Consumer complaint received 2024-10-23
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Company: MOHELA (VA)

Good afternoon, My concern is specifically regarding the months of XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX that are not counted in my progress towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). I was not enrolled at XXXX University until XX/XX/XXXX as you can see by the record I have attached, so I would not have been in an In-School Deferment. My employment at a qualified employer is already verified for the Month of XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. I believe those months would be eligible to count towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). 

Thank you, On Wed, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX Federal Student Aid Information Center XXXX wrote : XXXX Case # XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Educations ( ED ) Office of Federal Student Aid . 
We have received your inquiry regarding the Federal Direct Student Loan that is currently being serviced by MOHELA. 
Your concern, as we understand it, is regarding the months of XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX that are not counted in your progress towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). 
Upon reviewing the records in National Student Loan Data System, our records indicate your loans were in an In-School Deferment starting XX/XX/XXXX, through XX/XX/XXXX. Our records show you were enrolled at XXXX University. 
Please note that periods of XXXX XXXX will not qualify towards PSLF. Periods of XXXX XXXX are able to be removed only if payments were made which would have been sufficient to satisfy the monthly bill PSLF. As your loans were consolidated effective XX/XX/XXXX, the underlying loans were paid in full through consolidation and these loans statuses may not be changed or removed. ( https : //studentaid.gov/announcemeny-eventys/pslf-limited-waiver ). 
MOHELAs records indicate your qualifying employment has been approved from XX/XX/XXXX, through XX/XX/XXXX, and from XX/XX/XXXX, through XX/XX/XXXX. 
Your loan yields a qualifying payment count of 93 toward the required 120 for

Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). Once MOHELA determines that your loan has met the requirements for loan forgiveness, XXXX will provide the effective date of discharge so MOHELA can begin the process of discharging your loans.

If you consolidated your loans, your eligible and qualifying payments may be reset temporarily as we work to update your PSLF payment counts related to the limited PSLF waiver. 
Additionally, if you consolidated your loans after XX/XX/XXXX, refunds aren't available for any payments made prior to the consolidation. 
If you have employment that has not been certified, please use the PSLF Help Tool ( https : //studentaid.gov/pslf/ ) to search for a qualifying employer, learn what actions you may need to take, and generate a PSLF form. You will need to provide an email address for an authorized official who can certify your employment and sign your form. If you are unable to obtain an officials signature, W-2s or paystubs encompassing the period of time you are attempting to certify for PSLF are acceptable forms of alternative certification. It is recommended that you submit a new application annually. If you have questions regarding that status of a PSLF form, please contact MOHELAs Customer Service Department at 888-866-4352. 
XXXX and MOHELA are continuing to update payment counts. MOHELA will contact you when your payment count has been updated. Once your payment count is updated, please contact MOHELA to ask about it.

Please note that if you are eligible for a refund of payments in excess of 120 qualifying payments, processing may take an additional 60 days for MOHELA to complete. Please log into your MOHELA.com account to verify your address. 
Student loan interest resumed starting on XX/XX/XXXX, and payments will be due starting in XXXX. MOHELA will notify you before payments restart. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX announced several changes and updates that will bring borrowers closer to forgiveness under IDR plans. These adjustments to accounts include conducting a one-time revision of IDR payment counters to address past inaccuracies and permanently fix IDR payment counting by reforming XXXX IDR tracking procedures going forward. 
This adjustment process has now begun for every borrower account that has at least one Direct Loan or one XXXXheld FFEL Program Loan XXXX All payments identified to be counted will be communicated to your servicer to make the one-time update to your account. We have already begun reviewing loans that have been in repayment long enough to qualify for IDR forgiveness ( borrowers who have been in repayment for XXXX or 25 years ). 
Please be assured we are continuing to identify and notify borrowers who reach the necessary forgiveness threshold of XXXX or 300 months worth of qualifying payments, depending on the repayment plan and type of loan. Notifications will be sent out every two months until next year, at which point all borrowers who are not yet eligible for forgiveness will have their payment counts updated. If this review results in you being eligible for IDR forgiveness, you will be contacted and given the chance to opt out of receiving the forgiveness. As your servicer, MOHELA will notify you directly after your forgiveness is processed. 
We have provided some information on the one-time adjustment below. More information is available at https : //studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment. 
The account adjustment will count time towards IDR forgiveness, including : any months in a repayment status, regardless of the payments made, loan type, or repayment plan ; XXXX or more months of consecutive forbearance or XXXX or more months of cumulative forbearance ; any months spent in economic hardship or military deferments in XXXX or later ; any months spent in any deferment ( with the exception of in-school deferment ) prior to XXXX ; and any time in repayment ( or deferment or forbearance, if applicable ) on earlier underlying loans that are part of a consolidation loan. 
Generally, repayment status includes any periods where the borrower was enrolled in a repayment plan. Repayment status does not include periods in forbearance, deferment, bankruptcy, or default. However, certain periods of forbearance, deferment, or default will count towards forgiveness in the circumstances described above. 
Any borrowers with loans that have accumulated eligible time in repayment of at least XXXX or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if they are not currently on an IDR plan. 
Borrowers will continue to see the COVID-19 related forbearances counted towards IDR and PSLF forgiveness. 
At this time, we can not confirm if you will receive immediate forgiveness, how much additional time may be included as qualifying repayment, or when approximately your loans may be forgiven.

All months your account has been in forbearance due to the COVID-19 emergency will count towards your eventual discharge. 
We received unprecedented volumes of PSLF form submissions, consolidation applications and phone calls. It will take time for the PSLF servicer, MOHELA, to process all the form submissions and make adjustments to your accounts. Be sure to check mohela.com as adjustments continue to be made. We appreciate your patience. 
We hope this information will be helpful to you, and thank you for your feedback. 

Sincerely, Federal Student Aid -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Original Message -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - From : Federal Student Aid [ XXXX ] Sent : XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX To : Subject : FSA Feedback Case : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Educations office of Federal Student Aid regarding your feedback. We will respond and acknowledge receipt of your feedback within the next 15 days. 

Your case number is XXXX for reference. 

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