Consumer complaint received 2024-03-09
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (MI)

I have a federal student loan serviced by Mohela. In XX/XX/XXXX I was preparing for my first payment due after covid pause. My first payment due after pause was {$310.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX. I was on an extended graduated payment plan. I went to the Mohela site and decided to apply for the XXXX XXXX program to see if it would lower my payment. I had my tax returns and student loan info with me and completed the application/worksheet. The result was I qualified for a reduced payment, I did not write the payment amount down at that time so I dont remember the exact amount it showed I was eligible for but it was below {$200.00}. If the payment was not being reduced on the XXXX XXXX program I would not have bothered to have the application processed. I submitted the application for processing and then read it would be several weeks or more until the application was processed so I needed to pay the current amount due. I paid my {$310.00} pmt on XX/XX/XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX. I went to my acct on XX/XX/XXXX to pay the next payment due on XX/XX/XXXX and was shocked to see my payment increased to {$750.00} as a result of the change to SAVE XXXX program. I had not budgeted for this big increase, and it was unexpected, and I thought incorrect. It was after hours so I could not call Mohela but saw they had the option to email them on my account page on website. I sent an email on XX/XX/XXXX describing what had happened, asked that the XXXX XXXX payment be re-calculated because based on my calculations the payment should have been below {$200.00} and added if I had made a mistake and the correct payment was {$750.00} then to return me immediately to my previous plan and payment of {$310.00}, I also asked that the loan be placed in forbearance until this error could be corrected because I was not budgeted for the {$750.00} payment. I waited for XXXX weeks and there was no response to my email. If Mohela will not respond to emails then the ability to contact them by email should be XXXX on the Mohela website to avoid wasting time waiting on a response that will not be coming. I was worried about my XXXX payment being past due and how it would impact my credit profile. I called Mohela on XX/XX/XXXX, after waiting on hold a very long time I was able to talk to a representative. I explained what had happened and the rep decided to redo the XXXX XXXX application with me on the phone. I had my tax returns and student loan info and provided this for the rep to complete the application. After completing the application, the rep said my payment on this program should be {$160.00} and asked if that would be acceptable. I said yes, that is what I was expecting but my payment instead had been increased to {$750.00}. The rep was puzzled by this. I asked if my loan could be placed in forbearance until the payment could be corrected. The rep replied yes and placed my loan in forbearance until the XXXX XXXX application could be processed and the payment corrected. I had been checking my account on line and noticed toward end of XX/XX/XXXX that my loan was no longer in forbearance but my payment due for XX/XX/XXXX remained the incorrect {$750.00}. I called Mohela on XX/XX/XXXX to discuss this problem. I waited on hold for over an hour and gave up. I sent another email on XX/XX/XXXX from my account page to Mohela again asking for the payment to be corrected and loan placed back in forbearance until it was corrected. As of today, XX/XX/XXXX there has been no response to my email. I am a teacher and work in my classroom all day, I dont have the option to call during what Mohela calls their none peak hours Thursday and Friday mornings, especially when wait times exceed an hour which has been my experience.