Consumer complaint received 2023-07-20
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (NY)

I am writing as I have been having an ongoing issue with the status of my loans since returning to school. I took out student loans over 10 years ago while attending XXXX XXXX XXXX, and my loans have been in repayment status since XXXX. During the XXXX XXXX XXXX, my loans were placed in the XXXX Forbearance, and all was fine. I returned to school in XXXX, XXXX, and at that time, I did not take out any new loans, nor did I even file a FASFA as I decided not to use student loans to pay for school. When my school, the XXXX XXXX Nevada at XXXX, notified MOHELA that I was enrolled, my loans were automatically placed into an " in-school deferment, '' and I quickly requested that this status be removed and returned back to the XXXX Emergency Forbearance as I had no need nor desire to place my old loans into deferment. My plan is to remain in active status, retaining the XXXX Forbearance, and then resuming payments when the student loan pause ends. I have had to request that this happen multiple times, however, as each time I requested that my loans be taken out of automatic deferment, they would return to automatic deferment a few days later, and this took place on multiple occasions from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. Finally, I was advised that my loans would be marked as having a permanent denial of automatic in-school deferment status, which is exactly what I wanted, and this lasted through early XX/XX/XXXX. I could see that this was working as I would get notification that MOHELA was notified of my in-school status, however the letter would show that I declined automatic deferment. In XX/XX/XXXX, however, some of my loans were once again placed in automatic in-school deferment after MOHELA was alerted that I was in-school, despite being advised on XX/XX/XXXX that my loans were noted as having permanently declined automatic in-school deferment. I have been told multiple conflicting things from MOHELA since that time, stating that I need to fill out a form that I would be sent separately to permanently decline automatic in school deferment ( I have not yet received this form, nor can I find it online ), that my loans would be taken out of the automatic deferment ( this still has not happened ), and that I am ineligible to decline automatic deferment since I am in school ( this is incorrect according to FSA 's Web site... I am eligible since these are not new loans, and only people with new loans are not able to take them out of automatic deferment ). I am writing as, based on the payment tracker with PSLF, if I certify my employment in XX/XX/XXXX, I will have accumulated enough qualified payments to achieve PSLF on all of my loans, and since some of them keep being placed in automatic in-school deferment, it keeps jeopardizing my ability to do this. Also, after calling, I was advised that even with deferment waived, my loans were now in " in school '' status, something they said could not be waived, and none of my months would count toward PSLF. According to FSA 's Web site, I have a right to reject this, but MOHELA is refusing to do so. Again, I do not want any of my loans to be placed in automatic in school deferment, and I want them all to remain in the XXXX forbearance until the student loan pause ends, and then I plan to make my monthly payments until I apply for PSLF. This is incredibly frustrating, especially since I keep being told different things, and by reviewing my loans, it is obvious that the loans are not new, have been in repayment for many years, I have no new loans, and I have, on multiple occasions, requested that the automatic deferment for in-school status be permanently removed.