MOHELA student loans company is a non-profit student federal student loan servicer that works with the U.S. Department of Education to manage payments, track and collect payment and billing for federal student loans. The student loans servicer is a legit loan company based in St. Louis, Missouri and Washington DC, handling nearly 20% of the loan accounts of the U.S. Department of Education. However, MOHELA services both federal and private student loans.
MOHELA manages student loans for student stills in college and graduates who are having some financial challenges and offers them easier repayment plans to ensure they are can be debt-free in the future. Therefore, it is important for you to be aware as a student or graduate on how the MOHELA student loans work.
MOHELA represents Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority and it is one of the 9 student loan servicing companies that work with U.S. Department of Education.
How Does MOHELA Student Loans Work?
The Department of Education offers you money that is sent to your college’s student aid office when you apply for a federal student loan. The U.S. Department of Education will then assign MOHELA or any other loan servicer to manage your repayment after the funds have been disbursed to your account through your college. MOHELA will manage your loan account from the first disbursement to the final payment and also helps you change your repayment plan. There are other duties MOHELA can help you carry out if assigned to you as your loan servicer.
- Manages and tracks your billing
- Offers you on various available repayment plans such income-driven repayment, standard and many more.
- Provides answers to your questions about your account
- Provide loan forgiveness, deferment and forbearance
- Helps you process monthly payment and additional payment if need be
- Offers you 0.25% when you enroll in Autopay
How to start my MOHLEA Student Loans repayment
When you are given a loan while in college and you are not able to repay the full balance. You can still get opportunity to complete the payment after you graduate. You can do by finding a good paying job in your career that can help you repay your MOHELA student loans. You can repay your student loans by following the steps below;
- The first step to take when you want to repay your loan is by creating an online account at MOHELA.com. If you are still studying in college, you can create your own account so that you can update your contact information and also serves as a channel for MOHELA to get in touch with you. With this account, you can also view your balance and when your payment is due, you can also pay electronically.
- As a college student, it is advisable you start paying of your loans as you as you get money to pay back. Plus, you have a six-month of grace period after graduation and you may not make payment again. Keep in mind that once the grace period ends, your student loan interest will accrue and it will be added to the principal balance which will accumulate to the debt you are to pay.
- Next is to create a budget that has a list of all your income expenses and allocate a particular amount to your loan for repayment. This will enable you determine the best repayment plan that can suit you.
How to Choose MOHELA Repayment plan
MOHELA offers various kinds of repayment plans.
Standard Repayment
This payment plan is a fixed monthly payment plan that comes with a minimum of $50 per month and repayment term of 10 years. This type of repayment plan is available for most federal loans. It is also available to Subsidized and unsubsidized direct loans, subsidized and unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans, and all PLUS Loans.
Extended Repayment Plan
This repayment plan provides you with a lower monthly payments with an extend repayment term of up to 25 years when compared to other repayment plans. Although the lower monthly repayment term might be enticing, you have to know that it comes with higher interest rate on your loan. However, to become eligible for this repayment term, you must have more than $30,000 in either Direct Loans or FFEL program loans.
Graduated Repayment plan
Those who subscribe to Graduate repayment plan will start with lower monthly payment but will gradually increase over time. This repayment plan grants you access to begin by paying smaller or lesser amount and this can help if you just graduated from college or just started work. Eligible loans for the Graduate Repayment plan are Stafford loans, Subsidized and unsubsidized Direct loans, and PLUS Loans.
Income-driven Repayment Plans
This type of repayment plans are monthly payment from the percentage of your remaining income after expenses like tax and many more. This repayment plan ensures you never owe any monthly payment. However, you have to bear in mind that your payment will be low because it will take longer to pay off your debt but your interest will accrue with time which implies you will pay more interest rate.
To become eligible for income-driven repayment plan, several factors are considered and these include the amount of loan you want to borrow, income, family size, and the type of student loan you have. Some of the plans you have in this repayment plan are Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), and Income-Based Repayment (IBR).
Keep in mind that you must renew your income-driven loan repayment plan annually but if you fail to renew it, you will be automatically taken out of the plan and added into a standard repayment plan which could come with higher monthly payment and rate.
How to make your MOHELA Student Loans Payment
There are several ways you can make your student loan payment on MOHELA. They include the following;
- You can make use of the MOHELA Autopay payment system. This will automatically deduct the loan funds from your bank account and it comes with 0.25% interest rate whenever you use it to make payment.
- One-time payment on the MOHELA.com website
- Make use of your bank’s online bill payment service
- You can mail a check or money order to MOHELA
How to Get MOHELA Student Loans Forgiveness
If you work in the public service sector or you don’t make much money. Then, it is time to take advantage of MOHELA’s loan forgiveness programs.
- If you subscribe to the income-driven repayment plan or have been making on-time payment for 20 to 25 years, then you can qualify for loan forgiveness on your remaining balance. Make sure that the amount forgiven is a taxable income which gives you room to pay your tax.
- If you work in public service or non-profit organization and you are on an income-driven repayment plan and have also made 10 years of qualifying payments, then you qualify for Public Service Loan forgiveness.
- If you a teacher in a public school and you teach full-time in a low-income school for straight years, you qualify for loan forgiveness. You may even qualify for a loan forgiven up to $17,500.
- If your school shuts down while you enrolled and you are not able to complete your education as result of shut down or your shut down for 120 days after you withdraw, your loan may be forgiven.
- If you cannot work due to disability or you are military personnel or veteran who is unable to work due to service-related disability, you may be eligible for loan forgiveness.
- If the primary borrower or dependent student dies on a PLUS loan, the loans may be partially or fully discharge
What Can I do If I Can’t Repay My Loan
In a situation where you can’t pay your monthly repayment loan as a result of some unforeseen situations or health issues, it is best you contact MOHELA loan servicer to offer you deferment and forbearance to help you through the stormy season.
- Deferment: this is a period where your loan servicer can help you postpone your payment as a result of unforeseen circumstances surrounding you. The benefit of deferment is that your interest does not accrue during this period.
- Forbearance: This is just like Deferment which is a period of time you can postpone your payment but forbearance’s interest accrues during the time of challenges which you are not making payment. This may result in increase in your total balance and monthly payment. You can choose forbearance if the situation is extremely challenging.
How to Contact MOHELA Customer Service
If you have any issue, you can reach out to MOHELA in the following ways below;
MOHELA phone number: 1-888-866-4352
MOHELA Working hours: Monday – Thursday 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. CT and Friday 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT
MOHELA address for general correspondence:
MOHELA
633 Spirit Drive
Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243
MOHELA Fax: 866-222-7060 to submit documents or send requests
MOHELA website: mohela.com
MOHELA social channels: MOHELA Facebook & MOHELA Twitter
MOHELA address for loan payments: All payment addresses depend on your location. Login to your MOHELA account or call for the correct address.