Mohela Saga Resolution
So, the whole experience with my Mohela student loans, from a couple of weeks ago has resolved (kinda) and I know I'm not the only one having a terrible time with this company, so I wanted to share.
The saga, as briefly as I can summarize it, is that my loans keep popping back into full-price repayment status because of the IBR freezes, and a couple of weeks ago, I spent and entire work day on hold with them, their phone system did some weird shit, and I was D-O-N-E done with trying to reach them by phone.
See here if you want to read the whole thing, but if you've dealt with these chucklefucks before, it probably won't be anything earth-shattering.
What's important is that I did eventually get my problem fixed, and I'm going to tell you how.
First, I wrote a letter. Here's what I included in it:
A brief summary of the history of my problem.
A description of my efforts to contact them by phone. I did, at one point, manage to speak to a first-level customer service rep, who said that they had to escalate me to the next level, so I summarized that conversation.
The resolution I sought. I said what I actually wanted (for my account to be in an income-based repayment plan) and that if that was not possible, I would accept a processing forbearance. I stated directly that I consented to either of these solutions.
My contact information. I provided a mailing address, email, and phone number, and stated that if they called and left a message, they would need to provide me with a way to get back to them, because I was not able to spend another entire work day on hold for them.
A list of all of the ways that I was transmitting this letter to them (mail, fax, email, uploaded document).
Note that, if your problem is anything to do with a payment you can't afford, and there is relief that is available to you in theory but not in practice--e.g., because the forms have been frozen due to ongoing litigation, or because you have a special situation that needs to be addressed by a human being, or even because you turned everything in and they haven't gotten to it--then the magic words are processing forbearance. This puts your payments at zero until they get around to putting you into IBR or whatever else you're supposed to be in. Interest does continue to accrue, unfortunately, but you don't have to make payments and your account won't go into collections.
Once I had my letter written, I sent it to them through every means I could find:
Postal mail to their "request for assistance" address, as shown here.
MOHELA 633 Spirit Drive Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243
2. Fax, to the number 1-866-222-7060 , as shown here.
3. The "contact us" form, here.
4. Uploaded as a document in the "inbox" section of my account.
Additionally, I put the full text of the letter, into the complaint form at Studentaid.gov, along with a brief note about why I was sending it to them. (Basically, because I didn't trust Mohela to actually do anything with any of their copies.)
After doing all that, every few days I checked on my account on the Mohela website, and about 10 days later, my account was back in a processing forbearance, with my payment set to Zero and nothing showing as overdue.
Nobody has contacted me, so I don't know which of these methods actually worked. But one of them apparently did!
For the postal letter, I thought about doing a registered letter--so I'd have proof of delivery if questions arose later--but I wasn't going to be able to get to the Post Office for at least a few days, so I just dropped it in a mailbox with a regular first-class stamp. I thought I'd do it all again, with a registered letter that time, if about two weeks went by and nothing happened. I ended up not having to, but that's an option.)
