Date Received: 2020-04-28
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Subissue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Consumer Complaint: I AM THE LEGAL POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX XXXX, XXXX and myself ( XXXX ) received numerous calls in XX/XX/XXXX and early part of XXXX XXXX that came up on our phones as " potential spam '' We did not answer and no messages were left to identify who was calling. # 2 Co signer XXXX received a past due statement in the mail from AES around XX/XX/XXXX regarding XXXX 's student loans. # 3 found out the number that was calling us and not leaving messages was AES. # 4 XXXX undergoing treatment for XXXX XXXX XXXX diagnosed in XX/XX/XXXX. Explained to AES on XX/XX/XXXX we were not aware of past due balance and XXXX had XXXX. # 5 AES said they would MAIL a forbearance form to our home.It never came # 6 I called AES around the end of XXXX XXXX was told by AES to print out the " XXXX FORM '' from their website # 7 XX/XX/XXXX AES reported XXXX and XXXX account as " delinquent to the credit bureau. # 8 XXXX contacted AES and was told the wrong forms were sent. The representative said she would E-mail the forms along with a Dispute form for the negative credit reporting. We filled out and mailed back the next day. # 9 XX/XX/XXXX contacted AES to find out the status of forbearance and disputes was told by another representative XXXX that again the wrong form was filled out even though the form we sent them was the one they E-mailed to us. XXXX directed us to the website and told us exactly the form to fill out. I printed and mailed back the next day. # 10 In the mean time XXXX contacted XXXX and filed a dispute with them regarding the negative credit reporting. 2 Weeks later AES reported a " improved account '' with XXXX and XXXX for XXXX. # 11 XXXX noticed credit was not improved with XXXX and filed a dispute with them. # 12 I filed a complaint to the Ohio Attorney Generals office approx. XX/XX/XXXX regarding the phone calls with no messages and negative credit reporting. # 13 XXXX reported AES would not change credit reporting for XXXX. ( Hmm could it be this is when they received a letter from the Attorney General? ) # XXXX Received response from AES regarding complaint explaining that they reported accurately and they would not be making an adjustment. They never mentioned the main concern I had with why they did not leave messages identifying who they were when calling. They also mentioned in the letter that AES spoke to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and said that he did not need his accounts placed in Forbearance. My issue with this is that XXXX had XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX at the XXXX XXXX and was in the hospital on a XXXX XXXX as well as oral XXXX and was not able to make rational decisions. When checking XXXX 's account around XX/XX/XXXX they were listed in " Forbearance '' then removed to " regular '' on XX/XX/XXXX. I sent a rebuttal letter to AES as well as to the Ohio Attorney General on XX/XX/XXXX. I have attached all documentation.
Company Response:
State: OH
Zip: 44256
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-28
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-28
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Subissue: Debt is not yours
Consumer Complaint: A bill from a collection agency called XXXX XXXX XXXX arrived at our house in early XXXX claiming {$98000.00} in defaulted student loans. We thought it was some kind of phishing scam where you are outraged over the amount and call the phone number on the bill and they get you to provide personal information to " confirm '' your identity, so we ignored it. Also, I never had a single student loan, we hold no debt other than our mortgage, and the name it was addressed to was our last name, but not the correct spelling of my first name. Finally, none of the contact information on the bill they sent matched a single piece of contact information on the website for this company, so we gave it no thought. On XX/XX/XXXX, another letter arrived at our address, same wrong spelling of my first name. This letter was from PHEAA ( Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency ) stating that they had previously sent a notice from the United States Department of Education stating that they were going to garnish any monies received from the Treasury Department, but they've decided to suspend that action at this time. I have no idea what that means. At this point, this was the first item received at our address from PHEAA and we've lived at the same address for nearly 17 years. I first confirmed that the contact information in the letter matched the contact information on PHEAA 's website. I attempted several times to reach a person over the phone but after waiting on hold over 30 minutes each attempt, I chose to send a letter on XX/XX/XXXX via certified mail instead. In that letter, I included a completed official Direct Credit Dispute Form, and I informed them that they have the wrong person, that I have no account with them, and that I have never had any student loan of any kind. I provided them a copy of the two items our house had received by mail, but I did not provide them with any significant personal information because it's not my account and those two items were the sole pieces of information we had at that point! Their response was received on XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX, XXXX in the form of three items. One is a response stating that they do not have enough information to process my request and to send them a copy of my drivers license and social security card. The second item was a copy of all the loan paperwork for this account, with none of the information omitted or obscured, meaning that they sent me someone's social security number, birth date, and address at the time of the loans. The third item was a letter stating that they have investigated my dispute and decided that the account is mine ( it is not ). I mailed out a response today, XX/XX/XXXX, via certified mail. I reiterated that the account is not mine, that they have the wrong person. I included a photocopy of my driver 's license, which is a REAL ID, not simply a regular license, showing that my DOB is not the same as that of the loan applicant. I also included a small portion my recent credit report, showing all of my addresses since the early XXXX 's, none of which are even in the same state as the loan applicant. This small portion also included my year of birth, and my married name and maiden name, neither of which matches the spelling of the name on the account PHEAA is attempting to collect on. I did not send a copy of my social security card. They've already demonstrated that they mishandle that information. I only supplied the last 4 digits of my SSN, which are different than that of the person who took out the loan. I am not concerned that someone has stolen my identity, because my credit report shows nothing of the sort and none of the information for the loan PHEAA claims is mine matches any of my personal information. I am deeply concerned that a financial institution can begin sending collection notices to random citizens that happen to share a common last name with someone who owes them money. My first name is spelled differently than this person, my birth date is completely different than this person, my social security number is completely different from this person. I do not know how PHEAA chose to associate my address with the account, but they certainly did not do their due diligence before turning the account over to a collection agency. Any help to ensure that PHEAA removes my address from this account and ceases to attempt to collect from me a debt that is not mine, would be greatly appreciated.
Company Response:
State: IN
Zip: 46074
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-28
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-28
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Problem with customer service
Consumer Complaint: Hello. I have four consolidated loans with FedLoanServicing. They are taking an abnormally long time to do a review of my qualifying payments made for PSLF. It has so far been 81 days since I made an initial request to get an updated qualifying payment count. Here are the details : On XX/XX/2020, I sent FedLoan a request for a change to my Paid Ahead status as well as an updated summary to my qualifying payment count. On XX/XX/2020, FedLoan sent me an email stating " A review to confirm the total number of qualifying payments that you made for Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) has been submitted. We'll contact you after we complete our review. '' On XX/XX/2020, I sent FedLoan an inquiry on my previously requested payment count for PSLF qualifying payments. On XX/XX/2020, FedLoan sent me an email stating " We are currently still reviewing your number of qualifying payments. Once your request is reviewed, you will be sent notice of the results. '' Today is XX/XX/2020. Today is 81 days since I initially made a request for an updated summary to my PSLF qualifying payment count. 81 days is longer than I believe it should take to recount my qualifying payments. Today I contacted FedLoan once more to request an updated payment count for my PSLF qualifying payments. I would like to request CFPB 's assistance in helping me obtain an updated payment count for my PSLF qualifying payments, after a change in my Paid Ahead status, which occurred 81 days ago. Thank you CFPB for your help.
Company Response:
State: DC
Zip: 200XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-28
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-27
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Don't agree with the fees charged
Consumer Complaint: I have tried to contact AES numerous times with no response. They are charging interest during the COVID crisis. The student loan industry is such a scam to begin with! I recently saw with an original loan of XXXX, I have already paid XXXX apx. 12,000 in interest. It is disgusting that the government and these corporations can get away with this. AES has never been able to provide me with documentation to show how this interest has accumulated. I have filed a previous complaint and the CFPB didnt do a dang thing! The people are going to start to getting loud about this corruption, we wont stand for this much longer.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 322XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-27
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-27
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Account information incorrect
Consumer Complaint: Around XX/XX/XXXX, American Education Services ( AES ) reported to the credit reporting agencies that I am a joint owner and have joint contractual liability for five student loan accounts. AES has misrepresented the ownership of these student loans accounts on my credit reports. The accounts were open by a sole owner on the following dates with the original loan amounts : XX/XX/XXXX {$26000.00} ; XX/XX/XXXX {$5300.00} ; XX/XX/XXXX {$20000.00} ; XX/XX/XXXX {$10000.00} ; and XX/XX/XXXX {$10000.00}. I did not agree with AES to borrow money from their financial institution for student loans. I agreed to cosign the loans but I did not sign as a joint owner or joint borrower. The legal status of these titles make a tremoundous difference. I co-signed for the sole account holder and owner of the accounts who borrowed the money. At some date, which I am not sure, AES changed Responsibility to Joint Account impling that I borrowed these funds. This change impacted my credit report with adverse transactions and more importantly causing my credit score to decrease by 45 points or more. I discovered this drastic decline when I checked my XXXX XXXX XXXX account for my free FICO score. In legal terms a joint account or co-borrower is an account with two or more individuals borrowing funds or property and the joint owners agreeing to repay in accordance with the terms for payments. In legal terms a co-signer is responsible to pay if and when the borrower/owner fails to pay but has not borrowed the funds and has not agreed to pay on the terms that the owner agreed. Over the course of the repayment, I have complied with the co-signer terms and paid when the borrower/owner was unable to repay the monthly loan amounts. However, this action does not make me a joint owner. AES continual seeks to undermine my credit standing and score, calling and stating that they will report nonpayment should I not pay. They call me even before they check with the borrower for payment or arrangements for payment. AES ' action is a violation of my consumer rights, reporting me as an owner when I am not.
Company Response:
State: AR
Zip: 72956
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-27
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-27
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Don't agree with the fees charged
Consumer Complaint: American Education Services currently services my XXXX FEDERAL loans which currently qualify for the 0 % interest rate set by Congress. They are still charging all of their customers interest and are not automatically putting loans into forbearance. I also have loans serviced through FedLoan which shares the same contact number as AES. Why is AES getting away with this?! They're telling customers that our loans don't qualify ( they absolutely do and absolutely are not private loans ) or that they'll reimburse us all the interest after XXXX. Please put a stop to this!
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 12203
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-27
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-27
Issue: False statements or representation
Subissue: Attempted to collect wrong amount
Consumer Complaint: I requested a back dated forbearance with American Education Services on XX/XX/XXXX, which would cover the dates of the late payments and AES granted me the forbearance with a letter stating it would be back dated and once the forbearance was completed they would remove all negative reporting to the credit bureaus. However, they did not remove the late payments from my credit report. After numerous calls to AES ( reps and supervisors ), I found out that as of XX/XX/XXXX, they have changed their policy to remove late payments when a back dated forbearance or deferment was granted and covers the dates of the late payments. However, anyone who had late payments prior to XX/XX/XXXX would not benefit from the new policy. AES has changed their policy, but refuse to apply it for customers whose late payments were before XX/XX/XXXX.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 19151
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-27
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-26
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: FedLoan Servicing ( PHEAA ) has begun ignoring my payment instructions yet again. This is the fourth CFPB complaint I have had to file because this company refuses to follow my payment instructions. My standing payment instructions were attached to my last CFPB complaint, and FedLoan Servicing has acknowledged receiving these instructions and agreed to follow them as part of my last complaint. The most recent example of incorrectly applied payments is my XX/XX/XXXX payment for {$360.00} that was applied to my loans on XX/XX/XXXX. I called them about making a payment, and they said I could still mail in a check with a note while my loans were in deferment. So I mailed a check on XX/XX/XXXX with a note to apply the payment according to my standing instructions. Instead of applying {$5.00} to the entirety of the outstanding interest on all the loans and then applying the rest of the payment to the principal of the loan with the highest interest rate and lowest balance ( Loan Sequence 3 at 4.66 % ), they applied the entire payment to only 2 loans : Loan Sequence 4 at 4.29 % and Loan Sequence 1 at 3.86 % It looks like FedLoan Servicing ( PHEAA ) may have incorrectly been using the temporary interest rate of 0.00 % instead of using the actual interest rates on my loans when they applied this payment to the loan principal, and they didn't apply they payment against the entirety of the outstanding interest before applying money to the principal, as they state they do. I have attached 3 documents : the instructions I sent with my payment on XX/XX/XXXX, my account history from XX/XX/XXXX showing outstanding interest of {$5.00}, and the XX/XX/XXXX payment history details for my XX/XX/XXXX payment.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 130XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-26
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-24
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Account status incorrect
Consumer Complaint: In 2017, I attempted to complete an Income-Driven Repayment play the Fed Loans for my student loan debts. Due to errors in communication between the lender and me, there was a delay in completing the application and I was late on a payment. The payment that I was late on was one amount. Ultimately, the application was completed and one, the monthly payment was again established at a lower rate based on the Income-Driven Repayment plan. Upon a recent review of my credit report, it came to my attention that I am reported by Fed Loan Services to have made 15 late payments. After further reviewing this reporting, I noted that rather than reporting one late payment, as I make one payment to Fed Loans servicing, Fed Loans reported that I made 15 late payments because I was late on the one amount that is paid to the lender each month. The lender does not ask me to make 15 different payments for each of my loans for which they serve, rather, one payment which the lender then distributes to the 15 individual loans.
Company Response:
State: NV
Zip: 89002
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-24
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-04-24
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: In light of the automatic administrative forbearance applied through the CARES Act, my Direct consolidated loans were changed from repayment to a forbearance status without my consent. I have emailed FedLoans several times without response ( weeks ago ), and finally reached someone through XXXX but the response was vague and did not make sense to me. Even the one time that I reached someone through the phone, the representative did not seem like she was sure of the answer that she was giving me. I need accurate answers to the following regarding my federal loans : 1 ) Will my outstanding interest from PRIOR to XX/XX/2020 ( obviously not the interest during the temporary 0 % interest period from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/2020 ) capitalize to my principal balance at the end of the automatic forbearance which I did not initiate? There is nothing IN WRITING on the studentaid.gov website, and Fedloans has been giving mixed messages regarding this issue on their website, XXXX, XXXX etc. 2 ) I understand that Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) credits can still be earned during the period of XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/2020. But for those of us who would otherwise meet the requirements and qualify but are unemployed, would unemployed borrowers still be able to earn PSLF credits during this period of time? Do I need to continue to be on administrative forbearance in order to still earn PSLF credits while unemployed, or can I stay in repayment status? 3 ) If I go back to repayment status, but later decide to go back to administrative forbearance, am I able to do this ( until XX/XX/2020 )? The answers to these questions may help many other borrowers if it is posted clearly on the studentaid.gov website, and it would help if FedLoans also was consistent in all of its communications ( I don't expect much from FedLoans, and I don't trust them anymore about this issue ). Thank you.
Company Response:
State: AZ
Zip: 85737
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-04-24
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A