Consumer complaint received 2023-09-07
Company: MOHELA
State: NY
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:
I recently applied for the new SAVE income driven repayment plan. I completed the application on XX/XX/XXXX. The issue isXXXX XXXX XXXX  Mohela used my tax information to recertify my income prior to the recertification due date in XXXX ( I can no longer find this date, but it was definitely in XXXX ). As per information provided by the Office of the Attorney General " If you are enrolled in an income-based repayment ( IDR ) plan, your servicer will reach out by email or mail to let you know when you will need to recertify. The earliest you will be required to recertify is six months after payments resume. '' As part of the application I checked the box allowing access to my tax information ( in retrospect I should not have done this ). I withdrew consent to access my tax information the following day ( XX/XX/XXXX ). On XX/XX/XXXX I also used the Live Chat feature on studentaid.gov to speak to a representative about the issue. I explained that I wanted to cancel my IDR application from the day prior ( XX/XX/XXXX ). They said this could not be done and I had to contact my servicer. 

I then immedately logged in to Mohela and sent a message using their portal. I sent another message on XX/XX/XXXX. I also tried to call them several times but was unable to ever connect with a representative. See messages below. 

Subject : Application or Form Attachments ( click to open ) : Sent Date : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX AM Body : Your Question : Hello, I submitted an application for SAVE on studentaid.gov XX/XX/XXXX. With this application my income information was updated ( pulled from tax information ). My understanding is that recertification of income is not REQUIRED until atleast 6 months after payments restart following COVID pause. Due to my financial situation, I would like to revert to my prior reported income ( pre COVID ) and not recertify my income until required. I appreciate your assistance with this. Thank you! XXXX XXXX Subject : Application or Form Attachments ( click to open ) : Sent Date : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX AM Body : Your Question : I want to withdraw my IDR application that is processing and instead remain with my current repayment plan. Please do not process this application. Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I am requesting that XXXX  XXXX Mohela revert back to my previous income driven repayment plan with payments based on the income information they had available to them prior to XX/XX/XXXX and that income recertification should not be done until the due date. As above, " the earliest you will be required to recertify is six months after payments resume '' ; it seems that because access to my tax information was briefly granted, my income was recertified ( without my knowledge ) and my payments changed because of this. My payment change was not updated on MOHELA until XX/XX/XXXX ; almost 2 weeks after I attempted to cancel my SAVE application and associated recertification. It does not seem that this action is in accordance with the goal of the COVID student loan programs. I was prepared to pay my loan payment based on the information XXXX  XXXX had prior to XX/XX/XXXX, though due to the recertification that occurred prematurely my loan payments have increased. I am aware that with recertification my payments will increase, though was under the impression that recertification would not occur for at least 6 months following resumption of loan payments, which allowed for a somewhat less drastic return to payments following the COVID pause.

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