Date Received: 2022-08-10
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: Potentially Predatory Activity By Student Loan Servicer AES : Servicer ( American Education Services ) without authorization, application, request, or inquiry, put current and performing loan into a one-month forbearance status. I in no way want, need, or desire a forbearance. I spoke with customer service and only inquired about the qualifications of my direct subsidized loan for a current forgiveness program. I did not provide any financial information nor make any representation about my finances. Several days later, I was notified that my loan status had changed to Forbearance. Once notified of the forbearance, I immediately contacted AES to inquire as to the reason for the forbearance and requested the removal of the forbearance from my loan. I was told the reason for the forbearance was that I had clicked a " Learn More '' link in an AES email about XXXX and government forgiveness. The link led to an AES informational page. I entered no data into the website, nor did I log in to the site. This explanation seems preposterous and, if true, deceptive and predatory. As you are aware, forbearance status can lead to increased interest payments over the life of the loan and be impactful to borrowers future financial prospects as well as disqualifying them from forgiveness plans. If the email link explanation is not true, the AES representative decided on his own to place my loan in forbearance, I believe, to disadvantage me with the very forgiveness program I was inquiring about. That would be equally deceitful, unfair, and predatory. Please be alert after you engage with AES customer service or electronic mail.
Company Response:
State: NC
Zip: 284XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-26
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-10
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I submitted employer certification signed by my employer certifiying government employment for XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX for the PSLF certification on XX/XX/XXXX. FedLoan Servicing only updated XX/XX/XXXX as eligible/qualifying payment and refuse to update the other month as qualifying. I have contacted them several times about this issue and they still have refused to fix the issue. I am confident I am not the only victim of their inability to process the certifications properly. I have also submitted employer certification with proof of employment for an emergency management company for the months XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, also in XX/XX/XXXX. The employer is a single owner who refuses the signed the form for personal reasons against me. They continue to refuse to process this PSLF application or provide a reason for their refusal. I spoke with a representative and submitted additional documentation in XX/XX/XXXX, including XXXX 's for XXXX and XXXX. They continue to refuse to process the form and update the payments.
Company Response:
State: KS
Zip: 666XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-09
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Old information reappears or never goes away
Consumer Complaint: I was informed that refinancing my private student loan with Fed Loan Servicing ( Federal Student Loan ) would qualify me for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I have been making on time payments since I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and have XXXX for a XXXX XXXX XXXX since XXXX to the present. I refinanced my loans in XX/XX/XXXX and my credit score was negatively impacted by over XXXX points. I applied for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in XX/XX/XXXX and sent an updated one in XXXX of XXXX. I have seen a number of people have their loans forgiven in this time period in which they applied after I did. I now received a letter from XXXXFed Loan that my loan would be transferring to a new Federal student loan servicing company, XXXX. In the letter, it states that this transition may affect my credit score. I have been waiting patiently for an updated count on my public service loan forgiveness since XXXX. It is now XXXX and my loans are being transferred to another company and my credit score will be impacted again. I am unable to make purchases and receive good interest rates because of this. The public was told that in order to qualify under this new waiver in XXXX of XXXX that we had to refinance. There was no choice. I have done everything required and I know that my loans should have already been forgiven under the new waiver. I have called numerous times to Fed Loan Servicing and to XXXX XXXX with no information be given. They continually tell me that they have no further information for me and that I just have to wait. It would be ok if it was just waiting, but now it is impacting my credit so negatively that it is unfair to me as a consumer. I have also filed a complaint with XXXX XXXX and they were reviewing the complaint. I later logged on to check the status weeks/months later and it shows that it was closed, but there was never any email or feedback to me. This is extremely upsetting and concerning that there is no rhyme or reason as to the processing of Public Service Loan Forgiveness applications. Again, I originally consolidated in XXXX and filed in XXXX right after my consolidation. The state of XXXX can verify that they have certified my XXXX twice already and still no movement from Fed Loan or XXXX XXXX. I am very concerned that on XX/XX/XXXX my loan again is going to be transferred and my credit score impacted significantly. This has impact on future home buying ( mortgages ), car purchases, etc. I am hoping that someone can assist me.
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 012XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-09
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: In XX/XX/2022, I satisfied the XXXX XXXX payment requirement to have my loans forgiven by way of public loan forgiveness. After several months of not hearing back on the status of my forgiveness, I called and was informed in XXXX that Fed Loan servicing inadvertently made a mistake, rejected my application to forgive my federal student loans, and failed to provide notice. My name on my federal loans is XXXX XXXX, my maiden name. On XX/XX/2022, I called for at least the XXXX or XXXX time to follow up on my application. On that date, after numerous confirmations that my application would be approved, they caught their internal error and then approved my loan forgiveness. They further explained my balance would be forgiven in a matter of days, and that I would receive a letter of confirmation. It has now been several weeks. I make calls almost daily to see why my loan balance has not been discharged, despite my approval. No one can give me any information or any timeline. Today, Ive been put on hold by XXXX separate people, in excess of hours. No one can provide me information on why my balance has not been forgiven. They say they can not provide a timeline for when this will be done, but have confirmed that I have satisfied all necessary steps for the loans to be forgiven. I have called at least three dozen times in the past several months. This delay in performance of loan forgiveness on their end is devastating to me, as I am desperately waiting to have this XXXX plus balance forgiven. This is having a tremendous impact on my credit score, which is in turn, inhibiting me each and every day from moving forward with purchasing a home and a car.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 95037
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-10
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Need information about your loan balance or loan terms
Consumer Complaint: I would like to know if the temporary changes to the Public Loan Forgiveness Program mean than I now have enough payments to qualify for federal student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. My loans are serviced through FedLoan Servicing. Currently, I have 105 qualifying payments toward the 120 payments needed for loan forgiveness. However, a change to how forbearances are treated for PSLF forgiveness may mean that I *do* have enough qualifying payments. The Department of Education will be conducting a review of all accounts this fall. However, I would like to find out sooner if possible. The reason is that I'm not working, and I need to know whether I should be applying for a temporary job with a nonprofit or government agency ( if I need 15 more qualifying payments ), or if I do have enough qualifying payments and can look for other types of employment. On XX/XX/XXXX, the Department of Education announced they will be conducting a one-time account adjustment to count certain long-term forbearances toward PSLF loan forgiveness ( link to press release below ). The adjustments only apply to forbearances of *more* than 12 months consecutive, or 36 months cumulative. According to my account on the Dept. of Education website, my student loan account was in forbearance starting XX/XX/XXXX, then entering into repayment on XX/XX/XXXX -- more than enough months to satisfy the 12-month minimum and the 15 remaining qualifying payments. However, there was a three-day period in the middle where it shows I was in repayment ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ), though I did not make a payment. I would like to find out if the 3-day " repayment period '' will split the forbearance period into 2 forbearances, neither of which would meet the 12-month minimum mentioned above. Could you find out from the Department of Education whether they will treat it as one long forbearances or two shorter forbearances? A representative from FedLoan Servicing said that because the forbearance happened during only one month ( XX/XX/XXXX ), and because the forbearance was so short, she thought it would be treated as a single forbearance. Also, the press release said the adjustment " will count forbearances of more than 12 months consecutive '' - and going by the plain language, I was in a forbearance during more than 12 consecutive months. Thanks so much for your help, and let me know what more information you need from me. XXXX XXXX from Dept. of Education : https : //www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-education-announces-actions-fix-longstanding-failures-student-loan-programs
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 92530
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-08
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I am in the midst of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and I called FedLoan on XXXX XXXX to discuss the fact that I had old student loans out, and that I did NOT want them forgiven. I expressed my concern about the older loans being forgiven before they could be consolidated with my newer loans. They noted my concern. I called FedLoan again on XXXX XXXX to express this concern specifically and to ensure that the forgiveness didn't happen to my older loans. Further, I asked what could be done to prevent this. A " case file '' was going to be opened and I was told that I would be contacted within 24-48 business hours. XX/XX/XXXX, those older loans, the ones that I specifically asked not to be forgiven and what steps I need to take to prevent them being forgiven were .... Forgiven. I called FedLoan XXXX immediately upon finding this out to complain and see what my options were. He ( the guy I talked to was named XXXX XXXX stated that he would send his supervisor an email to see what my options were. XXXX stated that he would return my call ASAP and I never heard back from him. XX/XX/XXXX - I called back immediately, and ironically talked to XXXX again. He stated that he sent the complaint up to his supervisor, and read me the response. The response indicated that the loans probably couldn't be reinstated, but they still have a balance on them. He said I could continue to escalate the issue if I wanted, which I did. During the escalation process, FedLoan gave an update on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I began the process of consolidation as I did not trust FedLoan to follow up with my complaint in a timely manner. The consolidation was done because of inaction by FedLoan. The most important aspect of this complaint is that FedLoan gave me incorrect assurances and information and did nothing to help me in my request to stop the loan forgiveness. I called twice before the loan forgiveness occurred attempting to stop the forgiveness ( XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ), and FedLoan employees opened up a case file. I was told the case file would take two days for action to occur. It was during this delay that the forgiveness occurred. I strongly feel that had action occurred in a timely manner, this whole situation may have been alleviated. I called the day forgiveness occurred, the day after it occurred and still was not given any pertinent information regarding my case. I tried to call ahead of time to alleviate the situation and FedLoan did noting to help me or follow my requests. In my calls prior to the forgiveness, I was given incorrect information about the loans, forgiveness and the process. A case file was opened which delayed any action that could be taken. This delay resulted in my loans being forgiven. I followed up with FedLoan on XX/XX/XXXX as I had no current information on the escalation. I was informed " to confirm, your loans have been paid in full as a result of consolidation, and, as such, your loans are no longer serviced by our office. '' This disregards any sort of solution to the problem ( incorrect information given by FedLoan, the delay and subsequent forgiveness of the loans ) and simply lets FedLoan bypass the issue. Basically, FedLoan has provided no solution, but is using the fact that the loans are passed on to another servicer as an excuse to not have to investigate or provide a solution to the problem. The larger issue is that the problems started with FedLoan in the first place, with their employees, they have done nothing to resolve this, and are using the consolidation as an excuse to not have to deal with this issue. I have gone to great lengths to try and resolve the problem before it happened and yet, FedLoan has just delayed the issue and have used excuses to have to deal with the issues. Thank you for your time, consideration and investigation into this matter.
Company Response:
State: KS
Zip: 665XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-08
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-08
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: I applied for loan forgiveness for a joint spousal student loan under PSLF back in XXXX of XXXX. I soon received notification from Fedloans that I was eligible for loan forgiveness and had reached 151 payments and had 120 months of public service employment verified. So I awaited loan forgiveness notification and heard nothing. You can see by my complaint history Fedloans has not provided me good customer service since being transferred to them in XXXX. In XXXX while online at PSLFXXXX I saws posts from other borrowers with joint spousal loans stating that both borrowers needed to apply for PSLF to confirm their 120 months of payment. I wasn't too concerned since my ex-wife had been working as a XXXX since XXXX. She then applied online in late XXXX and we both provided letters to Fedloans explaining that she had two loans accounts, one with me and one on her individual loan. We waited and heard nothing until I reached out again. In XXXX I reviewed what she had submitted and knew her submitted materials were inadequate for the application process so i told her to reapply again. ( I've been through this process many times so I was aware of how stringent Fedloans was ) On XX/XX/XXXX I uploaded the complete packet to Fedloans which I have attached to this complaint along with an email I recently sent to Fedloans. Fedloans has assigned a representative to us and we have spoken to her by phone several times. Under the auspices of security they will not discuss my ex-wife 's account information without her on the call. This is ironic since I have submitted materials for the joint loan, including her PII for years. We first communicated in early XXXX at which time XXXX wanted to arrange a joint call to discuss the forgiveness application. Finally after much delay we spoke on XX/XX/XXXX and the call was underwhelming. While I wanted to know status of the review for the account all she said was it would be another week or two. We have nothing since. We have called and emailed several times. She also told XXXX ( my ex-wife to submit more documentation for recent months worked at her new XXXX ). I found this to be odd because we already had provided over 15 years of employment data to Fedloans in our submittal. One outstanding issue is that one of her employers refuses to sign the XXXX form that Fedloans provides but instead they provided us with a statement of her time XXXX between XXXX and XXXX which is essential in our application for forgiveness. There is a block to check on the XXXX form for forgiveness in cases where the borrower is unable to get the official form signed by the employer so we checked that box in the XXXX submittal and provided cover letters describing the situation. The form also states that Fedloans will work with the borrower to obtain any additional verification of their employment. The letter we received from her XXXX XXXX clearly provided data showing she had worked there between XXXX and late XXXX when she moved to XXXX at a different XXXX. The final note on this situation is that I received a letter from Fedloans last week saying we needed to start all over and submit a new application just like the one we sent them in XXXX and XXXX of XXXX and recently in XXXX of XXXX. Fedloans also told us our loan might be transferred to XXXX because they are exiting the student loan business even though XXXX told us on the phone she would try to finish our application before that occurred. We request your assistance with the Department of Education to ensure this matter is resolved and our loans are forgiven.
Company Response:
State: WA
Zip: 98277
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-08
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-08
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have several issues with my student loans that I have requested help for multiple times and have not had any correction to my account. First I consolidated my FFEL loans as instructed in the PSLF waiver. My qualifying payments are all now matching but my leftover not eligible payments were not shifted over to my consolidation loans. My origional loans have 24 not eligible payments and my consolidation loans show 0. This is a HUGE problem because I expect these 24 payments to count when the IDR waiver is applied to my loans this Fall - Fall starts next month -and my loans will have over 120 payment. If those 24 payments do not go onto my consolidation loans I will end up with " hanging loans '' and I have friends who had this happen during the beginning of the PSLF waiver, they complained and just this week received letters that the issue can not be corrected! I DO NOT want to have some of my loans forgiven and be left with my consolidation loans for another 2 years because of an administrative error. I have contacted FedLoan, Federal Student Aid, several ombudsmen and CFPB about this issue that should be simple to fix but it is not fixed and I am running out of time since the IDR waiver is starting next month and Fedloan accounts will be transferred to XXXX soon. Second during one of the times when I received random information instead of having my issue corrected I was told that 6 months of my 24 not eligible payments is from a " unenployment forbearance '' but my income is certified for this period of time so that does not make any sense- it seems that those 6 months should have been automatically corrected. Please help me, I am not sure what else to do.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 34786
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-08
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-08
Issue: Improper use of your report
Subissue: Reporting company used your report improperly
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX I received notice by mail that I was granted both an Administrative Forbearance with a begin date of XX/XX/XXXX, and General/Temporary Hardship Forbearance with a begin date of XX/XX/XXXX, and I was also told by phone that my loan was granted deferment. As of today my loan has not been reported to the credit reporting agencies correctly. It still shows late payments on my loan and I have written AES to address this and made numerous phone calls without any progress. I am going to send a copy of my forbearance results along with the portion of 15 USC 1681 that states having these missed payments on my report is incorrect.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 93003
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-08-23
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-08-07
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have worked for nonprofits organizations for several years and have always applied and recertified for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness payment plan. Over the last few years, my recertifications have been either been 'processed ' for several months or initially accepted, but not shown in my lender account. Because my paperwork was being 'processed ' for months ( even though I worked for the same employer ), that delayed my enrollment. My loan was recently moved to a new lender, and upon looking into my account, it is showing that I was not enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for several years, which is not true. Because of this error, the months of COVID-related waived payments have not applied to my account. This is a grave mistake where the lender has denied my enrollment and there is nothing I can do about it.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 19145
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A