Date Received: 2023-10-17
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My bank account was charged for {$500.00} without my consent today XX/XX/2023. I neither provided my bank account information nor consented to auto-charges. Furthermore, my consolidated loans have been split into multiple loans which has impacted my credit score.
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 02131
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-17
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: During the pandemic, I paid about XXXX on my student loan. The whole time, my next payment due was XX/XX/2024 and the payment amount was XXXX because I am low income. Now that we are in repayment, I applied and was approved for the SAVE payment plan authorized through the federal website, www.studentaid.gov. Nelnet, my servicer, changed me out of the income driven repayment ( IDR ) program into a regular student loan program and wrote that I need to pay XXXX before approving the SAVE program. Now., I can't talk to Nelnet because the line is always busy. Please advise
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 19143
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-18
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Account information incorrect
Consumer Complaint: XXXX XXXX transferred my student loan to Firstmark Trust Services using dated information. I moved and was not receiving any of the bills or statements from the company. Because of this, I missed a payment and now my credit score has been severely impacted. I called to try to fix the problem and the customer service agents had an attitude and were unhelpful. I have never missed a payment on anything in my life and I feel like I am being mistreated and taken advantage of.
Company Response:
State: NJ
Zip: 07090
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I had my loans transferred to Nelnet from Great Lakes ( not by choice ) and the process has been incredibly frustrating. In XXXX I applied to be switched to the new SAVE plan. It took Nelnet months to deal with that request. On XX/XX/2023 I received a letter from Nelnet saying that because I had applied for the SAVE plan I had been taken off of my IDR plan and entered into a Standard Repayment plan, because I needed to make a one time payment in order to be considered to be switched to the SAVE plan. It looks like Nelnet then switched my auto debit amount to be {$5.00}. The letter Nelnet sent me was incredibly confusing and contradictory. It said I had requested to make a Reduced Payment Forbearance payment rather than a Standard Repayment one time payment, I didn't request anything in fact, but now my account shows Standard Repayment. The letter also said " The one-time Reduced Payment Forbearance payment amount you chose is BLANK. The payment is due on BLANK. '' leaving both the amount and due date blank. I have tried calling and the call center seems entirely shut off, I just get a robot saying " This party is not taking calls right now. '' I sent in an online support request on XX/XX/XXXX asking for clarification and on XX/XX/XXXX Nelnet responded to my email saying " You do need to complete exit counseling from Income Base Plan before we can start the processing for Save Plan. Unfortunately, you would need to speak to a specialist to follow through with the exit counseling, therefore you would need to call within the next 2 business days. They can be reached by calling XXXX. Your outstanding interest will capitalize and add to your principal balance. This may result in higher monthly payments once your account is in a repayment status. '' It is absolutely not true that I need to re-do exit counseling, this is incorrect information Nelnet provided me as a consumer. I called the Call Center immediately, waited on hold for over 3 hours and when I finally spoke to a representative she said I did not need to do any exit counseling, that my request to switch to SAVE was still processing ( months after it was made ), and that they would agree to put me in administrative forbearance ( as they should have originally without me requesting ). However, my account is still showing as " Standard Repayment, '' not SAVE and not an administrative forbearance. I have lost all faith that Nelnet is telling me the truth or managing my account properly.
Company Response:
State:
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-16
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: In late XXXX, I received XXXX statements from NelNet ( XX/XX/XXXX - Amount Due : {$140.00} ; XX/XX/XXXX - Amount Due : {$0.00} ; XX/XX/XXXX - Amount Due : {$210.00} ). See attached statements. On my NelNet account, I have autopay set up with XXXX Bank ( see autopayment attachment ). On XX/XX/XXXX, I was charged {$140.00} to my XXXX account which mirrors the amount due in XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX. Today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) when looking at my Chase account, I see XXXX pending transactions from NelNet ( {$370.00} and {$880.00} ) with a note from XXXX that I have overdrafted my bank account because I did not have enough money to cover those payments. I quickly transferred {$300.00} to myself to avoid overdraft fees from XXXX. You can see that without the {$300.00} immediate transfer today, I would be overdrafted as my account balance is under {$300.00} ( see XXXX attachment for account activity from today ). When I login to my NelNet account, I see {$210.00} is past due ( see attachment ) even though 1 ) I have auto-pay set up so I should not be past due and 2 ) NelNet has overdrafted my account to cover the payments with amounts that do not match the amount of money I was quoted in the statements. This should not be happening and points to a systemic issue with how NelNet is handling payments. At a minimum, I expect to know how much I owe each month via a statement AND to be charged the amount actually listed in the statement so that I can avoid overdrafts going forward. I also expect auto-pay to cover the amount due so that I am not past due on anything.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 94107
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-16
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-17
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I scheduled a federal student loan payment for XX/XX/XXXX through Nelnet, my assigned loan servicer. On XX/XX/XXXX my payment is still showing as " processing ''. During this time interest is still being added to my account as if I haven't yet made a payment, unfairly punishing me for their slow payment processing service. If this were a one-time issue it would not be a huge deal as the extra interest would only amount to a few dollars. However, over the course of a 10,15, or 20 year loan it could easily amount to thousands of dollars in extra interest paid due to Nelnet 's extremely slow processing service. This unfairly punishes the consumer with extra interest charges despite it being no fault of my own, and in turn unfairly enriches the servicer. I've heard of many other Nelnet customers with the same experience and I'd like to this to be investigated and remedied as soon as possible. It's either not possible or extremely difficult to have your federal student loan servicer switched to a different servicer, allowing these companies to get away with things like this. It's incredibly frustrating, unjust, and should not be allowed to continue any longer.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 78704
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-17
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-16
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: My loan was transferred to Nelnet recently so along with the atrocious onboarding or transfer... meaning I couldn't get any info of when or how. My loan finally transferred and missed my first payment because I coudl n't get a hold of someone. I'm now in my second month of repayment and need a few easy things updated... .my address and payment date and have now called a total of five times to do this simple task. I can't talk to anyone about my loan because they don't have enough agents to handle the influx of calls they are receiving during this transfer period. I cant wait on hold for 45 minutes to possibly talk to someone.
Company Response:
State: IL
Zip: 60618
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-16
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-16
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: I have many questions for Nelnet. # XXXX. I have attempted to call Nelnet several times, and their wait times are preposterous. The longest I've held is two hours before giving up. How can one be expected to wait that long? # XXXX. In XXXX though I had set up a monthly Auto-Debit online in the amount of $ XXXX, but I never received a confirmation number or email confirming that the XXXX will actually occur. Is this Auto-Debit set up? If so, what day of the month will it be occurring on? I believe I had set a day of the month when I set up the Auto-Debit, but I did not write it down because I thought I would receive some sort of confirmation. # XXXX. I submitted an application for an IDR plan on XX/XX/XXXX, but it is still pending. When can I expect this application to be reviewed and activated? # XXXX. As of Friday, XX/XX/2023, my loan balance started showing a status of PAID IN FULL on Nelnet 's website, and I can no longer see the individual loans. I am 99 % sure I do not qualify for loan forgiveness, and StudentAid.gov still reports I have a total loan balance of {$33000.00}. Of course, I would be delighted if I am wrong, and my loans have been forgiven in full, but I suspect this is not the case. I want to ask Nelnet : Why is my status now showing PAID IN FULL? Are my loans indeed forgiven? Or are they being transferred? If the loans are NOT forgiven, is interest still being accrued, even though I can not see my loans? If the loans are NOT forgiven, how am I supposed to make payments in the meantime? I wanted to call Nelnet to understand what has happened, but I have not had the time to wait on hold for 2+ hours to get someone on the line. I've seen stories online from others saying that the line drops anyway once you're finally taken off hold, so I don't see the point in wasting my time. # XXXX. I've read that Nelnet is worth over XXXX XXXX dollars, yet their customer service has been laughably poor. How is this legal? Why does this useless company deserve to earn interest from millions of borrowers who are working so hard to make ends meet, while Nelnet itself is allowed to be so absurdly incompetent? The incompetence is so extreme that it feels predatory. Can the CFPB do something about this? This consumer does not feel protected.
Company Response:
State: MI
Zip: 48220
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-16
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-16
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I called spoke with a representative in the early summer of XXXX and enrolled myself in a new repayment plan ( Extended Fixed Repayment Plan ) that would have made my payments {$260.00} a month. I received correspondence that this was approved XX/XX/, yet I am still getting billed significantly higher amounts under a standard repayment plan and they have not fixed this. I have tried to call and email them several times and are unable to get a hold of them. I sat on the phone on hold for several hours only to be hung up on and am continuously receiving bills under the standard repayment plan despite my other payment plan being approved.
Company Response:
State: WA
Zip: 98122
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-16
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-16
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem
Subissue: Investigation took more than 30 days
Consumer Complaint: It's appears that Nelnet is reporting 29 accounts student loan on my credit report which complete the monitor after 3 years of discharge with {$0.00} balance. I contacted Nelnet about this matter and stills no response. I planned to resume a legal aide lawyer in this matter if it's not resolved or removed.
Company Response:
State: LA
Zip: 70131
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-16
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A