Consumer complaint received 2024-04-04
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: MOHELA (NY)

All complaints involve Mohela and their handling of auto debit, inaccurate billing statements and multiple miscommunications made over the phone that contradict billing statements XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX when the loan pause was expected to end my account was in a " paid ahead status '' because of payments I had made during the pause. I signed up for auto debit in XX/XX/XXXX on Mohela in order to lower my interest rate- however auto debit did not recognize the paid ahead status and instead billed my account for {$990.00} and {$250.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX respectively. I called Mohela in which they explained the scenario and helped me un-enroll for auto debit and apply for an XXXX plan so that when paid ahead status ended I would be on an appropriate plan. The man I spoke with assured me that my XXXX payments in XXXX would be applied to future payments on the XXXX plan so that I did not pay that high of a rate for no reason ( I have no proof of this and can not find anything in my account indicating this ). I completed over the phone however I never received any documentation of what happened after that phone call so I assumed it was complete. The person on the phone also put my account on an administrative forbearance and submitted to end my paid ahead status. From XXXX XXXX my account remained in a paid ahead status and all bills read that I owed {$0.00}. until XXXX. 

XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX I called Mohela again because I had gotten no other updates to my account besides the fact that the administrative forebearance had ended. I got information from an agent that the paid ahead status would end if " I wrote a detailed letter and faxed it to Mohela ''. At the time I was unsure if I wanted to end my paid ahead status so I decided to wait. She also informed me that my payments would be {$290.00} if I did in fact choose to end my paid ahead status by faxing the letter. 

XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX. Without warning I begin receiving billing statements that are due XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX totaling over {$1700.00}. I am clearly confused as I had not yet faxed a letter to end paid ahead status. Also bills should be provided 25 days in advance and not XXXX week. I called Mohela on XXXX XXXX in which I spoke with a trainee who assured me that I do not in fact owe {$1700.00} and instead owe what I had spoken about with the last representative {$290.00}. I asked to see a bill with this amount ( as I have yet to see one ). She assured me she would send me the bill but because of processing time I may not get it for a couple of hours. She assured me that my Mohela account was being updated and that it should reflect the {$290.00} amount by XX/XX/XXXX when the bill would be due. When I later received the bill online to my account it was not what we had spoken about- it was a bill for only loan sequence XXXX ( not the remaining XXXX loans ) for {$250.00}. She clearly sent me the closest bill she could find to what I was supposed to be paying and did not actually read it. I refile for an XXXX on the XXXX website because I am feeling nervous that I never got any information confirming my last XXXX  application. 

XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX I check my account daily since my last contact with Mohela- however it has not changed. The account still reflects that I incorrectly am not on an XXXX and owe over {$1700.00} for XXXX. I call Mohela again, the first person states they need a " senior '' agent and transfer me to another person where I wait over an hour before speaking with someone ( who does not call herself a senior agent ). She places my account on another administrative forbearance so that my most recent XXXX application can be processed and kick in for XX/XX/XXXX. 

It will now be 6 months before I make payments that will count towards XXXX. I have now spent XXXX hrs on the phone in regard to this issue. I have filed multiple XXXX applications and received no information as of this date on their status. I have been accruing interest and making no progress towards XXXX payments due to these delayed processing times.