Consumer complaint received 2023-09-19
Company: MOHELA
State: TX
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:
XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX XXXX : Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Educations ( ED ) Office of Federal Student Aid. 
We have received your inquiry regarding the Federal Direct Student Loan that is currently being serviced by MOHELA. 
Your concern, as we understand it, is regarding your anticipated refund for your {$70000.00} made on XX/XX/XXXX is not yet received. 
MOHELAs records indicate the refund was sent to your bank. Your bank returned the payment to the US Treasury. US Treasury refunds are processed within XXXX business days. 
Student loan interest will resume starting on XX/XX/XXXX, and payments will be due starting in XXXX. MOHELA will notify you before payments restart. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, ED announced several changes and updates that will bring borrowers closer to forgiveness under IDR plans. These adjustments to accounts include conducting a one-time revision of IDR payment counters to address past inaccuracies and permanently fix IDR payment counting by reforming EDs IDR tracking procedures going forward.

This adjustment process has now begun for every borrower account that has at least one Direct Loan or one ED-held FFEL Program Loan . All payments identified to be counted will be communicated to your servicer to make the one-time update to your account. We have already begun reviewing loans that have been in repayment long enough to qualify for IDR forgiveness ( borrowers who have been in repayment for XXXX or XXXX years ). 
Please be assured we are continuing to identify and notify borrowers who reach the necessary forgiveness threshold of XXXX or XXXX  months worth of qualifying payments, depending on the repayment plan and type of loan. Notifications will be sent out every two months until next year, at which point all borrowers who are not yet eligible for forgiveness will have their payment counts updated. If this review results in you being eligible for IDR forgiveness, you will be contacted and given the chance to opt out of receiving the forgiveness. As your servicer, MOHELA will notify you directly after your forgiveness is processed. 
We have provided some information on the one-time adjustment below. More information is available at https : //studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment. 
The account adjustment will count time towards IDR forgiveness, including : any months in a repayment status, regardless of the payments made, loan type, or repayment plan ; XXXX or more months of consecutive forbearance or XXXX or more months of cumulative forbearance ; any months spent in economic hardship or military deferments in XXXX or later ; any months spent in any deferment ( with the exception of in-school deferment ) prior to XXXX ; and any time in repayment ( or deferment or forbearance, if applicable ) on earlier underlying loans that are part of a consolidation loan. 
Generally, repayment status includes any periods where the borrower was enrolled in a repayment plan. Repayment status does not include periods in forbearance, deferment, bankruptcy, or default. However, certain periods of forbearance, deferment, or default will count towards forgiveness in the circumstances described above. 
Any borrowers with loans that have accumulated eligible time in repayment of at least XXXX or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if they are not currently on an IDR plan. 
Borrowers will continue to see the XXXX related forbearances counted towards IDR and PSLF forgiveness.

At this time, we can not confirm if you will receive immediate forgiveness, how much additional time may be included as qualifying repayment, or when approximately your loans may be forgiven.

All months your account has been in forbearance due to the COVID-19 emergency will count towards your eventual discharge. 
Student loan interest will resume starting on XX/XX/XXXX, and payments will be due starting in XXXX. MOHELA will notify you before payments restart. 
Thank you for your feedback. 
Sincerely, Federal Student Aid -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Original Message -- -- -- -- -- -- ---

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