Consumer complaint received 2024-07-10
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (CA)

This is a complaint directed against MOHELA, a student loan servicer and provider. 

I applied and was accepted for an income-driven repayment ( IDR ) plan in XX/XX/XXXX when my loan service provider was XXXX. On the IDR plan my monthly loan payments were {$190.00}. Later in XXXX I was then transferred to MOHELA where my IDR plan was also transferred. MOHELA then moved their website to be mohela.studentaid.gov in XXXX XXXX. When they moved the website and directed me to log on to the new website, my IDR payment plan information was lost and my loan repayment plans were back to {$510.00}. I called MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX to address this. I unfortunately at that time did not get the name or reference ID number for that phone call, but on XX/XX/XXXX I called back and received the same information. MOHELA does not provide reference ID numbers for phone calls, but on XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with XXXX, Employee No. XXXX who said they have on file my conversations with them ( hopefully they dont conveniently lose those files like they did my IDR files ) if you need to check for proof of those phone calls. 

In both of my phone calls with them, referenced above, MOHELA said they no longer had any of my previous payment records nor IDR plan records, including my application and approval. They said they lost them in the website transition. They are now directing me to reapply for a new XXXX plan. In the meantime I now have to pay more than twice what I was previously paying- which I can not afford. Now I have to wait more months for my new IDR plan application to be processed. I can not log into the old MOHELA website to obtain my old IDR payment plan records and receipts. Thankfully, MOHELA did place a forbearance on my account so that I am not required to make the new $ 513 monthly payments for two more months, but a ) even with forbearance my student loan interest is still accruing, b ) in my experience applying for another IDR plan and getting approved for it will be longer than that, and c ) if MOHELA were acting in fair and lawful business practices, this wouldnt have happened in the first place. 

It is completely unprofessional, incompetent, and unethical that they have lost my IDR payment records through their website change, are now charging me more than twice what I was paying each month, and now I have to restart the IDR plan process even though they were the ones that lost the records. It is also breaking the law to lose such business and payment records, as law requires organizations to keep such records for a minimum of several years. MOHELA is conducting unethical business processes. If this happened to me, it can happen to thousands more. 

I have attached the following documents as proof of what I have said : 1 ) Screenshot from XXXX website that I applied for an IDR plan and the application was reviewed and completed on XX/XX/XXXX. 
2 ) Document from XXXX that my IDR plan was approved for some of my loans. It lists the payment plan would start XX/XX/XXXX and end XX/XX/XXXX. 
3 ) Document from XXXX that my IDR plan was approved for the rest of my loans. It lists the payment plan would start XX/XX/XXXX and end XX/XX/XXXX. Combining the monthly repayment amount from both of these documents equates to a monthly repayment amount of {$190.00}. 
4 ) Document from XXXX notifying me that I was being transferred to MOHELA starting XX/XX/XXXX. This document specifically states the transfer to MOHELA will not will not impact the existing terms, conditions, interest rate, or available repayment plans of your federal student loans. 
5 ) Transcript of my chat with a studentaid.gov representative stating my IDR application will transfer with loans to new service provider MOHELA. 
6 ) Document from MOHELA in XX/XX/XXXX notifying me that their websites transition is complete and again telling me that it will not affect any of my loan terms or repayments plans. 
7 ) A statement from MOHELA saying my monthly repayment is now {$510.00}, which is not the approximately $ 200 monthly IDR repayment plan. 
8 ) A statement from MOHELA in XX/XX/XXXX stating my monthly repayment is a different amount of {$500.00}. It additionally shows under Last Payment Made as XX/XX/XXXX as a {$0.00}, signifying that they dont have any previous records of past payments made. 

Because the old MOHELA website is no longer accessible, I dont have access to any of my payment documents from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. MOHELA was also incompetent enough that they didnt save these records for their own internal recordkeeping ( which by the way, is breaking the law. Law requires organizations to keep documents for several years ). 

However, the documents I attached and listed above are proof that : 1 ) I did have an IDR approved plan that was assured to be transferred to MOHELA and would last til XX/XX/XXXX, 2 ) MOHELA assured me the loan terms and repayment plans would transfer to their new website, 3 ) MOHELA is not honoring the previously approved IDR plan and is charging me high monthly payments that are more than twice that of my IDR plan monthly repayments, and XXXX ) that MOHELA clearly does not have past payment records. 

I called MOHELA twice to address these problems : XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX, XXXX XXXX. XXXX. MOHELA provided me with answers to my questions about why these problems came about, but did not offer any apologies or any solutions other than that I have to re-apply for an IDR plan and wait for it to be approved.