Consumer complaint received 2023-10-28
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Can't temporarily delay making payments
Company: MOHELA (AL)

On XX/XX/2023, my previous employment ended in order to transition into a new job with the XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/2023, I began my new job with the XXXX XXXX and on that same day I applied for the XXXX plan on the U.S. Department of Education 's ( USDOE ) XXXX XXXX website and provided documentation of the salary associated with my new position. When applying for the XXXX XXXX, the USDOE stated that my student loans would be put on an administrative forbearance until my student loan servicer, MOHELA, could process the application and determine my new monthly payment amount. 

Several days passed after submitting my application and I grew concerned because my online MOHELA account stated that I still owed a full standard payment ( nearly {$2000.00} ) on XX/XX/2023, rather than my estimated XXXX  plan amount ( {$300.00} ). Therefore, on XX/XX/2023, I called MOHELA to inquire about this issue. The representative advised me that, despite my online account not stating such, my student loans had been put in forbearance and instructed me not to make the XX/XX/XXXX payment. 

On XX/XX/2023 ( a Saturday ), MOHELA sent me via my online account a PDF copy of a letter dated XX/XX/2023, which stated that XXXX of my XXXX student loans had been put on an administrative forbearance. On XX/XX/2023, I sent MOHELA a message via my MOHELA online account describing the issue and requesting that my remaining XXXX loans be put on an administrative forbearance because my online account displayed a {$1900.00} payment due on XX/XX/2023, which I explained was not feasible for me to pay on my new government salary. Then, on XX/XX/2023, I called MOHELA and explained my situation to a representative. The representative almost immediately recognized that this was a mistake and stated that they would submit a request for a forbearance and advised me not to make the XX/XX/XXXX payment of {$1900.00} since it was clearly an error. I asked her again to clearly make that statement since the payment date was coming up and I did not want to be delinquent. The MOHELA representative told me to take her word that I should not make the payment and that forbearance would come- it never did. 

XX/XX/2023 came and my MOHELA account still displayed a {$1900.00} payment due for the XXXX loans not on forbearance. I messaged MOHELA via my online account to restate the issue, that the payment was shown as past due, and that I could not afford the payment. I called MOHELA on XX/XX/2023 to raise these issues. They understood the problem and said the administrative forbearance request was submitted but that it would take time to process. On XX/XX/2023, I called MOHELA again. This time I was escalated to a representative who recognized the issue, stated that they submitted a forbearance request and an account adjustment request after speaking with their supervisor. The MOHELA representative stated that this should have never happened and apologized. In addition, the representative advised me that my XXXX plan application had been approved and that my payment would be around {$300.00} going forward. On XX/XX/2023, I received written notice of the XXXX plan approval via my online account. In addition, my online account reflected that the {$300.00} payment would be due on XX/XX/XXXX along with the {$1900.00} " past due '' amount from the XXXX loans not put in forbearance during XXXX. 

After over a week of hearing no updates and receiving repeated notices regarding my " past due '' account, I called MOHELA on XX/XX/2023. The representative spent XXXX minutes reviewing my account and stated that they saw the notes from previous calls and the forbearance request. After asking if there was anything that could be done, the representative advised me that there was nothing they could do while the request is pending and that the request might be moot since the forbearance would end on XX/XX/XXXX. I told the representative that all I really wanted was an account adjustment, which reflected that the " past due '' amount was in error as the XXXX loans should have been put on forbearance and reflected the XXXX plan amount. The MOHELA representative seemed unsure as to whether an account adjustment of that nature was possible and did not have any solutions to offer. 

On XX/XX/2023, I was notified that my employment was approved to qualify under the XXXX program after submitting an application for such a few days prior. 

To date, no adjustment has been applied to my MOHELA account, my online MOHELA account still reflects an erroneous past due amount of {$1900.00}, and I have a regular XXXX  plan payment of {$300.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX. I plan to pay the XX/XX/XXXX payment of {$300.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, but remain unable to pay the erroneously calculated {$1900.00} payment and do not want this erroneous status to be part of my record anywhere in MOHELA or the federal government.