Consumer complaint received 2024-02-02
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA (NY)

In XXXX my federal student loans got transferred to Mohela from XXXX. I had submitted a XXXX  form to my prior loan servicer so when it transferred to Mohela, I reached out to them to make sure my XXXX transferred as well and they assured me it did and they were processing it. By XXXX of XXXX I hadn't heard anything further which was weird to me because I believed I all ready had qualified for forgiveness because I have been a public servant for over XXXX  years with the same employer ( XXXX ) and made over 120 qualifying payments. I decided to reach out to them again in XXXX of XXXX and they said there was a problem with my XXXX form and they needed wet signatures because the signatures on the form weren't legible. This was also weird seeing as how I had copies of the form and both signatures were clear and legible but I submitted a new form per their request and physically got the signatures from my employer. I faxed and emailed the new form in XXXX of XXXX and was informed they received it and would take time to process. I decided to be patient and take their word for it. By XXXX of XXXX, payments were to resume and I got a letter stating I would need to start making payments again. By this point I as confused because through the XXXX  program my loans should have been processed for forgiveness and its been years and they have not been. I reached out to the student federal loan website and filed a complaint with no resolve and was told to reach out to Mohela yet again. In XXXX of XXXX, I sat on the phone waiting to get through to someone for XXXX hours. Finally I got through to someone and they said my form wasn't processed because the signatures weren't legible. Floored, because I've now sent this form twice where the signatures were clear, I asked them what I should do next and they informed me to have my form electronically signed. So in the first week of XXXX of XXXX, I sent a third XXXX form, this time with electronic signatures. My employer got the email to sign it from the federal student loan website, signed it, and sent it back. She even sent me proof of doing this. The website still said they were waiting on my employers signature so I again called them and was put on hold for XXXX hours. When I got through, I spoke to a trainee who couldn't understand why my loans hadn't been processed for forgiveness and she said it was because I had duplicate forms which showed overlapping employment. WHAT!?!? I have worked for XXXX, the same agency since XXXX and it is now XXXX, and Mohela told me to submit new forms because of unclear signatures, now thats a problem? She explained that it was a computer issue and she would get me connected to an agent to fix this computer error. I was then placed on hold for another hour, and finally an agent got on the phone. She then informed me they only had record of the one form I sent in XXXX of XXXX. That is until I told her I had paper trails of the form sent in XXXX, again in XXXX, and again in XXXX and transcripts saved of conversations with MOHELA and the federal student aid website and would be more than happy to send them to her for proof. She then began backtracking and put me on another brief hold. When she got back on the phone she had miraculously found my original form from XXXX and didn't know why it was denied for signatures because according to her the signatures her clear and she could read them perfectly fine. She then corrected this error, and my payment count was brought to XXXX payments which shocker qualifies me for loan forgiveness through XXXX with my XXXX years of service to the public. My account was put in a default forbearance and now an administrative forbearance with interest still accruing. That is where is stops. The payment count on their website reads that I have made the required qualifying payments and my employment has been verified and my employer for the last XXXX years. I have had no further correspondence, can not get through to them, and they say my loans will start to need to be paid again beginnning in XXXX when my forebearance will end. How are they getting away with this? I HAVE MET ALL THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A PROGRAM THAT BEGAN IN XXXX. I HAVE MADE XXXX PAYMENTS OVER XXXX YEARS WORKING AS A PUBLIC SERVANT FOR THE STATE OF NEW YORK. I HAVE FILLED OUT EVERY FORM AND MET EVERY DEADLINE AND NOW I AM PENALIZED FOR THEIR PROCESSING DELAYS FOR YEARS NOW, IT IS CRIMINAL!! Maybe this complaint will be the one that is taken seriously, and something will be done. If nothing comes of this, I have all ready found a class action suit against Mohela from two other individuals that have dealt with the same thing. I guess my next step is to find a lawyer and file another suit against them with a few more than two people I know experiencing the same thing. They are loan sharks and what they are doing is against the law. Do better Sincerely, A law abiding citizen