Consumer complaint received 2025-03-17 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: MOHELA
State: IN

Complaint narrative:
To Whom It May Concern, My loans have been inappropriately managed by MOHELA.MOHELAs failings have been sufficient to cause financial, mental, and emotional distress. Collectively, they result in a Kafkaesque experience and make it practically impossible for borrowers, like myself, to correct account errors, make important decisions to protect their economic well-being, or even confirm basic information about their student loans. 
MOHELAs systemic failures have been ongoing for years Mohela has done the following to purposely modified the narrative to negatively affect my credit report, falsely deleted and forgave my loans, then re-instated them under a different account, failed to return hours worth of calls or call setups, charged me late fees when my loans stated they were forgiven, refused to comply with the directive to make interest rates 0 %, submitted multiple complaints with no response, case was elevated to consultants/legal counsel with no return phone call, cases were closed out with insufficient documents when the documents were there in more than one format ( ex W2 transcripts and Individual Employment Reports ). 
XXXX. MOHELA ERRORS : MOHELA knew that not all of its online features were up-to-date or available. Furthermore, MOHELA makes it practically impossible for borrowers to get help with their loans. Instead of adequately staffing and appropriately training customer service representatives, MOHELA affirmatively took steps to make it harder for borrowers to receive help.Two Websites that are not consumer friendly, with false call back times available when you request a call back, inability to maintain a consumer 's account accurately. Mohela has a wide range of unlawful practices, including illegally executing a call deflection scheme to deny service to borrowers who need help. Long wait times or inability to escalate concerns inhibited me from speaking to someone. XXXX phone calls between the only mailed statement on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. False online apts being made for call back- hours listed there dont match service hours for Mohela. 
XXXX. Incorrect Payment History Online : When I call in person, customer service verifies that I have paid over the required amount and evidence has been posted online & faxed for PLSF. In most cases if borrowers made qualifying payments that exceed the applicable forgiveness period, they will receive a refund for their overpayment. 
XXXX. MOHELA ZEROD OUT ALL LOANS : Forgave all my loans both FED and PRIVATE for months, then all the sudden they were denied again after documentation that I owed ZERO. See Evidence XXXX. BIAS & DISCRIMINATION : I completed my loan forgiveness with XXXX peers of mine for the exact same loans and at the same time. ALL XXXX peers are XXXXXXXX XXXX and have gotten all of their loans forgiven and cleared within XXXX months of applying. We all applied in XXXX. Since then I have had to reapply multiple times and I have worked longer than they have collectively in low income schools. 
XXXX. XXXX. Failed to make interest rates 0 % : The law reduced the interest rates on all loans held by the U.S. Department of Education to 0 %. The 0 % period is retroactive to XX/XX/XXXX. The law automatically set currently active, delinquent, and defaulted federal student loans to 0 % and the Education Department suspended collection activity. 
XXXX. MOHELA is compelling its customers to waive rights protected under federal and state consumer laws. MOHELA presses its customers into waiving their rights when using websites MOHELA maintains as a service provider to banks and the federal government. 
XXXX. FAILED TO SEND MONTHLY STATEMENTS & MADE ONLINE PAYMENTS Unavailable : MOHELA failed to send monthly student loan bills to XXXX XXXX borrowers, resulting in XXXX borrowers missing a monthly payment. 
MOHELAs misconduct is not just a question of incompetence. MOHELA knew exactly the responsibilities it took on as a servicer and willfully disregard those responsibilities, instead gobbling up more and more of the market even as its incapacity and unwillingness to serve existing borrowers was increasingly apparent. 
MOHELAs servicing failures are exacerbated by a scheme it designed to inhibit borrowers ability to access live customer service representatives and instead divert borrowers to inadequate self-service phone and website platforms. 
MOHELA customers can not get the savings or forgiveness to which they are entitled, can not trust the accuracy of MOHELAs statements of how much they have to pay, and I can not get money back from MOHELA that is rightfully mine. 
MOHELA misleads and misinforms borrowers, fails to process applications for XXXX and income-driven repayment ( XXXX ) plans in a timely manner or entirely, fails to provide refunds, miscalculates balances, over-charges borrowers, fails to respond to borrower inquiries, and denies borrowers information to which they are entitled. 
As a member of XXXX XXXX for XXXX, resources have been and continue to be diverted to address MOHELAs misconduct in the form of debt clinics, member education, member assistance, investigations and research. 
For example, since XX/XX/XXXX, at least thirty-five XXXX employees have dedicated more than XXXX hoursor approximately {$150000.00} in staff timeto addressing student loan issues, including MOHELAs unlawful conduct. I have had to take time off to sit on the phone and wait to speak with a representative, even then I have been hung up on after over three hours of waiting or promised that my account would be fixed for both my federal and private loans. I still to date have received no assistance. In fact today I scheduled a call back after waiting for XXXX mins, I just received the call back ( XXXX hours later ) and was hung up on. 
In XX/XX/XXXX, MOHELA entered into a Binding Letter of Intent to service the Navient-owned and -serviced portfolios. XXXX, a massive loan servicing company that at one time serviced more than XXXX XXXX accounts with loans totaling more than {$200.00} XXXX, exited its XXXX relationship with XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX after repeated scandals. 
MOHELA agreed to service its remaining XXXX loan and private student loan portfolios. 
Although as of XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX transitioned the administration of the XXXX program from MOHELA to the federal government, the majority of borrowers pursuing PSLF are still serviced by MOHELA and subjected to its ongoing misconduct. In addition, MOHELA is one of the companies hired by XXXX for the administration of XXXX. 
MOHELA has had and continues to have several essential responsibilities and they have failed to do so for both my federal and private loans, which negate the validity of my loans. 
These include : a. Being an accessible point of contact, by telephone, email, and through its web portal for borrowers seeking answers and information about their accounts, including how to apply for programs that they are eligible for ; how to make payments ; the amount of their payments ; and other central information to ensure that they remain current and in good standing on their accounts. 
b. Providing accurate and meaningful information to borrowers about available programs and their implications, through access to knowledgeable customer service representatives and information available in mailings and on its website. 
c. Sending timely billing statements. d. Correctly calculating payment amounts. 
e. Maintaining the correct repayment and forbearance status for borrowers. 
XXXX Automatically transferring FEDERAL LOANS XXXX Accurately tracking payments toward PSLF forgiveness. 
XXXX Failing to follow laws and regulations re : 0 % interest rates The stress this has caused me and the amount of energy I have spent to correct this information has been excessive. MOHELAs practices of failing to comply with its basic responsibilities as a student loan servicer are unfair and deceptive in violation of the XXXX. 
MOHELAS acts are unfair because they have caused substantial injury to borrowers like myself. It has dropped my credit score XXXX points for allegedly not paying on an account that showed a zero balance for months. The borrowers can not reasonably avoid, and which is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition. 
These acts are beyond deceptive because they mislead or are likely to mislead borrowers, borrowers interpretations of these misleading acts are reasonable, and the misleading acts are material. 
The above conduct has harmed and continues to harm myself in several ways, including by : forcing me to to make payments on debt that should no longer exist and increasing interest costs; delaying my loan forgiveness ; postponing when otherwise eligible borrowers receive loan cancellation ; depriving opportunities of a means to resolve disputes concerning their loans ; forcing me to pay debts they do not owe and causing their loans to fall into delinquency all while being charged late fees; prolonging the time I spend indebted and forcing me to incur hundreds of dollars in unnecessary costs to avoid default. 
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) complaint database currently has close to XXXX borrower complaints relating to MOHELAs servicing failures as well as numerous complaints to the Department of Education. 
I am requesting that all my loans be XXXX both federal and private, and that I be refunded for the overpayments and compensation for the emotional stress/vacation time used to attempt to speak to a representative. I am requesting that I am reimbursed within a timely fashion for the overpayments made. I should have achieved debt cancellation due to XXXX, which would have made me eligible for refunds ; however, debt relief was delayed and as a result I am continuing to make unnecessary payments. Many borrowers are still awaiting the refunds they are owed including myself. 
My application has been in the works for years, yet my peers who submitted their application for the same loan on the same day have already been forgiven. XXXX indescretions/denials of applications has directly benefited MOHELA. MOHELA receives payment from the federal government for each processed XXXX applicationincluding when MOHELA must reprocess applications after a wrongful denial. According to the Student Borrower Protection Center, data shows that private student loans exacerbate economic and XXXX inequality MOHELA is unable to fulfill its responsibilities as a student loan servicer which then nulifies the agreement. Its behavior is egregious even in an industry known for poor servicing at borrowers expense. MOHELAs systemic failures have been ongoing for years, fueled by corporate indifference and prioritizing exponential growth and its own bottom line at the expense of borrowers on whom XXXX relies to educate our children and keep us well. 
MOHELAs abuses must end. MOHELAs waiver would suggest the financial services firm has abandoned any duty of care owed to its customers and it is unwilling or unable to perform its most basic obligations to the holders of the loans it services. Currently, in my home state of Indiana there are XXXX borrowers who have submitted complaints. 
Thank you for your time. I look forward to eradicating this nightmare of an issue. 
Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX )

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation