Consumer complaint received 2026-04-13 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Account status incorrect
Company: MOHELA
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint regarding systematic servicing failures by MOHELA that resulted in inaccurate credit reporting, abusive agent conduct, and failure to correctly apply my income-driven repayment plan following a servicer transfer from XXXX. Background I have federal Direct Consolidated loans ( opened XX/XX/XXXX ) currently serviced by MOHELA. Prior to consolidation, I was on an Income-Driven Repayment plan with a {$0.00} calculated payment. I consolidated in early XXXX at the encouragement of the Department of Education in connection with XXXX IDR initiatives. At the time of consolidation and for the XXXX months that followed, I was experiencing homelessness, displaced across XXXX locations across XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX with XXXXXXXX XXXX children. Servicing Failures Following the XXXXMOHELA transfer, my IDR zero-payment status was not correctly carried over. Income-Contingent Repayment ( ICR ) was not applied to my account until XX/XX/XXXX over 20 months after consolidation. During this gap, delinquency was generated and reported to all three credit bureaus despite the fact that my correctly calculated payment should have been {$0.00} based on XXXX income. In XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted MOHELA and disclosed active homelessness with infant children. I asked whether my payment could be adjusted back to {$0.00} as it had been under my prior IDR plan. The agent responded with humiliating language, stating words to the effect of " you can't even afford {$5.00} bet you pay your phone bill '' then disconnected the call. This call was recorded by MOHELA. This conduct constitutes harassment and abuse under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. A subsequent agent told me that failure to receive billing notices was my fault for not updating my address. I was homeless. I had no stable address to provide. Throughout XXXX and XXXX I made multiple contacts attempting to resolve the delinquencies and correct my payment to {$0.00}. I was told the ICR plan did not allow hardship adjustments. This is incorrect economic hardship deferment exists as a separate provision. A MOHELA agent suggested I research FEMA disaster declarations corresponding to my displacement periods as a potential basis for delinquency correction. I conducted that research independently and submitted the findings. Some delinquency markers were subsequently corrected, as reflected in my credit report payment history. However, this resolution was incomplete, the research burden was placed entirely on me rather than escalated internally, and no formal hardship determination was made or documented. I have no bank account. MOHELA 's online payment system requires XXXX. MOHELA was informed of this. No alternative accessible payment pathway was provided for an XXXX borrower. I was then reported delinquent for non-payment of an amount I had no viable means to remit. My Experian credit report currently shows {$24.00} past due as of XX/XX/XXXX and delinquency markers from XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX days across XXXX during a period when I was actively in administrative forbearance and when MOHELA 's own system shows {$0.00} collected in cumulative payments since account origination. XXXX systems MOHELA, StudentAid.gov, and XXXX show XXXX different payment amounts ( {$0.00}, {$5.00}, and {$4.00} respectively ), demonstrating a data integrity failure across MOHELA 's own reporting. On XX/XX/XXXX, a MOHELA supervisor submitted an unspecified internal action on my account without reading its contents to me, providing a reference number, or obtaining my informed consent. I was then told to go update my application. No documentation of what was submitted was provided. Prior to the XX/XX/XXXX consolidation, I maintained an IDR plan with a {$0.00} calculated payment on predecessor loans dating to XXXX. That zero-payment status should have carried forward into the new consolidated loan but was not applied for over 20 months.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response