Consumer complaint received 2024-04-13
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (NC)

( Note that this is a followup complaint to XXXX which was made on XX/XX/XXXX, as I have new information as of XX/XX/XXXX, which has made this situation worse. ) On XX/XX/XXXX I applied for the consolidation of all of my existing federal student loans along with an application for the new save ibr plan to apply to all of those loans after completion of the consolidation. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from aidvantage detailing that all of my loans were being included in consolidation request as I instructed, additionally it noted that I had requested all of these loans be placed on the save ibr plan after consolidation. 

I have attached the two repayment schedules I received on XX/XX/XXXX, that clearly show my two consolidation loans are on two separate payment plans despite both being direct Loans and therefore eligible for save ibr.

I logged into my mohela account on Friday XX/XX/XXXX, to find that the consolidation amounts had appeared on my account, however my ivr application was listed as canceled. There was no explanation or notification. On Saturday XX/XX/XXXX I received an automated email from Mohela with my new loan repayment schedule. It stated that one of my loan vehicles have been placed in the save ibr plan, while the other of a far greater amount was placed on the level plan. The former has a monthly payment of {$0.00} per month, the latter {$910.00} per month, and additionally the interest accrued on it would not be covered under the save plan for which I applied. 

There was no explanation as to why the split was made, and it is my understanding that as all of my loans are direct Loans they should all be eligible for the save plan. Additionally is my further understanding that you can not have the same loan vehicles on two different repayment plans. 

As I received this message on a Saturday I was unable to get in touch with Mohela to find out what was going on, and as such interest will continue to accrue until I can get in touch with them hopefully on monday. I have emailed them about the consolidation process several weeks prior but never received a response. 

In looking into this issue today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I have seen it frequently reported that this has been a common occurrence over the last several months for people applying for the save plan specifically with mohela. And to my knowledge the company has yet to address it or correct this since it appears to keep happening. 

Mohela does not make it easy to contact them for specifics, given the extremely long hold times on the phone and their lack of responsiveness via their secure messaging portal. Additionally they are not forthcoming with information regarding why or how these decisions on repayment plans are made or the status of borrower applications for specific repayment plans. 

In short, all of my loans need to be placed on the save ibr plan as I requested as I am qualified for it and as I applied through studentaid.gov, Mohela should already have access to the requisite tax information with which to make this decision in a timely and expedient manner. Additionally the interests that accrues while I'm on the level plan I should not be responsible for because this is an error clearly on mohela 's part and not the borrower. However as it currently stands the borrower is paying a very real monetary penalty for administrative oversight on the part of mohela. 

I have attached the repayment schedules for my two consolidation loans that clearly show they are on two separate payment plans ( one save and one level ) despite both being direct loans and therefore eligible for the save ibr plan which I requested.