Consumer complaint received 2023-01-16
Company: MOHELA
State: UT
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:
MOHELA- which is now in charge of all student loans held by public service employees- refuses to accept actual phone conversations from its loan holders. Leading up to the XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( temporary expanded public service loan forgiveness ) deadline - when public servants called their new servicer MOHELA to get questions answered leading up to the deadline - MOHELA had an automated response telling borrowers that because so many public servants were applying that they were not accepting phone calls and that borrowers should just " check the website. '' I sent a direct electronic message to MOHELA through my online MOHELA account on XX/XX/XXXX asking for critical information I needed specific to my account which was not updated on their website before the XX/XX/XXXX deadline and I received an automated response from MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX - over a month later- and passed the deadline. Their response did not answer any of my questions - but - again - referred me to their website 's FAQ page! I specifically asked MOHELA to call me and they sent me an automated message with no information regarding my account. I also have a TEACH Grant ( transferred to MOHELA this summer from XXXX  XXXX XXXX as the Department of Education contracted MOHELA recently to handle all loans of teachers in PSLF and TEACH Grants ) and although my loans were transferred in the summer of XXXX as of today, XX/XX/XXXX, my MOHELA online account has no record of my TEACH Grant, still! This means that I can not submit my annual certification form because they have yet to accurately update my loans and grants to their own website - 5 months after transferring my loans. MOHELA sent me an automated message on XX/XX/XXXX reminding me of my TEACH Grant service obligation but it had no instructions for how to certify my qualifying employment ( proof that I am teaching and satisfying my TEACH grant obligation ). This is hugely unethical because if any TEACH grant recipient ( teacher ) does not certify their employment annually with their loan servicer - and by a hard deadline - the grant will be converted into an unsubsidized loan including accrued interest- with no possibility of appeal even if you can prove you were actually teaching. By not informing TEACH grant recipients of our deadline to submit our TEACH Grant employment certification form - and failing to accurately update the mere existence of my TEACH grant on my MOHELA account - and by not making the form accessible to me- they are going to cause premature irreversible conversion of my grant into a loan! Even though I am teaching and am desperately trying to certify my employment my grant will be turned into a loan if someone doesn't fix the false information on my MOHELA account so I can certify my employment soon. MOHELA has not responded to my electronic messages or picked up the multiple phone calls I made in XXXX of XXXX. They even notify lenders of the XX/XX/XXXX deadline for TEPLSF waiver in the letterhead of their automated messages sent past the deadline in XX/XX/XXXX! MOHELA refuses to give their lenders information and has inaccurate information on their borrower 's online accounts ( I have a screenshot of a message in XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX saying I have no TEACH grant which is untrue ) and on the messages, they send lenders to their inboxes ( XX/XX/XXXX letter reminding borrowers of an upcoming XX/XX/XXXX deadline that already passed ). I have documented every refusal of MOHELA to give me information regarding my loans and grants and have screenshots of the inaccurate information on my account. To rectify this the U.S. Department of Education needs to revoke its contract with MOHELA because the company is not hiring enough staff to accurately maintain records and keep up with basic communication with the new borrowers they acquired when they accepted the federal department 's contract. I will never be able to trust MOHELA based on their incompetent and negligent record-keeping and customer service over the last few months. It would be comical if it wasn't so frustrating and terrifying considering they are in charge of all of my student debt. I do not have the option of changing loan servicers or refinancing to move to a more competent company because I'm a teacher enrolled in PSLF and my loans must stay with whatever company the Dept. of Edu. contracts with. Please transfer public servants ' loans/ the PSLF contract to another loan servicer company. MOHELA is worse than XXXX  XXXX and that's saying a lot considering the scandal surrounding how XXXX  XXXX mishandled the PSLF program only a few years ago -when Congress had to step in! Maybe the Dept. of Education should handle the program themselves instead of contracting it out to these shady for-profit mega loan servicing companies who have a financial incentive to mislead teachers so we don't get our loans forgiven after 10 years of honest service.

I have attached four documents as evidence of MOHELA 's mishandling of my loans : - Screenshot of inaccurate and grossly outdated TEACH grant info on my MOHELA online account as of XXXX - Outdated notice telling borrowers of the past XXXX XXXX deadline on top of a XXXX XXXX automated letter to my MOHELA inbox - A XXXX electronic letter to my MOHELA inbox informing me of my teach grant but containing no instructions on how to certify, when my deadline is, or reminder to certify my employment at all to prevent it from becoming a loan - A grossly belated XX/XX/XXXX, automated response to my XX/XX/XXXX message that does not answer my questions but refers me to a FAQ page

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