Date Received: 2018-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I have XXXX payments which I understand can be time consuming due to the nature of the source of the money. However I have had several instances where the payments have been significantly delayed and a customer service rep raise his voice when I was just trying to understand the delay and how I can assist get the payment to move along. Instance # 1 : I initiated an XXXX payment XX/XX/18 and XXXX XXXX accepted the payment on XX/XX/18. The funds were sent to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/18. I have confirmed with XXXX that I have the correct dates. I gave it two weeks and the funds still had not posted. I called periodically and was always told to be patient. After a month the payment still had not posted and I would call weekly and was told several different inconsistent information, including the payment can take another 30 days or 60 days or that the payment had already posted but I can't see it yet. We were hitting XX/XX/XXXX and still the payment was not there. I reached out to XXXX and they suggested I request a trace check of the payment. The customer service rep I spoke to constantly confused herself with other payments and I provided her everything XXXX gave me. It got to the point that I would schedule a day every week to speak to customer service. The payment finally posted in XX/XX/XXXX with a back date of XX/XX/XXXX. A 90 day delay. Instance # 2 : I am no longer on {$0.00} payment plan because I got married and my husband makes significantly more than I do. I was hoping to use my XXXXXXXX funds to make payments that otherwise can not afford on my own ( my husband has his own loan and other expenses ). I initiated a payment due on XX/XX/18 through XXXX on XX/XX/18 and it was accepted by XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/18. The funds were sent to XXXX on XX/XX/18. The payment has yet to post. I keep getting delinquency notices and when I call, I keep being told that I need to be patient or that the payment will post within a week. Again I call on a weekly basis. I am also in Public Service loan forgiveness where a late payment can have an affect on your 120 required payments. On XX/XX/18 I requested to speak to PSLF rep about the " late '' payment and what affect it will have on me. Again the customer service rep ( XXXX ) would confuse himself about payment and would tell me conflicting or contradictory statements about when the payment would post and what affect it would have on my PSLF. He eventually raised his voice on the phone, I explained that I was just trying to understand how to speed up the XXXX payment process and what affect it would have on my PSLF. He got so flustered that I ended the call without no resolution. It was one of the worst customer services experiences I have had. Note I never once raised my voice at him. I have also been told that the payment was held due to XXXX asking for it to post on a separate date. I reached out to XXXX and they said they never told XXXX to delay payment. I call constantly because of the delinquency notices, the significant delays and the arbitrary dates expected post of the payment ( i.e. Tomorrow, 24 hours, one week, 30 days 60 days ). I don't understand how they start the countdown for how long the payment will take. Does it start from the day I request the payment? From the day the payment is processed? From the day the payments are received? XXXX XXXX is the verge of affecting my credit score negatively. I work closely with a credit bureau for work and was told that these delinquency notices can adversely affect my credit score regardless of whether or not XXXX reports it. I also requested a letter form XXXX explaining that the delinquencies are not a result of my negligence but from a processing issue on their end. That issue has not been resolved at all.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 78626
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-18
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Consumer Complaint: XX/XX/XXXX an Income Driven Plan was discussed and filed. Payments were dropping from {$860.00} to {$520.00} approx. XX/XX/XXXX, Called XXXX the website said I would hear back by XX/XX/XXXX, next day it said I would hear back by XX/XX/XXXX, then it said I would hear back by XX/XX/XXXX. I had not heard a word since XXXX XXXX. Agent on the phone said nothing had been processed ; could not find my info. He said he would do a temporary deferment and charge me {$5.00} to process my IDR and I would not be billed for XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX and would get my new payment billed by XXXX due date. XX/XX/XXXX I made the {$5.00} payment agent had asked for. XX/XX/XXXX I received a separate bill and paid ANOTHER {$5.00} for processing. XX/XX/XXXX I get a bill for {$890.00}. NO IDR INFO ON MY ACCOUNT OTHER THAN A RECEIPT OF FORM ON XX/XX/XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX I called again and was told to disregard the bill for {$890.00} that the IDR was processing with a rush status and I would get new bill in 48 hours. I asked for an email or letter stating that I was told to disregard this bill. XXXX said she would send me an email that day so I could prove our conversation. XX/XX/XXXX No email or info received from XXXX. I called again and the agent verified a rush was put on my account. He told me to wait until Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, and I would have my new payment bill. He said this would replace the XXXX bill for {$890.00}. XX/XX/XXXX, a week + 1 day later. Still no info from FedLoan.org. Called and finally got to an " escalated loan manager '', because they refuse to let us speak to management. She says the same story as the lies I lived thru the last 3 months. Now I wait another 48 hours for her to put a " rush status '' on processing my IDR. HOWEVER, she is forcing me to pay {$890.00} for the month of XXXX because it takes 2 billing cycles to process. I told her this will be the 4th billing cycle and they still haven't done their job to process my IDR so this is not my fault. She does not care, holding me responsible to pay {$890.00} until they decide to finalize my IDR. Hoping they won't lose the form, or fail to process it again, I am filing a complaint. I did inform her that I am one of the few who are honestly trying to repay my student loan. I had it on deferment last year due to a XXXX and now have been trying to get my payments finalized since XXXX. They are such a stressful agency, failing to do their job, taking 4 to 6 months to process ONE FORM!!! It is unbelievable our government agency for student loans would do this to people, much less adding stress for XXXX survivors. I indeed tried to get this finalized in XXXX to avoid such stress induced situations from their office Please help. I'm XXXX, recovering from a XXXX last year and trying to work when I can as well as pay my account. And employee # XXXX has the nerve to insinuate if I'm working then just pay the {$890.00}!!!! I do believe the agents handling my account are breaking consumer protection laws by their comments and reluctance to do their jobs and process things ... blaming it on the consumer, etc.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 76039
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: The principle of XXXX of my loans was paid in full at the beginning of XXXX. However, there remained some unpaid interest on both loans. I have automatic monthly payments, disbursed by XXXX. The automatic payments did not go toward the unpaid interest on those two loans for an unknown reason. Likewise, I could not manually pay the loans as XXXX 's website would not apply a payment toward loans with no principle. I called XXXX several times and was told that what I was seeing on my profile was incorrect and the two loans were completely paid off. So I was left without an option to pay the unpaid interest and was told that loans were, in fact, paid. However, the credit reporting agencies were notified that I was not paying those two loans and was past due ( past due for a monthly amount of {$0.00}, per the credit agencies ). I worked with XXXX to remove the note on my credit report but the unpaid interest issue remained. This week, I logged into my XXXX XXXX I saw that the interest had capitalized for those two loans. Except now my profile states that they are delinquent, having been overdue since XX/XX/XXXX. Additionally, when I called into XXXX I was told that the automatic payments I am making now are in excess of what I owe and I am paying ahead. My last payment ( XX/XX/XXXX ) covered XXXX 's bill but was also applied to XX/XX/XXXX. I have been paying XXXX for years on a automatic payment that they encourage in an amount determined by them. It is wrong of them not to apply my payments to pay off debt due rather than over charge me and pay ahead ( of which I can't keep account of on their website ). I am concerned that many of my payments have been equally misapplied. Lastly, XXXX refuses to provide me with a summary of my contacts with them. They keep dates and notes of when a customer calls or emails. I have called two or three times a month on these issues for several months. It is noted in my profile but they will not share that with me.
Company Response:
State: TN
Zip: 37209
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: In XX/XX/XXXX, the federal government moved my loan from XXXX to XXXX XXXX. Prior to this I had no trouble getting accurate info from loan servicer when it was XXXX. I sent XXXX an updated document on qualifying employment for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, because that is a best practice each year and I take this very seriously. They sent me an updated summary of qualifying payments with literally dozens of errors on XX/XX/XXXX. By their inexplicable and erroneous accounting, I suddenly will not have my loan forgiven until much much later than I have actually qualified for. This is completely incorrect! I had in fact made many more qualifying payments as of XX/XX/XXXX than they said, and have continued to make them since. I immediately contacted FedLoan by phone ( twice ), which they have recorded I assume, and by email in early XXXX to request that these errors be fixed. I was told there was a long backlog and it could take 6-8 months. It has now been 7 months and 2 weeks. I messaged them on XX/XX/XXXX and got a generic " you'll hear from us soon '' response. I called again today and XXXX customer service said my recalculation request has to be done manually because there was a glitch in how the information got moved to their system last year, and no one has started this recalculation. This impacts my financial future and my career choices. Having this so ineptly handled is outrageous. Please help me.
Company Response:
State: WA
Zip: 98117
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I'm a Teacher and have been in repayment status since I graduated college in XX/XX/XXXX. I've maintained consistent, full-time, qualifying employment and have never missed a payment on my loans. I've behaved in such a fashion to ensure my eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( " PSLF '' ) program. This year, I became eligible for the program and began to inquire about how many payments the lender has recorded that I've paid. After several calls to customer service, I couldn't get a clear answer. Rather, they initiated a payment review in XX/XX/XXXX. I called today ( XX/XX/XXXX - Spoke to XXXX ID XXXX ) and was informed the payment review still hasn't been completed. I was told that the payment review is indefinite and could take months or even years to complete. I was also informed that while my account was under payment review, I would NOT be eligible for the PSLF program. I asked for a timeline of when the lender expected the payment review to be completed ; they indicated they did not know. The lender said once a payment review is initiated, it can not be stopped or cancelled and has to run its course. I pleaded with the lender, asking for this process to be escalated, to no avail. I also explained that the lender is holding my account XXXX and keeping it in limbo ; meanwhile, we're paying interest and payments as required by the terms of our loan. We simply can not make an informed decision about how to proceed with our loans ; whether or not we should refinance them to avoid paying excess interest, or stay the course with the PSLF program. I recently applied for the PSLF program and was denied, showing that I only had made 31 qualifying payments. I then applied to the Temporary Expanded PSLF program and was subsequently denied because I hadn't made 10 years of payments. Despite the lender 's reasons for denial of both programs, I boldly attest that I've been paying on my loans, consistently and without delay, since my graduation from college XX/XX/XXXX. Ten years. I've done all that I can do up to this point. Our only recourse beyond this complaint is to move forward with civil litigation. Our hope is that this complaint will aid us in obtaining the relief we desire.
Company Response:
State: KY
Zip: 40065
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I sent a notice in writing to the lender ( Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Company/XXXX ) that I wanted them to stop putting my account into paid ahead status. I instructed them to apply overpayments to the principal balance of a particular loan. I received a letter from the lender on XX/XX/2018 stating that they approved my request. However, the lender has not complied with my request. In both XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, the lender put my account into paid ahead status, and has not applied the overpayment to the principal of my loan as I requested. My account is still in paid ahead status today, and overpayments have not been applied as I requested.
Company Response:
State: MN
Zip: 551XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-18
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I applied for for federal public service loan forgiveness program. I thought I had approx. 3 years left of loan payments only to learn that I haven't made one qualifying payment from the loan servicer customer service rep, with no recourse to help me understand what happened or why I never qualified, even though I've worked in XXXX and XXXX for the last 15 years.
Company Response:
State: MN
Zip: 55430
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-18
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 have a loan with XXXX. I have always made my payments on time. For some reason I realized that there was a late payment on my credit report. As you can see, I have always had a stellar payment record with this company. I tried contacting both XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX with no successful resolution. XXXX, XXXX and XXXX were reporting me late. There was definitely an error on their part. I was never 30 days late XXXX - XX/XX/2016.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-17
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: I have a student loan that is part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Plan. I previously had my loan managed by two other servicers. I consolidated my loans into a Direct Loan almost ten years ago. I had to defer payment for a while, but then was in an income based repayment plan for at least the past five years with payments made either on time or within the 15 days of due date for them to count towards PSLF. When XXXX XXXX XXXX took over I heard that they were certifying employment and taking over. I sent in my paperwork. Within approximately 2 months my loan was transferred. My loans continually showed 0 payments as counting towards PSLF. I called and asked why. The rep told me it was because they didn't have the records from the two previous servicers. They told me to call back in a few months. I called back at 6 months and they still didn't have them. I kept checking my loans and saw that it said I had made 4 on one and 5 on the other that counted. I called back upset. The rep said they had received my records ands that all that counted. I asked why. She said I wasn't in the right repayment plan previously. I was in the IBR plan until the repaye plan began and switched over. Those should count. I asked what plan it said I was in. She couldn't tell me. I was very upset at this point. I asked for a letter explaining this to me. She said she would resubmit to have my payments recounted. I called back two days letter because I had been so upset and wanted to confirm all the information. The new rep said that no, my previous servicer info had never been received. That they were going to get it and recount my payments. I have not received any direct communication with them other than my eletronic bills. Who ever " counts '' the payments has never contacted me. I just keep getting told they don't have the information. The information has to exist somewhere of what my loan repayment status was and how much I have paid. It is extremely upsetting that I don't have direct access to my records anymore because they have been transferred to one servicer after another.
Company Response:
State: NC
Zip: 27896
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-10-17
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-10-17
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Problem lowering your monthly payments
Consumer Complaint: firstly, I never remember taking out a non-federal loan with anyone while in XXXX schoolbut they said it is private so I guess I have to believe them. I have refinanced all of myfederal loans into one payment that I can afford. They started calling me about these and Ihad no idea what I would do. They worked with me at first and gave me low payment that I could afford then the servicer changed from XXXX to AES. The amount doubled and when I asked why they said something about interest and said next month would be lower it wasn't. The next month they called and said it was a temporary plan and this was my new amount. No one in customer service seems to know what they are talking about. I asked if I could refinance this in my federal loan since AES services federal loans and they said " no '' then I explained that I am paying my other loans and have a child and have had to take money from savings to pay the last 2 months. I can not continue to do this- I simply do not have the money and I work 2 jobs. If they can not do something to help me I will have no choice but default. Last year when I did not know I owed them they had a 3rd party collection agency call me multiple times a day wanting to know when I would be making a payment. They really do not understand the concept you can't get blood out of a stone.
Company Response:
State: AL
Zip: 363XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-11-28
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A