Consumer complaint received 2023-11-15
Company: MOHELA
State: WA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Don't agree with the fees charged

Complaint:
I have filed continuous complaints with FTC, CFPB, and WA State AG office regarding the mishandling of my loans ( see other open CFPB complaints ). I recently received a response from WA State AG office including Mohela 's response to my complaint. In the attached documents, you will see the response from Mohela, my response to the Complaint Resolution Team at Mohela, and a few more documents for proof. In short, here is a dissection of the response from Mohela and my keynoted clarifications : Mohela : Our records indicate that on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX submitted an application for the Revised Pay As You Earn ( XXXX ) plan, that has been replaced with the Saving on a Valuable Education ( SAVE ) plan, through StudentAid.gov. The plan was approved with a monthly payment of {$300.00} for 12 months and notification was sent to XXXX XXXX XXXX  secure messages on XX/XX/XXXX. 

XXXX : My application for SAVE was created on XX/XX/XXXX. Application was submitted through XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX was processed and completed on XX/XX/XXXX. Application review was completed on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Per my documents received tab on Mohela, my IDR shows a Received date of XX/XX/XXXX and status of approved Mohela : Since we were in the process of transitioning borrowers that were previously on the REPAYE plan to the SAVE plan her loans were re-disclosed under the SAVE plan for {$610.00} for XXXX  months using the information available from the prior servicer. For this reason, another notification was sent on XX/XX/XXXX notifying XXXX XXXX of the increase in her monthly payment. 

XXXX : Why did my SAVE have to be re-disclosed under my previous servicer? I have been with Mohela since they took over the contract from XXXX XXXX. While I was with XXXX, my income was substantially less, so if this was the case, my payment should have been significantly less than XXXX. Plus, I had recertified my income with Mohela yearly for my PSLF. On XX/XX/XXXX under Documents Received, there is a PSLF Manual Application with status Processed. The SAVE application that I applied for on XX/XX/XXXX was pulling from my most recent tax return. There should have been XXXX  reason to pull information from a previous servicer ; especially since Mohela took over XXXX in XXXX. The letter that you generated to me about the {$610.00} payment was dated XX/XX/XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX PM I sent a communication to Mohela stating that my SAVE monthly payment was not accurate on your website, and that it should be listed at {$300.00}. The response from Mohela was Our records indicate that you have already called and spoken with one of our Student Loan Counselors regarding this inquiry on XX/XX/XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX I called and spoke with two Mohela representatives. One was named XXXX and the other was named XXXX. XXXX was labeled as an Advanced Payment Specialist. When speaking with her, we went through the self-attestation income questions ( this was the second time I have done this ) and she confirmed that my monthly SAVE payment should be {$330.00}. She told me that she submitted the request to have this changed and to wait XXXX business days. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I sent a follow up communication through my Messages regarding this information that was stated to me on the phone for a paper trail. Since there was no response to any communication that I sent regarding having this payment updated, I was forced to file official complaints through FSA, FTC, CFPB and WA State AG office. I also reapplied for the SAVE program directly through the Mohela website so they would have the document on their end Mohela : We have since re-calculated the monthly payment using the new application that was received on XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX loans were disclosed to the SAVE plan on XX/XX/XXXX with a monthly payment of {$300.00} for XXXX  months. XXXX XXXX will receive confirmation of her IDR approval shortly through her secure messages. 

XXXX : Under Documents Received, I have the following documents/status/received dates : 1. Original IDR pulled from FSA received XX/XX/XXXX Status : approved 2. Auto Debit Changes received XX/XX/XXXX Status : approved ( I needed to stop auto draft due to the incorrect payment amount showing ) 3. IDR Received XX/XX/XXXX Status : CANCELLED. This was the new IDR I had filled out through Mohelas website. How could this be re-calculated the monthly payment using the new application that was received on XX/XX/XXXX if this shows the status of CANCELLED 4. IDR Received XX/XX/XXXX Status : Duplicate form. THIS IS A SCREEN SHOT FROM FSA WEBSITE THAT SHOWS THE TIMELINE OF ORIGINAL IDR FILED, STATUS, AND APPROVED MONTHLY AMOUNT OF {$300.00} 5. IDR Received XX/XX/XXXX Status : Cancelled **THERE IS NO HYPERLINK TO SEE WHAT DOCUMENT THIS IS. I DID NOT SUBMIT ANOTHER DOCUMENT AFTER WHAT I HAD SUBMITTED IN # XXXX LISTED ABOVE And to get really specific, if you REALLY processed the application that I submitted through Mohela, the monthly payment would have been estimated at an even {$300.00} as I divided our annual income evenly between my husband and I as I did not have access to my official tax return at the time of filing. The fact that you have added the XXXX cents to my updated monthly payment PROVES that you're going off of the FSA filed IDR submitted back in XXXX. ( On the filed IDR through Mohela, the estimated monthly payment of an even {$300.00} is listed on page 6 of 12 ) Mohela : Please note that the payment of {$300.00} will not be effective until the XX/XX/XXXX due date. Although XXXX XXXX previously requested the removal of forbearance from her account, please know that she is able to request a processing forbearance for the month of XXXX payment by contacting us. 

XXXX : As the letter generated for the {$610.00} payment was dated XX/XX/XXXX, a communication was sent by me indicating the wrong payment amount also on XX/XX/XXXX, a phone call on XX/XX/XXXX and a follow up communication sent XX/XX/XXXX, this was plenty of time to have this monthly payment updated {$300.00} with a start date of XX/XX/XXXX and NOT XX/XX/XXXX I will NOT be paying {$610.00} for the month of XXXX. I will not be financially punished due to Mohelas correspondence processing delays and negligence in following through with what they said they would do ( XXXX reporting on XX/XX/XXXX that payment would be updated in XXXX business days ). On XX/XX/XXXX I will be paying my approved monthly payment of {$300.00}. If I am marked delinquent for any reason, I will file ANOTHER complaint with FTC, CFPB and WA State AG office.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation