Consumer complaint received 2026-01-13 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: MOHELA
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I am requesting correction of my federal student loan account due to XXXX failure to properly record, retain, and handle multiple Income-Driven Repayment ( XXXX ) plan change applications, and its failure to provide timely and adequate notice, resulting in substantial servicer-caused harm to my Public Service Loan Forgiveness XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

I submitted an XXXX plan change request in XX/XX/XXXX requesting removal from the XXXX plan and enrollment into XXXX so that I could continue making XXXX payments. I reasonably expected this request to be processed promptly, with at most a brief processing forbearance. Instead, the request was not processed, and I was not placed into XXXX. 

Despite my XX/XX/XXXX submission already being on file, MOHELA later sent a written notice instructing me to submit a paper IDR application under a stated response period. That notice arrived with fewer than 10 days remaining rather than the stated 30 days. I complied and submitted the paper application within that shortened timeframe, even though the same plan change request had already been submitted online months earlier. 

The paper application was later acknowledged by MOHELA as received on XX/XX/XXXX. After submitting the paper application, I again submitted an IDR application online requesting the same switch from XXXX to XXXX. MOHELA processed neither submission. 

The completed application copies displayed in my online account do not accurately reflect what I submitted. The versions shown contain blank or incomplete fields and selections inconsistent with the XXXX plan change I requested. I would not have submitted an incomplete application, particularly under a shortened deadline. This indicates MOHELAs internal records are inaccurate and that my applications were mishandled or improperly reconstructed after receipt. 

MOHELA did not notify me at any point that any of my submissions were deficient, improperly recorded, unprocessable, or required correction. I received no letters or emails explaining why duplicative applications were requested or why my original XX/XX/XXXX request was not processed. Instead, MOHELA issued notices extending my IDR recertification date, indicating no further action was required on my part. 

The first and only time MOHELA instructed me to reapply was in its response to my complaint, which was posted only within the online portal and without any email notification. That response lists a Received Date but does not disclose when it was posted, and there was no notice alerting me that a response existed. As a result, I had no way to know that MOHELA had replied or that it was suggesting further action. 

Additionally, my MOHELA XXXX does not contain a complete correspondence history. Document access is truncated to XXXX XXXX, and I am unable to view earlier letters, including the correspondence that instructed me to submit a paper application under a shortened deadline. This lack of record retention and access further prevented me from meaningfully tracking or responding to required actions. 

As a result of MOHELAs recordkeeping, notice, and processing failures, my account was placed into SAVE-related administrative forbearance that was not borrower-initiated, preventing me from making PSLF-qualifying payments beginning in XX/XX/XXXX. From XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, MOHELA prevented me from making XXXX XXXX payments that I otherwise would have made under XXXX. 

This harm is substantial. I have already accumulated approximately XXXX qualifying PSLF payments toward the required XXXX. My projected XXXX completion date was approximately XX/XX/XXXX. MOHELAs failures have extended my forgiveness timeline by roughly XXXX months, pushing it into XXXX, solely due to servicer error.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response