Consumer complaint received 2023-12-06
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (NY)

Summary : My student loans are serviced by MOHELA. I have made several inquiries about two difference forbearances that I was notified about in XXXX ; neither was applied and my student loan account is now 2 months past due as a result. I am told by phone reps that I have a forbearance application " pending '' which should bring me current if approved, but I have not received anything in writing and am concerned that I won't even have a decision in hand until after I have yet another payment or two past due that was suppose to be held back by forbearance .... 

Details : On XX/XX/XXXX, I received notice of an administrative forbearance to be placed on my account covering XXXX. I did not apply for this forbearance, but I did rely on it in my financial planning and made plans to resume payments in XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received notice of another forbearance, for which I had applied by checking a box during my SAVE Plan application. This notice stated : " We have approved your request to make a payment ( s ) in the amount of {$5.00} during your forbearance period ( listed in the enclosed Loan Declaration ) '' ( XXXX ). The same day, I also received notice that my IDR plan had been approved .... 

I kept a close eye on my account, and when my first payment for XXXX showed up as due in full, I was a bit concerned, but I had the notices in hand, so I just kept checking my account. I was aware that MOHELA has been having a lot of trouble keeping up with the advent of repayment and that there were extremely long processing lags. For example, I just got a response today to a message I sent on XX/XX/XXXX, which said : " Your recent secure message received on XX/XX/XXXX is expected to be reviewed and responded to within the next 15 business days. '' So I figured that my account would be updated eventually to reflect the forbearances .... 

On XXXX, I made the {$5.00} payment, but my account still showed that the remainder of my full payment was due. On XX/XX/XXXX, seeing no change, I sent a message asking about whether either of the forbearances I had received would be honored. That message was sent 4 days before my due date. I received a response on XX/XX/XXXX that ignored my questions about the forbearances I'd received, and just said that my account was past due and that a list of available options for lowering or suspending my payment would be sent separately. On XX/XX/XXXX I wrote back again, and received no reply ( until today, XXXX ) .... 

On XXXX I called and spoke with a couple of different reps, neither of whom could explain to me why I had not rceeived either of the forbearances I'd been notified about. I explained that I had relied on the forbearance notices and as a result would not be able to start making my monthly payment until XXXX. One of the reps even insisted to me that I, myself, had " deleted '' the forbearance on XX/XX/XXXX, even though I reminded her that I could not have done that because a ) I had no notice of the forbearance or awareness of its existence until XX/XX/XXXX, and b ) loan consumers are not actually able to decline a forbearance without talking to a rep or communicating that desire in some way, which I had not done. Still, she told me, " it clearly says here, 'user deleted ' on XX/XX/XXXX '' ; I asked her whether it could be possible that I was not the user in question, and reminded her that I only received notice of the forbearance on XX/XX/XXXX - in MOHELA 's own messaging system .... 

Ultimately I spoke with a forbearance specialist who said that the best option was probably to put in a new application for a forbearance to cover XX/XX/XXXX, and that, if approved, it would bring my account current and let me resume timely payments that will count towoard my Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( for which I'll be eligible after just 9 more qualifying payments ). She said I would receive notice of the application and decision within some reasonable number of business days, and that if it was denied I could appeal. I took this option and in the meantime, a second payment, for XXXX, went past due and was added to my outstanding amount .... 

On XX/XX/XXXX, having not heard about the forbearance application anything yet, I called back again. I once again spoke with a main line customer service rep and then a forbearance specialist. I had to explain the situation from the beginning both times, and expressed that I was only calling to ask about the application from the XXXX call, which neither rep could verify had actually had been submitted or existed at all. After several holds, the forbearance specialist was eventually able to verify that there was an application for forbearance " pending '' on my account, and that this pending status was why I hadn't yet received any notice, of even the application itself. She placed me on another hold, and eventually the phone started ringing, and a third customer service rep answered. Again, I had to explain the situation from the beginning, listen to the creditor declaration, verify my contact information .... 

Unfortunately, this third rep was absolutely *obsessed* with trying to explain to me why MOHELA was not required to honor the forbearances they had themselves placed on my account; according to her, both forbearances were simply voided without notice at the time that my IDR plan was approved. She stated and restated this so matter-of-factly. Didn't matter that I received the notice of the {$5.00} forbearance at the exact same time as the IDR approval ; didn't matter that neither forbearance notice described this particular condition anywhere on its face; didn't matter that I had only received notice of the forbearances existing and had never received notice of them desisting. She didn't care about the dates that I received notice of anything, even though they were clear in my MOHELA inbox ; instead, she insisted that I should only ever go by the dates that things happen in their system, as if I should magically know when those might be. It was actually extremely difficult to remain civil and patient with this woman, and I have a lot of extra patience in these situations since I've worked as a phone service rep myself- including a stint at a student loan servicer, ironically .... 

On every call I have tried to be clear, kind, expressly sympathetic with the admin backlog they are facing, and to the point with my questions. As I write this, I still have no evidence of the pending forbearance application. I am not heartened by the fully 44-day lag time between my XX/XX/XXXX message and the reply I received today ( which was of course just letting me know that I should receive an actual reply within about 3 more weeks ). I do not know whether my XXXX payment will be covered by a forbearance or not. I have been planning since XXXX to make this month 's payment and all going forward until my Public Service Loan Forgiveness is processed and official, however long that may take after I can apply. However, I could not get good information on the phone about whether the payment will apply to XXXX or rather to my outstanding past due amount ( which I'm told is going to be cleared and brought current if I receive a forbearance ), nor about whether such a payment will count toward my PSLF qualifying payments if the forbearance does ( or does not ) end up being applied .... 

I am not the kind of person to not pay my bills, and watching my account go deeper and deeper past due while not being able to access any kind of immediate ( or even reasonably imminent ) or reliable resolution is so stressful. No actual accountability whatsoever on the part of MOHELA, though I have to credit the reps who have tried to be helpful. I am a lawyer and really do not understand how this kind of behavior by a servicer could possibly be legal. There's no context I know of where someone can be provided notice of a legally binding action that gives rise to rights and obligations, and it can just be voided without any notice whatsoever ( and the dates of actual notice received apparently don't matter ). It's wrong, and I'm far from the only one this is happening to. If a middle-aged lawyer who has been around the block a few times ( and once worked for a loan servicer themself! ) can not get any good information or relief here, I can only imagine what's happening to people half my age.