Consumer complaint received 2024-08-27
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Problem with customer service
Company: MOHELA (FL)

My goal is to have Mohela place my account into PSLF forbearance but am being told this is not possible. I made my final PSLF payment and applied for forgiveness on XX/XX/XXXX. At that time, the electronic PSLF form did not allow me to mark that I had made 120 payments and request PSLF forbearance ( note : as of XX/XX/XXXX, this form still wont allow me to select the option stating Ive made 120 payments. An FSA agent shared this is a technical glitch people with consolidated loans have encountered while using that form. ). 

I contacted FSA repeatedly for assistance and they told me to work directly with Mohela to seek PSLF forbearance. Here is a brief timeline of my efforts : XX/XX/XXXX : I called Mohela and the agent who assisted me placed a request to apply for PSLF forbearance on my account. She then, on my insistence, placed my account in processing forbearance to act as a stopgap until the PSLF forbearance took effect ( note that the agent did not proactively offer processing forbearance as an option - I had to advocate for myself ). 
XX/XX/XXXX : My processing forbearance ends on XX/XX/XXXX so I called Mohela to request an extension. They said they could place an application for an extension and that it may occur after my payment is due but would be backdated and not negatively impact my account. However, they did not confirm nor provide documentation that this extension would actually occur. As a side note, one Mohela agent I spoke with that day said my PSLF forbearance request had disappeared. Another agent I spoke with the same day said they could see it reflected on my account information. 
XX/XX/XXXX : A Mohela agent shared that my request for a processing forbearance extension may not go through ( she mentioned that Mohela quit doing this type of extension ) and suggested I apply for general forbearance on XX/XX/XXXX when my processing forbearance expires. A Mohela agent I previously spoke with mentioned it can take up to 100 days to be approved for general forbearance, meaning I would be required to make multiple payments to Mohela. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, my account information on Mohelas PSLF dashboard reflected that I had made 120 qualifying PSLF payments and also I received a letter from Mohela stating I had made my 120 qualifying payments ( dated XX/XX/XXXX ), however Mohela says that information is part of their old system and they can not reference it to place my account into PSLF forbearance. My information with FSA also currently reflects that Ive made 120 qualifying PSLF payments. When I spoke with Mohela they told me that they can only place my account into PSLF forbearance once FSA sends them the data file with my payment information. However, FSA confirms that Mohela has that information and needs nothing more from them to move forward. XXXXSA continues to tell me to work directly with Mohela and Mohela says they can not move forward until they have that payment count information from FSA. The two agencies are not communicating effectively, which is delaying my getting PSLF forbearance. 

I am a hard working public librarian and this financial burden has created a great deal of financial and emotional stress for me. As someone who strives for excellence when serving my community, I find it disheartening that these agencies are unable to provide the same level of service for me. Had I known that the PSLF process would work like this, I would have likely opted to not take out the loan and would have not attended graduate school. Again, my goal is to have Mohela place my account into PSLF forbearance. I have fulfilled my payment obligation and ask to be placed into PSLF forbearance while my account is being reviewed by the Department of Education. I thank you in advance for your assistance with this matter.