Consumer complaint received 2024-08-05 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: MN

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, my mom and I made a {$5000.00} payment and selected to auto-allocate the payment to my loan balances. ( this loan is in my mother 's name, but we agreed that I would provide the funds to repay the loans ). 
On XX/XX/year>, my mom and I made an additional {$5000.00} payment and again selected to auto-allocate the payment to my loan balances. 
MOHELA posted the payments several days later, and I noticed on XX/XX/year> that 3 of my loans had negative balances ( amount to a total of around {$3500.00} ), and other loans still had existing balances. In other words, MOHELA applied both of my {$5000.00} payments to the same loans. 
On XX/XX/year>, my mom and I called MOHELA for the first time, pointed out the issue, and requested that the overpayments be reallocated to my existing loans. The representative asked me which loan we wanted it applied to, so we made a selection and was told that it would be updated in 37 business days from the day we called. 
On XX/XX/year> ( 37 business days from XX/XX/year> ), my mom and I called again to see why the reallocation was not complete. This time, the representative ( a different rep ) told me that the issue should have been resolved 37 business days from the day MOHELA made the error ( so between XX/XX/year> and XX/XX/year> ) and that she would mark my issue as a " priority. '' She told us the error would be fixed and we would get an email within " a few days '' and that a check for the wrongfully accrued interest that accrued because my existing loans weren't paid at the time I attempted to pay them would be sent to my mother and me within 60-90 days. 
After 10 days had passed, we called again to ask what was going on and were essentially told that they didn't know why it hadn't worked yet. The representative transferred us to a higher up, and when I had to get back to work, the higher up told me she'd send us an email with an update within 3-5 business days, which we never received. 
After those several calls, my mother called on her own asking why still nothing had been fixed. At this point, she was told that the reallocation would happen 37 business days from the second time we called and blamed MOHELA 's transition for the extended timeframe. However, the representative said that this was only a problem because we made the 2 {$5000.00} payments BEFORE our account transitioned, which is not true. Our account switched well before we made those 2 payments. 
After that, my mom called again to follow up and was told by the representative that they had absolutely no idea what was going on and then the reallocation was still " in progress. '' At this point, XXXX XXXXXXXX dollars have wrongfully accrued on my remaining loan balances. My loans should be paid in full at this point, because my remaining balance is now less than the overpayment amount of around {$3500.00}. My mom's/my credit score is likely being negatively impacted by this hold up, and the several hours we have spent calling MOHELA are hours of our time that we will never get back. Additionally, MOHELA has caused us undue stress and has generally misinformed us on several occasions. I am deeply frustrated and would like for this issue to be resolved.

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