Date Received: 2023-05-11
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/2022 I reached out to Mohela to get a refund of the payments I made during the Covid student loan payment pause. At the time of my payments my account was with XXXX, however the loan has since been transferred to Mohela. Unfortunately I do not have documentation of each payment now that I can no longer access it on the XXXX website, but the total is over {$4000.00}. Upon my first call Mohela gave me a figure that matched my own calculations. Mohela originally quoted that I would receive the refund in 4-6 weeks. When that didnt happen I called back and was quoted 90 days. When that didnt happen I called again and was told there were no updates or an approximate timeline. When I called today the call was immediately disconnected ( 5 times ) after I stated the purpose of my call. I have never been contacted by Mohela in regards to this issue.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: VA
Zip: 23222
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-11
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-11
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I initially applied for PSLF during the Waiver period last year. I then updated my non-profit employer from XXXX. I had an issue where my employer ( a non-profit public hospital ), was being flagged as a for profit. This was corrected in XXXX. During that same month, my Waiver credits were applied to my account, giving me 55 PSLF payment credits. I have waited for updates on my account, as I watch my colleagues seem to breeze through the process, with a handful already receiving forgiveness. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called at XXXX. The representative was quite thorough and found that 28 payment credits were missing for : XXXX - XXXX XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX I was a public school teacher at the time - PSLF certification was submitted and is attached to show what I submitted to account for these date ranges. The representative submitted a review on my behalf to reconcile those missing 28 payment credits. She told me that I need to wait 14 days for feedback I was anxious and called again on XX/XX/XXXX. It looked like nothing had happened yet following the request for review. On this day, this representative contacted her Supervisor, who tried figuring out why waiver credits were missing for date ranges listed above. The Supervisor also saw no reason for this and submitted yet another Review to try and reconcile the missing payments. I believe that whomever counted the payment credits, may have mistakenly only counted one of the two separate occasions I worked for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I worked there twice. First from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, and then I went back and worked from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. I have attached both work certifications to show what I submitted to Mohela. I feel that I continue to wait - call - told to wait some more. This has been a cycle. I would appreciate if the waiver credit for my 2nd time as a teacher were counted.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NJ
Zip: 07083
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-11
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-10
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Information belongs to someone else
Consumer Complaint: Nine ( 9 ) erroneous and/or fictitious tradelines are being reported by XXXX XXXX as being furnished by MOHELA. This complaint is being sent to you in response to a tradeline/credit item that is listed on my XXXX XXXX consumer disclosure sent to me on XX/XX/2023, XX/XX/2023, and XX/XX/2023. This notice is sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and consumer credit protection of Texas Business & Commerce Code Chapter 20, and debt validation is requested. See Attachment - This is NOT a request for verification or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above-named Title and Section. I respectfully request your offices provide me with competent evidence that any student loans serviced by your company have been transferred to another and not 100 % paid off through discharge. At this time, I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major credit bureaus XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, all erroneous, fraudulent, fictitious and/or negative information found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent constitutes such a violation and legal action has or will be brought against you for the following : Violations of the FCRA Violations of the FDCPA Violations of Texas Business & Commerce Code Defamation of Character Injurious Tort and other damages. Also, during this debt validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will remedy this with any and all legal options. Any listing of any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated should be immediately removed. If your office fails to respond to this debt validation request, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit report, and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately. Best Regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 75115
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-09
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Need information about your loan balance or loan terms
Consumer Complaint: I have been attempting to apply for the PSLF program since XX/XX/XXXX. First with XXXX XXXX who kept kicking my application back for various reasons. When they closed, my loans were transferred to XXXX XXXX. They referred me to MOHELA for all of my PSLF needs. I am an employee of the state of Texas. I flat out qualify for their program. The issues are as follows : XX/XX/XXXX - application received, processed. Indicated that a notice had been sent, but this was not true. I was required to reapply for PSLF as MOHELA stated that I had an outstanding loan consolidation application and instructed me to contact XXXX. XXXX XXXX had incorrectly told me to reapply for loan consolidation. XXXX indicated that I did not have any outstanding applications and let me know that they had closed the application and canceled it as my loans have been consolidated since XXXX. I had to reapply to the PSLF program and they said that it would be assigned for review. Never got an update. XX/XX/XXXX, application received, processed. Indicated that a notice had been sent, but this was not true. My application was again kicked back due to this unprocessed consolidation application that does not exist. I had to apply for another review/appeal and resubmit my application. At that time, the support staff told me that my application looked perfect and that there should be no reason that it was denied again. XX/XX/XXXX - I contacted MOHELA as I had not heard anything regarding my previous appeal. I spoke with two representatives that day. My application was once again on hold due to the nonexistent loan consolidation application. At this point, I had not received a single letter or email from MOHELA regarding ANY of my applications. Per the support staff, there were no notes on my account related to the previous review or application and there was no documentation in my activity section. I was told that there is no formal notice indicating anything until your loans are fully transferred to MOHELA. When you apply for PSLF, your loans are automatically transferred to MOHELA. ( This is not true ) She stated that I would get notification of approval or denial when that happens. Once they look at your loans, they process the application. My application was submitted for supervisor review. But it was indicated that they could not provide me with any sort of reference number or proof that my case was being reviewed and she would not provide me with a name or ID of the person reportedly conducting the review. It was stated that a supervisor had to manually request my loan transfer. She indicated that I would be contacted by someone, in some capacity in 7-14 days. This never happened. I was also told to resubmit a portion of my application because there could be potential issues. This was immediately closed as a duplicate application. XX/XX/XXXX - I signed in to look at the status. It shows that the loan consolidation application is STILL pending. I contacted XXXX and it literally does not exist in their system. They do not understand why MOHELA has this in their system. StudentAid.gov has no open or pending applications or cases for me. My loans have been and are still consolidated. Currently, my PSLF application is on hold due to the consolidation application. They keep saying that I applied for loan consolidation and that my loans were not financed within 60 days. I have no idea what this means. They are also saying that they are in the middle of trying to verify my employment. My application was signed TWICE by an HR manager in my agency. I do not know what else they want. My calls disconnected three times and not a single person called me back even though they ask if they can and verify your phone number. I am on hold for the second time today. I have been on THIS call for an hour. I am unable to speak to a supervisor or anyone that can explain anything to me. I have been attempting to apply for PSLF for over a year now. XXXX XXXX gave up on everything once they decided not to renew their contracts and now all of the work is being piled on MOHELA. Every single time I call, I get a different answer to my questions, no one knows what is going on and they literally have misinformation posted on their website. I applied before the XX/XX/XXXX deadline to have ALL payments reviewed and counted, including some periods of forbearance counted. None of this has happened. MOHELA will not communicate with consumers or process applications or update their website, but they want us to pay them for our loans. This entire experience has been unacceptable. I am concerned about future dealings with this company.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 78704
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-10
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Information belongs to someone else
Consumer Complaint: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NC XXXX XXXX You are in Direct Violation of The Fair Credit Reporting Act. Mohela/ DEPT Of ED Account # XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX account # XXXX, and XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX Account XXXX XXXX has violated several of my rights. 15 U.S.C 1681 section 602 A. Clearly states that I have the right to privacy. 15 U.S.C 1681 Section 604 A Section 2 : It also states a consumer reporting agency can not furnish an account without my written instructions. 15 U.S.C 1666B : A creditor may not treat a payment on a credit card account under an open-end consumer credit plan as late for any purpose. Remove these late payment and update this account immediately as you are in direct violation of serval laws under The Fair Credit reporting Act.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NC
Zip: 28208
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-10
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: Summary of Events Overview The crux of this matter is that MOHELA errantly sent two checks totaling {$49000.00} to a now defunct organization without my approval or consent. In so doing, they sent checks into the void that got cashed and they now claim that I owe them that money, despite this being their mistake. To make this right, I demand that the balance of my account be reset to the rightful amount, being {$13000.00}. A reduction of {$54000.00} from the current amount of {$68000.00}. The full summary of events is as follows. Original Loan Amounts My original balance with MOHELA was {$100000.00} at original principal. This amount went up as some of these loans accrued interest over the years they were held by MOHELA. XX/XX/XXXX - I refinanced my federally held student loans with XXXX. After paying off what I could of the MOHELA loans, I had a balance of {$58000.00} remaining. While interest rates were good, I chose to refinance with a non-federal institution - XXXX. This process went smooth and nothing went wrong. XX/XX/XXXX - After the Student Loan Forgiveness plan was announced, I had friends telling me that, since I had paid down my federal loans in the period of the pandemic, I could call into my federal loan servicer ( MOHELA ) and request a refund of {$10000.00} ( the maximum that I could be forgiven under the loan forgiveness plan ) and then that {$10000.00} would be forgiven if the Student Loan Forgiveness plan were to be enacted. I called in to MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX to request the refund of {$10000.00} so that amount would be forgiven when the Student Loan Forgiveness plan went into effect. While on the phone with the MOHELA representative, I explained that I was seeking a refund to a voluntary payment made during the pandemic of {$10000.00}. I did not want more than {$10000.00}, as {$10000.00} was the maximum that could be forgiven. When I explained this, the representative was happy to oblige and told me that others had been doing the same. She told me I would see the {$10000.00} in my bank account in the next 30 days or so. XX/XX/XXXX - Around 30 days after this, I was surprised to start receiving several small payments from the Department of the Treasury into my bank account. These deposits totaled {$3800.00}. I was a little confused why they didnt go all the way up to the {$10000.00} I requested. But I decided to wait to give it a few more days since I had initially been told it would be 30. A few days later ( not sure of exact date ) I got a check in the mail from the Department of the Treasury for {$65000.00}. This came as quite a surprise, as I had only requested {$10000.00} to be refunded. I can not remember if I called in to ask about the amount at this point and what I should do with it, but I believe I did. At this point, I logged into my MOHELA account and noticed that the total balance it said I owed was now up to the total amount I had received, plus an additional {$49000.00}. I was super confused because I didnt know where that money had gone and I was attempting to pay it back to MOHELA XXXX minus the {$10000.00} I had requested. After calling in to MOHELA multiple times and waiting on several hours ( approx 6 ) of holds, I finally got through to someone who explained to me where the other money was. Since I had refinanced, that money had been paid back to XXXX. I was directed by MOHELA that it was now my responsibility to reach out to XXXX and get them to pay back the {$49000.00} that MOHELA had errantly paid them. I asked if MOHELA could do this, since I was just the borrower and didnt have relationships with these other financial institutions, but they told me it was my responsibility. I was upset at this, since I had only requested {$10000.00} and now was being tasked with hunting down the money that I did not request and was errantly paid to XXXX. When I called XXXX, I learned that XXXX no longer existed. They had been replaced by a different company, XXXX XXXX, who now held my loans. I explained the situation to them and they said that there was little they could do, but they would do a full audit and see if they could track down the checks. They ended up not being able to hunt down and the checks and said that they were not showing in their systems as having been cashed so they were unwilling to write the check back to MOHELA. I reached back out to MOHELA to explain the situation to them. After many more hours of waiting on hold, I was told that they would have to do some digging to see if the checks were cashed and that they would get back to me. I finally received a response on XX/XX/XXXX that the checks had in fact been cashed. But I couldnt see any details. I was told that I would need to take this proof back to XXXX and ask them to recut the checks to MOHELA to make up for the amount that MOHELA had errantly paid them. I protested and asked that they do this themselves, since I was not well-suited to be the one driving this matter forward. But they told me I was responsible to do so, so I did. I took the checks to XXXX and explained what I had been told by MOHELA. XXXX then directed that they would do further research into the matter and see what they could learn. About a month later, they called me back and told me that they didnt have a record of the checks but could clearly see they were cashed. They suggested I call XXXX XXXX, the bank that was listed on the check as having cashed it, and see who had cashed it. I was extremely frustrated at this point as there was no way anyone at XXXX was going to tell me who had cashed the checks since I was listed nowhere on the checks. But even so I did it. When I called, I was told that I could not be furnished that information since I was not on the check or an account holder and I would need to contact the account holder. XX/XX/XXXX - Then I reached back out to MOHELA to try and get the whole matter resolved. They told me that again, they would do research. Instead of wait, I decided to try and get both MOHELA and XXXX on the phone at the same time. In the course of so doing, I was continually told that I had requested the full refund, which was flatly false. I had requested only {$10000.00} to be refunded. I was never informed that I could only receive all payments made or no payments made as a refund at any point during my initial call with MOHELA. And, even if I had been, they still errantly paid {$49000.00} to a company that no longer exists and are holding me accountable for their error. After hours, I was finally able to do so and asked them to work this out so I could get on with my life. XXXX claimed they couldnt find the money because MOHELA had sent the check incorrectly to a now-defunct organization. MOHELA claims that none of that matters and that I owe them the money. After all of this, I asked what the next step was after being escalated to their corrections department at MOHELA. The representative told me that the time had come for litigation, because they would not expunge the debt until forced to do so and XXXX remained unwilling to pay. I can not believe that a student loan servicer told me that I would have to sue them in order to right my balance and make up for their multiple misdeeds in this entire process. As a result of all of this, my credit score has taken a hit for having an extra {$49000.00} of debt that I do not have. In addition, I have wasted countless hours, had to take time off from work, and more to deal with this. Not to mention the stress and anxiety this has all caused me so far. On top of it all, MOHELA still will not expunge the {$49000.00} that they show I owe until I sue them to do so. My MOHELA balance now shows that I owe {$68000.00} to them. Which is not the case. Im not sure where this interest is coming from, but the maximum I would possibly owe to them would be {$18000.00}, but even that does not make sense. I paid them back all but {$10000.00} of the check they wrote me and kept the additional {$3800.00} that was paid to me in direct deposits. As such, I should only owe them {$13000.00}. Attached to this complaint is a summary of events with images and a copy of the checks that MOHELA sent to XXXX showing they have been cashed.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: CA
Zip: 90066
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-08
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: Mohela has been completely unresponsive. I was initially confused about the TEPSLF form and process for certifying past employment that was deemed to qualify for PSLF. I filled out a form awhile back thinking I needed to just to certify my current employment and submitted it when my loan was still with XXXX. Then I realized I could get PSLF credit for a past position and resubmitted the form certifying that employment to Mohela on XX/XX/2022. I heard nothing from them, my payment counts have not been updated ( not even to reflect my current pay count outside of the TEPSLF, and when I look online it says the form submitted is a " duplicate form. '' I was concerned that they would not review the form since it was a duplicate and wanted to talk with someone about it. I contacted them several times and most of the time the phone would disconnect after I sat on hold for 30+ minutes. I finally talked to someone who said they would take a look at the form soon but they would review it even though it says duplicate form. It has now been six months since I submitted that form and nothing has come of it. This is extremely frustrating because if they approve my past employment my loans will be forgiven in just a few months and it's important for my financial planning to know if this is going to happen or not. I realize they have probably just halted everything pending the Supreme Court case but the issue I am wanting addressed is outside of the Biden loan forgiveness plan. Now when I go to the Mohela site to check the status of my TEPSLF it says " a duplicate application was processed as cancelled. '' This is so frustrating because as I mentioned in my initial case description, when i finally was able to talk to someone in the fall they indicated that my form would be reviewed even though their system was classifying it as a duplicate form. I also believe that if my past qualifying employment is counted that my loans should have already been discharged, making this matter a little more pressing than I had initially considered. I just wanted to provide this additional information in case it is helpful. I tried calling Mohela again several times but I truly think their phone system is now set up to make it impossible to reach a live person. Thank you so much! I submitted a complaint with the Department of Education in XXXX and it says it is still open but I have not heard anything from them.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: IA
Zip: 52245
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-08
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I believe Mohela has mishandled my student loans and my eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. They have erroneously counted my qualifying payments. According to their website, every month has counted as qualifying for TEPSLF between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX which is XXXX, however, they only list XXXX in my qualifying payments. Additionally, My consolidation loan was disbursed in XXXX, however no payments were counted prior to XX/XX/XXXX. All payments have been on time. I began employment at The Ohio XXXX University XX/XX/XXXX. All employment has been verified. I filed for TEPSLF in XX/XX/XXXX, was then transferred to Mohela. spoke 3 times to Mohela representatives who assured me the 36 months would be counted, but they were delayed in counting TEPSLF-compliant payments. I ask the 36 months to be counted as verified which brings my count to XXXX qualifying payments for the program.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NM
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Need information about your loan balance or loan terms
Consumer Complaint: For more than 10 years, I have been pursuing Public Student Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). Prior to the end of the special waiver period for student loans on XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted two documents : a consolidation request and an updated Employer Certification Form ( ECF ) in order get updated payment count ( MOHELA shows this as received XX/XX/XXXX ). At this time, my loans were transferred from MOHELA to XXXX ( payment received by MOHELA XX/XX/XXXX ) while my PSLF application was processed. For MOHELA, my PSLF form began showing as processed sometime in the last two month and included a note ( now removed ) that " a notice has been sent '' but I received nothing and my calls to MOHELA customer service indicate they don't have this on file. Since that time, I have heard nothing and it has been 6 months since my application. I currently show no payments counts toward forgiveness, so I have no idea how many more payments I have to make. I have made multiple calls to MOHELA and have gotten no additional information other than " everything looks good '' and " it take 90 business days to process. '' No one can tell me my status, how many payments I have or where I am in the queue. This is having a significant impact on my life- I have filed a XXXX tax extension, are my filing decision ( married filing jointly or married separately ) is largely based on where these loans are in the forgiveness process ( my counts ). Along the same lines, I don't feel like I can search for new employment or better opportunities without knowing if I have met the 120 payment requirement or not.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NJ
Zip: 08003
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-05-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have met the requirement under PSLF. For the last six months, I keep being told that my most recent employer, XXXX XXXX XXXX in NJ, is in " adjudication '' and Mohela can't give me any more information and tell me there is nothing I can do about it.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NJ
Zip: 074XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-05-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A