Consumer complaint received 2024-12-04 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: MOHELA
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
I have ten federal student loans serviced through Mohela. They are denoted as XXXX through XXXX by Mohela, respectively. As of XX/XX/year>, and reiterated again on XX/XX/year>, all ten of my student loans have been in forbearance due to the ongoing federal litigation regarding the SAVE and IDR repayment programs. All ten loans have been in forbearance since that time, meaning they have been accruing no interest. Copies of the letters received from Mohela are attached hereto. 

On or about XX/XX/year>, I fully repaid my loan number XXXX. Shortly thereafter, loan number XXXX was shown on my account as " Paid in Full. '' On or about XX/XX/year>, I fully repaid my loan number XXXX. This loan remained as a {$0.00} balance, which I verified when I made further payments on XX/XX/year>, XX/XX/year>, XX/XX/year>, and XX/XX/year>. A copy of my account history is attached hereto showing the dates these payments were made. The loan XXXX was showing a {$0.00} balance at each of these dates. However, the account never showed as " Paid in Full. '' On or about XX/XX/year>, I logged into my Mohela account to make another payment. I noted that as of that date, my loan XXXX now showed a balance of {$67.00}. I called Mohela that same day and talked to a customer service representative who identified herself as " XXXX. '' I asked where the {$67.00} balance came from. She acknowledged it was odd that the account was paid down to a XXXX balance, and now showed a balance of {$67.00}. She also acknowledged that the account was not assessed interest or fees from the time the final payment was made. 

After being on hold for almost 45 minutes, XXXX advised me that she did not have a definitive answer as to why my account XXXX had a balance after it had been paid down to XXXX. She advised me that perhaps I had, in fact, not paid the principal completely. I advised her that I had paid the principal completely, and asked if she would provide me the account balance as of XX/XX/year>, XX/XX/year>, and XX/XX/year>, respectively, to demonstrate the balance was XXXX as of those dates. She refused to do so. 

I then asked for a full accounting in writing. She advised she would request it for me, and it would take 7 days to arrive. As of XX/XX/year>, it still has not arrived. The accounting I requested would demonstrate that the account was a XXXX balance and the principal was in fact paid prior to the unknown balance being assessed. 

On XX/XX/year>, the same date I made that call, I went ahead and paid the {$67.00}, notwithstanding the non-explanation of how that balance had occurred. I also made a payment towards my loan XXXX. The payment has cleared as of XX/XX/year>, and my account XXXX now shows a XXXX principal balance. I fear that without intervention, Mohela will not show my account as paid in full, but instead will add more to the principal balance after a certain amount of time. 

I have attached hereto, my account summary for my account XXXX as of XX/XX/year> showing the unknown balance of {$67.00}, as well the account summary showing the principal balance was paid down to XXXX  as of XX/XX/year>. I also have a screen capture of my overall summary, showing that XXXX now has no due date, which is what it showed prior to XX/XX/year>, when the {$67.00} was added. I believe that Mohela has either made an accounting error, at best, or at worst is engaging in a deceptive practice to skim more money off of my student loan account XXXX instead of properly acknowledging it is paid in full and closing it.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation