Consumer complaint received 2024-10-02
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: MOHELA (OH)

In the past few months I have had several issues with Mohela that have gone unresolved and unanswered. I am seeking assistance in resolving these issues as my attempts at communication with Mohela have gone unanswered and unresolved. My issues are as follows : Inaccurate/incorrect billing - I have been receiving conflicting billing statements as well as receiving bills within 21 days of the due date. 

Duplicate auto-payment - My account was charged twice in the month of XXXX. 

Billing History/Payment Application - There is no account history on my account ( accept the capitalization of interest referred to below ) and the XXXX payments made in XXXX have not been applied to my loans. 

Interest Capitalization - I was under the impression that the interest accruing on my loan during the administrative forbearance I was placed under by Mohela would not be capitalized. It has been capitalized and added to my principal. 

Communication - After sending a secure message to Mohela there is no way to send a response. This limits communication to phone calls which leaves no way to document attempts at communication. 

-- - Inaccurate/Incorrect Billing Statements : In XXXX I received notice of the platform move and the administrative forbearance that my account was to be placed under. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX I received a statement stating my administrative forbearance would end on XX/XX/XXXX and auto-payments would resume on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$460.00}. It was also stated that my bill would arrive 21 days prior to the due date. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX I received another statement stating that my auto-pay had changed, and that on XX/XX/XXXX {$450.00} would be deducted from my bank account. This directly conflicts with the previously received statement stating that my forbearance would not end until XX/XX/XXXX. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX I received another statement that my account was past due by {$91.00} and my next auto-payment would be taken on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$450.00}. 
Later in the month of XXXX the past due notice was removed and no further action was taken. No payment was deducted from my bank account for the month of XXXX, which I believe is correct as it was still prior to the given XX/XX/XXXX for the administrative forbearance. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX I received a statement stating that on XX/XX/XXXX my next auto-pay in the amount of {$450.00} would be deducted from my bank account, this was broken down into my regular monthly payment of {$360.00} and my amount past due of {$91.00}. 
- Note that there was no past due balance and that {$450.00} is my regular monthly payment amount. Also note that I received this statement not 21 days prior as legally obligated, but 6 days prior to the due date. In addition the auto-pay was deducted from my account on XX/XX/XXXX the day I received the statement and 6 days prior to my stated due date. 


Duplicate auto-payment : - Picking back up on the auto-payment deducted on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$450.00}, I received another statement on XX/XX/XXXX stating that my account was past due by {$360.00} despite the fact that my due date was given on my previous statement as XX/XX/XXXX. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX I received another statement stating that my account was past due by XXXX payment. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX I sent the following message to Mohela through their secure portal : Good afternoon, I just wanted to touch base as my account has been showing past due all week. I gave it a few days but the payment was posted from my account on XX/XX/XXXX ( the due date ) and it's now XX/XX/XXXX and it still hasn't been posted and I also received an email, which has never happened. There's also no payment history listed, but {$450.00} was taken out of my account 5 days ago. Please advise as soon as possible. 
- In response I received an auto-reply requesting I reach out and call their customer service department. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX a second payment of {$450.00} was deducted from my bank account. On XX/XX/XXXX I sent Mohela another message through their secure portal : Hi. I previously reached out regarding loans showing past due despite payment being made. This has been resolved and all loans are showing paid, however my auto debit has been taken from my account twice this month and I don't see a record of either payment on my account. I do not need the additional payment refunded ( provided that it is credited to my account properly ) however I do want to confirm that going forward the auto debit will only go through once per month? Pulling {$900.00} out of my account when my loan payment is only {$450.00} is unacceptable. In addition, when will these payments be recorded in my payment history? Especially considering the platform change and the duplicate payment it would make me feel a lot better to see records of these payments being made. 
- This time I did receive an actual response from Mohela : Thank you for contacting MOHELA, We apologize for any confusion. Please provide the information for payments that are missing. We never received any payments. Name of Payor Date Paid How it was paid, by check, or checking or savings account online or over the phone. Amount If you have any additional questions, please contact us toll free at XXXX. Our hours are XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Unfortunately there is no way through Mohelas secure portal for me to respond to them and provide this information. I also think its worth noting that the message seemed pretty insufficient, no punctuation, no complete sentences. And this is in response to XXXX of their customers telling them that they have double charged them on their student loans. 

Interest Capitalization : - The only item listed in my account history on Mohelas new platform is the transaction in which my interest accrued during the administrative forbearance I was placed on by Mohela was capitalized and added to my student loans. On XX/XX/XXXX {$470.00} was subtracted from my interest and added to my principal. 

XXXX : - On XX/XX/XXXX I broke down and called Mohela. I explained in detail the duplicate payments as well as the dates and was advised by the woman I spoke to ( XXXX, if it matters ) that she did not see any payments posted to my account. She opened a ticket # XXXX regarding this issue. I asked how I could follow up on this ticket and was told to check the website and that I would receive a response within 10 days. Or, I could try calling again. She also requested I upload proof of payment to Mohela through their secure portal. 
- After receiving the ticket number for my first issue, I asked about the interest capitalization on my account. I was put on hold, and then she came back and basically explained how interest accrues monthly on my account. I advised that I understand that, but as I had never missed a payment and the only time-span in which a payment had not been made was during the administrative forbearance, I didnt believe that any interest should have capitalized on my account. I will say here that XXXX not an expert, and I could be incorrect about this capitalizationit could have been from something else, and not the administrative forbearance period, but even so should there not be some kind of documentation explaining this? Anyway, at this point I was put on a series of XXXX minute holds for around XXXX minutes, wherein XXXX would get back on the line to tell me she was putting me on hold, over and over and over again, until I was eventually hung up on. So no ticket was made for the second issue of the interest capitalization. 
- After the phone call I uploaded the proof of payment to the secure portal as requested. The only proof of payment I am able to provide is a screenshot of my bank account and the XXXX charges from the DOE. I also sent another message through the secure portal letting them know that the document I uploaded was in reference to ticket # XXXX. In response I received another auto-reply requesting I contact customer service. 

Issues/Requests : Account XXXX : - I feel extremely uncomfortable continuing to make payment when there is no payment history on my account. As of right now there are XXXX payments with absolutely no record, and in the next few days I am going to have to make another payment, with no idea if this payment will be recorded/applied to my loans. 
- Prior to my account being placed on administrative forbearance the total pay-off amount as of XX/XX/XXXX was {$39000.00}. As of XX/XX/XXXX the total pay-off amount of my loan is {$40000.00}. With XXXX auto-payments being deducted in XXXX and no interest being accrued on my loans during the administrative forbearance, somehow my loan balance increased by {$390.00}. Again, I am not an expert, but that does not seem correct to me. If at all possible I honestly would like a full transactional statement showing all payments, interest accrual, interest capitalization, etc., as at this point I would like to confirm that all prior payments/interest have been applied correctly to my account. 
- On that note, if interest was incorrectly capitalized to my account, then all interest accrued from that incorrectly capitalized amount should also be removed from my account. 

Billing : - Moving forward it would be nice if my bills were actually correct, and I was being billed in a timely manner corresponding with the standards that Mohela has outlined. 

Communication - Moving forward I would prefer to not have any communication with Mohela that is not written. Calling Mohela provides no record of my attempts to reach them and no record of anything told to me by Mohela/their actions. This only acts to protect Mohela and puts the customer? at an extreme disadvantage, particularly if legal action does need to be taken.

- Having a secure portal that does not allow you to respond to Mohelas messages seems purposeful and insidious.

In Summary : - I am being billed in an inconsistent manner that does not align with the standards that Mohela themselves have outlined. 
- During the month of XXXX XXXX auto-payments were deducted from my account and neither has been applied to my account. 
- I have no account history besides what I believe to be the incorrect capitalization of interest of my student loan account. 
- I am requesting a full audit of my student loan account to ensure that all payments have been applied correctly, no interest has been unduly capitalized on my account, and that Mohela gets in touch with me through written communication so that I can keep track of all communications regarding this issue. This would also of course include posting my XXXX XXXX payments made through auto-pay on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX.