A forgiven loan will have a zero balance and a status of ``paid-in-full'' under My Aid on the FSA site. Call MOHELA, tell them FSA shows over 120, and request administrative forbearance while the forgiveness is processing.
Loans serviced by MOHELA? If you faxed or mailed your PSLF form to MOHELA it may take up to 14 days for your mohela.com account to note that the form was received. Please allow at least 90 business days for your form to be processed.
Any borrower with ED-held loans that have accumulated time in repayment of at least 20 or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if the loans are not currently on an IDR plan. Borrowers with FFELP loans held by commercial lenders or Perkins loans not held by ED can benefit if they consolidate into Direct Loans.
In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Education disclosed that MOHELA failed to send monthly student loan bills to 2.5 million borrowers, resulting in 800,000 borrowers missing a monthly payment.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Updates
As of July 1, 2024, the PSLF program has successfully transitioned from MOHELA and now is fully managed by ED on StudentAid.gov. For all inquiries surrounding your PSLF discharge and any associated refunds, visit StudentAid.gov.
In July 2024, AFT sued MOHELA for a wide range of unlawful practices, including illegally executing a “call deflection” scheme to deny service to borrowers who need help.
Any borrowers with loans that have accumulated eligible time in repayment of at least 20 or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if they are not currently on an IDR plan.
Your student loan servicer(s) will notify you directly after your forgiveness is processed. Make sure to keep your contact information up to date on StudentAid.gov and with your servicer(s). If you haven't yet qualified for forgiveness, you'll be able to see your exact payment counts in the future.
A final review of your account will be done to process forgiveness, which will take at least 90 business days.
Federally-Owned Loans Serviced by MOHELA
We offer self-service tools and resources to help you navigate through the student loan and repayment process with confidence: make payments, change repayment plans, explore options and get help.
When asked by the senators, MOHELA reported it had received 36,309 complaints in a year, of which almost 4,000 were still marked “unresolved” in its internal system. The latest PSLF report, dated June 2023, by the Office of Federal Student Aid shows the servicer has a backlog of almost 890,000 applications.
MOHELA is Here to Help Student Loan Borrowers Manage Repayment. As the federal contractor that services your federally owned loans on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), MOHELA is here to help you manage the repayment of your federal loans.
As of July 2024, the PSLF Program is now fully managed by the Department via StudentAid.gov, rather than by a single loan servicer, making it easier for borrowers to track their progress toward forgiveness.
If you made payments after your 120th qualifying payment, those payments will be treated as overpayments and refunded to you if you have no additional outstanding loans. If your qualifying payment total is at 120 or more, your account is eligible to be placed into forbearance and no payment is due.
If you repay your loans under an IDR plan, any remaining balance on your student loans will be forgiven after you make a certain number of payments over 20 or 25 years. Past periods of repayment, deferment, and forbearance might now count toward IDR forgiveness because of the payment count adjustment.
If you work in certain public service jobs and have made 120 payments on your Direct Loans, you may be eligible to have your loans forgiven.
Don't forget to submit the PSLF form with your employment certification every year. If your PSLF form is approved for forgiveness, then you'll be notified that the entire remaining balance of your eligible Direct Loans will be forgiven, including all outstanding interest and principal.
You'll be notified or see a $0 balance
From this point on, your days of making monthly student loan payments are over. That is, unless, only a portion of your debt is canceled. If you still owe a remaining balance, you will still continue to owe monthly payments.
However, if you're seeking a refund from MOHELA, you can expect the first check to arrive within 90 business days, and the rest within 60 days. Also note that you'll likely receive multiple refund checks rather than a single refund.
PSLF Process
Because you have to make 120 qualifying monthly payments, it will take at least 10 years before you can qualify for PSLF. Important: You must still be working for a qualifying employer at the time you submit your form for forgiveness.
To clarify, MOHELA doesn't have any exclusive student loan forgiveness programs. But MOHELA borrowers may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs through the PSLF program or income-driven repayment plans.
If your account is past due, your payment status, including late and missed payments, as well as default, may be reported. Late or missed payments or defaults reflected on your consumer credit report may adversely affect your consumer credit rating.
When you are enrolled less than half time at your school, you will enter your six-month grace period (for Subsidized and Unsubsidized Direct Loans) when you should prepare to start making payments.