Consumer complaint received 2023-09-26 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: NC

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received communication that my loan servicer was being switched from XXXX to MOHELA. Since payments are about to restart I noticed on XX/XX/XXXX that MOHELA changed the Income Driven Repayment ( IDR ) plan I had with XXXX without my consent. My monthly payment changed from {$750.00} per month at XXXX to {$3800.00} per month with MOHELA. I called MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX to get placed on an IDR plan because I can not afford {$3800.00} per month on their standard plan. I applied for the SAVE IDR plan over the phone with a customer service representative which would cost me {$650.00} per month. I asked the customer service representative whether I would have to submit any additional documentation with the IDR application I completed with her over the phone. She stated that I didnt have to since I self-certified my income with her over the phone, and she said that MOHELA would reach out with additional information. 

I called MOHELA on XX/XX/XXXX regarding an important account information email I received from them on XX/XX/XXXX stating that my XX/XX/XXXX was denied because I did not upload additional income verification documents. Please note that the document states my application was denied XX/XX/XXXX, but the electronic correspondence was sent XX/XX/XXXX. MOHELA did not attempt to contact me through email to ask for supplemental documentation at any point. I spoke to customer service representative XXXX about this, and she insisted it was a mistake and I applied for the SAVE IDR plan with her over the phone. She stated that I didnt have to submit any additional documentation unless MOHELA asked for it since I self-certified my income with her. I submitted my XXXX for XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX because I could see my application was still pending, and I didnt want MOHELA to deny my application without reaching out to me again. I called on XX/XX/XXXX because my application was still pending and the customer service representative ( named XXXX, a trainee XXXX said that there is a glitch with MOHELA that caused my XX/XX/XXXX application to get denied. He said it has been happening to a lot of people, and he advised me to call back on XX/XX/XXXX if my XX/XX/XXXX IDR application was still pending. He said I could ask for a supervisor to get my application looked at if it is still pending by then. I called XX/XX/XXXX because my XX/XX/XXXX application was still pending. Customer service representative XXXX stated there is no supervisor and nothing she could do about my pending application. She advised me to submit my W2s for XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX so MOHELA could have plenty of income documents to refer to and not decline my IDR plan request. 

On XX/XX/XXXX MOHELA emailed me an Administrative Forbearance letter that was dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that my loans would be in forbearance for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. They also sent me a correspondence processing delay email on XX/XX/XXXX dated back to XX/XX/XXXX saying they were processing my XX/XX/XXXX application. Now on XX/XX/XXXX I decided to check the status of my XX/XX/XXXX application and it says declined. MOHELA has not sent me any email as to why it was declined. It is the same situation as the first IDR application that was denied. 

Please note : MOHELA removed me from my IDR plan without my consent and is refusing to put me on a plan I can pay. They are putting me on forbearance which would harm my payment count for Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). Also, interest still accrues during forbearance and my monthly payment would increase.

All of the correspondence MOHELA is emailing me is delayed by weeks and months. This means that I can not provide any additional documentation because by the time they send the email, MOHELA has denied my application. This has happened twice already. The attached PDFs show when the email was sent to my inbox versus the date stated on the actual letter. Finally, the customer service representatives are only trained to type in data into an application. They are not given the ability to trouble shoot any errors made by MOHELA and are instead trained to tell us to call back in 7 -11 business days. Please help me get back on a reasonable IDR plan without delaying my Public Service Loan Forgiveness payment count any further.

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