Consumer complaint received 2024-04-10
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Don't agree with the fees charged
Company: MOHELA (PA)

I was billed by Mohela in the amount of {$270.00} for XXXX ( which I paid on XX/XX/XXXX ) and XXXX ( paid XX/XX/XXXX ). I received correspondence that due to a nation-wide issue with billing, these payments ( totaling {$540.00} ) could be reapplied to future payments or reimbursed. I called to have them applied to future payments of XXXX, XXXX, and the balance applied to XXXX ( since I was now under a new XXXX plan of {$240.00} a month ). 

When I saw I had been billed for XXXX and the payments hadn't been applied, I called Mohela back on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke to XXXX who said the request had be incorrectly place, so she would submit another one, it should be applied in XXXX business days. I called back XXXX when the payments had still not been applied to XXXX, and my XXXX payment was due soon. I spoke to XXXX, who said he escalated it the request so I should see it applied by XX/XX/XXXX. If it hasn't, I should call back. I called back on XX/XX/XXXX when it had not been applied, and spoke to XXXX. XXXX informed me that the reason the payments could not be applied to XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX was because I was now under a new XXXX plan, and payments made under the older plan could not be applied to the new one. She submitted a refund XXXX for the amount of {$540.00}, which would take XXXX days. I should then pay the XXXX billing and all future months in their full amount of {$240.00}. I paid this amount in full on XXXX as soon as I got off the phone with her. 

On XXXX, I received my XXXX billing and saw that my account was placed in delinquency for XXXX. I called and spoke to XXXX representatives ( XXXX and XXXX ). They found the issue : I have XXXX loans with Mohela. Mohela incorrectly applied my monthly payment -- which I had paid in full -- to the bills. Mohela applied an extra XXXX dollars and change to my XXXX  loan and then underapplied my second loan by that same amount. They stated that since I paid my XXXX monthly billing in full and there should not be any delinquency on the account, and they submitted a request for this to be reapplied correctly, and gave me an estimated time as XXXX  days. This entire phone call took XXXX hours, and they could not guarantee me that Mohela 's automatic report of negative credit to XXXX  bureaus in XXXX  days could not be put on hold until Mohela fixes this in XXXX  days. I submitted a complaint to CFPB to speed up fixing the issue, and thankfully it worked! 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my Mohela account and saw that when then Mohela fixed the issue with my XXXX billing, it changed my billing for XXXX. My XXXX billing was {$79.00} ( this XXXX {$160.00} under the payment plan of {$240.00} ). I did not call Mohela, as I had just gotten off a XXXX hours call with them less then a week before and was so frustrated by this new issue. Instead, I just submitted a complaint to CFPB. When this wasn't fixed by XX/XX/XXXX, I paid the {$79.00} in full. 

I recently received my XXXX billing and saw it was another underbilling. I was billed for {$140.00} ( {$100.00} under the payment plan of {$240.00} ). I called Mohela on XXXX and spent an hour on the phone just trying to get through the supervisor line. I received a call back on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to XXXX. XXXX informed me that Mohela had canceled my refund request from XXXX for the amount of {$540.00} and that the notes say it was because my account was in delinquency. She was able to see that my account should not have been in delinquency because I paid my XXXX bill in full, and that the delinquency status was because Mohela had incorrectly applied that payment between my XXXX loans. So not only was I not reimbursed the {$540.00}, but that amount was also not applied to XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX payments. 

My call with XXXX has been so confusing and full of conflicting information. XXXX, XXXX said that {$540.00} had been reapplied to XXXX and XXXX bills, which was why I was paying XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. I pointed out to her that I paid the XXXX billing in full on XX/XX/XXXX, and that in XXXX my account was in administrative forbearance due to Mohela 's delay in processing my new XXXX plan. So that {$540.00} was not applied to XXXX and XXXX. XXXX then said that the underbilling in XXXX and XXXX were to due to the reapplication of the {$540.00}, and that my normal billing amount of {$240.00} should start in XXXX. However, if it's true that the underbilling in XXXX and XXXX are due to reapplication from a paid-ahead status, the amount the was reapplied for XXXX was {$160.00} ( {$240.00} minus {$79.00} ) and XXXX was {$100.00} ( {$240.00} minus {$140.00} ). This does not add up the full amount of {$540.00}. I should still be reimbursed {$270.00}, or have {$270.00} applied to future payments ( {$540.00} minus {$160.00} minus {$100.00} = {$270.00} still owed to me ). 

After XXXX hours on the phone with XXXX, there was no real resolution. XXXX informed me that she submitted XXXX requests : XXXX ) For the account to be researched for all payments between XX/XX/XXXX through to all further payments to look into why the request for a refund was canceled and to make sense of the reapplication of the paid-ahead status. XXXX ) she escalated this request to management to get this specific account cleared up. She informed me that the next steps is that she will receive a response from management, and she will call me when she gets this response. While I'm glad she escalated this, this is essentially another XXXX hours on the phone with them with no concrete resolution and having to wait more time for further processing