Date Received: 2022-06-22
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Subissue: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone
Consumer Complaint: Towards the end of XXXX/beginning of XXXX, I was alerted of my XXXX score taking a drastic hit through an XXXX alert. After investigation, it turns out American Education Services ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was failing to draft my autopay payments from the checking accounts setup. I continued to see emails regarding posted payments all the way through XXXX, and was never notified through mail ( I have paperless billing enabled ) or phone call ( the company has had my current phone number on file for some time ) that there was a problem with the autopay failing. The XXXX XXXX I was using had been experiencing a number of issues with their online banking system, and I ended up going away from them entirely due to issues linking accounts online, getting payments, etc. I called AES to determine what the best course of action was, and they were of surprisingly little assistance : I was treated as though I could not make my payments when I had a flawless payment history along with zero records on my credit report of missed/delinquent payments. When I inquired as to why I was never notified of the issue regarding failed payments, I was given a runaround answer and simply asked if I was able to currently make payments. I immediately brought the account current and asked them how to dispute a " late '' payment ( that I was never notified of missing ) being submitted to the credit bureaus. I was instructed to fill out a form and send it in via priority mail to the address provided, but I have received no answer in roughly XXXX weeks now. I would like to dispute the singular error of my student loan payments failing ( which have historically never been missed on any of my accounts ) and dispute the predatory practices of reporting failed payments to the credit bureaus without any notification to the borrower via phone call, email, etc., when AES has all of my current information on file. This is clearly a mistake via an automated payment system and not my fault. Furthermore, the constant postponing of federal student loan repayment by the federal government has made tracking which loans are due and which loans are on a forced pause extremely difficult to monitor for the borrower. I would like to have this incident forgiven under the pretense that AES will properly contact me in the future regarding issues with my account.
Company Response:
State: WI
Zip: 535XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-22
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-22
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Need information about your loan balance or loan terms
Consumer Complaint: Hello. I have an account for federal XXXX loans. I applied for XXXX in XXXX and have not been able to get any information on my qualifying payments or the status of my loan. Every time I call, I get different information from each person.
Company Response:
State: CO
Zip: 80112
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-22
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-20
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: - I am writing regarding FedLoan Servicing 's ( FedLoan ) and the U.S. Department of Educations office of Federal Student Aid 's unacceptable delay in processing my Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) application. Based on the limited waiver criteria with more recent amendment to include previous unjustified forbearance months, I have made well over 120 PSLF qualifying payments. I submitted my first application on XX/XX/XXXX for PSLF with a request for consideration for loan forgiveness through TEPSL, as my correspondence with FedLoan indicated to do. Despite serving in the public mental health sector for over ten years at that time, this request was denied. After the limited waiver was introduced, and particularly with the additional allowances targeting unwarranted forbearance periods, I thought this issue would finally be resolved. I submitted applications for PSLF on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I submitted a complaint to Federal Student Aid on XX/XX/XXXX when I had not yet received an update to my qualifying payments despite the overwhelming evidence with documentation I submitted. On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted further documentation verifying my non-profit work in providing mental health services to children and adults of my community. I have painstakingly documented the uncounted qualifying payments through previous and current employers as well as forbearance months which clearly coincide with changes in payment plans and was done on the advice of FedLoan officers at the time. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an " update '' on my complaint filed through the office of Federal Student Aid only after requesting that the complaint be escalated to the Ombudsman group. However, the response merely stated the months of forbearance ( again, for reasons which the limited waiver is explicitly meant to correct and compensate for ) was not approved without reason. The response also stated my PSLF request on XX/XX/XXXX has not yet been processed and made no mention of my XX/XX/XXXX request. Although this most recent correspondence directs the borrower to submit a request for reconsideration, this process began with request to review my information. The delay in processing is unacceptable and I would like your assistance. Attached is the most recent email indicating my complaint was closed ( without legitimate resolution ) as well as a screenshot of my complaint 's case description and included documentation. This should clearly illustrate what over 25 email confirmations from FedLoan also highlight, that all requested information to process PSLF has been submitted.
Company Response:
State: CO
Zip: 80211
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-20
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have repeatedly submitted an Employment Certification Form showing I worked for a PSLF eligible employer from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. Fedloan Servicing refuses to give me credit for all of that time, which should qualify under TEPSLF. I also submitted a ECF showing I worked for an eligible employer from XXXX, and I have not received credit for that time either. Please update my payment counts to reflect the time I worked at the XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 122XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-19
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Don't agree with the fees charged
Consumer Complaint: RESUBMISSION OF COMPLAINT. I am requesting that this complaint not be closed. As I and you know AES will not take responsibility for their actions. Simply taking their word over mine is not a thorough investigation of their actions. I am requesting that they provide you with a promissory note in the amount of the original balance they allege I borrowed in the amount of XXXX. They doubled the original amount that is what they did. I am not disputing the true original amount which is around 30K but less than 40K. I am not disputing the default. I am disputing everything else as well as how they misappropriated my payments which was done in a way to keep the loan open. I am also disputing the lender on the account as I called the lender and they have no record of me. They keep records of their borrowers and because I am still overpaying the loan they should have record of me. The lender instructed me to get to the bottom of this with AES who keeps dodging questions and acting ignorant as to what I am asking. I believe I made myself clear to them. To AES XX/XX/2022 I want to make myself real clear as well as document my request which has yet to be received. I asked you to send me a promissory note of the alleged original balance that you claim I borrowed. So far, that has not been done. The promissory note provided to me is around 30K but less than 40K. Again, to be clear I said the loan was overpaid as you charged me twice. Again, to be clear I requested all overpaid funds including interest along with capitalization regarding the overpayment to be refunded. Again, to be clear I stated that the payments made to you were not properly distributed meaning you applied my payments to a consolidated loan in such a way that benefited the lender. You purposely kept the loan open making sure it was never going to be paid off. Again, to be clear I called the lender and they said they have no record of me. Even though AES services their loans they keep a record of all their borrowers. They checked their old system and their new system. At which time, they told me to contact you regarding the discrepancy which I have done. For the last time, provide me with the promissory note in which you allege my original balance was in the amount of XXXX. I am telling you now I know you can't because it doesn't exist. This was/is and still is being overpaid that simple. So, stop with the lies.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 92705
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I have a Consolidation Loan that is serviced by AES. The loan has a subsidized portion and an unsubsidized portion. I am ahead on my monthly payments. I usually make monthly payments of {$460.00} in the middle of the month. Prior XX/XX/2022, AES would apply my monthly payment to both the subsidized and unsubsidized portions of the Consolidation Loan. However, starting XX/XX/2022, AES now only applies my monthly payments to the unsubsidized portion. On XX/XX/2022, I called AES because I noticed that the new method of applying my payments is resulting in a much smaller portion of each payment going toward principal and a much larger portion of each payment going toward interest. I spoke with a customer service representative ( XXXX # XXXX ) who acknowledged the issue and agreed to put in a request to have the allocations from XX/XX/2022 reversed and reapplied using the old method. She also told me that, in order to avoid this from happening again, I could email AES with " standing payment instructions '' to apply my payments the way they were applied prior to XX/XX/2022. I followed her suggestion and emailed AES. AES emailed me back saying I needed to " submit detailed instructions ''. ( An email string showing my email to AES and AES 's response is attached. ) I don't know how to make my instructions any more detailed than the ones that were contained in my original email.
Company Response:
State: MI
Zip: 48439
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-18
Issue: Improper use of your report
Subissue: Reporting company used your report improperly
Consumer Complaint: My student loans where opened in 2006. The debt was old and all credit report agencies removed them from my credit report. Now the debt is showing up as newly issued. This is not right and not fair. I want this debt removed from my credit reports. Its past XXXX years old.
Company Response:
State: AR
Zip: 729XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I was inappropriately advised that I needed to recertify my income driven repayment plan by Fedloan and the XXXX, leading to an increase in my monthly payments of {$100.00}. On both XXXX and on XXXX websites I would get alerts " it's time to recertify! '' and yet nowhere on the XXXX servicing website nor the XXXX was it listed that I was not required to under the CARES act ; no where, clear as day or as clear as the " it's time to recertify! * '' was there also an alert that clearly said *but you don't have to! The information given threatened to put me on a standard repayment plan if I did not recertify immediately. Recertifying when I did not need to has led to my payments increasing {$100.00}, from {$280.00} to {$390.00}.
Company Response:
State: VA
Zip: 20151
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-17
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX, I applied for student loan forgiveness and consolidation. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a qualifying payment letter from FedLoan that says they have evaluated my payments under the Temporary Public student loan forgiveness, I clearly have not. The letter says I have made 1 qualifying payment since XXXX! The letter also said that during the TEPSLF Waiver period that says if I consolidate, my payment count will start over. This letter is erroneous and is causing a great deal of borrower panic and dismay. Fedloan needs to give out correct information! I have called on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX and still my payment counts have not been updated. Still sitting at one! I have reached out on Fedloans XXXX XXXX and I get a generic response. Thank you!
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-17
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-06-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I have worked full time for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX, all of this employment has been qualified by FedLoan for PSLF/TEPSLF. My 14 loans were consolidated in XX/XX/XXXX and are Direct Loans ( Subsidized and Unsubsidized ). My servicer at the time was XXXX XXXX XXXX. In XXXX of XXXX my loans were transfered to XXXX, and in XXXX of XXXX my loans were sent to FedLoan Servicing where they remain. Since TEPSLF was introduced in XXXX, those XXXX XXXX XXXX payments have been " pending manual review '' with my FedLoan. I have a letter from XXXX XX/XX/XXXX acknowledging the six payments I made between XXXX and XXXX of XXXX. The {$790.00} I was paying at the time under a graduated repayment plan ( I believe ) are far more than I have ever had to pay to MyFedLoan under IBR. In XXXX of XXXX, my qualifying payment counts were updated, but still did not include the XXXX months of payments I made between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I recently submitted a complaint which was closed without any explanation of the results of that complaint, or action taken to correct these errors. I have over well over 120 payments that are both employment and payment eligible once these corrections to my record are made.
Company Response:
State: MT
Zip: 59601
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-06-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A