Consumer complaint received 2024-02-08 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Problem with customer service
Company: MOHELA
State: CT

Complaint narrative:
I am in repayment for XXXX XXXX  student loans with Mohela. This particular account is actually under my Mom 's name, XXXX XXXX, though I make the payments under the account as it was for my college education. Like many others, at the start of the pandemic I was told that I could continue to make regular payments during the XXXX  loan forbearance, so I did, in an effort to pay off my interest and start more quickly paying down my principal balance. I was never told that doing this would automatically put my account into a " pay ahead status ''. When the forbearance ended this past Fall and payments resumed I saw that I somehow did not have a payment due until XXXX of XXXX and that the payment was for a much smaller amount than my typical required payment. They also changed the way my account works and no longer allowed me to make one lumpsome payment to be spread out across all of my loans and instead only allowed me to make individual payments for each loan which is incredibly confusing. At this time, I reached out to Mohela on XX/XX/XXXX to inquire. I did not hear back until XXXX after I sent a follow-up inquiry to find out why I hadn't heard from them after nearly two months. They then explained that my account was in pay ahead status and that they could remove that for me if I preferred. They ignored my question about the inconvenient payment structure. That same day I told them to please remove the pay ahead status and asked again for clarification on why I could no longer make one lumpsome payment. I then did not hear from them and reached out two more times for an update before getting confirmation that they would remove my pay ahead status on XX/XX/XXXX. They said it would " take some time '' for the pay ahead status to show, I asked how long and still have not heard back and also asked once again about the payment method and why I could not make a lump-some payment as they continued to blatantly ignore that question. I have now followed up with them four times since XX/XX/XXXX asking when they pay ahead status would be removed and when I could expect to make lumpsome payment and haven't heard anything, despite the fact their website continues to indicate I should be hearing back in three days. I genuinely think this is predatory loan behavior and that they are trying to earn more in interest from borrowers. I paid off my interest completely during the XXXX loan forbearance and was working solely on the principal balance at this point. I think their automatically moving folks to pay ahead status without getting permission and seemingly purposefully ignoring my request to remove pay ahead status is an attempt to get additional interest to accrue on my account. If I kept the pay ahead status, hundreds if not thousands of dollars in interest could have accrued between last Fall and this Fall that would not have accrued if they had simply resumed payment and billing statements as I expected they would and as I have requested that they do.

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