Consumer complaint received 2020-08-04
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, a payment of {$500.00} was deducted from my XXXX XXXX account for FedLoan Services, which is my federal student loan servicer. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into the FedLoan Services website to schedule another payment. I noticed that my {$500.00} payment in XXXX was not applied to my loan balance, nor did it show up in my payment history. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted FedLoan services and was told by one representative that there was no record of a payment in XXXX. I was sent to a supervisor, and my call was dropped while I was on hold. I called back and got a second representative who told me that the {$500.00} payment from XXXX had been canceled. My call was then transferred and then dropped. I called a third time and was told that my {$500.00} XXXX payment had been reversed. My call was then transferred and dropped again. I called back a fourth time and requested a supervisor. After giving some information, I was successfully transferred to supervisor " XXXX '' ( employee ID : XXXX ). 

XXXX informed me that the previous employee was wrong and that this XXXX payment of {$500.00} had been successfully applied to my account even though I could see that the last payment applied was XX/XX/XXXX, and the remaining balance of {$7000.00} had not changed since this date. I do not know if this employee misspoke or attempted to lie or if she was simply confused. She proceeded to tell me that my payments might not be accepted while I was still a student. I am no longer a student, and even if I were, I have the right to make additional payments on my loan. When I explained to XXXX that her statement was untrue, she backtracked and acted confused by her own records. She attempted to follow with an incoherent explanation about payments I had made in XXXX of XXXX and told me she did not understand those payments. She could not address the issue of the missing {$500.00} from the XXXX payment. 

I asked XXXX to create an official Case ID for me, investigate this matter, and contact me back rather than continue to stumble over her records and place me on hold. In my experience with other loan service providers, this is done automatically. 

My CASE ID with FedLoan Services is : XXXX. I was told to expect a call from them within 3 - 5 business days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I also scheduled another payment of {$500.00} to be deducted from my checking account. I have received confirmation from FedLoan Services that this payment has been scheduled and will be applied to my balance. However, I do not trust this provider and would like them investigated. I expect to have this balance adjusted, and then I plan to pay the entire accurate balance with accumulated interest before XXXX, as I would like to have no more business with this loan provider. 

XXXX was very nice and did her best to help me, but I do not believe this service provider is trustworthy, and it appears that they also do not train their employees to assist borrowers.

My final concern is that FedLoan Services does not allow borrowers access to their full payment history. When I asked about this, I was told that it was because I am still a student until my university notifies them otherwise. I graduated on XX/XX/XXXX. I am no longer a student. Active students, however, also have the right to access their full payment history per the terms and conditions of the FedLoan Services agreement. I must advise borrowers to steer clear of this provider, and I hope that they will be investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation