Consumer complaint received 2026-01-30 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: NC

Complaint narrative:
I applied to enroll in the SAVE loan repayment program on XX/XX/XXXX. When it was announced by the Department of Education ( DOE ) that the SAVE plan was ending, I reached out to MOHELA about the status of my student loan repayment. I was advised by the MOHELA agent that my loan had been placed in forbearance and that this forbearance would not count as qualifying toward Public Student Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). I was told that I needed to submit an application for a new income-based repayment ( IBR ) plan. I did so on XX/XX/XXXX. I received no response. I reached back out to MOHELA and was told that the application was still pending.

I received a notice from MOHELA, dated XX/XX/XXXX, that I should resubmit the application in order for it to be processed based on DOE recommendation. I submitted a new application for a new IBR plan on XX/XX/XXXX. I received a notice from MOHELA, dated XX/XX/XXXX, that my loan was being put back into repayment status and payments would begin again on XX/XX/XXXX with {$140.00} due per month. I received a subsequent notice from MOHELA, dated XX/XX/XXXX, that again stated my monthly payment beginning on XX/XX/XXXX would be {$140.00}. 

I logged into my MOHELA account today, XX/XX/XXXX, to ensure my autopay information was correct. Upon login, my account summary indicated that my monthly payment becoming due was {$280.00}. I called MOHELA to inquire about this difference. After speaking to multiple agents, being transferred to advanced agents and a supervisor, I was informed that this was my new monthly payment amount per the new IBR plan. I had not yet received any approval or correspondence that a plan had been approved. They apologized for the discrepancy between the notice issued yesterday. I inquired as to why my payment amount was nearly doubling. I was told by the MOHELA agent that this was the calculation under the new plan as the SAVE plan was ending. I asked that if the SAVE plan had not yet ended, why was my plan changing. The response was that it was because I had applied for a new plan, and the SAVE litigation was still pending.

However, I was not informed that I could remain on the SAVE plan during the pending litigation when I spoke with MOHELA back in XX/XX/XXXX and again in XX/XX/XXXX. Rather, I was told that I had to apply for a new plan. I would not have applied for a new plan if I knew I could stay on the SAVE plan until litigation was resolved. However, MOHELA said because borrowers can no longer be enrolled in the SAVE plan, my previous payment amount can not be restored. Multiple agents I spoke to apologized for the misinformation, and the supervisor said this situation would be used for further agent coaching. After the phone call today, a new notice was issued by MOHELA, dated XX/XX/XXXX, with the new payment amount. 

I believe this constitutes unfair and deceptive misrepresentation by a debt collector. MOHELA knew or should known : ( 1 ) that I could remain on the SAVE plan while litigation was pending ; ( 2 ) that there was no requirement that I change from the SAVE plan to a new IBR plan while litigation was pending ; and ( 3 ) that the payment amount was likely to increase when comparing other IBR options to the SAVE plan. Despite this, MOHELA failed to inform me that I was not required to change my repayment plan and could remain on the SAVE plan while litigation was pending, and this misrepresentation is now causing my monthly payment to nearly double despite a relatively minimal increase in income from when I first enrolled in a repayment plan ( approx. XXXX XXXXXXXX salary in XXXX to approx. XXXX XXXXXXXX salary in XXXX ).

Company response to consumer: Untimely response