Consumer complaint received 2025-02-27 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Problem with customer service
Company: MOHELA
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I am currently on a PAYE income-driven repayment plan for my student loans. My income recertification date was due XX/XX/XXXX. I received communication from Mohela in XX/XX/XXXX that my plan was due for recertification which specified that my income would be automatically recertified if I had consented to provide federal tax information via studentaid.gov. The text is quoted below : XX/XX/XXXX " We are required to notify you that your repayment plan is due to recertify 95 days prior to the anniversary date of your plan. 
The quickest way to recertify your plan is by signing in to StudentAid.gov/idr and providing consent for Federal Student Aid ( FSA ) to securely access your federal tax information from the IRS. If you provide consent, your plan may be eligible for autorecertification going forward. '' I logged into studentaid.gov to confirm that this was complete as well as identified a confirmation email from studentid.gov for this action from XX/XX/XXXX ( more than 1 year before the recertification due date ). I submitted a message to Mohela below to clarify : " Hello, I am receiving notifications that my IDR plan was expiring or required recertification and that my monthly payment would change as a result. It is my understanding that if FSA has electronic access to your tax information, income recertification for IDR is automatic. I would like to clarify if I am still enrolled on the correct IDR ( PAYE ) based on the automated process. Thank you, '' XX/XX/XXXX : " If you gave your consent to access your tax information and applied for an IDR electronically, Federal Student Aid ( FSA ) will take care of automatically recertifying your plan on its recertification date. '' I did manually resubmit income forms on studentaid.gov because they continued to send me notifications that I was going to miss or had missed the deadline and would be adjusted to a 10 year plan which would substantially increase my costs. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I then received a communication from Mohela that my income had not been recertified and that my payment was being adjusted from {$2000.00} to XXXX based on a ten year standard repayment. 
XX/XX/XXXX : I called Mohela during business hours and waited on hold for >2 hours. When I spoke to someone, she told me that because of the action in federal courts for the SAVE plan, IDR plans were not automatially recertifying. I clarified that I was not on SAVE and that communication from Mohela stated income could be automatifally recertified and had no specification nor documentation that that process was impacted by the court case across several iterations of communication from XX/XX/XXXX forward. She then stated I needed to speak to a supervisor, however, because it was after business hours, no one was available. I asked if I could schedule a callback and was directed to a voicemail. I reside in California and received a voicemail at XXXX XXXX PST from a supervisor which did not include a direct line and re-directed me to the general customer service line. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Called at XXXX XXXX PST, >2h30 minute hold time XX/XX/XXXX : Called at XXXX XXXX PST, XXXX minute hold time. Given an option to schedule a callback by leaving my number with an estimate of 2h10 minute to return my call. Did not receive a call. I called back twice at XXXX XXXX  and XXXXXXXX XXXX with wait times of >3 hours to speak to a representative. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Called at XXXXXXXX XXXX PST, wait time 2h20 minutes and entered a request for a callback. I also submitted an email request to clarify the above situation today.

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