A group of leading Democratic senators is demanding answers from student loan giant MOHELA, one of the Education Department’s major contracted student loan servicers, after the servicer allegedly hit scores of borrowers with false notifications earlier this month that their student loans were suddenly past due .

“MOHELA has now reportedly made yet another stunning error that threatens financial consequences for borrowers,” wrote senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in a letter to MOHELA on Thursday, joined by Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and several other Democratic senators. “We write to request information on why MOHELA has reportedly sent false delinquency notices to numerous student loan borrowers—as recently as this month—and on how MOHELA is responding to this serious problem.”

The investigation comes as student loan borrowers are facing an array of deepening problems with student loan repayment and forgiveness programs. Many are struggling to navigate a host of major changes to federal student loans the Education Department is in the process of implementing following recent legislative and regulatory updates. Here’s the latest.

Student Loan Borrowers Received Erroneous Notices That They Were Past Due

Earlier this month, borrowers began reporting that they had received notices from MOHELA that they were suddenly past due or delinquent on their federal student loans and were in serious danger of defaulting, despite either having been up to date on their payments, or having no payments due at all because they were in a forbearance.

“The emails erroneously notifying borrowers of delinquency have included warnings that their loans are ‘severely past due,’ that ‘Payment in Full is Required’ for their loan, or that they are at risk of wage garnishment and other alarming consequences of default,” wrote the Democratic senators in the letter. The letter included screenshots of some of the delinquency notices borrowers had reportedly received from MOHELA.

Some borrowers took to social media or public forums to voice their confusion and panic at receiving the past due notices.

“I logged into my account and nearly had a heart attack when it showed I was 7 months past due,” wrote one borrower on a Reddit “ mega-thread ” dedicated specifically to the MOHELA false delinquency notices. “I’ve never been late on my federal student loans, so seeing that balance was incredibly stressful. For the last four days, I genuinely believed something had gone seriously wrong and was worried it would affect my credit. I called MOHELA this morning and was told it was a system error. While I’m relieved it wasn’t my fault, I’m frustrated that borrowers weren’t proactively notified.”

“They said we’re delinquent and that this has gone to debt resolution,” posted another borrower on the same thread. “They're completely useless and basically affirmed that I'm delinquent despite having been in forbearance this entire time.”

“It says I owe over $11,000! And I can’t pay my monthly bill without paying the $11K – it’s outrageous,” wrote a borrower on a different Reddit thread highlighting the false delinquency notices. “My studentaid.gov site says clearly I'm in forbearance, and the last letter I received from Mohela was the June 2026 one telling me about interest accrual during forbearance.”

“This error is a failure that has not only been highly distressing for borrowers but could have led to direct financial harm,” the senators said in their letter to MOHELA. “If a borrower does not realize that their false delinquency notice was issued in error and believes that they are on the verge of default, they might make the payment MOHELA has claimed they are responsible for, unnecessarily spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars.”

MOHELA previously acknowledged earlier this month that it was “aware that some borrowers have raised concerns indicating they received inappropriate delinquency notifications.” A MOHELA spokesperson said any erroneous notices would be “thoroughly reviewed and addressed.”

Pressed for comment again on Thursday, a MOHELA spokesperson said, “As a federal contractor for the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), MOHELA follows the directions and standards provided by the U.S. Department of Education, FSA.”

Student Loan Borrowers Reported Difficulties In Getting MOHELA To Reverse False Delinquencies

Some borrowers who tried to contact MOHELA about the false delinquency notices reported difficulties in trying to get the student loan servicer to fix the problem.

“Compounding the problem, MOHELA’s customer service has allegedly failed to speedily resolve this issue for borrowers,” wrote the senators. “Borrowers report calling the servicer about this issue and being told they would be transferred to a supervisor and then immediately being sent to an automated line telling them they would be called back within two business days.”

The senators’ allegations appear to be corroborated by borrower reports on Reddit forums, with some borrowers writing that they were on hold with MOHELA for hours. Others had to endure multiple call transfers before getting someone on the phone who could actually assist them. And even then, some borrowers indicated there were a number of different responses from customer services agents, ranging from affirmations that a borrower was, in fact, delinquent on their student loans, or acknowledging that there was an error, but providing no details or timelines on a fix.

MOHELA has been the subject of student loan servicing complaints for years, the senators noted in their letter. The agency has also been previously been accused by borrower advocacy groups of using call deflection tactics that make it particularly challenging for borrowers with student loans serviced by MOHELA to get anyone on the phone to answer their questions or resolve errors impacting their student loans.

“MOHELA has failed to perform basic servicing functions such as providing borrowers with access to correct information about their loans and options, and processing basic forms, and has instead chosen a complex ‘call deflection’ scheme—a byzantine loop of misinformation and false promises,” said Protect Borrowers and the American Federation of Teachers in a joint report released last year accusing the servicer of widespread misconduct. The AFT and Protect Borrowers are currently suing MOHELA over allegations of unfair or deceptive student loan servicing practices.

MOHELA has vigorously denied allegations of unlawful conduct, poor student loan servicing, and call deflection tactics, accusing Protect Borrower and other groups of “promoting a false narrative about MOHELA’s work" and stating through a spokesperson last year that, “Any claims that MOHELA does not act in the best interest of the borrowers we serve as a federal contractor is simply not true.”

Senators Demand Answers As Student Loan Borrowers Struggle With Worsening Servicing Problems

The group of Democratic senators demanded on Thursday that MOHELA provide detailed information on the scope and status of the recent false student loan delinquency notices, and outline what steps the servicer is taking to correct the error and ensure that it does not happen again.

“MOHELA must publicly disclose the extent of its error, correct all affected borrowers’ accounts so that they no longer indicate that loans are past due (to the extent it has not already done so), notify all affected borrowers that they are not delinquent, and take all steps necessary to ensure that false delinquency notices will not continue being sent out,” wrote the senators in Thursday’s letter.

The senators also called on the Education Department to “rehire the servicer oversight team,” which was largely disbanded by the Trump administration during a mass reduction in force last year that dramatically shrank the department’s workforce. Student loan borrower advocacy groups and government watchdogs, such as the Government Accountability Office, have argued that the staffing changes have diminished the department’s ability to hold its contractors accountable for student loan servicing errors.

In the meantime, student loan borrowers are facing an array of worsening problems with repayment and loan forgiveness programs that go far beyond the recent false delinquency notices sent by MOHELA. Last month, the department instructed unclear numbers of borrowers to reapply for their income-driven repayment plans due to payment calculation errors. Other borrowers applying to discharge their student loans through programs like Borrower Defense to Repayment and PSLF Buyback are facing massive backlogs resulting in years-long wait times. And earlier this month, the Education Department began rescinding student loan forgiveness credit for borrowers pursuing PSLF, apparently sweeping up fully-compliant borrowers as part of a broader effort to correct alleged data system problems.

August 27, 2026: This article has been updated to reflect comment from a MOHELA spokesperson on the student loan delinquency notices.