Consumer complaint received 2024-05-22 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: OH

Complaint narrative:
In XXXX of XXXX, because of mail sent by the company informing me that I had to, I enrolled in the XXXX plan via my Federal Loan servicer, MOHELA. I was previously on an XXXX plan, with my payment approximately {$530.00}. I was unhappy that the XXXX Plan would raise my monthly payment up to approximately {$650.00}, but understood as it had been a while since my payment went up. 

I also enrolled in auto debit, so the monthly payments would come directly from my wife and my joint checking account. In XXXX, I called the company for two reasons ( 1 ) I hadn't seen any money come out of my account, and ( 2 ) I had seen XXXX. XXXX discussing student loans in the news and he had indicated that no persons plan should go up under the XXXX plan and to wait until your recertification deadline if it did. I also saw that the recertification deadlines were extended, so I called. 

The loan servicer person I talked to indicated that my XXXX recertification deadline had been extended until XXXX of XXXX, so she suggested I withdraw my application to go into the XXXX plan, and simply make my old payment, as I am on XXXX. I attempted to make a payment that date, and clicked the button through MOHELA 's website. 

The XXXX payment didn't come out. I received further mail in early XXXX indicating that my account had been placed on XXXX XXXX. Something I did not request. 

I called in in late XXXX, basically to find out what the heck was going on. I was on hold for approximately XXXX minutes. I talked to a helpful guy at MOHELA who basically indicated my account was all messed up and was above his paygrade. He indicated I had been kicked off of XXXX and was not enrolled in the XXXX XXXX anymore. The XXXX XXXX was placed on my account and he transferred me to some sort of XXXX XXXX who could help me. The hold time was another XXXX minutes, and I waited patiently for the specialist. 

She got on and informed me she was " in training. '' " Great, '' I thought to myself. Anyway, I was talking in circles with her for a while, we never got anywhere, and I swear she hung up on me. I kept saying, I was willing to make a payment that day, and even moved money from my Savings Account to accomplish that. Eventually, she hung up on me. I was calling from my office phone. She " attempted '' to call me back on my cell and left a XXXX. I chalked it up as a failed attempt. 

It's now mid XXXX. Since it's hard to give up an entire afternoon of my time to discuss this issue, I figured I'd try a new route - sending an email to MOHELA. I basically laid this timeline out for them, and asked for help. They said " sorry for the inconvenience, you have been placed on an Administrative Forbearance and that is why you can't make a payment. '' They did not answer any of my questions as to whether the months of forbearance would count towards my XXXX, nor did they indicate whether I could get back on XXXX. They basically directed me to apply for XXXX again. 

This is crazy, and I'm at a loss at this point. Please help.

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