Consumer complaint received 2025-03-30 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: IL

Complaint narrative:
I applied for an XXXX in XXXX. It was denied without notice, and without telling me why. I found out about this on XX/XX/XXXX and immediately applied again. However, since I was never told why my first application was denied, I didn't know if I needed to fix or change anything on my second application. After my first application, my loans were automatically put into processing forbearance. After my second application, they were not. I messaged to ask them to please put them into processing forbearance several times ( XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX ), and only received generic and irrelevant messages in response. I'm also serving an XXXX term and am eligible for my loans to be in forbearance due to that. I was unable to request this on Mohela 's website because there is no option for it, despite a button that says " I'm in the military or public service - volunteer for a nonprofit, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, etc. '' When you click that button, it takes you to a page where the only option is military service. I was able to apply through XXXX, and it took them XXXX days to approve the request, but when they did they only approved it for XXXX of my loans. I want them ALL in forbearance. In the meantime, due to the processing pause on XXXX applications, their website had a notification that said, " If you have an IDR application that has not been processed within XXXX days and have an unpaid bill within XXXX days of the due date, MOHELA will automatically place a processing forbearance as directed by Federal Student Aid to your account. No action is required by you. '' This applies to me. So I was waiting for my loans to be put into forbearance but they never were. My bill was well over ten days past due, and still nothing. I paid the bill out of fear for my credit score, but this is completely unacceptable. If no action is required by me, why am I having to message them twice about it ( on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ) only for nothing to happen? I have sent them five messages total ( on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX ) about this whole fiasco, and have never had a helpful response, if I received one at all. The three responses I have gotten ( the dates of which I'm unsure of because they don't contain a timestamp, which at this point feels purposeful and malicious ) have been an obviously copy and pasted default answer in response to the words " XXXX '' or " forbearance '' and do not at all relate to my specific questions and situation. I've also tried calling, but have never been able to connect with a real person, just an unhelpful robot. I work full time and I don't have time to sit on hold for hours on end. I submitted a complaint to XXXX, who said they would respond within XXXX  days, but today is day XXXX and I have reached my limit of what I'm willing to deal with. This is the absolute worst company I have every had the displeasure of working with. Their customer service is non-existent, and they do not follow through with the claims they make on their website. The stakes here are very high, and they continue to drop the ball and they can not be trusted. I can no longer find the notification on their website about the XXXX application that hasn't been processed in XXXX days. It's been replaced with one that says " Borrows that have a pending IDR application may also be placed on a forbearance until no later than XX/XX/XXXX. '' So which one is it? They can not claim to be automatically putting loans into forbearance in one notification, and then say that it's only a possibility in another one. I'm glad I took a screen shot of the first notification, otherwise I wouldn't have any proof of this. I understand that this is a stressful and uncertain time for federal loans, but it is completely unacceptable to leave me in this situation.

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