Date Received: 2023-12-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My auto-debit for my student loans is supposed to come out of my savings account every month starting XX/XX/2023. XX/XX/2023 my first auto debit is withdrawn in the amount of {$200.00} and is not drawn again for XXXX or XXXX. I find out the company has put my account on administrative forbearance without my permission. I contact the company several times via call and message and never hear back via message regarding putting my payments back to normal. I messaged them on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. I also message them on XX/XX/XXXX again as well. The first time I call I wait on hold for XXXX hours and when it is time to speak to someone they tell me they have fixed my account and are going to check some info on why it happened. They then accidentally hang up on me and nobody contacts me even though they took my number to call me back incase I get disconnected. This was around the beginning of XXXX. I wait XXXX days because that's how long the girl said it would take to fix my account. It was still not fixed so I reached out again via phone in XXXX and am told I need to wait until XX/XX/XXXX and then my payments will process. I also asked why I was randomly charged {$11.00} and had another random charge scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX for {$22.00}. The customer service agent says those are mistakes and he will take them off my account and that by XX/XX/2023 all should be fine on my account and the random charges should be gone and my auto debit should work again. He lets me know everyone 's account is messed up and that the system is trying to fix itself. I inform him that I am still being charged interest while these payments are not processing and he pretty much just says to wait until XX/XX/XXXX and everything should be fixed. Of course comes XX/XX/XXXX and it is not fixed and I reach out via message and call. I explain my situation to the girl on the line and she says she will transfer me to a manager. It has now been an hour and a half and I am still waiting on the " manager '' I was transferred to to pick up the phone. All I want to do is pay what I owe on my student loans and it should not be this hard to make that happen. This company is canceling peoples payments without their permission and then not letting me take my account off forbearance and allowing me to make payments so I don't fall further behind on interest.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: TX
Zip: 76051
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: My account is PSLF serviced by MOHELA. I consolidated my PSLF loans through XXXX to receive the benefits of the one-time payment adjustment. I had two additional loans that met the 120-payment PSLF threshold for forgiveness. I applied for those loans to be consolidated at the same time as the others, again, to receive the one-time payment adjustment that would have moved the full set of loans to 120 payments ( thus making all of them all of them eligible for forgiveness ). In the 6 weeks it took for XXXX to process my consolidation, the 120-payment loans were forgiven, so the other loans did not receive this eligibility. XXXX issued a payment to MOHELA for the full amount ( including those 120-payment loans and MOHELA then kicked back a refund ). In my opinion, the earlier date of application and beginnng of processing of the consolidation should have taken precedence over the later date when these loans were forgiven. My first complaint with my MOHELA was that I've never received email Notifications when correspondence was sent to me electronically. I have since taken myself of of paperless communications to make sure I see changes without having to log in and check my Messages every day, which is what I did to make sure I stayed on track of the following. My other complaint is inadequate explanation of decisions made by MOHELA, either in writing or via phone. Here are the dates and activities of which I raised issue : XX/XX/XXXX, received notification that all loans service by MOHELA had been placed in the XXXX payment plan, with {$0.00} due for 12 months. In late XXXX, I applied for a consolidation to be processed by XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX told me the consolidation was finished and I would receive more information from MOHELA regarding payment amounts/dates. XX/XX/XXXX MOHELA sent a welcome letter telling me my forbearance/deferments had ended on XX/XX/XXXX on repayment began then, leading to interest charged after the transfer ( 10/10 ) but before the welcome letter. I was billed for this interest before I knew of the transfer and I did not have time to place the loan into an XXXX before the first payment date ( the payment was calculated based on the Level Plan ) I had to put a forbearance in place soon after XX/XX/XXXX, so I wouldn't come due prior to the XXXX processing. XX/XX/XXXX I sent a complaint message to MOHELA asking whey I did not receive the Welcome letter until XXXX weeks after the repayment period began, when interest began to accrue. Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I checked the MOHELA website today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and saw my loans were now on XXXX. I never received noticed form MOHELA of this change - either online or via mail. Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted MOHELA via phone to ask two questions : 1 ) Why were my loans put in the XXXX plan ( with XXXX $ payments ) prior to consolidation ( even a previous consolidation loan containing ParentPlus loans ), then not allowed the option of entering the XXXX plan after the consolidation. I was told over the phone that the new consolidation contained Parent Plus loans and could not participate in XXXX- which is directly opposed to what they had set up with my prior. ( In any case, part The response I received to this first question was " that's just the way it works. '' Today, XX/XX/XXXX, question 2 ) was why I didn't receive notice of a payment period resuming ( with interest ) until three weeks had passed - when those three weeks of interest had already accrued. In short, I didn't know MOHELA had my consolidation until after interest was charged and before I had time to get an IDR in place. The response I received to this second question was " I don't know. '' Finally, the MOHELA representative was in training, so I asked her to transfer me to a supervisor who could provide more information. I have now been on hold with them for 2 hours waiting for the transfer to be picked up ( listening to wait music ).
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MO
Zip: 63125
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I am in need of a complete record of my student loan payments. Per the Dept of Education website, this should be available through my current servicer Mohela ( " your current servicer has a complete record of your payment history, including payments you made to your previous servicer. '' ) After my request in XX/XX/XXXX, Mohela has only sent me payment records dating from XXXX. However, my first student loan went into repayment on XX/XX/XXXX. I am requesting ALL payments made since that date. When I requested this information again, in XXXX, Mohela AGAIN sent me record of payments starting in XXXX.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: CA
Zip: 91030
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My loans were transferred to MOHELA in XXXX, and since then there have been myriad concerns with how they have handled the PSLF process. On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted an XXXX for an employer from late XXXX through early XXXX. That is still being processed ( it was labeled a duplicate though I had resubmitted this because there was an error on the original form ) and those have yet to be certified. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I had a phone conversation with a MOHELA agent about those same payments, and was told that they would qualify and that she was going to adjust things on the backend to make sure that they counted. That has yet to happen, and those payments would have put me significantly over the 120 required payments. In any event, I had submitted an ECF from my current employer on XX/XX/XXXX of this year, and those payments would have allowed me to reach 120 payments even without the aforementioned payments that have yet to be counted. I also indicated that I wanted a forbearance while these were processed. Despite this, my account was debited in early XXXX, and despite additional written requests ( and a phone request on XX/XX/XXXX ), my account was once again debited this month.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: PA
Zip: 15090
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-02
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I have attempted to contact my loan service provider MOHELA via calls and email about the administrative forbearance I was placed on in XX/XX/2023 without my knowledge or consent.I currently have {$16000.00} in student loans with {$190.00} in interest as of XX/XX/2023. I am currently on the SAVE plan which has me on a XXXX $ XXXX payment plan and am supposed to have any accruing interest subsidized after a payment date has passed. These payments should be counting towards my full forgiveness after the 120 payments as is part of my payment plan, however that is not the case. Additionally, it is taking over one to two months for MOHELA to respond to my emails about the subject.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: OH
Zip: 43068
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I am requesting the full accounting file for both the private and public sides of the ledger for account number XXXX. The ledgers of this account will show any checks or payments made to me by Mohela that I am required to pay back. I am aware that I provided a promissory note as collateral for this transaction and the amount of the promissory note is considered is equal to the sum of what is alleged that I owe. If there is any interest made on this account, I as the account holder am entitled to all rights, interest and dividends and demand that they be released and paid to me immediately Mohela claims to be a servicer for the Department of Education which is a subsidy of the United States. However, they do not have the power to collect on behalf of the United States. The head of executive, judicial, or legislative agency are the only parties that can collect on behalf of the United States. To my knowledge, Mohela is not an executive, judicial or legislative agency. Mohela continues to send me statements asking for payment when I do not owe them anything. I am requesting that this company cease and desist any further communication with me through any medium including reporting to any consumer reporting agency. I wish to opt out of any further reporting of the above account. As this company is currently in possession of my personal non-public information without authority or consent and using the information to extort payments from me, they are guilty of aggravated identity theft. Using the personal information of another person without consent is the definition of ID Theft according to the FTC. Any further claims of money being owed to this company will result in a federal lawsuit for damages related to making a false claim, securities fraud, and defamation of character. I am demanding that Mohela delete all accounts reporting on my consumer report as these are unauthorized accounts and I have not provided consent for the reporting of these accounts.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NV
Zip: 89107
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-06
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Consumer Complaint: I worked full-time ( >40 hours/week ) as a XXXX for a XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Because I was enrolled in graduate school in the evenings, I was placed in " in school XXXX '' and these two years are therefore not eligible for PSLF even though I was working full-time for a XXXX XXXX XXXX. I have requested that my loan be changed to " administrative forebearance '' so that I may qualify for PSLF for the months that I was working full-time as a XXXX. I do not believe that being enrolled in school at night should exclude individuals from qualifying for PSLF when they were working full-time.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NC
Zip: 27713
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-06
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: Summary : My student loans are serviced by MOHELA. I have made several inquiries about two difference forbearances that I was notified about in XXXX ; neither was applied and my student loan account is now 2 months past due as a result. I am told by phone reps that I have a forbearance application " pending '' which should bring me current if approved, but I have not received anything in writing and am concerned that I won't even have a decision in hand until after I have yet another payment or two past due that was suppose to be held back by forbearance .... Details : On XX/XX/XXXX, I received notice of an administrative forbearance to be placed on my account covering XXXX. I did not apply for this forbearance, but I did rely on it in my financial planning and made plans to resume payments in XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received notice of another forbearance, for which I had applied by checking a box during my SAVE Plan application. This notice stated : " We have approved your request to make a payment ( s ) in the amount of {$5.00} during your forbearance period ( listed in the enclosed Loan Declaration ) '' ( XXXX ). The same day, I also received notice that my IDR plan had been approved .... I kept a close eye on my account, and when my first payment for XXXX showed up as due in full, I was a bit concerned, but I had the notices in hand, so I just kept checking my account. I was aware that MOHELA has been having a lot of trouble keeping up with the advent of repayment and that there were extremely long processing lags. For example, I just got a response today to a message I sent on XX/XX/XXXX, which said : " Your recent secure message received on XX/XX/XXXX is expected to be reviewed and responded to within the next 15 business days. '' So I figured that my account would be updated eventually to reflect the forbearances .... On XXXX, I made the {$5.00} payment, but my account still showed that the remainder of my full payment was due. On XX/XX/XXXX, seeing no change, I sent a message asking about whether either of the forbearances I had received would be honored. That message was sent 4 days before my due date. I received a response on XX/XX/XXXX that ignored my questions about the forbearances I'd received, and just said that my account was past due and that a list of available options for lowering or suspending my payment would be sent separately. On XX/XX/XXXX I wrote back again, and received no reply ( until today, XXXX ) .... On XXXX I called and spoke with a couple of different reps, neither of whom could explain to me why I had not rceeived either of the forbearances I'd been notified about. I explained that I had relied on the forbearance notices and as a result would not be able to start making my monthly payment until XXXX. One of the reps even insisted to me that I, myself, had " deleted '' the forbearance on XX/XX/XXXX, even though I reminded her that I could not have done that because a ) I had no notice of the forbearance or awareness of its existence until XX/XX/XXXX, and b ) loan consumers are not actually able to decline a forbearance without talking to a rep or communicating that desire in some way, which I had not done. Still, she told me, " it clearly says here, 'user deleted ' on XX/XX/XXXX '' ; I asked her whether it could be possible that I was not the user in question, and reminded her that I only received notice of the forbearance on XX/XX/XXXX - in MOHELA 's own messaging system .... Ultimately I spoke with a forbearance specialist who said that the best option was probably to put in a new application for a forbearance to cover XX/XX/XXXX, and that, if approved, it would bring my account current and let me resume timely payments that will count towoard my Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( for which I'll be eligible after just 9 more qualifying payments ). She said I would receive notice of the application and decision within some reasonable number of business days, and that if it was denied I could appeal. I took this option and in the meantime, a second payment, for XXXX, went past due and was added to my outstanding amount .... On XX/XX/XXXX, having not heard about the forbearance application anything yet, I called back again. I once again spoke with a main line customer service rep and then a forbearance specialist. I had to explain the situation from the beginning both times, and expressed that I was only calling to ask about the application from the XXXX call, which neither rep could verify had actually had been submitted or existed at all. After several holds, the forbearance specialist was eventually able to verify that there was an application for forbearance " pending '' on my account, and that this pending status was why I hadn't yet received any notice, of even the application itself. She placed me on another hold, and eventually the phone started ringing, and a third customer service rep answered. Again, I had to explain the situation from the beginning, listen to the creditor declaration, verify my contact information .... Unfortunately, this third rep was absolutely *obsessed* with trying to explain to me why MOHELA was not required to honor the forbearances they had themselves placed on my account; according to her, both forbearances were simply voided without notice at the time that my IDR plan was approved. She stated and restated this so matter-of-factly. Didn't matter that I received the notice of the {$5.00} forbearance at the exact same time as the IDR approval ; didn't matter that neither forbearance notice described this particular condition anywhere on its face; didn't matter that I had only received notice of the forbearances existing and had never received notice of them desisting. She didn't care about the dates that I received notice of anything, even though they were clear in my MOHELA inbox ; instead, she insisted that I should only ever go by the dates that things happen in their system, as if I should magically know when those might be. It was actually extremely difficult to remain civil and patient with this woman, and I have a lot of extra patience in these situations since I've worked as a phone service rep myself- including a stint at a student loan servicer, ironically .... On every call I have tried to be clear, kind, expressly sympathetic with the admin backlog they are facing, and to the point with my questions. As I write this, I still have no evidence of the pending forbearance application. I am not heartened by the fully 44-day lag time between my XX/XX/XXXX message and the reply I received today ( which was of course just letting me know that I should receive an actual reply within about 3 more weeks ). I do not know whether my XXXX payment will be covered by a forbearance or not. I have been planning since XXXX to make this month 's payment and all going forward until my Public Service Loan Forgiveness is processed and official, however long that may take after I can apply. However, I could not get good information on the phone about whether the payment will apply to XXXX or rather to my outstanding past due amount ( which I'm told is going to be cleared and brought current if I receive a forbearance ), nor about whether such a payment will count toward my PSLF qualifying payments if the forbearance does ( or does not ) end up being applied .... I am not the kind of person to not pay my bills, and watching my account go deeper and deeper past due while not being able to access any kind of immediate ( or even reasonably imminent ) or reliable resolution is so stressful. No actual accountability whatsoever on the part of MOHELA, though I have to credit the reps who have tried to be helpful. I am a lawyer and really do not understand how this kind of behavior by a servicer could possibly be legal. There's no context I know of where someone can be provided notice of a legally binding action that gives rise to rights and obligations, and it can just be voided without any notice whatsoever ( and the dates of actual notice received apparently don't matter ). It's wrong, and I'm far from the only one this is happening to. If a middle-aged lawyer who has been around the block a few times ( and once worked for a loan servicer themself! ) can not get any good information or relief here, I can only imagine what's happening to people half my age.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NY
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-06
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I uploaded a PSLF form for processing by Mohela. Three months after uploading the form, they finally responded and marked it " Duplicate Form '' when in fact it was NOT a duplicate form. This has happened twice now. The first time it happened the problem was rectified, however it took a very long time ( close to 6 months ). The current one I am dealing with has not been rectified despite my phone calls to the company ( each time I called I was on hold for 2+ hours just to speak to someone and then was put on hold again while they tried to fix the issue ). I was assured during each of these multiple phone calls that the problem would be addressed and fixed within 5 business days. These days came and went with absolutely no resolution to my issue. However, Mohela did send correspondence for me to update my information and also about payments restarting. Fortunately, I was able to have the payments deferred while they worked on resolving the issue. I have been dealing with this most current issue since XXXX with absolutely no resolution. I feel as though I am getting the run around ( mainly because the current form I uploaded in XXXX would put me at 120 payment which qualifies me for loan forgiveness ). If this were a late payment issue, I am sure Mohela would be going out of their way calling me and to get paid. Mohela 's action ( or lack thereof ) is blatant neglect and immediate action needs to be taken.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NY
Zip: 12401
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-05
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Account information incorrect
Consumer Complaint: This creditor engaged in abusive, deceptive, and unfair practices of the FDCPA which it prohibits. According to 15 USC 1666b it is a billing error I did not receive a statement 21 days before the late payment error. If finance charge included, there should be no late payments pursuant 15 USC 1605 ( a ) due to finance charge bring sum of all charges so I can not be penalized for something that is already paid in full.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: NC
Zip: 28314
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A