Consumer complaint received 2023-11-21
Company: MOHELA
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem with your payment plan

Complaint:
I was transferred to Mohela in XX/XX/XXXX when I applied for Temporary Extended Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( TEPSLF ). It took over a year for Mohela to accurately import my loan balances from XXXX, and dozens of calls and emails as I needed to repeatedly correct their information. During this process, Mohela stated they could not verify the total amount of my student loans, which required that I actually go back and contact my various university offices and upload the information for them, in order to have my student loans serviced using the correct loan balances. 

In XXXX, I applied for the Saving on a Valuable Education ( SAVE ) plan via studentaid.gov. My application was submitted on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my online account was noted to be " in forbearance '' on my online account, but I did not receive any digital or written communication as to why this happened. My forbearance was noted to expire on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Since then, it has been near impossible to contact Mohela to process any of my requests for additional information or clarification. There is no way on my client portal to pay down accruing interest. Mohela did not respond to emails, messages, messages on their " contact portal '', or calls. Attempting to wait on the phone to speak to customer service often requires over 2+ hours to reach a customer service agent. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I was finally able to be connected to a customer service agent ( XXXX ). I had to wait for 2 hours on the phone. Then I was on the phone with an agent for an additional 45 minutes, who stated they did not know why my SAVE plan was not being processed, but stated Mohela " will continue to work on it ''. 

The agent stated that my account was listed as " processing forbearance '', but could not state why I was listed as " processing forbearance ''. She stated it was likely due to my pending SAVE application. The cause of the delays in my SAVE application was important to me, as the interest on my account continues to accrue, there was no way to pay down interest, and there was no estimated date on when my application would be processed.

I asked about administrative forbearance, as it had been over 2 months with no information of any kind from their company. Additionally, the DOE directed that borrowers affected by the error-laden roll out of student loan payments or the SAVE plan should be placed into administrative forbearance.

I was informed that I had been placed in a " processing forbearance '', and that I did not qualify for an " administrative forbearance '', and so the interest on my student loans would continue to accrue. When I asked for details of what placed a borrower in " processing forbearance '' versus " administrative forbearance '' which SAVE applicants should qualify for and which pause interest and payments, the customer service agent was not able to answer my question. She also stated that she was unable to send out a letter explaining the difference. 

I was told to call back on XX/XX/XXXX to see if there were any further updates on my account and to request continued " processing forbearance '' if my SAVE application was still pending. Despite the extended wait times to reach customer service, I was told could not make the request during our current call that my SAVE application be processed even if it took extending forbearance.

At this point, Mohela is not only not servicing my loan, but they are also not providing critical information on the status of my loan repayment, or on a pending application for a nationally available payment plan. They are not able to give an estimated completion date, and in the interim my balance increases. 

Based on my forbearance status listed on my customer portal, unless this is resolved by XX/XX/XXXX, I will be listed as being a borrower who did not make required payments, despite all the difficulties above.

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