Consumer complaint received 2023-11-09
Company: MOHELA
State: OR
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:
On XX/XX/23, I received a notification via email from Studentaid.gov that I missed a loan payment so on XX/XX/23, I spent XXXX hours and XXXX minutes on the phone with Mohela until my call was dropped ( 90 % of call was hold time and I never received a callback ). I had attempted to learn why my account was delinquent and the representative spent over an hour trying to figure out why before she stated it was an interest balance from a loan in the amount of {$18.00}. I indicated numerous times that I had autopay set up and it paid what I thought was the total balance due ( {$380.00} ). The representative 's response was the same, " it can take one to two months for autopay to become active. '' I originally filed for the SAVE IBR on XX/XX/23 and then sent an updated SAVE IBR on XX/XX/23, both have never left pending status and when it came time for the interest payment to be paid on XX/XX/23, it was paid fully in the amount of {$380.00}, or at least so I thought. 

I was enrolled in autopay and so my understanding was that my entire payment was made and did not owe anything additional for XXXX. I could not get Mohela to explain why the {$18.00} amount was not included in my autopay pymt. 

On XX/XX/23, I was on the phone for over XXXX hours ( 97 % of time on hold - before they hung up on me without warning ). During my call, I was trying to understand why I wasn't notified about this {$18.00} interest balance that put me into delinquency and they just kept repeating this statement : because my bill was sent on XX/XX/23, the required 21 days notice was provided and I did meet eligibility for administrative forbearance. '' I made a request to the customer representative to speak with a supervisor four or more times before I was finally placed on a two hour hold which resulted in Mohela disconnecting the call without notice ( total of over XXXX hours on the XXXX call and over XXXX hours in less than XXXX hours ). 

It appears that Mohela made a billing error on my account as they failed to provide a bill in the amount of {$18.00} as to my knowledge, I did not have the opportunity to pay it. The rep I was speaking with on XXXX stated that it should have also been emailed on XX/XX/23 so I asked them to forward me the email but there was no email notification to send. Instead, they emailed me the billing statement with a billing date of XX/XX/23, but they were unable to provide me any verification that it was actually sent to me. I even looked at my US Mail Informed Delivery and no mail from Mohela was received within a seven days of XX/XX/23. 

They also stated that it should have been sent via secure message but there was no record of it. Finally, they stated that the notice was sent as a secure message on XX/XX/23, which I said that was only one day before my payment was due ( not the obligatory 21 days ) and the representative did not respond. 

I have been diligently making my student loan payments for many years and made an interest payment via autopay in the amount of {$380.00} on XX/XX/23. It makes zero sense that I would avoid paying {$18.00} so that my account could go into delinquency. 

Mohela has failed to adequately address my concerns and has consumed hours of my life with undue burdensome holdtimes and confusing information. I'm afraid that my credit score will be impacted and have also lost faith that Mohela can competently perform its duties as a loan servicer.

Company response to consumer: In progress