Consumer complaint received 2021-10-07
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: WA
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:
I am working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness for my student loans. Several payments are currently not being counted as qualifying payments. I submitted a request to update these payments ( per FedLoan 's instructions ) on XX/XX/XXXX. I sent a follow-up email in XXXX to inquire about the progress on this issue. No action has been taken, and I've received no resonse to my inquiries. 

I sent the following message to FedLoan on XXXX XXXX or XXXX ( Please note -- some formatting changes were made in copying this message into this form ) : >> Message : There are currently 10 payments *5 payments each on two loans* on my account that are listed as Ineligible Payments for PSLF. The reason given is *No Bill. * This is inaccurate, as I had bills for each of the months in question XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. Unfortunately, the Fedloan website only provides billing statements going back three months. ****I request the following**** Please provide me with copies of all billing and account statements from 2017. *** Please manually review the payments in 2017 that are currently listed as Ineligible Payments and revise the Qualifying Payment count accordingly. ****I look forward to your reply. ****Thank you, * FedLoan replied on XXXX XXXX : Thank you for contacting FedLoan Servicing! 
On review the months in question had forbearance. 
While working towards the 120 qualifying payments, payments made during a deferment or forbearance period do not qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). You can request to remove a deferment or forbearance if you made a qualifying monthly installment during this time. Once the deferment or forbearance is removed, we can review any potentially qualifying payments during this period. 
Visit the following links for more information : StudentAid.gov/publicservice I replied on XX/XX/XXXX : Thank you for your prompt response. I would like to request to have the forbearance for those months removed, and to then have those payments reevaluated as qualifying payments. 

FedLoan replied on XX/XX/XXXX : Thank you for contacting FedLoan Servicing! 
A request is submitted to remove the forbearance and review the payments made for override of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. We will contact you when we complete our review if the payments are updated. You can view your Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) qualifying payments online by selecting the CHECK PROGRESS button in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) section of the Account Summary page. You can also select Payments & Billing from the left-hand side and then select PSLF Payment Tracking. This number will update after a new Public Service Loan Forgiveness Application & Certification form ( PSLF application ) is received and approved. If you have further questions, please contact us. 

I replied on XXXX XXXX : One item of clarification : I only want to remove the forbearance for the months in 2017. I want to remain in the current forbearance under COVID-19 relief policy. Please confirm that this is what is being done. 

FedLoan replied on XXXX XXXX : Thank you for contacting FedLoan Servicing! 
We apologize for not yet being able to provide you with the number of qualifying payments made toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). These reviews can take a minimum of 90 days to complete. 
You are currently still on the Administrative Forbearance with the Cares Act. 

I replied on XX/XX/XXXX : Good afternoon, On XXXX XXXX I requested that the forbearance be removed for the months of XX/XX/2017, XX/XX/2017, XX/XX/2017, XX/XX/2017, and XX/XX/2017, and that those payments be counted as qualifying payments towards PSLF. It has been nearly four months since I made the request, and I have not yet received an update. Please update me on the status of this request. 

FedLoan has not replied since XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation