Date Received: 2022-04-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My loans were recently updated with the PSLF waiver but my " ineligible payment '' count was not updated on my consolidation loans. The ineligible count on my other loans is 24 and the ineligible count on my consolidated loans is still XXXX. Also, submitted a in school deferment waiver and the months from XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX have not been added anywhere to my account even though I have a ECF on file covering that timeframe.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 34786
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-05
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: Hi, I am reaching out for assistance on a trifecta of frustrating issues around my student loans and what I expected was going to be their forgiveness. To give you necessary background, I graduated from XXXX XXXX in XXXX and worked for the City of XXXX from XXXX, then the Oregon Employment Department from XXXX, and finally the regional workforce development board ( Worksystems, a 501 ( c ) 3 nonprofit ) from XXXX until present. I only took out/received federal loans for my education. They were consolidated when I left school because I was advised to do that - but when they were consolidated, they began to be serviced by American Education Services, a subsidiary or sister company of PHEAA - and therefore became ineligible for PSLF forgiveness as well as other things like deferral of loan payments during the pandemic. ( I could go on a rant about the privatization of public services here but I will leave that for another day. ) I diligently made monthly payments for almost that entire period ( save a few periods early in the Great Recession where I deferred payment due to economic hardship ) and have made well over 120 monthly payments. Here are the things I am seeking help with. 1 ) When I re-submitted my PSLF paperwork in XXXX thanks to Biden 's TEPSLF eligibility expansion, I requested that my payments be put on hold until a determination was made on my eligibility for the TEPSLF program ( an option they clearly put on the TEPSLF paperwork ). Currently, I am seeing information on the XXXX website that they will expect me to start payments on XX/XX/XXXX because that is when the COVID relief program ends for student loan payments. Can you please help me verify that I do not, in fact, need to make payments? Because I have already made far over 120 monthly payments, I do not want to make any more that aren't necessary. 2 ) I received a letter from Fed Loans saying that they approved ( or recognized ) 2 payments as being eligible for ( TE ) PSLF over my 6 years working for the Oregon Employment Department. This is distressing for many reasons - first because they have not approved my other clearly eligible employers, and second because I worked at XXXX for 6 years and to only have 2 payments deemed eligible while I made years and years of payments is maddening. 3 ) For years and years, American Education Services ( AES ) told me I had to pay {$110.00} a month and deducted that from my bank account even though their website always said that I owed {$100.00}. I spoke with multiple customer service reps over that time, and they all gave me a hand-wavey, not understandable reason why they were deducting {$110.00} and that it was the correct amount. However, after multiple inquiries about whether I could defer payments during COVID, I finally got someone who was able to help me and give an answer that synced up with what I read in newspapers. They told me that even though they were servicing my federal loans, they did not follow the student loan relief guidelines under the CARES Act. They were, however, able to give me a 2 month pause and apply payments I had already made to future months. When I started repaying, lo and behold, they began charging me {$100.00}, which is what I had inquired about multiple times with them. There are 3 things this last item brings up : 1 ) Am I not getting credit for my monthly payments because they were overcharging me monthly despite my repeated inquiries around why they were charging {$110.00} vs {$100.00}, and therefore I was not making the appropriate payment amount? 2 ) Because they paused my payments for 2 months and applied the payments I had already made towards future months because of that deferment, shouldn't I be refunded that money? Where did it go and under what pretense? 3 ) The amount of my student loans that will be forgiven ( assuming it actually happens ), will now be considerably less since they were charging me an additional $ XXXX for 17 years. That comes out to roughly {$2000.00}. I know on some level this might seem like nitpicking, but I do NOT want to pay a private company who didn't even do/keep their basic paperwork correctly ( they kept trying to make me sign a document to confirm my loan 's interest rate for *years* and after I didn't they eventually dropped my interest rate a full percentage point ) and is basically making money off of the public education system. I have sent multiple inquiries to AES about the {$100.00} vs {$110.00} discrepancy in the past few months ( after they started charging me {$100.00} post-deferment ) and they have not responded. Because that ~ $ XXXX from those monthly overpayments I asked about multiple times would've been forgiven with XXXX, I believe I should have it refunded. And regardless of the TEPSLF, if I did not need to pay that, it should have been transferred over to FedLoans when I consolidated and transferred the loan to them. Even if the public system continues to mess up, I would rather pay interest to them than a private loan servicer. I'm sorry for the lengthy and wordy letter, but as someone who has done constituent services before myself, I wanted to make sure I gave you all the pertinent info, so hopefully this was helpful. Of course, if you need any additional information or have any additional questions, I'm happy to supply it/answer them.
Company Response:
State: OR
Zip: 972XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have called numerous times, most recently XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I am on hold for hours, and often the call is disconnected. On XX/XX/XXXX I was able to get through, only to be told I was on the incorrect line and needed to be connected to loan forgiveness. I was disconnected, called again, finally got through to loan forgiveness and was told, without explanation that my XXXX and XXXX employment certification forms have not been processed. No time estimate, no next steps. Just that it can take weeks or months. I have made XXXX qualifying payments as of XX/XX/XXXX, but am not eligible for forgiveness yet because they have not re-certified my employment ( same employer for past 10 years ). I do not want to make additional payments simply because they have not decertified my employment.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 94014
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I was denied PSLF even though I have been a XXXX for 25 years - also been paying on student loans for 25 years. My servicer changed 3 years ago to Fedloan and they refused to credit my XXXX income driven repayments so I was denied PSLF 3 years ago. I am going to try again but when I apply of course their website says I do not have the XXXX payments. My student loans came to XXXX in XXXX - I began paying. In XXXX, my total is balance is XXXX - I call that servicer fraud.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 945XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: XX/XX/2017 shows ineligible for PSLF due to forbearance that was placed on my account. I did not request this forbearance. At the time, FedLoan servicer representative assured me that this month will count towards PSLF and that forbearance will benefit me due to issues with re-certification that year. I request that Fedloan servicing pulls that phone call and they listen to it. I request that this month counts towards PSLF as an eligible month. My second issue : I requested that period of full time public service combined with period of in-school deferment be counted towards PSLF. Fedloan servicing does not show anything on my account from XXXX. During this time I worked for a qualified employer so I am requesting that this period counts towards PSLF under the Limited Time Waiver.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 76179
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: Upon XXXX in 2018, I was making very little money and literally could not afford to start back repayment on my loans. I at some point was able to defer my loans with the intention of going back to school at the time. I recently realized that FedLoan has reported that I missed 42 payments over all open student loan accounts. I attempted to write a forgiveness letter to my creditors in early XXXX explaining my financial predicament. The accounts are still showing as late payment history on all 3 credit reports and it is affecting my credit score when applying for other financial lending.
Company Response:
State: LA
Zip: 70815
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: In XXXX of XXXX, I reviewed the new waiver for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX program. Part of this new waiver stated the following : " If you have XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Program loans, Federal XXXX Loans, or other types of federal student loans that are not Direct Loans ( e.g., those from older loan programs, such as Federally Insured Student Loans [ FISL ] or National Defense Student Loans [ NDSL ] ), you must consolidate those loans into the Direct Loan program by XXXX XXXX, XXXX. '' ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) In XXXX of XXXX, of my XXXX loans, XXXX of which were consolidated years previous when I switched loan servicers, were forgiven as a result of the waiver. However, I have since learned that had I consolidated all of my loans together, the highest payment count would have been applied and my entire debt would have been forgiven. As of today, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX now has addressed this specific situation in the " Question and Answer '' section of their site. This information was not available in the fall and has been continually updated as the DOE and XXXX servicers continue to work through this process. The initial reference to their Q/A portion of the DOE website was first announced on XX/XX/XXXX ( reference attached ). Regardless, I and countless others were misled into thinking Direct loans did not need to be consolidated. This lack of clarity is on the DOE and student loan borrowers such as myself should not be a victim of it. *Attached are all of my records of emails and complaints filed with the DOE and FedLoan as well as their responses.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 19154
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-04
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Consumer Complaint: I sent this to American Education Services, after repeatedly requesting help because I was unemployed, and it started at the beginning of the pandemic. I have requested Income-Based Repayment ( IBR ), and was told they are not available, which has placed me in default. I have received a document from AES stating ( Urgent : Your Loan Is Due In Full ). I am presently living on SSA retirement so I have a limited income while I arrange to have my XXXX XXXX. I sent it after reading that the CFPB had sanctioned XXXX for deceptive statements, part of that article recommended requesting a refund of the payments made. I have done this with the email below, but I still have not gotten a response from them. The email with AES : I am writing this to help clarify our situation. At present, I am in default for the student loans you hold with me. Please understand that I have appreciated your work with me while I have been repaying these loans when I needed assistance because I could not afford the payments. Since XXXX of XXXX, I have asked for and received help from you since I lost my job. Once the extension and forbearances ran out, I had to make my payment to you, and I have as best I could during this time. I have investigated bankruptcy and found that Student loans are protected unless they are causing Undue Hardship, so I send a partial payment each month. My confusion comes from this. Private and Federal Student Loans are protected from bankruptcy by law. If they are protected under the same laws, then they should also have to adhere to the Covid-19 policies that have been set to help in this crisis. If these loans are protected from bankruptcy as the Federal Student Loans are. These student loans have been suspended since XX/XX/2020. The U.S. Department of Education ( FSA ) encourages borrowers to request refunds through their loan servicer as soon as possible. My Questions : 1. If these loans are protected from Bankruptcy as the FSA loan are, why dont they have to follow all the laws and policies ( even the Covid-19 Policies ). 2. If these loans are protected from Bankruptcy as the FSA loan are, why have I had to make all the payments since XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX, since on XX/XX/2020, all payments have been suspended for Student Loans? 3. If these loans are protected from Bankruptcy as the FSA loan are, why do I have negative reporting on my credit report since these loans have had the payments suspended? Any Help answering these questions would be appreciated. My Request : Per the advice of the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Federal Student Aid ( FSA ). I am requesting a refund of all my Payments since XX/XX/2020 ; I can provide an exact amount if you need it. Your help is appreciated,
Company Response:
State: MI
Zip: 496XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-04
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: American Education Services has been unable to locate my student loan payments that I made through wage garnishment and tax return withholdings. I defaulted in XXXX. I paid {$510.00} every month from XXXX to XXXX. I took the loan out of default in XXXX. American Educational Services has no information about all the payments I made during those 15 years. I have saved pay stubs from my employer but no idea where the money went. Please help me. 20+ years and I still owe {$25000.00} more than I originally borrowed
Company Response:
State: OK
Zip: 735XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-04-03
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: Fedloan didnt waive my 10 days when I requested to do so after consolidation. Because of those two of my loans are forgiven and the other two were left behind. If my 10 days were waived like I requested the loans wouldve been consolidated and forgiven together!!! Additionally, almost 2 weeks ago I filled out a request to add loans to consolidation and called in to request to waive my 10 days for that as well. Obviously at the 10 days have gone and went and were never waived. I filed a complaint requesting them to investigate the situation and never heard back from anyone. They are completely disorganized and unprofessional!
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 11374
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-04-03
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A