Consumer complaint received 2024-04-22 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: PA

Complaint narrative:
In XXXX of XXXX I put in a claim for the Sweet vs. Cardona, I have not received any information as of today XX/XX/XXXX as to whether my case was approved or not as a matter of fact on the student aid.gov my application is still pending after almost 2 years : see below : Borrower Defense Case # XXXX Pending Case Information Date Submitted XX/XX/XXXX School XXXX XXXX Enrollment Period XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX Webform Submission - Case Number : XXXX application | XXXX XXXX  aid.gov my application is still pending after almost 2 years. 

In XXXX of XXXX just before payments were to resume for student loans I filed an IDR form and was denied I called Mohela and questioned why I was denied and was told that there was a mistake and that it would be take care of. By end of XXXX beginning of XXXX, I went online to Mohela again, and again saw that my IDR was denied because now it was a duplicate application, I again called Mohela and was told my IDR had been corrected and that my payments should resume beginning XX/XX/XXXX. In XXXX of XXXX I again checked my Mohela account and noticed my payment did not come out of my checking account and that my Mohela account said I had a XXXX payment due. I once again reached out to Mohela and questioned why. I was told that the Sweet & Cardona settlement had been won and that my account had been put on forbearance until XXXX, and that I had no payments due and that everything was as it should be, I asked how this forbearance would affect my PSLF application and I was told I would not have any problems and not to worry even though I was in forbearance my PSLF would continue. I filed my PSLF for the year XXXX in XXXX of XXXX and waited until XXXX of XXXX, when I receive a letter saying that my PSLF was now credited up until XXXX of XXXX and I was at XXXX payments and I only had 15 qualifying payments remaining. Again I checked my account and I was still in forbearance with XXXX payment due. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from Mohela letting me know that I was accruing interest on my account... I went in to make a payment, and found that my automatic payment set up had been cancelled. I called Mohela to find out why I could not set up and automatic payment and was told because I was in forbearance still that I did not need to worry about the interest, that it would be taken care along with the settlement. I asked again do we know how long and I could not get a straight answer. I then filed my PSLF on XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX for the year XXXX and received a letter from Student Aid.gov letting my know that because of my loans being in forbearance I know longer qualified for PSLF. When I explained that this was not the case last year and I don't understand what happened between XXXX of XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX no one again could give me an answer and I was told to contact Student Aid.gov ... .I called Student Aid.gov and asked why I was no longer in PSLF status, I was told that they pull their information from whatever Mohela puts in the system and I need to call Mohela . I then filed a complaint with the Ombudsman on XX/XX/XXXX and was told it would take 15 business days to get back to me ( case # XXXX ). On XX/XX/XXXX when I still had not heard from the Ombudsman I called both Mohela and Student Aid, Mohela answer to me was well we can just take you out of forbearance and resume your payment and then you can go back and apply for PSLF. I asked what about for the year XXXX, credit and I was told that I had lost them because I was in forbearance. I did not agree with this assessment and called Student Aid, who explained to me, that even though I was in forbearance for the Sweet vs Cardona case, that Biden had it in effect that I should still be receiving my PSLF credit and to wait for the Ombudsman to answer my complaint. Well it is today XX/XX/XXXX and I have yet to hear from an Ombudsman, so I called the office of the Ombudsman again and spoke to a young lady who's name I believe was XXXX, who proceeded to tell me that she was not the Ombudsman who was handling my case ( it was another Ombudsman office ), but she could help me any way. XXXX then proceeded to tell me I had 3 options regarding my loan, A ) take it out forbearance and buyback my last year, so that it would be credited towards my PSLF B ) Wait another 2 and a half to maybe 3 years and my pending request ( see information included above ) to dismiss my loan based on the Sweet vs Cardona case should be finalized, or C ) be taken out of forbearance and make payments and try in another year to reapply for my PSLF. I am highly disappointed with how my loan has been handled this past year and every time I call Mohela and Student Aid I get a different answer. I did not ask for my loan to be put on forbearance for 15 years, and when I questioned why I was told that everything looks good and not to worry. Unfortunately for me I trusted in my government and Joe Biden to do the right thing and now I am paying the price, I am 7 months away from my 10 year anniversary of working as a XXXX XXXX and would have qualified for my loan being dismissed under PSLF. I am not happy with how my loan has been handled by both Mohela and Student Aid, and hoping this office could give me some direction and help me get in touch with some one higher up that will look at situation and come up with a reasonable answer. Thank you for your time XXXX XXXX

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