Consumer complaint received 2023-10-11
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (NY)

I was assigned to MOHELA loan services, and honestly I wish I wasn't. I applied for the SAVE plan in XX/XX/2023, which would bring my monthly student loan payment from {$550.00}, down to {$77.00}. I got a letter in the mail from MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX ( a day after my first payment was due ) that my application was denied because I did not upload documentation of me or my spouse 's income. I do not have a spouse and indicated that on my application, and I did upload my employment letter showing my income, so I called MOHELA to clear up this misunderstanding on Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX ( I couldn't call earlier due to the weekend and a holiday on Monday ). The first agent I spoke to was receptive and told me what the process was going to be like to solve the issue. She said the payment that I wasn't able to make ( due to my application being denied and not being able to afford it ) was going to be put into forbearance and then my application would be resubmitted as she did see that I uploaded my income documents, and clarified that I stated that I do not have a spouse. She told me she was going to transfer me to another agent so I could clarify some information and get the process going. Things started going downhill after that. The next agent I spoke to, XXXX, had a very don't care attitude. Her tone was lazy and dismissive and when I explained to her what was going on, she proceeded to tell me that my application for the SAVE plan could not be resubmitted and I would have to apply for a completely different plan, saying the total opposite of what I was told by the previous agent. The more I tried to clarify or reason, she just nonchalantly kept giving me the same generic answer, so I decided to hang up because it was clear that she did not care about helping me at all. I called again the following day and spoke to an agent who gave me different information from the first two. She said she did not see my document showing my income and that my loan payment would not be able to go into forbearance. She said that I needed to pay the amount owed even though I told her my application was denied due to error on the company 's end, and even though I told her an agent told me my payment could be put into forbearance because I can not afford it. Overall, she lacked empathy. So you can understand my confusion and frustration after speaking to XXXX different agents and getting XXXX different types of information/answers/solutions. The third agent proceeded to say that she would need to guide me through the process of uploading my document or she could she transfer me to another agent, and I chose the latter because I know I did my part and really wanted to speak to someone who would understand that and be more helpful. The fourth and final agent I spoke with was XXXX. And I just want to say THANK YOU XXXX!! She was receptive, understanding, respectful and lead me to a fair solution. She understood where I was coming from completely and submitted a request for forbearance of my payment as well as resubmitted my application for the SAVE plan, which XXXX said I couldn't. She also clarified my document was there, which the XXXX agent said it wasn't. I understand the long wait times though frustrating, but what I don't understand is the lack of care and empathy for clients as well as the misinformation confidently being relayed. I don't understand why it took XXXX agents to get me where I need to be. This was an extremely difficult and frustrating process when it didn't have to be. The burden of debt is overwhelming enough, and to get so much resistance from the people who are supposed to be helping you is so sad, frustrating, and disappointing. I hope going forward they treat their customers better.