MOHELA put false delinquencies on your credit?

Who MOHELA is and how it reaches your credit report

MOHELA, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, is a nonprofit government corporation created by the State of Missouri to participate in the student loan market, as the U.S. Supreme Court described it in Biden v. Nebraska (2023). It services federal student loans for Federal Student Aid through MOHELA.studentaid.gov. In May 2024, Navient also agreed to outsource its student loan servicing operations to MOHELA.

MOHELA’s own credit reporting page says it reports loans monthly to the nationwide consumer reporting agencies, with status as of the last day of each month, and that it begins reporting a loan delinquent once it is 90 or more days past due. That makes MOHELA a “furnisher” under the FCRA. What it reports flows straight into your Equifax, Experian and TransUnion files.

Billing failures and transfer errors

Late billing statements (2023). When federal payments restarted in fall 2023, the Department of Education withheld $7.2 million from MOHELA for October after it failed to send timely billing statements to 2.5 million borrowers. According to NPR’s report, more than 800,000 of those borrowers missed an on-time payment in October, and the Department told servicers to place affected borrowers in forbearance. Duplicate records after the Nelnet transfer (2024). In December 2024, a group of U.S. senators reported that the 2023 transfer of loans from Nelnet to MOHELA was followed by nearly 2 million duplicate student loan records on credit reports. The bureaus identified more than 100,000 cases with incorrect scores, some dropping more than 20 points, and borrowers filed about 7,500 complaints and disputes. The lawmakers said MOHELA appeared to have failed to inform the bureaus of each transfer, so many balances were reported twice. The bureaus told lawmakers the duplicates had been resolved.

These are findings reported by the Department and by lawmakers, not court judgments. But they show the kinds of errors that can land on a MOHELA borrower’s credit report.

Common MOHELA reporting errors

• Delinquency without a bill. Reported past due when no statement was sent or the amount was wrong.
• Late marks during a pause. Forbearance, deferment, an IDR application or PSLF processing not reflected.
• Duplicate tradelines. The same loan shown by MOHELA and the prior servicer.
• Wrong balances. Totals that do not match StudentAid.gov after a transfer or consolidation.
• Relief not reported. Forgiven or discharged loans still shown as owed.

How to dispute MOHELA’s reporting

1. Pull all three reports. Get free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and compare them to your loan record on StudentAid.gov.
2. Dispute with each bureau that shows the error. File with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. MOHELA’s own page tells borrowers they can submit a dispute directly with the credit reporting agencies. This is the step that matters legally: once a bureau notifies MOHELA, MOHELA must reasonably investigate and fix inaccurate data, and its failure to do so is what gives you a claim (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b)).
3. You can also go to MOHELA directly. MOHELA’s credit reporting page explains how to request an adjustment, for example when you qualified for a deferment or forbearance during the reported period, and how to upload supporting paperwork through your account.
4. Attach proof. Bank records, billing statements (or proof none arrived), forbearance or deferment approvals, IDR or PSLF correspondence, and transfer notices.
5. Keep copies of everything. Reports, disputes, confirmation numbers, upload receipts and responses.
6. Track the timeline. The bureaus generally must finish within 30 days (§ 1681i(a)(1)). You can also file a complaint through the StudentAid.gov Feedback Center.

Your rights under the FCRA

• Furnisher investigation (§ 1681s-2(b)). After notice from a bureau, MOHELA must investigate, review what you provided, report the results, and modify, delete or block inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information.
• Bureau accuracy and reinvestigation (§§ 1681e(b), 1681i). The bureaus must follow reasonable procedures and reasonably reinvestigate your dispute.
• No private suit for first-time reporting. A furnisher’s general accuracy duty under § 1681s-2(a) is enforced by regulators. Your private claim depends on the bureau dispute.

What you may recover

For a negligent violation, you may recover actual damages, such as credit denials, higher interest rates, lost housing or job opportunities, and emotional distress, plus attorney’s fees and costs (15 U.S.C. § 1681o). For a willful violation, you may recover actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages, and fees and costs (§ 1681n).

Get a free case review

An FCRA lawsuit generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and no more than five years after it occurred (15 U.S.C. § 1681p). If MOHELA’s reporting is still wrong after your dispute, save your reports and records and request a free case review. FCRA Attorneys has offices in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, files FCRA cases in federal court nationwide, directly or with local counsel, and charges no fee unless we win.

Questions about suing MOHELA

Can I sue MOHELA over my credit report?

You may be able to. MOHELA furnishes loan data to the credit bureaus. After you dispute with a bureau and the bureau notifies MOHELA, MOHELA must reasonably investigate and correct or delete inaccurate information (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b)). If it does not, you may have an FCRA claim.

When does MOHELA report a loan as delinquent?

MOHELA's credit reporting page says it begins reporting a loan delinquent once it is 90 or more days past due as of the last day of the month, and that it reports monthly. If your report shows a delinquency when you were current, in forbearance or never billed, that may be an error worth disputing.

Will MOHELA remove a late payment as a goodwill gesture?

MOHELA says it is not authorized to complete goodwill requests for credit updates, per Federal Student Aid's direction. A goodwill request is different from a dispute. If the late payment is inaccurate, you have the right to dispute it, and the FCRA requires a reasonable investigation.

What does it cost to bring a case?

Nothing up front. FCRA Attorneys handles these cases on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win, and the FCRA lets a successful consumer recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

Related reading

• How to Dispute Credit Report Errors With Equifax, Experian and TransUnion
• How to Remove a Late Payment From Your Credit Report, and When You Can't
• Examples of FCRA Violations, Matched to the Section of the Law They Break
• Do You Still Have an FCRA Claim After the Error Was Fixed?

Sources

• Biden v. Nebraska, 600 U.S. 477 (2023) (describing MOHELA as a nonprofit government corporation created by Missouri)
• MOHELA official credit reporting page (reporting schedule, delinquency at 90 days, goodwill policy, adjustment requests)
• NPR via GPB, October 31, 2023: Education Department withholds $7.2 million from MOHELA over billing failures
• NBC News, December 2024: Student loan servicer transfer led to 'millions of consumer credit reporting errors,' lawmakers say
• Navient Form 8-K (May 2024): agreement to outsource servicing operations to MOHELA

Updated November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.