Consumer complaint received 2023-12-30
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (MO)

My federal student loans were being serviced by XXXX at the start of XXXX. I am on the Income-Based Repayment plan ( IBR ) which is a type of Income-Driven Payment plan that requires yearly income recertification or the payment increases to the what the borrower would have paid had they been on a standard payment plan when first entering IBR. On XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  I received notification that my IBR payment would soon increase and that I needed to recertify my income by XX/XX/XXXX or my current payment rate ( {$590.00} ) would expire on XX/XX/XXXX and subsequent payments and would increase to {$2800.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  I submitted my IBR recertification to XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  the COVID-19 Emergency Relief and Federal Student Aid ( COVID forbearance ) went into effect. All federal student loan borrowers, including myself, were notified by FSA that payments were automatically paused, interest was set at % 0, and income recertifications were not required while the forbearance was in effect. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received the following email from XXXX It could take up to 15 business days for us to review and process this request for you. We understand that you want a response as quickly as possible and appreciate your patience. 

However, the COVID forbearance went into effect on this date. Thus, on XX/XX/XXXX my certification had NOT been officially processed and therefore my IBR from XXXX  was still active and in effect on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  when COVID forbearance began. 

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX sent me a correspondence date XX/XX/XXXX that I no longer met partial financial hardship and that my payment would increase to {$2800.00}. Thus, my recertification was processed on XX/XX/XXXX when recertifications were NOT required during the covid forbearance. 

I recertified again on XX/XX/XXXX after being inappropriately told by XXXX that I needed to recertify in time for student loan repayments to restart. This was not required since the COVID-19 relief act was extended. 

XX/XX/XXXX I received the following correspondence from XXXX  your Income-Driven Repayment ( IDR ) plan request could not be processed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX my loans were transferred to XXXX automatically after XXXX lost their federal student loan servicing contract. 

My loans were transferred to Mohela on XX/XX/XXXX after I submitted an Employee Certification Form for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. 

Upon resumption of payments XX/XX/XXXX, The Federal Student aid states that the earliest anyone would be required to submit income recertification is XX/XX/XXXX. 
Because I followed my student loan servicers instructions and submitted my recertification 2 days before my deadline on XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX and because I recertified again on XX/XX/XXXX due to incorrect instructions from XXXX, my payment has now significantly increased since the pause ended on XX/XX/XXXX. It has been increased to {$2800.00} after resumption of payments instead of remaining {$590.00} because I submitted these unrequired, voluntary recertifications. 

It is unfair for me to be punished for trying to do the right thing and I should be entitled to the same benefit afforded to everyone else as no one else as been required to recertify their income during the COVID forbearance enacted on XX/XX/XXXX Because my recertification deadline was XX/XX/XXXX, which is the exact date the COVID 19 relief act went into effect, and my payment due on XX/XX/XXXX was still scheduled to be {$590.00} from my XXXX IBR recertification, and because recertifications were not REQUIRED I feel that my IBR recertifications in XXXX and XXXX should be rescinded and that my XXXX IBR recertification should be correctly honored and my payment should continue to remain at {$590.00} until I am actually official required to recertify. 

I contacted MOHELA representatives via telephone and my request was escalated to a supervisor. They both told me that these unrequired recertifications from XXXX and XXXX could not be undone, which I know to be untrue from research online, where others have been able to get their recertifications submitted during the forbearance undone.