly payment is again back to {$1800.00} with a due date of XX/XX/XXXX. I called Mohela agent who was not able to provide explanation of why my monthly payment is listed as {$1800.00} when the federal government has announced that it should be the payment prior to the pause if the borrower has not changed XXXX plan or recertified. She was also unable to explain how {$1800.00} was calculated. She attempted to get me to recertify my income over the phone which I refused. She stated that recertification is the only way to fix this mysterious problem on my monthly payment discrepancy, and she's unable to help me further. I called the office of ombudsman and the agent suggested {$1800.00} is the payment on a standard 10 years repayment plan but she does not understand why my monthly payment is now that of the standard 10 years repayment plan when I'm enrolled in XXXX and am still listed as being on XXXX on Mohela 's system. She suggested this might have happened because I missed the annal income recertification deadline prior to the pause began. This is not correct as my last income recertification date was XX/XX/XXXX and the pause began 6 months later. Her only solution is for me to file another income recertification. I'm filing a complaint because according all studentaid.gov 's announcements, my monthly payment should be what it was prior to the pause and no additional income recertification should be required until at least 6 months after the pause ends or, if the recertification anniversary falls before that 6 months period, deadline will be pushed to 1 year later ( in my case, recertification anniversary is XX/XX/XXXX and the pause ended XX/XX/XXXX. Therefore, next required income recertification should be XX/XX/XXXX ). Mohela is violating rules and regulation put forth by the Department of Education as announced by studentaid.gov by arbitrarily changing my monthly payment without just cause and requiring early income certification when such certification should not be required until XX/XX/XXXX.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 76502
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-17
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-15
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: MOHELA is one of my loan servicers. MOHELA allows borrowers to provide special payment instructions when making an additional or partial payment. " To request special payment instructions when making an additional or partial payment, submit your request via ... [ secure message ] '' I provided these instructions to MOHELA via secure message on XX/XX/2023. I said " Hello, I want all one-time payments I make to be applied only to the principal of my loan, and only to my lower-balance loan. Please explain to me as quickly as possible how to do this. I expect an answer soon as loans are now accruing interest. '' I made a payment on XX/XX/2023 with the expectation that these instructions would be followed. The MOHELA website states " If you have standing payment instructions on file with MOHELA please allow XXXX business days after payment ( XXXX ) is posted to reapply the payment according to your instructions. Refer to Submitting Special Payment instructions for more information. '' It has now been XXXX business days. My instructions have not been applied or re-applied to the XX/XX/2023 payment. MOHELA continues to put my loan payments toward interest despite clear instructions not to and clear commitments from them to apply them. MOHELA is not servicing my loans appropriately. I feel this is predatory and they are likely doing this to other borrowers. " High volume '' and incompetence are not excuses. I would like my loans forgiven so I do not have to continue to be a victim of these predatory practices.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: DC
Zip: 20003
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-15
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-15
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXXXXXX I applied for Borrower Defense and opted out of forbearance. on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX I messaged MohelaXXXX XXXX PM Body : Your Question : Good day I am part of the post class with the Sweet case. Does the forbearance automatically show after the Covid forbearance is over? Do you need a copy of my letter? MOHELA 's Response : Thank you for contacting MOHELA, We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Our records do not yet reflect a receipt of a forbearance being applied after the Covid-19 forbearance ends. If you would like to request a forbearance, please respond to this email with the request. If you have any additional questions, please contact us toll free at XXXX. Our hours are Monday XXXX XXXX. to XXXX XXXX., Tuesday and Wednesday XXXX XXXX. to XXXX XXXX, Thursday and Friday XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX. CT. Thank you, MOHELA XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX Body : Your Question : I would like to keep making payments on my loans even while my loans are being reviewed for Borrower Defense, so I do NOT want forbearance applied after the Covid pause. Thank you. MOHELA 's Response : Thank you for contacting MOHELA, We have submitted a request to opt out of the borrower defense to repayment forbearance. Please allow 2-3 business days to process. If you have any additional questions, please contact us toll free at XXXX. Our hours are Monday XXXX XXXX. to XXXX XXXX., Tuesday and Wednesday XXXX XXXX. to XXXX XXXX., Thursday and Friday XXXX XXXX. to XXXX XXXX. CT. I called on Wednesday and spoke with someone because my account was still showing forbearance. She told me it would take a few business days, but I will be out of forbearance. Today I received : A forbearance has been placed to postpone payment on some or all of your loans. Forbearances can be a helpful short-term solution, but they can have negative impacts on your account. Carefully read this letter and the Loan Declaration regarding the status of the forbearance ( s ). If you are participating in an income-driven repayment ( IDR ) plan, you may not be benefitting from the interest subsidy and qualifying payments toward loan forgiveness that you may be entitled to under the IDR plan. You may decline or request to end the forbearance by calling us at XXXX. I messaged them again for waiting on hold for over 20 minutes is frustrating.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MO
Zip: 638XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-15
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-15
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: For the past week since XX/XX/XXXX I repeatedly called MOHELA requesting why my payment amount when from ~ {$500.00} to XXXX per month. I am currently on an income based repayment plan and was automatically switched to SAVE from REPAYE. After this switch the payment amount changed. Multiple people at MOHELA have said it is a glitch without giving any actual information as to why this happened and how it can rectified. The SAVE program if anything should have a lower payment than REPAYE not a 3x higher payment. They kept asking me for my income information over the phone and I refused because I am not scheduled to give my new income recertification until XX/XX/XXXX and I DO NOT want to recertify until I have to. They will not or can not even tell me what information the new payment amount was calculated using. This glitch they keep referring to is given no good explanation or timeline as to when it will be fixed. They said they would submit an IDR request to have the payment switched back to what it was with REPAYE but that should technically not be possible given it does not exist anymore so I am not sure what they are doing. Regardless they have been entirely unhelpful and almost purposely deceitful trying to get my to do a recertification many months before I am scheduled to.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MI
Zip: 480XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-15
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-15
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: I was approved for borrower defense. I have a letter provided by Department of Education. As per approval letter, I am no longer required to make payments while my loans are in discharge process. Per Sweet vs Cardona settlement, loans should be discharged no later than XXXX I uploaded letter to mohela and I also called them and they refuse to put my loans on administrative forbearance stating that Dept of Edu needs to send them proof. I have been trying to resolve this issue since XXXX XXXX XXXX. DOE states that mohela does not require written approval from them for my admin forbearance. Mohela has agreed to put my loans on general forbearance but with interest accruals. This affects my credit rating and finances.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 79928
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-15
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-15
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: Mohela is not accurately accounting for my payment history or PSLF eligibility as it was documented for years under XXXX. As a result, Mohela is demanding payment for loans that should have been forgiven under the PSLF program with the rest of my loans. In XX/XX/XXXX, my loans were transferred from XXXX to Mohela. Under XXXX, 4 of my loans were categorized as Loan sequences XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX all under the Direct Loan Special Consolidation Subsidized Loan dated XX/XX/XXXX. All four loans had the same qualifying PSLF payment history. But Mohela erased the payment history and eligiblity count for Loans XXXX and XXXX. Consequently, my PSLF application was not applied towards loan sequences XXXX and XXXX while the other loans were forgiven. Mohela refuses to provide any proof or justification why they erased my payment history.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MD
Zip: 20877
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-15
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-14
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: I am part of the sweet vs cardonna lawsuit and borrow 's defence has been approved for me. I have been in forbearance for the last six years and my loans have been approved for refund and forbearance until the refund comes. As of XX/XX/23 my loans were put back into payment against the wishes of the Department of Education. When I contacted my servicer they said to contact the borrower 's defense hotline, which I did and they sent a confirmation to my servicer that I was suppose to be in forbearance and they were to discharge my loans. When I checked back with my servicer they still had my loans set up to resume payment as of XX/XX/23 and are refusing to put them in forbearance regardless of what the DOE letter states.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MI
Zip: 48842
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-14
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My loans were consolidated in XX/XX/XXXX ( some loans paid in full at that point ) and the remaining loans forgiven XX/XX/XXXX so my current XXXX loan balance is XXXX. Mohela, my loan servicer, still has the XXXX loans that were paid in full in XXXX, on their account/dashboard and are requesting payment although my loans have been forgiven through the XXXX program earlier this year. I have tried for 2 months through Mohela ( written and phone complaints ) and XXXX complaint ( closed no help ) and they are still on the account, balance of {$240000.00}. XXXX has my loans balance at XXXX for all loans. Please help. ( I attached a copy of the XXXX zero and paid accounts for my student loans as attachment ).
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: FL
Zip: 32303
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-14
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I received an email notification on XX/XX/XXXX advising me that my next payment is due on XX/XX/XXXX. I logged onto the website for Mohela advising that my next payment is due on XX/XX/XXXX. My next payment shouldn't be due until XXXX
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MA
Zip: 01752
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-09-14
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: Unsubsidized loan payment count is totally wrong. MOHELA is showing me as having more than 25 years of payments left, despite the fact that I already have about 10 done. Subsidized payment count is closer to correct. MOHELA can not tell me what payments I can expect to count during the IDR one time adjustment, or why they will happen. They can not tell me what my payment would be on SAVE if I were to switch to that.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MO
Zip: 64068
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A