Consumer complaint received 2019-08-12
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: WA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
I was on an IBR ( Income-Based Repayment ) plan for my student loans with FedLoan, my student loan servicer ). Everything was going just fine and then my loan went up due to my income increasing and it became quite difficult to make payments. I looked at the financial aid site about different possibilities of repayment plans. I found one that I thought might give me a better monthly amount. 

I contacted my student loan servicer back in XXXX or XXXX and requested the extended fixed payment plan and was given an amount less than the current XXXX {$540.00} that I was then paying. I proceeded to request the plan and thought very little about it. By XXXX or XXXX, I found that they hadn't been withdrawing the money from my account and my payment was significantly higher than the estimate that I had received previously. 

I called back up and spoke to by a rep who had no clue about my account, the direct debit or why my account was at the amount it was. After several frustrating minutes with this rep, I asked to speak to her supervisor. I was transferred to some guy who seemed to be very proficient at what he did. He verified that I was eligible for all of the payment options I wanted and that I had made my payments as agreed and that I could have all of my accounts on the extended fixed payment plan. 

He stated that he would escalate my account through the system, told me that I would be paying XXXX {$71.00} for the next couple of months by direct debit and that by XXXX I would be on the Extended Fixed payment plan for all of my loans. He did say that the website would take some time to update, but not to worry. 

I had been checking the website and Fedloan had quit taking my payment after XXXX, and now stated that my account was past due and that my next payment was almost {$3000.00}. 

I called back today and was told that they could no longer offer me the payment plan that I was given previously due to a payoff date on one or more of my loans and that if I wanted to keep on the Extended fixed payment plan, I would be at XXXX  XXXX {$2500.00} per month. I had to head back to work and terminated the call due to being very frustrated. 

I decided to call back and was given another rep who informed me that my account had been put in forbearance for the month and that my payment plan had all been worked out including any loans that didn't work with my request for the extended fixed payment plan and that my combined loan payment would now be ~ {$1200.00} per month. When I asked how that number was generated, the guy just gave me some mumbo jumbo that made absolutely no sense and didn't explain how the number was generated. When I told the guy that he was not helping me, he just said, " sorry ''. I asked to be transferred to his supervisor who turned out to be just another rep who had no clue how the number was generated and said that it was a " XXXX '' in the computer, but that she did not know the math for how the number was generated and that it was an estimate. 

When I asked to speak to her supervisor, I was told that she didn't have a direct supervisor there and that no one would call me back. 

In the end, these guys are holding me hostage to a payment plan that is significantly higher than I can afford, I've received nothing but the runaround and bogus estimates and finally informed that I need to go back to my IBR plan and there is nothing else they will do for me. 

Please assist. 

These guys are very dishonest and extremely unhelpful. I'm fairly certain if I called back, I would get a different number, as that has been the case every time I have called them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief