Consumer complaint received 2023-09-23
Company: MOHELA
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
Hello, Mohela seems to be unable to process basic customer service requests in a timely manner - often in a way that earns Mohela more money at the expense of the borrower. I requested {$30000.00} I paid in the pandemic pause on my student loans back on XX/XX/. I used the pandemic pause to make headways on my student loans for getting my degrees as a XXXX  and XXXX XXXX, but I needed to request some of the money back this past winter as times have been tight. I was told it would be no problem. Not only I have I not seen this money yet - over 7 months later - but, Mohela every time I call, keeps pushing out the date for when I might receive the money back. Now, they just said they don't know. Mohela added the {$30000.00} I requested back to my student loan balance on XX/XX/XXXX  and Mohela has been charging me interest since the loans went back into re-payment on XX/XX/XXXX  off of a total amount including the {$30000.00} which they still hold hostage and they can not tell me when they will get to me. 

The predatory practices of Mohela are seen in other ways as well. At the end of XXXX I called and requested to be in the SAVE plan. Based on my current income I was told that my payments would be {$0.00} and my interest would be covered. Several weeks later online it appeared Mohela put me in the wrong income bracket, first with a payment of over {$1300.00} and then a few days later inexplicably it changed to over {$800.00} and then again this week online my account shows Mohela charging me over $ XXXX/month. I called Mohela again on Wed XX/XX/XXXX  to ask why the monthly bill amounts were changing and why it was not a {$0.00} payment as told to me by the Mohela rep I spoke with at the end of XXXX. After being on hold for a total of 4 hours on Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX  the representative could not find out why my payment was not {$0.00} and so she told me she would have me verbally reapply over the phone for the SAVE program and again quoted me a $ XXXX/month payment. Today, online my account shows the problem still has not been fixed and shows I will be charged over $ XXXX/month despite reassurances earlier this week that the matter was fixed from the Mohela representative . Written complaints are met with an automated response saying that any account changes can take up to 90 days. Also on the same call on XX/XX/XXXX  a Mohela representative warned me not all my student loans were enrolled in automatic deposit. I told her I applied to have my different loans put into automatic payment on XX/XX/XXXX but the request is still " processing '' on the website almost a month later. Mohela is taking too long to complete even basic tasks like auto debit. 

I have contacted Mohela multiple times regarding these matters but have not been helped or had the problems solved. In summary, 1 ) Mohela is slow walking the return of my pandemic pause money ( {$30000.00} ) for over 7 months while simultaneously now charging interest on that amount while they keep it. 2 ) Mohela has taken an extended amount of time getting me into the SAVE plan that I applied for ( and according to their own rep I qualify for ) and instead they put me in the wrong plan - all while charging interest and monthly payments that are higher than they acknowledge I should qualify for. XXXX ) Even basic web processes like signing up for auto debit are unable to be processed almost 20 days out. Please help correct these issues. Thank you, XXXX XXXX

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