Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX I made what I believe to be my XXXX qualifying PSLF payment, a payment that was due on XX/XX/XXXX. My employer and I filled out the PSLF application on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX respectively, which Mohela received on XX/XX/XXXX according to their online portal. The application is still in " processing '' status according to Mohela 's portal, despite Mohela 's website which claims processing occurs in XXXX calendar days. However, Mohela did update my payment count to show XXXX qualifying payments, and XXXX payment needing employment certification, that payment apparently being for XXXX, XXXX. I believe the XX/XX/XXXX payment for the bill due XX/XX/XXXX should count as qualified, because my employer ( the XXXX of Alaska, Department of XXXX ) certified that I was still working for it on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke to a representative from Mohela on the phone who said that, yes, the XX/XX/XXXX payment was the XXXX payment, and it does count for XXXX, but I still need my employer to certify that I was working for them in XXXX ( after the date of the payment ). Fortunately, I do still work for the Alaska Department of Law, so I will follow the supervisor 's advice and fill out a new PSLF application. However, I believe the supervisor and Mohela ( generally ) are incorrect. PSLF is based on making XXXX on-time payments, not based on a certain number of months being employed in a qualifying job. If the XXXX payment is made while the applicant is working in a qualifying position, the applicant is eligible, their application should be granted, and they should not have wait for another month to submit the application. I would like Mohela and DOE to grant my PSLF application, and more importantly, fix their misinterpretation of the law so that other other eligible persons will obtain forgiveness in a timely fashion.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: AK
Zip: 995XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: My loans were previously with XXXX and were transferred to Mohela when XXXX stopped servicing student loan accounts. Everything was ok until I recently incurred about missing pay statements for XX/XX/XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX is also missing ). I was emailed that those payments had not be loaded but I would not receive credit toward PSLF because I was in XXXX XXXX bankruptcy. I inquired about this in XXXX by filing a complaint through this platform and was advised certain language had to be included. My attorney then filed a motion to add that language to the bankruptcy. I was allowed to participate In PSLF after paying almost {$700.00} to add that language. Now Mohela is saying I can not participate in the XXXX program because I'm in bankruptcy. I am only 4 payments away from forgiveness. This is not ethical.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: GA
Zip: 31705
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My monthly student loan repayments resumed on XX/XX/2023 and were paid on that date via autopay. On XX/XX/2023, I made an additional payment toward my student loan ( loan sequence XXXX, as Mohela calls it ) in the amount of {$77.00}. {$31.00} was applied to interest accrued on the loan and the remaining {$45.00} was applied to the principal balance. Upon discovering this, I contacted Mohela to have the total additional payment redirected to go entirely toward the principal balance, NOT to have it split between principal and interest. I was instructed by the Mohela representative to upload a written instruction on the Mohela website instructing them to have the payment applied to the principal balance of loan sequence XXXX. She stated the payment would then be reapplied correctly to the principal balance. I filed this written instruction on the website on XX/XX/2023. On XX/XX/2023, I also made another additional payment in the amount of {$200.00} toward loan sequence XXXX. {$6.00} was applied to interest that had accrued, and the remaining {$190.00} was applied to the principal balance. On that date, I also included a written instruction to have the entirety of this additional payment to go toward only the principal balance of loan sequence 4, NOT toward any interest. Again, these two additional payments were in excess of my scheduled monthly payment amount. On XX/XX/2023, I called Mohela to follow up on the reapplication of the money to the principal. I was informed that my written instruction was " cancelled ''. I never received any correspondence from Mohela to let me know that it was cancelled. The representative then told me that all payments had to go toward paying the interest on a loan first and then any left over money would then be applied to the principal balance. This is in direct conflict with what the original representative had told me XXXX weeks prior. Again, this is not my monthly payment. I understand that the monthly payment must go toward interest first, and then principal. These are additional payments. This practice substantially prevents people from being able to pay off their loan early or even trying to get ahead. I believe it is unlawful and being done in bad faith.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: IA
Zip: 50023
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I have enrolled all three of my loans in auto debit. My payment of XXXX should be withdrawn on the XXXX of each month. For XXXX it still hasnt been withdrawn and Im now showing past due. I should also be getting a .25 % interest rate reduction which Im not. In addition I submitted my yearly PSLF paperwork XXXX and have not received any updates. How many times do people have to continue to complain about this incompetent company before we get some kind of help!!
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: WI
Zip: 546XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: In XXXX I attended XXXX XXXX. During that time the school closed. I submitted a school closure form and never received a more information about it. I contacted the federal aid depart and a representative there informed me to contact Mohela. I called Mohela and was placed on hold. After waiting about 10-20minutes a representative asked if I would like to receive a call back. I answered yes. I never received a call back.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: AL
Zip: 366XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: I have loans through MOHELA. During the month of XXXX, my loans were put on backdated forbearance as a result of government sanctions. This forbearance was placed on XX/XX/, a day after to my initial payment ( XX/XX/XXXX ) which was twice ( {$900.00} ) what I should pay ( {$430.00} ) on the SAVE plan. There is minimal documentation of how to see this forbearance period and how it impacts my payment. I called today to try and speak to someone about getting refunded for my payment if I was indeed in forbearance. I waited on hold for 45 minutes and when someone answered, the call failed. When I attempted to call back, the wait time was over two hours. I believe that the customer service failed the call to cycle through calls and avoid speaking with me. This type of customer service should not be allowed and actively punished.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: VA
Zip: 20120
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: Mohela has placed an administrative forbearance on my account. I have a $ 0 monthly repayment at the moment so there is no payment due but I have been placed in forbearance and can not make a payment on my account now even if I were to have a payment. They will not answer the phone even though I have waited on hold for upwards of an hour. This is completely unprofessional and a terrible way to handle someone's fiscal accounts.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: IN
Zip: 471XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: Mohela has given me the runaround on the XXXX program. I contacted them at least a year and a half ago to see what my eligibility was when XXXX XXXX opened up the program and they began processing my student loans. Having worked at a XXXX XXXX non-profit since XXXX, I qualified for the program and in XX/XX/XXXX they verified XXXX out of XXXX qualifying payments. The tally sat at XXXX for months despite qualifying payments racking up on the Mohela website, lacking only certification of my employment. At that point, I followed up and was told it just took time to process. After not seeing any progress or hearing any updates from them, I called back again to check on it and this time was told I needed to resubmit the paperwork to verify that my employment hadn't changed. Despite the inconvenience in having to go back to my supervisor to get her signature again, I did so and uploaded the signed form to their website. It's now been XXXX months since I resubmitted the paperwork, but they started sending me notifications that I needed to start paying my student loans again, all of which should be completely forgiven. I called again to see why my employment still hadn't been certified and was told it was because they couldn't accept a digital signature from my employer, which they never bothered to relay after I submitted it. So now I'm forced to go back to my employer yet again to either have her physically sign a document that will hopefully be accepted or sign up for the XXXX help tool so it can be done digitally. These unnecessary obstacles seemed designed to wear down borrowers, making people so tired of jumping through hoops that they simply give up and make payments they don't need to make out of sheer exhaustion and fear of being dinged on their credit. It's unacceptable, unscrupulous, and I believe intentional. It should be simple to verify the place of employment for those with student loans. Rather than getting relief from inherently predatory loans designed to keep people shackled to them for decades, I and many others in the same boat have simply been rerouted to what appears to be another predatory lender. Instead of acting in good faith to carry out what the current administration required, Mohela has opted to use shady business practices to wait until student loan payments resumed in hopes they could siphon more money out of borrowers ' pockets. If Mohela is unwilling or unable to comply with the edict to give borrowers the prescribed relief, perhaps they shouldn't be in the student loan business.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: MD
Zip: 21701
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Problem with your payment plan
Consumer Complaint: I was on IDR prior to my loan being transferred to MOHELA. I received an email from my prior servicer that there was no need to recertify and that my payment was approximately {$860.00} a month. After transferring to MOHELA they said I needed to pay about {$2000.00} a month which I can not afford. I tried to fill out an application to switch to another plan with lower payments on XX/XX/. They have still not processed it. They put only some of my loans on administrative forbearance and I still had to make monthly payments of about {$370.00} for two months then they put the remaining loans on forbearance and it was showing a {$0.00} payment due. Just now I checked and it is showing {$2000.00} due on XXXX. I can not afford this but I can not afford to miss a payment because I am only a few months done from PSLF. Anything you can do to either reinstate the forbearance or get them to process the RePAYE application would be appreciated. Thank you so much.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: CA
Zip: 90503
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-21
Issue: Improper use of your report
Subissue: Reporting company used your report improperly
Consumer Complaint: In accordance with the fair credit reporting act, this creditor, XXXX has violated my rights. Under 15 USC 1681 Section 602 states I have the right to privacy, 15 USC 1681, section 604 A Section 2 also states, a consumer reporting agency can not furnish an account without my written instructions. Under 15 USC 1666B a creditor may not treat a payment on a credit card account under an open in consumer credit plan as late for any purpose
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
State: PA
Zip: 154XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-21
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A