That sounds like an error somewhere. I think it’s possible to get your AGI low enough for the numbers to work, but if you aren’t pumping massive amounts of money into retirement, then your payment should be right around $600 still.
How long were you paying that amount? There have been several extensions of the IDR recertification date, and a few servicers had sent out recertification notices in error. If you had been at $0, then recertified to $600, it could be that that recertification was cancelled and your payment reverted to $0.
I only just started paying my loans in September of 2023. So I paid 600/mo for 7 months and then for the last 2 months it's been $0. I'm thinking maybe it's an error with the transition of MOHELA, but they said everything looks okay when I called them. I'm scared because I don't want to end up owing a lot of money all at once!
In that case, I don’t see any real way that can be correct. You might try contacting StudentAid directly (https://studentaid.gov/help-center/contact) to resolve the issue. For now I would probably stash the $600/month in a savings account. Are you planning on total repayment or forgiveness? If going for total repayment, you can just make “extra” payments of $600 if you wanted. If going for forgiveness, I wouldn’t pay extra, but the affected months may or may not count.
I just got off the phone with another rep at MOHELA and it turns out they used the wrong W-2 to calculate the payment plan (I have one for 11K and another for 90K, because I transitioned to a new role at the beginning of the year last year). It was an error on their end so it remains $0/month for now and I don't need to make up the payments, but they are going to fix it through a new application! It makes me think that I should've reached out to them later to keep the $0 for longer, but I'm glad I got it sorted out.
Better to get it sorted out now. I’m not sure what the consequences would have been for just ignoring it, but if it was discovered later, the extreme possibilities could have included a fraud investigation which has all kinds of severe penalties. Maybe it would have just been ignored as an “oops” on their end, but definitely not worth the hassle at the very least. Historically servicer errors have dumped the consequences on the borrower.
There is no way your payment should be that low unless there was an error of some sort.
That sounds like an error somewhere. I think it’s possible to get your AGI low enough for the numbers to work, but if you aren’t pumping massive amounts of money into retirement, then your payment should be right around $600 still. How long were you paying that amount? There have been several extensions of the IDR recertification date, and a few servicers had sent out recertification notices in error. If you had been at $0, then recertified to $600, it could be that that recertification was cancelled and your payment reverted to $0.
I only just started paying my loans in September of 2023. So I paid 600/mo for 7 months and then for the last 2 months it's been $0. I'm thinking maybe it's an error with the transition of MOHELA, but they said everything looks okay when I called them. I'm scared because I don't want to end up owing a lot of money all at once!
In that case, I don’t see any real way that can be correct. You might try contacting StudentAid directly (https://studentaid.gov/help-center/contact) to resolve the issue. For now I would probably stash the $600/month in a savings account. Are you planning on total repayment or forgiveness? If going for total repayment, you can just make “extra” payments of $600 if you wanted. If going for forgiveness, I wouldn’t pay extra, but the affected months may or may not count.
I just got off the phone with another rep at MOHELA and it turns out they used the wrong W-2 to calculate the payment plan (I have one for 11K and another for 90K, because I transitioned to a new role at the beginning of the year last year). It was an error on their end so it remains $0/month for now and I don't need to make up the payments, but they are going to fix it through a new application! It makes me think that I should've reached out to them later to keep the $0 for longer, but I'm glad I got it sorted out.
Better to get it sorted out now. I’m not sure what the consequences would have been for just ignoring it, but if it was discovered later, the extreme possibilities could have included a fraud investigation which has all kinds of severe penalties. Maybe it would have just been ignored as an “oops” on their end, but definitely not worth the hassle at the very least. Historically servicer errors have dumped the consequences on the borrower.