Consumer complaint received 2024-01-14 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: MA

Complaint narrative:
To Whom It May Concern, I am writing this letter as explanation that I was billed in error by MOHELA for the month of XXXX in excess of {$490.00}. Attached with this letter to my account, are documents from XXXX XXXX prior to my loan servicer switching to MOHELA as well as a screenshot of the XXXX website. 
Upon reviewing the documentation as well as the laws and regulations during the XXXX student loan pause, my student loans were in a PAYE ( type of XXXX ) plan and were not transferred over to MOHELA as such. Instead as I have recently discovered through phone calls with MOHELA, that I was not placed on an XXXX plan and instead a level plan. 
Per the laws and regulations clearly stated on the XXXX website as well as my XXXX XXXX communications, I did NOT have to renew my XXXX plan during the pandemic pause. I was remaining on the XXXX plan. Legally, MOHELA nor XXXX XXXX has the right to switch me off of my IDR plan and request additional money from me. 
As a matter of fact, when I received communication from MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that some of my loans were still listed as in school status so I called MOHELA over the spring/summer to have this corrected as I did not want to get penalized for having the incorrect information on my account. As a result, MOHELA told me to call my school directly who would make the adjustment on their end and it would flow over. 
I did not receive any other communication from MOHELA until XX/XX/XXXX with a very long list of each of my loans status change and a summary stating that my enrollment status was changed to Graduated on XXXX 
I then received subsequent documentation from MOHELA stating that my total payment would be XXXX starting in XXXX XXXX XXXX 
Then when I logged into the MOHELA website in late XXXX, I found my payment was now listed at {$1500.00} instead of the XXXX I was originally told by MOHELA. At this time I tried calling a total of XXXX times to MOHELA on different days and times between XXXX and XXXX. Due to the lack of staffing and preparedness by MOHELA for the XXXX pause end, I was left on hold for hours on and then hung up on without connecting to a person. I was without answers and forced to pay an exorbitantly high payment or else my credit would suffer. 
In XXXX, I was finally able to connect with someone and switch my plan back onto XXXX, which I should have been on in the first place. I filled out the needed paperwork and then was told that my loans for XXXX and XXXX would be put into administrative forbearance and I asked for a refund on my XXXX prior payments since they were in error. 
This now leaves my XXXX payment left because my administrative forbearance did not cover the first incorrect payment that was made. I am requesting that you either put my XXXX payment under the administrative forbearance or that you correct the payment total to be equivalent to my current monthly payment of {$1000.00} due to administrative errors and hardship caused on my account. 

If you request further documentation or have further questions please contact me directly at XXXX. I will be sending a copy of this letter to the State of Massachusetts where I reside as well as the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. 
Thank you, XXXX XXXX Account : XXXX

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