Consumer complaint received 2023-03-31
Company: MOHELA
State: NY
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
Consolidated loans in XXXX. Working for PSLF-qualifying employers since then. Reached 120 eligible payments in XX/XX/XXXX. 

Loans previously services by XXXX, transferred to Mohela in XX/XX/XXXX, with payment counts gradually updated to the account. As of XX/XX/XXXX, account reflected >120 eligible, 110 qualifying. I submitted my last ECF form on XX/XX/XXXX to certify the last 10 months of employment and apply for PSLF. On XX/XX/XXXX the form was processed, but my payment counts were not updated. I called Mohela customer service on XX/XX/XXXX and was informed that the form was processed and that my payment counts will update, but that it could take up to 30 days. She stated that I just need to " be patient '' and I will receive a letter when the payments are updated to reflect the form. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Mohela stating that I am not eligible for PSLF. The letter stated that I had the same 110 qualifying payments. The same letter listed the end date for my current employer as XX/XX/XXXX, which is the date I submitted a prior ECF for this employer ( in other words, the XX/XX/XXXX form is still not reflected ). I called Mohela again XX/XX/XXXX and was told by the representative that the form was approved and had the correct dates, so my payments will update within the next few weeks and the loans will automatically be sent to Dept of Ed for loan discharge at that time. They stated that process will take an additional 90 business days before they get approval from Dept of Ed, then an additional 90 business days before the loans are fully forgiven and cleared from Mohela site. 

Today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I logged in to the Mohela chat feature because I felt I should get this information in writing. This time I was connected to XXXX, who informed me that the XX/XX/XXXX ECF was actually NOT approved and that is why my payments are not showing as qualifying. She also stated " however I do not see anything wrong with the application '' and will submit the form to a supervisor for review, which will take up to 14 days to process. I asked how to follow up with the supervisors directly, and was told to wait and I will receive a notice when the review is complete. 

At this point, I have worked in public service and made income-based payments for over 10 years. I have been eligible for loan forgiveness for 5 months. I submitted appropriate documentation almost 3 full months ago to satisfy requirements for loan discharge. After taking 2 months just to process the form, they gave me false reassurance twice about the processed form that further delayed my application by an additional month ( 2 weeks since being processed with zero communication that the form was actually rejected until I logged into the chat today, an an additional 2 weeks for supervisor review ). Even the XX/XX/XXXX letter does not state that the XX/XX/XXXX form was rejected.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief