Consumer complaint received 2023-11-14
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: MOHELA (MA)

MOHELA has been displaying an incorrect payment amount for several weeks now. They are showing that I owe {$780.00} and the payment is due on XX/XX/XXXX, and they have assured me I wouldn't have to pay, but I have not been put in forbearance like I expected to be. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Submitted XXXX  plan request, specifically for the XXXX plan. The studentaid.gov website indicated that my monthly payment would be {$0.00}. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I received a secure communication from MOHELA that is showing in my account as dated on XX/XX/XXXX but it was dated XX/XX/XXXX. This communication stated that my request could not be granted because I did not provide income and family size. I am confused for XXXX reasons : First, if this information was needed, it should have been required to be put on the application. And second, MOHELAs website says that through XX/XX/XXXX you can self-report your income. I have done this. MOHELA does indeed have the information they say they don't have. Not only did MOHELA reject my request for the XXXX plan, but they changed my plan -- before the pause, I was on an Income-Driven plan, but after the XX/XX/XXXX denial, I was placed on the " Level '' plan which typically causes higher payments. It showed me owing {$310.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I submitted another XXXX XXXX  request. Again the application showed a {$0.00} payment would be due when approved. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I spoke with a MOHELA agent on the phone who assured me that I would be placed on forbearance while the application was being reviewed. He told me that this was pretty commonplace and that the systems needed a little time to process things but it would get settled prior to any payments being due. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I received a secure communication from MOHELA that is showing in my account as dated on XX/XX/XXXX but it was dated XX/XX/XXXX. It told me my loans were placed on the XXXX XXXX, but that my payments would be {$780.00} per month ( not {$0.00} like my application said ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : I spoke with a MOHELA agent on the phone who informed me of a few things. First, he told me that he saw an application for the XXXX program that showed a {$0.00} payment, so he did not know why it said I owed {$780.00}. Second, he said that the forbearance that I was on was due to expire on XX/XX/XXXX but that another forbearance was set to turn on that would take me through the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. Third, he said to wait until a little bit into the month of XXXX to see if it updated to a {$0.00} payment ( either due to the XXXX XXXX  updating or a forbearance being put on ). That forbearance still has not shown up as of this writing. 

I have read about MOHELA being penalized for numerous errors, and the Department of Education has stated publicly that " All borrowers affected by these errors will be placed in forbearance by their servicer until the issues are resolved and any months in forbearance will count as credit towards loan forgiveness through Public Service Loan Forgiveness or Income Driven Repayment '' The remedies I am seeking are : XXXX ) My account be placed on forbearance so I do not need to be responsible for payments while this is being sorted out. 
XXXX ). If a forbearance is not placed on my account prior to the XX/XX/XXXX payment due date for the ( miscalculated ) {$780.00} payment, this payment NOT be held as " past due '' payment owed but instead should be corrected to {$0.00} as if a forbearance was on my account. 
XXXX ) My XXXX plan applications, which have shown multiple times that I should owe {$0.00} per month, be re-evaluated XXXX ) If for any reason I am not eligible for the XXXX XXXX  or the XXXX XXXX calculates a payment higher than {$0.00}, MOHELA should place me on the Income-Driven Repayment Plan that has the lowest monthly payment.