Consumer complaint received 2025-09-18 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Need information about your loan balance or loan terms
Company: MOHELA
State: ME

Complaint narrative:
My student loans are currently serviced by MOHELA. I was previously enrolled in the SAVE program and have been in forbearance due to the ongoing court battle/injunction. 

On XX/XX/year>, concerned about impending cuts and reported chaos at the Education Department in addition to widespread reports of mismanaged accounts by MOHELA, I logged on to my account and printed my loan details so that I would have documentation of my debt. At that time my balance was {$100000.00}. 

When I logged on again in XXXX to check in on my account, the total balance had jumped to over {$110000.00}. It appeared that the interest had been turned back on for a random smattering of my loans despite the 0 % interest forbearance. But the increase to my balance was totally out of proportion to any interest that could have possible accrued in 2 months, so even that error didn't fully account for the sudden jump. There was no explanation for the change in balance -- no account statements or documentation that could possibly explain the increase. 

When I first started calling MOHELA in XXXX, I was told that the issue was on FSA 's end. The rep told me that MOHELA was unable to turn the interest back off or adjust balances, and that this was a " known issue '' and I would simply have to trust that at some point in the future when the court injunction was resolved, my balance would be fixed. 

Unsatisfied with this response, I kept calling. On another occasion when speaking to an " advanced '' rep I was told that that was actually not true, and that MOHELA did have the ability to set my interest back to XXXX but that the balance adjustment would still have to be done by FSA, allegedly at some point in the future when the courts had settled the matter. Within days of that call, my interest rates were indeed set back to XXXX, but my balance remained incorrect. 

When it was announced that interest would resume on SAVE-enrolled loans, I started calling MOHELA again to demand that my balance be adjusted before interest resumed. It is totally unacceptable to have interest charges calculated based on an incorrect balance, and the longer this goes on, the harder it will be to separate my legitimate debt from fraudulently calculated additions to my balance. 

At that point I was escalated to their " resolutions department '' and spoke with a representative who told me that my account would be forwarded to an office which would review my loans and adjust my balance. I was told to expect to see this reflected on my online account within 10 business days. It has been over a month since that phone call, and my balance is still incorrect. 

I have called MOHELA over and over and have spent hours on the phone trying to get this issue resolved. I have been escalated to advanced case reps as well as their " resolutions department '' explaining my issue again and again without results. I have repeatedly asked MOHELA to provide me with documentation for how they calculated my balance and for monthly statements breaking down interest charges. No documentation has been provided to me. They do not provide case or tracking numbers for calls/complaints even when asked, forcing customers to start from scratch with every call. It has now been 5 months and my balance has still not been corrected. And now that interest has resumed on SAVE-enrolled accounts, I am being charged interest calculated based on an incorrect balance. This is fraud. 

I am afraid to make any payments on my loans or transfer to a different payment plan until this is resolved, because I am concerned that anything I put toward my loans will be applied to the fraudulent charges rather than my legitimate debt. One of MOHELA 's own reps even told me that if she were in my shoes, she would not make any payments until the account was correct.

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