Consumer complaint received 2024-01-25
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with your payment plan
Company: MOHELA (NC)

My loan is currently processed by Mohela. In summer of XXXX, in preparation for the end of the student loan pause and the roll out of the SAVE repayment plan, I completed the certification process to get my loan payment set up. At the time, the system automatically put me into the REPAYE plan, but confirmed that per the DoE 's directives, that plan would switch to the SAVE plan on roll-out, before payments resumed. They gave us a calculated payment of ~ {$160.00} a month, which was consistent with, or even a little lower than, the guidelines for the REPAYE Plan ( 10 % of our income over 150 % of the federal poverty line for a family of four ; we had an AGI of {$70000.00}, so 150 % of the federal poverty guidelines would be {$45000.00}, making the payment 10 % of XXXX per annum, averaging {$210.00} per month ). 

Per the guidelines for the SAVE plan, however, this payment should have dropped *precipitously* to approximately {$14.00} dollars a month ( 225 % of the federal poverty line for a family of four would be XXXX, and the SAVE plan only entails a 5 % payment on the remainder over 225 % of the FPL ; 5 % of {$3300.00} per annum works out to {$14.00} a month ). When Mohela informed me, however, that I had been put on the SAVE plan, they did not in any way recalculate the payment ; they simply said I had been switched to SAVE and then left us with the {$160.00} a month payment. I reached out and pointed out the error, and they returned me to administrative forbearance, and I received an email sometime later saying that the payment had been recalculated to {$9.00} a month ( where exactly this number came from is beyond me, Mohela does not bother to communicate in any clear way to customers how they calculate *anything*, which has been a major part of the issue ). They still left our account saying, however, that we *owed* that {$160.00} dollars. I reached out again, pointing out that they needed to fix the amount owed and reminding them that the Biden Administrations guidelines to student loan servicers clearly indicated that no payments should resume before people were switched to the SAVE plan. They again but me in administrative forbearance ( though did not in any way respond to my email ), and cleared the amount due shown on my account. 

Today I received notification that there was new action on my account, only to log in and see that it now showed I owed * $ XXXX. At this point I see little recourse but to file complaints with the CFPB and with the FSA Ombudsman to try to compel Mohela to resolve this issue, as they have had half a year and several attempts at me contacting them to rectify this problem, and have consistently failed to ( something, it should be noted, that is not confined to my case - complaints have proliferated nationally for months of the ways in which Mohela has mishandled SAVE administration, and the DoE has already had to levy hefty fines against Mohela for their mismanagement ). 

For the time being, I have paid and will continue to pay that amount of {$9.00} a month, as a show of good faith- I have no desire, after all, to avoid my obligation to pay back my student loans, I simply expect that Mohela will pursue that repayment accurately and fairly according to the rules established by the Department of Education.