Consumer complaint received 2024-10-24
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Problem with customer service
Company: MOHELA (NY)

My student loans have been with MOHELA for awhile now. Recently MOHELA made a platform transition. As a result of that platform transition I was required to create a new account to log in. Initially I was unable to create a new account even with repeated attempts. This lasted for a couple of months. MOHELA 's website kept saying it did not recognize me and had no accounts matching my social security number. But I kept trying and after a few months it finally seemed to work. I created a new account and got a new password.

However, it is still unnecessarily difficult for me to log into my MOHELA account. Here is what happens when I try to log in.

First I go to https : //www.mohela.com/ I click the " Log In Now '' button. I then type in my username and the new password I created after the platform transition. This does not work. Instead I get the following message : " The information you provided does not match our records. Please try again. '' Keep in mind I am using the new password that I created as a part of creating a new account on the new platform. My old MOHELA password also doesn't work ( I tried that too just to see ). 

I then have to try the same password five times before it will take me to a new screen. I bet there are other student debtors with the same problem who try two or three or four times and give up because they see the website isn't working. But it takes five times of trying the correct password before you get sent to a new screen that offers a workaround.

The new screen says " You have been unable to log into the MOHELA website due to incorrect login credentials. To resolve this immediately, please enter the last 4 digits of your SSN and click the Email button below to receive a temporary password. '' So I type in the last four of my SSN, which MOHELA displays. There is no security. They are not hiding this sensitive info and they are making it easy for a hacker to get all of our SSN. But it is the only way to get into my account.

After typing in the last four digits of my SSN an email gets sent to my account with a new temporary password.

I then go back to MOHELA 's website and use the temporary password which takes me to a new screen that says : " System-Platform Transfer Notice " Welcome [ MY NAME ]!

" Your federally-owned loans managed by MOHELA transitioned to our new student loan servicing platform.

" With the new student loan servicing platform, there is a new online borrower portal. You will need your Social Security Number ( SSN ) to access this portal and will be asked to change your password the first time you access it. Once you log in, you will be able to view your new account number. This change will allow us to provide you with an even better customer experience.

" Visit mohela.studentaid.gov to set up your new online account and use it moving forward for access to the most up-to-date account information. '' It has a button that says " New Servicing Platform Login '' that I click. This takes me to a warning screen that basically says the website is for student debtors and threatens me with all kinds of penalties for unauthorized access or criminal behavior. I press accept to get past this screen.

I am once again taken to a screen that is asking me to login, but this one looks different. It's not the same login screen that you get when you go to https : //www.mohela.com/ Finally, at long last, I can log in using the same exact password that didn't work five times earlier.

This is what I have to do every single time I want to log into my MOHELA account.