Consumer complaint received 2024-08-20
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (OH)

In XXXX I realized my student loan through Mohela had been put in a state of administrative forbearance sometime in XXXX, without my consent or any notification. Upon finding out why they did this through googling ( they were moving to a new online platform ) and what administrative forbearance meant, ( I.e. that no interest should be charging to my loan and that I could make payments that would go directly to principal ), I contacted them regarding this ( XX/XX/2024 ) because during this time they had also disabled my auto pay, which gives me a .25 % discount as well. So during this time the loan was being charged interest at XXXX percent, a higher rate than normal. They had also disabled any way of making additional payments. It wasnt available anywhere on the new or old platform. I received a response to this first complaint basically stating that they were going to erase the interest before they took me off admin forbearance and that my first payment would go to principal. But this did not happen. As my forbearance went on and they said my account had fully transitioned I was still unable to make payments, AND interest continued to accrue. I continued to submit complaints to both Mohela ( XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX ) and department of education on this matter ( XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX ). On one of my last complaints before my forbearance ended I asked Mohela to either apply my payment to principal, fix my account interest, or keep me in administrative forbearance until they could take corrective actionno response. My forbearance ended XX/XX/XXXX, and my interest at this point was over $ XXXX. Mohela took my auto pay on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of XXXX, bringing unpaid interest to {$350.00}. Now Im getting notifications of my XXXX plan requiring certification in XXXX and Ive effectively lost 5-6 months ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and now XXXX and XXXX while I pay this unpaid interest that I shouldnt even have in the first place ) of opportunity to pay down my principal and get a better XXXX rate for the next year of payments. In those months I lost I could have paid almost {$1000.00} toward principal and I was essentially robbed of that right. Additionally, Ive had no responses back from either entity. My principal continues to grow, my interest continues to grow, my auto pay is set to a fixed amount of my IDR monthly payment and doesnt touch principal to make any difference, and when I recertify they are going to try to double my monthly payment again like they did last year. I can not afford a bigger payment. I have a family of XXXX, my husband XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I am the main breadwinner for my family. 
I originally borrowed less than $ XXXX and I currently owe {$39000.00} from runaway interest. I am seeking XXXX  because I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and my payment counts are also nowhere to be found ( although at least they tell us this is in-work ). I am extremely worried about what this will all mean for me and my familyand I have lost all faith in this system and the financial management ability of this company. You trust these big companies to take care of these things, you trust the government to make contracts with trustworthy and ethical partners..but the deeper I dig into how my loans were passed around there are numbers that simply do not add up. There is no real reason for me to owe XXXX of what I borrowed when Ive been paying diligently since Ive been stably employed. Im anxiously awaiting forgiveness that is in-work but at this rate I need to be looking to other places to hold Mohela accountable for their actions and seek justice on my own behalf rather than wait for relief. Please help.