Consumer complaint received 2025-11-16 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Problem with customer service
Company: MOHELA
State: MI

Complaint narrative:
I applied, and was approved, for XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/year>. I received my confirmation and repayment schedule letter on XX/XX/year>. It stated that I would begin repayment on XX/XX/year> and have a monthly bill of {$350.00}. In XXXX I received no bill, and when I logged into my account it said I owed {$16.00} for XXXX loan. I assumed there was some kind of delay, so I paid the amount due and waited for XXXX XXXX  bill. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my bill reflected the same amount due. When I looked into my loan details it showed all but XXXX of my loans was still in forbearance. I called Mohela on XX/XX/XXXX and was told the forbearance would be removed in a few days. When the XXXX due date came, my loans were still in forbearance and the amount due did not change. I made the amount due payment of {$16.00} on XX/XX/year>, and I called Mohela on XX/XX/XXXX. I was told I would have to speak to an account supervisor and was put on a call wait list to speak to XXXX. I did not receive a call back, so I called again on the XXXX and was again put on a call back list. I received a call later that day by someone from the XXXX XXXX. I explained that I was trying to work towards XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and would like the issue with my account to be resolved as soon as possible. She told me she put my account in repayment and it would reflect in the next billing cycle. She also stated that since I was supposed to be in repayment for the last XXXX months, if I was willing to make the last XXXX months worth of payments in XXXX lump sum immediately, they would count towards student loan forgiveness. I asked how I should make the payment, and she specified the amounts I would have to pay for each loan to count for XXXX and XXXX. As a result, I made a total of {$700.00} worth of payments on XX/XX/XXXX with the promise of having the payments count toward loan forgiveness. I also set up auto-pay on my account for the sake of due diligence. 

On XX/XX/XXXX an account supervisor called me to follow up. During our discussion it was revealed that my loans were still in forbearance, and that my payments would NOT count toward loan forgiveness and would put me in paid ahead status. I asked for her to check my account notes to verify the information I was told the previous night. She claimed there were none. I asked to be put through to the representative I spoke to last night and she said that was not possible. After a lengthy back-and-forth, she told me that I would have to wait XXXX business days for my current payment to clear, which should put my loans in repayment, and then they would be able to investigate further. She gave me a case number to follow up with. 

After XXXX business days, on XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my account. It was still in forbearance with only XXXX loan reflecting an amount due of {$6.00}. I called Mohela to follow up on my case. The representative said she wouldn't be able to do anything with my case number, but was able to see notes in my file. She said there was nothing she would be able to do and I would, once again, have to talk to account supervisor. I asked if I would have to wait for a call back, or if I would be directly transferred to a person because of how long I've had to deal with this situation. She said she did not know. I was transferred to a call back line. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a call back and was told that my forbearance should be removed within a few days, but there was no guarantee about the loan forgiveness issue. She said someone from the resolutions office would call me back to discuss the case. I requested a direct dial number to follow up because I was frustrated with getting the answering machine every time I tried to speak with an account supervisor and at XXXX months my case should be escalated. The representative said there are no direct dial numbers for the account supervisors, only the number with the answering machine. She recommended that I file a complaint with Federal Student Aid using their online feedback form because it was unlikely I would get forgiveness for the months I was promised unless it was approved by XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Immediately after concluding my call with the representative, I filed a complaint using the XXXX XXXX XXXX feedback form as instructed. I was provided a case number, and the completion notification stated it could take up to 15 days for a response. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, my next payment was due. It only showed XXXX loan in repayment with the amount of {$6.00} due. I paid {$400.00} divided up among all the loans. I had not yet received any response from XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I checked my Mohela and XXXX accounts. The loans had finally been put into repayment, but I did not receive any of the loan forgiveness credit I was promised. My XXXX showed no progress on the complaint I submitted on XX/XX/XXXX.

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