Consumer complaint received 2023-08-17
Company: MOHELA
State: MD
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
This complaint is about the misinformation given by and the extent to which Mohela has bungled my application for PSLF for the past 1-1.5 years. I submitted the complete application and had already ( as per their insistence ) consolidated and signed up for a IDR plan in XX/XX/XXXX. Because of the pandemic my employer ( federal agency ) could not sign the employment certification so as per Mohela 's instruction I submitted to them my W2s for the relevant period in XX/XX/XXXX. 
Thereafter, under the " Documents Received '' tab documents I sent showed the following dates : my PSLF application ( XX/XX/XXXX ), XXXX XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ),. Also, " PSLF '' showed " Forwarded to XXXX XXXX '' dated XX/XX/XXXX. I called periodically for a status update and was eventually asked if I had access to the " Form Status '' tab, which I did not, and was told that it should have been there, someone on their end did not do what they were supposed to, and a request for me to have access to that tab would be " expedited ''. When I did get access to the Form Status Tab it said that my application had been received and was in process XX/XX/XXXX, to allow 90 business days to process and a notice would be sent upon completion. In XX/XX/XXXX it said my application had been processed and a notice had been sent and to allow 7-10 business days for the notice to be received. 
I waited through the holidays and called Mohela in XX/XX/XXXX. A Mohela representative told me that Mohela was not processing applications due to the legal challenge so I had to wait until that concluded. This turned out to be untrue. 
After the Supreme Court rendered its decision I called Mohela to inquire when I would receive the notice. I was told that Mohela did not stop processing PSLF applications during the legal challenge and that in order to proceed I would need to apply for a IDR with the representative over the phone. I objected because I had already submitted a IDR over a year prior online on the studentaid.gov website. His response was the rules had changed and in order to address my questions/situation I had to submit a IDR with him. After that was done, he said that nothing had been done with my application and I needed to go through the whole process a second time ( apologizing profusely ). He also said that my XXXX2s had not been submitted, which I disputed because the Documents Received tab said otherwise by over a year. As a result, it seems my application has been resubmitted for processing ( again ) with instructions to wait another 90 business days and I face the prospect of making payments on student loans that should have been forgiven a year ago. I expressed this to the representative and his response was that the payments I made would be refunded. In light of how Mohela has bungled my application I do not trust them to make refunds of any payments I make going forward. Also, Mohela assures that any benefits of the TEPSLF will iner to me because my application was submitted prior to XX/XX/XXXX but I do not believe them because now they are saying that my application was sent to XXXX for processing in XX/XX/XXXX.

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