Consumer complaint received 2018-01-08
Company: MOHELA
State: MI
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
I am a graduate student at the University XXXX XXXX in a XXXX degree program, pursuing an XXXX from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and an XXXX from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( part of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ). This is a three-year program ( it saves a year as both programs are normally two-year programs ). The schools charge different tuition, so I am enrolled in XXXX for one year, XXXX for one year, and then in my final year I am enrolled for one semester in each school. I began my program in XX/XX/XXXX and will graduate in XX/XX/XXXX ( my unofficial transcript is attached ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, Mohela ( servicer of my private loans with XXXX ) sent me a notice that I was in repayment. I sent a message asking why and received a response to send a in an in-school deferment request. I discovered that I need the University XXXX XXXX registrar to certify the request and that my loans with two other servicers also had put me into repayment. 

I visited the registrar 's office and they let me know that I had been " withdrawn '' from the XXXX School and on the same day " enrolled '' into XXXX. This is a normal process for XXXX degree students. For some reason, my student loan servicers saw only the " withdrawal '' and did not see the simultaneous enrollment on my XXXX XXXX Account. The registrar had a form I could send to prove that I am still a full-time student. I completed the form and they sent it on my behalf to my three loan servicers. Two immediately corrected my account. On XX/XX/XXXX, Mohela denied my request to be placed into deferment. I sent an email on XX/XX/XXXX inquiring about the issue and they sent a generic response that I would need to call them. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I had time to make the call and spent over an hour on the phone with Mohela. During that call, I learned that there was no process to put my loan back into " in-school '' status. I could only request a deferment, which would require in school interest payments ( I had not budgeted for in school interest payments and specifically chose loans with higher interest rates so I could avoid paying my loans until after graduation ). The representative told me I had to complete their form and that my original request for deferment was denied because the University XXXX XXXX 's form did not include the registrar 's name. I went back to the registrar that same day and had them send a second form, this time the one that XXXX requests. Mohela confirmed receipt of that form on XX/XX/XXXX and then denied my request again on XX/XX/XXXX, saying that it was too close to the end of the semester for them to put me into in-school deferment. The school could only certify me through the end of XXXX even though I was already registered for classes in the winter term. My registrar had anticipated that Mohela would need a third form, so they sent it for me on XX/XX/XXXX. I am still waiting for Mohela to make a decision on my account. 

Finally, when I spoke the representative at Mohela on XX/XX/XXXX, she told me to not pay my bill, which means I now have a late fee assessed. She also told me that I would only be able to go into in-school deferment, not back to true in-school status, even though I am still enrolled in the same program that I took out the loans to pay for.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation