Consumer complaint received 2024-05-13
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Company: MOHELA (CA)

This letter was sent to MOEHLA 's CEO and XXXX, it summarizes my issues : RE : Unfair and deceptive forced Administrative Forbearance practices negatively impacting progress towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) ; mismanagement of the of income self-certification option ; unacceptable processing delays and customer service failures ; and deceptive billing practices XXXX a Middle School Special Education teacher currently pursuing the XXXX program. When my loans returned to repayment in XX/XX/XXXX, I made that first payment without issue. And after reading about the XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Adjustment/limited waiver benefits, I decided to consolidate all my loans and that was completed on XX/XX/XXXX. It was my understanding that consolidating the loans could improve my XXXX qualifying payment count, which it did. 

After the consolidation, I thought Id be able to continue making my student loan payments ; however, I received notice ( i.e., Important Announcement popup alert when logging into my account ) that my loans would be on administrative forbearance until XX/XX/XXXX, the notices stated that I wont need to make payments and the months of XXXX to XXXX would count towards XXXX, the notice also stated that I could request a refund of any payments that I made, although I didnt make any refund request. I dont recall receiving an official letter to stating these facts ; however, whenever I logged into to my account this pop-up would appear each time. 

While the loans were on administrative forbearance, I began to work on employment certifications for the months that didnt have qualifying payments counted and I was also notified that since my loan was consolidated, Id need to apply for XXXX again and re-enroll in auto-debit program. I received XXXX letters dated XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX stating that MOHELA Has Placed an Administrative Forbearance on Your Account ; however, on XX/XX/XXXX an Department of Education automatic debit posted to my bank account in the amount of {$540.00}. While the account was supposed to be in forbearance, Mohela continued to pull funds from my bank account. I didnt request a refund because I was worried about maintaining my PSLF qualifying payment count. I was afraid to do anything to jeopardize my accounts standing. 

The employment certification digital signature process was much improved compared to before the XXXX pause, I was able to get a lot of employment certifications completed with minimal issues. The issues I had was with the XXXX application process. I completed the XXXX application in XX/XX/XXXX, and it was showing as approved on the Department XXXX XXXX XXXX website, however on XX/XX/XXXX, it was denied by Mohela. On XX/XX/XXXX, I inquired about the denial via email and via phone. I was being asked to verify my income despite there being a self-certification waiver period in place. I wanted to know why I was being asked to verify my income if we were able to self-certify our income for XXXX months per return to repayment guidelines. The email response I received stated, Records indicate that you already called we assume the inquiry has been handled. I did call after writing the email but didnt get any assistance resolving the issue about verifying my income during this self-certification period. I shouldnt have needed to verify my income. Customer service reps said that I needed to submit my XXXX tax documents and were quite unhelpful helping me self-certify income. In the past, I havent been asked to submit a XXXX, this was usually done electronically as a part of the XXXX application process, so this process was completely unfamiliar to me and quite perplexing since self-certification was in effect. In a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, from Mohela it stated that my IDR wasnt granted because we were unable to determine your annual income. 

After receiving the letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, I proceeded to submit my XXXX tax documentation as requested. I continued to manage and monitor the employment certification applications that I was submitting for the XXXX count updates and I realized that XX/XX/XXXX XXXX being counted as qualified, the reason stated was that the loan was in XXXX. I thought that XXXX would count because thats what my forbearance Important Announcement notice online stated ; XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX foreberance period was supposed to be counted towards XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed Mohela to confirm that the XXXX documents were received, I also complained about not being able to self-certify my income, I complained about being on hold with customer service for XXXX hours and then having the rep hang up on me, I also asked for the forced administrative forbearance to be removed since I wasnt receiving credit for XX/XX/XXXX because of the forbearance. 
Since going back into repayment, I have never requested to be on forbearance, I dont understand why my account was placed in forbearance initially and the forbearance date continued to be pushed further out. In a letter from Mohela dated XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, it stated that MOHELA Has Placed an Administrative Forbearance on Your Account and as previously mentioned I received XXXX letters in XX/XX/XXXX stating that the loans were in forbearance. Initially the forbearance was supposed to end in XXXX and then it was moved to XXXX and then XXXX, and I wasnt able to make a payment until XX/XX/XXXX. Placing my account in forbearance over and over and not communicating with me about why it was in forbearance and how I could get it removed so that I could make payments that counted towards XXXX is unfair, deceptive, and boarding on abusive practices. On XX/XX/XXXX, I wrote an email to Mohela again, inquiring about the impact of the administrative foreberance towards my PSLF count and asked for the foreberance to be lifted. This was my third request to get the foreberance removed from my account. Because of the foreberance and the delays in getting my XXXX set-up I missed out on XXXX months of payment count towards XXXX. I had XXXX payments left to get my loans forgiven and these issues have made me miss out on XXXX of those XXXX months. 

In a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, from Mohela, they informed me that the XXXX approved. I submitted my IDR application and was approved on FSAs website in XXXX and Mohela delayed the process by not honoring self-certification and having limited capacity to process documentation expeditiously. On XX/XX/XXXX my payment was finally debited from my bank account for my student loan payment. 
In reviewing guidance from XXXX XXXX Department XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX, in an article titled Your Top Student Loan Questions Answered : Public Student Loan Forgiveness in regards to forbearance it states that months where loans are being placed on administrative forbearance after the repayment restart will count toward XXXX ( search XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX, XXXX website last updated XXXX XXXX, XXXX @ XXXX ). Per California XXXX XXXX those months from XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, should be counted towards XXXX once my employment is certified. However, the response I received from Mohela to the email I sent XX/XX/XXXX was that I wont receive credit towards PSFL during the forced administrative forbearance period. 
Since repayment in XX/XX/XXXX, I have been trying to get my loan is the best position to be repaid and qualify for the XXXX forgiveness. I just wanted to make qualifying payments. Because of the forced administrative forbearance, I havent been able to make XXXX out of the XXXX payments I have left to get loan forgiveness. The processing delays and lack of customer service has made it impossible to get the forbearance lifted and get my IDR set-up properly which is quite unfair. Additionally, I received numerous contradictory bills between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX spanning from {$540.00} to {$940.00}, I was not able to self-certify my income and therefore didnt receive the lowest payment. 

I am seeking an outcome that will make me whole ; XXXX to XXXX months must be counted as qualifying towards XXXX. It is unfair that I was forced into forbearance and Mohela failed to honor my request to be released despite numerous complaints and request to have the forbearance removed. From XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX if the forbearance period automatically counted towards XXXX I should have been refunded XXXX and XXXX payments or those payments should be credited towards future payments. Its unfair that funds ( i.e., XX/XX/XXXX ) were pulled from my account while the account was in foreberance. And I had to initiate refunds when the system should provide such refunds or credits towards future payments without the borrower jumping through a bunch of hoops to receive a refund that theyre due. While the XXXX was being processed, I should have been able to make payments under the amount stated in the bill ( {$540.00} ) dated XX/XX/XXXX. The forced forbearance did not benefit my circumstances at all, I wanted to make my payments so that my loan could be forgiven in XX/XX/XXXX. Because of the mismanagement of my account, processing delays and unfair forbearance practices, XXXX now looking at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX this prolonged obligation is quite harmful because I have to continue to track, monitor, and manage this account which is time consuming and the amount that XXXX now required to pay is quite higher than the return to repayment amount that I expected. 

Regards, XXXX XXXX Cc : Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XXXX Federal Trade Commission XXXX XXXX Department of Education Ombudsman XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX California Attorney General, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ; XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX ; and Chief Compliance & Risk XXXX, XXXX XXXX Appendix attached XXXX XXXX Timeline of events * XX/XX/XXXX - Return to repayment first payment remitted XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Application Canceled ( per processing info on Mohela website ) XX/XX/XXXX All loans consolidated ( Mohela Letter dated XX/XX/XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Important Notice on XXXX website about administrative forbearance from XXXX to XXXX that will count towards PSLF [ Note : This popup message is no longer on my account. ] XX/XX/XXXX Mohela Letter consolidation payment and level payment schedule {$540.00} beginning XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Auto Debit Forbearance and Auto Debit Application Approved on XXXX website XX/XX/XXXX Mohela Forbearance Letter received type General Forbearance begin date XX/XX/XXXX and end date XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Mohela XXXX XXXX XXXX application approved XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX IDR Application categorized as Duplicate Form ( per processing info on Mohela website ) XX/XX/XXXX Payment remitted. 
XX/XX/XXXX Mohela XXXX XXXX XXXX payment scheduled XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$540.00} XX/XX/XXXX Mohela Forbearance Letter Mohela has placed an Administrative Forbearance on Your Account type Processing Forbearance begin date XX/XX/XXXX and end date XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Mohela Letter Repayment Schedule Change Repayment Plan Level Payment Amount {$940.00} Due XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Mohela XXXX XXXX Qualifying Payment Details, XXXX PSLF Eligible Payments and XXXX Qualifying Payments remaining XX/XX/XXXX Mohela XXXX XXXX XXXX payment scheduled to be withdrawn XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$940.00} XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX IDR Application Denied ( per processing info on Mohela website ) XX/XX/XXXX Emailed inquiry/complaint about being placed on level repayment despite having an approved IDR application on Department of Educations XXXX XXXX 
XX/XX/XXXX - Mohela Letter XXXX Qualifying Payment Details, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX Qualifying Payments remaining XX/XX/XXXX Mohela XXXX XXXX XXXX plan denial letter and notice that XXXX self-certification is available The option to self-certify income ends XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Mohela Letter - Mohela has placed an XXXX Forbearance on Your Account type Processing Forbearance begin date XX/XX/XXXX and end date XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - Mohela Letter XXXX Qualifying Payment Details, XXXX PSLF Eligible Payments and XXXX Qualifying Payments remaining XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Application Canceled ( per processing info on Mohela website ) XX/XX/XXXX - IDR Application Canceled ( per processing info on Mohela website ) XX/XX/XXXX - Mohela Letter XXXX Qualifying Payment Details, XXXX PSLF Eligible Payments and XXXX Qualifying Payments remaining XX/XX/XXXX - Emailed inquiry/complaint requested administrative forbearance removed, self-certification of income and confirmed income verification was received XX/XX/XXXX - Mohela Letter Auto Debit payment scheduled to be XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX amount of {$940.00} XX/XX/XXXX - Mohela has placed an Administrative Forbearance on Your Account, type Processing Forbearance begin date XX/XX/XXXX and end date XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Mohela XXXX XXXX request approved to begin XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX payment {$900.00} XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Emailed inquiry/complaint requested administrative forbearance removed and asked about the impact of the multiple months of forced administrative forbearances placed on my account for processing forbearance XX/XX/XXXX Payment remitted XX/XX/XXXX Submitted complaint to Mohela XXXX and other government organizations * All Letters and processing records referenced are available upon request