Consumer complaint received 2024-09-09
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Company: MOHELA (NY)

I have been working as an attorney with non-profit legal services organizations for more than XXXX years and have made XXXX qualifying payments as of XXXX of this year. I submitted my final Employer Certification on XX/XX/XXXX. Just a few days later, I received a letter from Mohela stating that I was only credited for XXXX payments as my account had automatically been placed in administrative forbearance by Mohela in XXXX of XXXX, as a result of their failure to provide timely notices of the start of repayment. Their system automatically labeled XXXX of XXXX as a non-qualifying period, despite notices that they sent out that these forbearance periods would count towards XXXX. 

The letter instructed that if I had a dispute as to the payment count, I should upload that and any supporting evidence directly to my Mohela account. I uploaded my dispute and screenshots of the language regarding the XX/XX/XXXX forbearance on XX/XX/XXXX, and I'm unsure if this dispute was ever fully processed. 

I was not given the option to place my account in an administrative forbearance when I filed my dispute. I allowed some time for Mohela to process my dispute, but when I heard nothing, I contacted Mohela 's XXXX XXXX by phone on XX/XX/XXXX to request that my account be put on forbearance while my XXXX request was being processed. The representative I spoke with indicated that my request would be submitted, but the status of my account remained in repayment and when I did not make a payment in XXXX, my Mohela account then indicated I was past due and owed XXXX months ' of payments on my XXXX due date. 

I contacted Mohela 's XXXX XXXX again on XX/XX/XXXX to reiterate my request to be placed on administrative forbearance while my XXXX application is being processed, and was essentially told there was nothing that could be done and it was likely both the XXXX application and request for a forbearance would not go into effect for several months, until the XXXX adjustment ( then scheduled to be completed in XXXX ). 

Following my XX/XX/XXXX, call to Mohela, I filed a complaint with the XXXX Ombudsman. I received initial contact from the XXXX  Ombudsman 's office in XXXX, but was not able to get placed on a forbearance until I contacted Mohela again myself in XXXX. 

During the XX/XX/XXXX conversation with a Mohela representative, I was also advised to upload a new employment certification to speed up the recalculation of my qualifying payments. I followed this advice and shortly received an updated payment count that I had made XXXX qualifying payments. 

I received few updates from the XXXX  Ombudsman until XX/XX/XXXX, when I received an email discussing the XXXX processing pause from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX while the XXXX processing and application system was being transferred from Mohela to the XXXX XXXX XXXX. This email stated : " I would expect that you will hear from either XXXX or MOHELA or both that your outstanding balance has been cancelled within a month or so of processing resuming ( that is, by around XX/XX/XXXX ). If that has not happened, please feel free to get back in touch by replying to this email thread. '' I thanked the XXXX  Ombudsman 's office for their assistance and waited to hear further updates on my XXXX application. By XX/XX/XXXX, the new XXXX website was showing that I had made XXXX qualifying payments, but my loans were not yet XXXX and I had not been provided any updates by Mohela, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Ombudsman. Following the instructions in XX/XX/XXXX email, I alerted the XXXX  Ombudsman of this and reached out to them by email on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. I have not received any responses to these emails and have received no further updates from the XXXX Ombudsman 's office. 

My forbearance is due to expire on XX/XX/XXXX, and I have also been alerted by the Mohela website that I will need to recertify my income for my income-driven repayment plan by XX/XX/XXXX. It has been almost XXXX months since I made my last qualifying payment required to be eligible for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX months since Mohela and the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX confirmed that I had exceeded the required amount of qualifying payments. I am still waiting for my loans to be XXXX and to be reimbursed for the excess payments ( including those made in XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ).