Consumer complaint received 2025-01-15 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: LA

Complaint narrative:
Mohela has seriously and repeatedly mismanaged my student loans in multiple ways. 

In XXXX, Mohela placed me into multiple forbearances and provided me with incorrect and conflicting information regarding each. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I was forced into a forbearance due to Mohelas website platform transition - but was repeatedly assured that any months spent in this forbearance WOULD be eligible months for Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I was again forced into a forbearance by Mohela- this time with the stated justification of seeing if I was eligible for new benefits. Again I was assured that any months spent in this forbearance WOULD be eligible months for Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). 

Despite the facts outlined above, and also in spite of the fact that I have an approved employment certification form on record for the entire period of XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, Mohela has deemed both my months of XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX as ineligible for PSLF. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I was forced into a forbearance due to SAVE litigation - but I was assured that I could 1 ) switch from SAVE to another payment plan and 2 ) apply for buyback of any months spent in this forbearance. 

Subsequent to the events above, in XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX, I : 1. Applied for reconsideration of XXXX & XX/XX/XXXX based on the previous assurances I received from Mohela, along with those months not being part of SAVE litigation. I have received no response to these requests, and when I have repeatedly asked for information on request status, I am told they are under review with no estimated time for the review provided. 
2. Applied for buyback of XXXX & XX/XX/XXXX. 
I have followed up on each of those multiple times since then, only to be told that they have been escalated and are under review with no estimated time for the review provided. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I applied to switch from the SAVE repayment plan into the IBR repayment plan. According to official guidance from both the Federal Student Loan program and Mohela, upon receipt of any IDR Application, a student loan account will be placed in a Processing Forbearance for 60 days, during which interest accrues and is eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) and IDR forgiveness. However, despite this official guidance and also repeated requests from me, Mohela has refused to place my student loans into a Processing Forbearance, and instead is leaving them in the SAVE Forbearance, which does not count towards PSLF or IDR forgiveness. 

The result of the above outlined actions is that, although according to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and Mohelas own system, I have 187 qualifying payments for PSLF and 154 of those payment months also have accepted employment certification forms, Mohela has only deemed 118 of my payment months as eligible for PSLF ( the latest being XX/XX/XXXX ). 

Via the following actions : 1 ) Refusing to honor their assurances that XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX would count towards PSLF, and 2 ) Refusing to place my account into a PSLF-qualifying Processing Forbearance for 60 days as required by Federal Student Loan guidance, Mohela is effectively holding my account hostage at 118 payments ( two payments below the number required for PSLF ) and refusing to forgive my loans through PSLF despite my having earned it.

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