Consumer complaint received 2023-12-08
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Don't agree with the fees charged
Company: MOHELA (OH)

Before the XXXX pause on student loan repayments in early XXXX, I was paying approx. $ XXXX on my loan consolidation to the US Dept of Education . Sometime during the pause, my loans were transferred to MOHELA for servicing. When payments were due to start back up in XX/XX/XXXX, I received a message from MOHELA that my monthly payments were $ XXXX. I sent a complaint to MOHELA almost immediately inquiring as to why my payments more than doubled after the pause when everything being reported via news outlets was that monthly payment amounts should not change when repayment starts back up due to no interest accumulating during the pause. ( I have detailed the entire timeline below. ) I was panicked trying to get an answer before I had to make my first payment, so I contacted the Ohio Attorney General for assistance after reading an article about several Attorneys General filing a request for administrative forbearance on repayments because so many people were dealing with similar issues to what I was seeing. The Office of the Ohio Attorney General referred me to this avenue for assistance. In a further attempt to get answers before my payment was due, I also then reached out to the US Dept of Education directly via their website begging them to assist me with getting my monthly payment amount corrected. Dept of Education closed my complaint almost instantly directing me to contact the servicer even after I stated I was getting no response from them. I then resigned myself to not make a payment until this was fixed, and luckily my loans were somehow sent to administrative forbearance with no explanation as to why. The loans are in forbearance until next month, XX/XX/XXXX. Last night, XXXX XXXX, I get a secured message from MOHELA, and I opened it with excitement that they have corrected my payment amount. Instead, they claim that " upon further review '' I do not owe $ XXXX ; they say I actually owe $ XXXX. I am in absolute awe as to what is happening here, and I am getting NO answers. I sent a rather rude email response to MOHELA because I was extremely upset. This truly feels like a joke. Now, I do have a daughter at Ohio State, and I have take out a few parent loans for her education. However, that should not be affecting my payments yet as those loans are in deferment through at least the end of XXXX ( XXXX ). I plan on calling MOHELA at some point today, but I am not willing to sit by and wait any longer for them to " fix '' this issue when their " fix '' is to double the payment amount that I was already contesting as incorrect. Please help me. It feels like they are purposely manipulating my payment amounts so that I will be forced to pay off the full amount and not be able to take advantage of XXXX. ( I work as a civilian for the XXXX, and I have XXXX years of service to them. ) Thank you. 

XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - complaint to MOHELA via app as requested in their general statements about how best to contact them XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - complaint to Ohio Attorney General XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - complaint to US Dept of Education XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - response from US Dept of Education XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - response from Ohio Attorney General XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - complaint to MOHELA again via app about non-response to previous complaint XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - loans sent to administrative forbearance until Jan 2024 15 XX/XX/XXXX - message received from MOHELA that they are reviewing my message sent on XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - received response from MOHELA to my XX/XX/XXXX follow-up