Consumer complaint received 2023-11-01
Company: EdFinancial Services
State: MA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem with your payment plan

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 I submitted an Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request to the Federal Student Aid website ( studentaid.gov ) trying to apply for the XXXX ( formerly REPAYE ) repayment plan. I received a confirmation email stating that I had consented to studentaid.gov gaining access to my tax documents, as well as a confirmation that my request had been sent to my federal student loan servicer ( XXXX ) for processing. 

On XX/XX/2023, I received a message from XXXX stating that they'd reviewed my account and that because my loans were not in repayment status ( due to the payment pause from XXXX ), that my request could not be approved. I was told to resubmit my request within 60 days of entering repayment, which was due to begin in XX/XX/2023. 

On XX/XX/2023, I received a message from XXXX saying that it was time to recertify my Income Based Repayment plan, and that if I did not submit the proper documents by the XXXX of XXXX, XXXX, that my monthly payment amount would increase to {$500.00}. 

On XX/XX/2023, I attempted to both recertify my XXXX XXXX plan, and apply to the XXXX plan on XXXX. I received a confirmation email again from XXXX saying that my application had been sent to XXXX for processing. 

On XX/XX/2023, I received a message from XXXX saying that they had received my IDR repayment plan request, but that they needed my tax documents to confirm my income. This was odd, because my previous application in XXXX had the aforementioned tax documents sent to XXXX, and XXXX was able to review that application then without issue. Regardless, on XX/XX/2023, I attempted to upload my tax documents to the XXXX website via their document upload section. ( I say " attempted '' because while I remember uploading the documents, and I have the documents saved on my computer, no record of it being uploaded appears on XXXX 's document portal. I reuploaded the tax documents just now to see what it would look like, and they do appear in the correct section. Again, I have memories of uploading them at the time they were requested, but I can not see any record of them ). 

On XX/XX/2023 ( which is potentially before I'd uploaded my tax documents ) I received a message from XXXX saying that they had received a request from me to exit Income Based Repayment, and that if I exited XXXX, I would be placed on the Standard Repayment Plan, and would have to make one payment under that plan before being allowed to switch to a different plan. I was confused, because I wasn't trying to move to the Standard Repayment Plan ; I can not afford to make payments under that plan. Nowhere in this message was it stated that this was a result of my application to the XXXX plan, or that I would have to move to the XXXX XXXX XXXX to then enter the XXXX plan. The message said that if I didn't want to exit Income-Based Repayment, that no action was needed, and I SHOULDN'T call. I was confused because the terms Income-Based Repayment and Income-Driven Repayment are similar but different, but Income-Based Repayment is under the umbrella of Income-Driven Repayment, so I shouldn't have had to go onto the Standard plan at all. I believe this was worded to be intentionally confusing. 

While all of this was happening, I still had an alert on my account saying that I should recertify my XXXX plan. Even after clicking on it, the alert was still there, so I thought that somehow the documents that I'd submitted for recertification in XXXX somehow still hadn't gone through. This is simply to say that the website was confusing, and I couldn't tell if my documents and requests were being received or not. 

Now, in XXXX, my monthly payment amount reads {$500.00}, which I can not afford, and which I was trying to avoid by applying to the XXXX plan. On XX/XX/XXXX, I again submitted a request to apply to SAVE via the XXXX website, and again received a confirmation email from XXXX saying they'd sent my request to XXXX. I also saw XXXX 's website had updated to show an alert that reads " XXXX XXXX Certify Here! Your Income-Driven Repayment plan is due to expire on XX/XX/2023. Did you know that you can now report your income without needing to submit tax documentation? Recertify now, or recalculate if your income has changed. '' I clicked on the link provided, and was able to go through a very short application for XXXX XXXX right on XXXX 's XXXX. This is confusing to me, because after all of my requests and correspondence, this short application lumps recertification, recalculation, and application to SAVE ( and other repayment options ) into XXXX form, and nowhere on that form does it say that I'd have to leave XXXX and enter the Standard repayment plan. I was able to submit the application, but then realized I'd made a mistake on the family size ( I thought I had to include myself, but the form was only asking about the children in my family, of which there are XXXX ). 

I quickly resubmitted the form with the correct information and sent an email via their website stating that I'd made a mistake, and would also like some clarification on my application to the XXXX plan, which at this point I have tried to do XXXX different times. I have had more luck communicating with Edfinancial via email than over the phone ( I tried to call in XXXX over confusion about when I was supposed to make an account on their new website, since I'd tried XXXX different times to register on their new website when they said my account would be ready, only to be told over the phone that their call volume was too high, and getting disconnected. ) Their phone system is always overloaded and I've never successfully gotten through to someone via phone. I've also read accounts of people who have been on hold for hours, only to be hung up on, or have requested a callback and have never received one. 

It's been several days since I emailed them about my mistake, and I've heard nothing back regarding this OR my many applications to the XXXX XXXX, attempts to recertify, or getting my current payment amount recalculated. Their customer service email page states that they are experiencing long wait times " due to unprecedented high call and email volume. '' In the interest of getting through to someone before these payments are due, I decided to submit a complaint here as a fallback plan.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response