Consumer complaint received 2024-04-07
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (TN)

Mohela loan problems TIMELINE : XX/XX/XXXX : We tried to check on XXXX  loan balance. This was the website the auto payments were set up on originally at XXXX This site message shows that the website is no longer active as of XXXX XXXX updated. 
We were unable to check on loan status on that site or print/view past payments. 
We created an account on the new Mohela website which is XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX.gov. 
The new site did not show any payments for XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX or any loan payment history. It stated that due to the transition it may take XXXX days to post the payments. We did not think much about it and planned to check back in XX/XX/XXXX. 
We checked back in XX/XX/XXXX and still no payments were posted and no account history or payment history was available. XXXX loan balance was {$2900.00} on the Mohela XXXX 
I did not screen shot the XX/XX/XXXX balance as I had no suspicion of anything being wrong due to the transition to the new website and platform, so I do not know what the balance was XX/XX/XXXX. 

My parents bank account shows the money was taken out electronically every month since XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX payment manually sent on XX/XX/XXXX on the old and new platform through XX/XX/XXXX. 

THE FOLLOWING PAYMENTS ARE THE ONES THAT ARE NOT POSTED as of XX/XX/XXXX : These payments were taken out of my parents bank account via electronic fund transfer. 
I called Mohela. After a long hold time and almost an hour on the phone, nobody there could see my account transactions or tell me anything. They guaranteed they would mail a copy of all the loan transactions and payments in XXXX business days. 
Since this phone call, we have sent another message to them and XXXX payment has since posted for XX/XX/XXXX for {$330.00}. I believe this was the following payment but they do not list the XXXX number on the Mohela XXXX 
The following information is from my bank, XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX ( finally posted ) XXXX XXXX DEPT XXXX  INTERNET PAYMENT {$330.00} Electronic payments still not accounted for by Mohela. Not posted to loan balance but taken out of my parents bank account. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX INTERNET PAYMENT {$330.00} XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX INTERNET PAYMENT {$330.00} The bank could not provide any further details on where the payment went except the above information. It was an electronic payment and not a check. It was the same auto payment that has been occurring since XX/XX/XXXX and the same as the XXXX time payment XX/XX/XXXX. I have a print out of these if needed. 

Loan balances that I have a screen shot of are as follows : XX/XX/XXXX loan balance was {$2900.00} XX/XX/XXXX loan balance was {$2900.00} XX/XX/XXXX loan balance was {$2600.00} I can not access the old site payments or account history it just redirects me to the new site. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Mohela. 
I spoke with XXXX at XXXX XXXX. I was on the phone with her XXXX minutes. She kept putting me on hold and talking to her supervisor. She would not let me speak to her supervisor. She told me that it was not possible to do an autopay on that loan. I told her it was possible because we did do it and have been enrolled in the auto pay since XX/XX/XXXX and payments were being posted to XXXX loan until they transitioned to their new website. 
She told me to contact my bank and see if the bank could help trace the payments. I told her that her needs to trace the payments and get them posted to the loan account. She told me they have no record of these payments despite the same autopay coming out of my bank account and the other payments being posted in the past. 

I also told her that the XXXXXXXX XXXX on the new website was incorrect showing {$0.00} interest paid in XXXX on the loans. I told her it was incorrect and that it needed to be updated. She said nobody paid interest in XXXX which is false because the interest started XX/XX/XXXX and on the old Mohela site, the only thing that I can actually do is print a XXXX which showed {$97.00} interest paid in XXXX on XXXX loan. 

XXXX also told me she could send an account and payment history printout by XXXX mail but it will take XXXX days to get it. We requested this. Still have not received it as of XX/XX/XXXX. 

Next my XXXX went to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX and banker, cancelled my XXXX pay with a XXXX XXXX XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX for this auto payment. She had to pay a fee to do so. 

XXXX at Mohela also told me to contact the Department of Education to get them to help me, which I did on XX/XX/XXXX, and the employee I spoke with was not only rude, but told me that they have nothing to do with student loan payments and referred me back to Mohela. People at Mohela are of no help and do not know how to handle any type of problems with a loan. 

That is went I went back to see the banker at XXXX XXXX and put a fraudulent transaction claim on the payments for XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. She had to call a corporate number to do this in the fraud department at XXXX. 
They wanted to refer me to Mohela to settle this but I the banker told them that I had been directed by XXXX at Mohela to take care of it at my bank and that Mohela could not help me do anything about these missing money/payments. 
Mohela has no record of receiving these last payments and could not even tell me about any payments in the past prior to their new platform. I have not set up any recurring payments on their new website. 

So far on the original loan balance of {$5500.00}, we have paid {$3200.00}. 
It appears that the interest from XXXX was {$97.00} The interest from XXXX so far is in question as we have been making payments monthly as shown above but not being credited for these payments and have been charged interest with the exception of XXXX payment that I listed above that finally posted but they did not credit me the interest that was paid. 
Without XXXX interest accrual, I estimate the loan balance to be approximately {$2200.00} with what has been taken out of my parents bank account. Until we receive the loan payment summary with all the payments they have posted and the interest they have added, we will not know for sure. We have given up hope on this. Sent another message with all the details of the electronic payment and their response was to copy my message and acknowledge they got the message. No help once again. 

I also asked XXXX at Mohela why the loan account was not merged with the old one to show payments and interest. She had no answers. I requested that the online account be updated to reflect the past payments and interest charges. She was not able to do so and neither was her supervisor whom I never got to speak to but XXXX kept putting me on hold to go to talk to her. 

To make matters worse, the bank, XXXX, denied the fraudulent payment request so my parents did not get there money back. 
How can a bank deny fraudulent payments when the loan servicer has not posted the payments that were made. There is money floating around that has not been credited to my loan balance but is not in my parents XXXX  account.