Consumer complaint received 2024-02-15 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: GA

Complaint narrative:
My student loans were transferred to Mohela when XXXX XXXX ended their contract with the government in XX/XX/XXXX. My problems with Mohela started in XXXX when payments were supposed to resume. I applied for the SAVE repayment plan in XX/XX/XXXX, and the US Dept of Education said I qualified for the SAVE plan for all my loans. Mohela placed me in an administrative forbearance for XXXX  months ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ) and continued to charge me interest. In fact, they charged me a higher interest rate than they should have. In XXXX, I applied for, and they approved, my auto debit application, but they did not apply the .25 % discount on the interest rate because my loans were still in administrative forbearance. When I called Mohela to ask about why I was still in forbearance, I waited for an hour to talk to a customer service representative, and she seemed helpful. She said she was sending my case to a specialist, and they would be in touch with me to figure out why my SAVE application and recalculation of my payment was still pending. I never heard from anyone. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, they managed to put me on the SAVE plan, for XXXX of my XXXX loans. That month, they auto-debited my payment for those XXXX loans, and finally the auto-debit discount kicked in. 

For the other XXXX loans, in XX/XX/XXXX, they put them on a standard repayment plan, even though, according to the US Dept of Education, I qualify for the SAVE plan. When I called Mohela to find out why these XXXX loans were not on the SAVE plan, I waited on hold for an hour. Not only that, the customer service rep comes back on every XXXX minutes to make sure I want to stay on hold. It is torture. She couldn't actually do anything, but is hired by this company to ask me every XXXX minutes whether I want to stay on hold to talk to a mythical someone who could actually help me. It's XXXX. I gave up. 

In addition to getting nowhere with telephone customer service, the messaging system within their website is worthless. I have sent multiple messages about my issues, and each time about a month after I send the message, I get a " we have received your message '' message. Never a solution or answer, only acknowledgement of receival.

I have made multiple complaints to the US Dept of Education about all of this. Their response is always " we've forwarded your complaint to your loan servicer and they will handle it. '' No one handles anything. No one is clear about information or the process.

Most recently, I asked the US Dept of Education how and when the interest subsidy for the SAVE program will be applied. For the SAVE plan, any interest not covered by your monthly payment is supposed to be covered by the government. I have not received any subsidy. The US Dept of Education 's response? Mohela will handle it. Mohela hasn't handled it.

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