Consumer complaint received 2024-01-09
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: MOHELA (NY)

I completed an application for the Save plan on XX/XX/XXXX. I received a correspondence letter on XX/XX/XXXX saying that " MOHELA has placed my account on Administrative Forbearance from XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX while my SAVE application was being processed. There was a lot of misinformation going around whether those months in forbearance would count towards PSLF. So, in XXXX of XXXX, I called MOHELA to ask whether the Administrative Forbearance would count towards PSLF. The representative told me no, so I asked for it to be removed. When I asked why it was taking several weeks for my application to be processed, the representative scolded me and told me that I knew that the COVID pause was ending, and I should have made plans for repayment before this. After that it took several weeks before my request for Administrative Forbearance to be removed. My SAVE application never got processed and I was dropped from forbearance on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I called on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a representative about being placed back on administrative forbearance since MOHELA gave me misinformation about the Administrative Forbearance as the months do count towards PSLF. I was told that the representative was in training and that they couldn't just place me back in Administrative Forbearance. I was then transferred to a senior representative. The senior representative had me complete two more SAVE applications since they didn't know why my initial one from XX/XX/XXXX was on hold. I was also told the Administrative Forbearance would be placed back onto my account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, a bill with an amount of {$440.00} was sent to my inbox with a due date of XX/XX/XXXX. I called MOHELA again on XX/XX/XXXX and asked about the bill. The representative told me not to worry about the payment since the SAVE application was being processed and the forbearance would be applied back on my account. I asked if I should pay by the due date while this was all being sorted. The representative told me no since it was an error, and my application should be processed shortly. I was also told that my application would be expedited since I initially applied in XXXX of XXXX. The representative further stated that there's a 15-day grace period for late payments so don't worry about paying it. 

I called back on XX/XX/XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX ( bill due date ) was a Sunday and MOHELA was closed. I was told that it takes a few weeks for the SAVE application to be processed and for the forbearance to be applied to my account. 

I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and was transferred twice. I finally spoke to someone in the resolution center, who was able to figure out why my applications werent being processed. I was directed to fill out another SAVE application. They said I would be put back on forbearance while the Save Application was being processed and the forbearance would be backdated to XX/XX/XXXX due to being on the wrong IDR plan. 

The documents I received from MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX say " delinquency forbearance from XXXX and general forbearance XXXX. '' Another document received on XX/XX/XXXX says " general forbearance until XXXX. '' I called yesterday on XX/XX/XXXX to ask about my documents showing a delinquency forbearance and a senior representative told me that since I didnt pay back in XXXX a delinquency forbearance was placed on my account. I asked for it to be removed and was told that they couldn't do that, and to just wait to see if when they do the recount whether that month will count. I told the representative that I made decisions based on the information their representatives were giving, and she apologized for the misinformation but said that there really wasn't much else to resolve. I can either wait 60-90 business days for the two additional SAVE applications that are still pending to see if the request for forbearance to be backdated for XXXX or to wait for the recount and hope that those months count. I also inquired why the documents saying processing forbearance and not administrative forbearance and was told they are the same thing. 

Overall, this process has been very frustrating with MOHELA. The representatives answering the phone at MOHELA are all in training and give a lot of misinformation. The wait times to speak with a representative are ridiculously long ( 1-3 hours ). Getting answers is impossible. There is no reason to fill out 5 SAVE applications.