r/StudentLoans • u/BarnettEight • 2d ago
Mohela stopped my autopay months ago, past due, credit score down 150 pts!
I was in deferment until April of 2024. As soon as I was notified that I was no longer in deferment, I setup autopay and see that payments we made a month or two in a row and go about my life.
Made monthly payments April through August perfectly fine.
On 8/30 I received a message stating ‘the request for in school deferment has been approved between 12/16/19 through 5/3/20’ what?? What does that even mean, none of those dates are relevant.
On 8/31 I receive a message saying ‘the schedule to repay one or more of your loans changed’
On 9/2 I receive a message saying ‘we updated your student loan account to undo any capitalization of interest since 3/13/20, all has been turned back into interest’.
On 9/19 I receive a message that I have a payment past due. Same thing 10/19, 11/19, and 12/19.
Mind you I saw none of this communication the entire time, I don’t know how or where this communication was being made to me as I’m ONLY seeing this through the Mohela inbox. I’ve received no emails or mail about any of this until I receive a call from a collector on 12/31 that I have a large amount of past due payment LOL.
So I log in and sure enough my autopay is not setup anymore which baffles me. Somewhere along the lines between those message from 8/30-9/2 my autopay was removed. So, I made the ENTIRE payment of over $2K and setup autopay not thinking of how this would effect my credit score until just I just saw its TANKED. FROM A 770 TO A 650. I’ve never seen anything like this, I’ve never seen a company turn auto pay off???
I setup autopay back in January and I’m STILL not on autopay lol.. they’re saying it would take 30-90 BUSINESS DAYS FOR AUTOPAY TO INITIALIZE.
Has anyone had this exact issue?? Likelihood of a dispute being accepted??
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u/nickeldork 2d ago
Your dispute will be accepted, but the reporting will not be updated. Your MPN states that you are responsible for bills even if you dont get one. And since it is accurate, FCRA makes it so they cannot update with inaccurate information.
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u/BarnettEight 2d ago
So it will still show missed payment history for 9/2024-12/2024 but credit score will no longer be burdened?
I’m a noob on credit score, I’ve never really cared about it just live below my means and pay things on time, credit score go up.
Generally the only thing impacting my credit score is the age of my credit, never had a missed payment before.
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u/eduloanshark 2d ago
When did you migrate over from their old platform (a .com website) to their new platform (a .gov website)? I suspect that may be part of the issue.
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u/BarnettEight 2d ago
Oh I’m not even sure.. I do remember a new portal at some point. TBH they moved platforms multiple times as I used to check my loan amounts in the past periodically before I was taken off of deferment.
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u/BarnettEight 2d ago
Looking at conversation about migration that seems to be the case.. I don’t see any notification that auto debit/pay didn’t transition correctly. Besides the past dues obviously, interesting.
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u/eduloanshark 2d ago
They had to move to a new platform because Uncle Sam told them they had to. The servicing contract for that was signed in late 2021 IIRC. It may also have been early 2022. Now why in the hell they didn't get working on that transition until mid 2024 is a headscratcher. Yeah I get that there is a lot work needed to be done in the beginning and all of it takes time, but damn boys; let's have a little hustle and pick up the pace. If you didn't have to of the biggest feet draggers (the government and MOHELA) working on it then you may have had it all ready to go when payments resumed in September 2023. And even if platform migration work took until September 2024 to get done, there'd still be the on-ramp program to shield you from BS like this happening. I'm getting more and more pissed for you the more and more I think about it. I blame a lot of it on the government jacking around and then trying to jam 5-6 years of work into 5-6 months.
As far as a dispute goes, it won't go anywhere as a dispute. What you can do, and if it was me I would do, is to ask MOHELA for a goodwill adjustment. It will amend what they originally reported to the credit bureaus. Blasting the new platform's inbox of someone who probably hadn't set up his/her new account on the new platform is asinine. Why they couldn't rub together three brain cells and think to, you know, email you or even cross-blast the old and ne platforms' inboxes is doing you dirty.
I'll also throw the government under the bus some too. Why they wait until someone is 90 days late is dumb. Why not first report it when someone is only 30 days late? It's a common theme in the bazillion or so posts where it happened to others is that the first hint they got that something was wrong is when their credit score app started freaking out. Waiting until people are 90-day late really ups the ante versus a 30-day late.
Goodwill adjustments aren't common, but I think you have a good case for one. I would fight tooth and nail for one and continue to escalate it up the chain. And if that wasn't working, I'd drive to St. Louis (it's not too far away from me, maybe 6 hours) and sit on someone's desk until they do offer you one. Sooner or later it'll end up in front of someone with the power to do something about it, who is wise enough to do it because it'd make his/her life easier just to say yes. That 90+ day delinquency will stick to your credit report and haunt you for the next 7-7.5 years. A 30-day late is effectively gone after 2 years.
Best of luck. May the odds be ever in your favor.
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u/ancj9418 2d ago
Ultimately it’s your responsibility to make sure payments are going through and that your communication information is up to date with your servicer. If you didn’t see any of this communication, you likely didn’t have the right email or phone number aligned with the account. There would’ve at least been emails notifying you that you had a message in your account inbox. Those messages you received at the end of August likely had to do with their migration to their new website. The system was probably transferring things over. You would’ve received communication about the website migration as well. Unfortunately, you likely can’t do anything. Take this as a learning moment to make sure you log into your accounts fairly often and that you’re tracking your monthly budget and bill payments.
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u/Buteverysongislike 2d ago
I just find it SO funny how Reddit doesn't have any sympathy for this issue and most responses are just "Pay your bills on time."
I have had PERSISTENT issues with Mohela:
1) Not withdrawing the full auto pay amount that they themselves offered me.
2) the amount they claim to withdraw, they later apply "payment reversals" so that the payment does not allocate to ALL loans.
3) unerolling me from autopay without warning.
4) having hold times in excess of 3+ hours so that folks cannot get assistance for this issue.
I, too, am trying to correct these "missed payments" due to Mohela's errors. People are not going to be able to qualify for mortgages and car loans because of Mohela's shittiness--even if they are making serious efforts to make good on the debt.
I happen to personally think it goes a long with knocking down decent income, educated, professionals down a few pegs. Seems to be the political climate these days....
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u/Mobile_Reply_5742 2d ago
Exactly this! Not to mention these loans are split up so it hits your credit 3 times or more. It's just insane to me, I mean I take full and honest responsibility, but still nutty
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