Consumer complaint received 2018-09-06
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: PA
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 qualify for loan forgiveness via the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. I have a letter from XXXX XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX that states I have made a total of 63 qualifying payments and have 57 qualifying payments remaining and an estimated eligibility date of XX/XX/XXXX. However, at the time my online account showed that I only made 54 qualifying payments and had 66 remaining. I submitted a request for this to be reviewed on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that it would take up to 10 weeks to be fixed but that the information in the letter was accurate. However, the online account was never updated to reflect the information received in the letter. I submitted an online request in XX/XX/XXXX about this same issue but never received a response and nothing was updated. On XX/XX/XXXX, I re-certified my employment for XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, during which time I made 12 on-time payments. When I re-certified, I also submitted a letter inquiring about the miscalculation issue and submitted documentation that showed the discrepancies ( a copy of the XX/XX/XXXX letter and screen shots from my online account ) and asked that the information be updated. I received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that my employment was certified but I did not receive a letter detailing updated number of total qualifying payments made and payments that are still needed. I also did not receive anything regarding the issue of the miscalculations of my payments. However, my online account has now been changed and now shows that I have made 65 qualifying payments and have 55 remaining and has pushed my estimated eligibility date back to XX/XX/XXXX, adding a full year of payments that I shouldn't have to make. This is not correct! With the 12 qualifying payments I made between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, I should have a total of 75 qualifying payments made and have 45 remaining. I called today ( XXXX XXXX ) and spoke with a representative who said my initial review request from XX/XX/XXXX has not been addressed yet and it could take up to 6 months ( it's been 10 months ). She also said that of the 98 payments I have made since XX/XX/XXXX ( when I first became eligible and starting making payments ), 33 of them don't qualify because I didn't pay the full amount. I have always made full and on-time payments, and have never received any notices of late payments or delinquency. I have documentation that states what my qualifying payments were as of XX/XX/XXXX and have the amounts, statement dates and confirmation numbers for every payment I have made for the past three years. However, XXXX XXXX will not give me any straight answers and will not work with me to resolve this issue. As of today, I am now being told that it can take up to a year for the issue to be resolved. That is crazy! I have called multiple times and I am never given a straight or clear answer. I'm continually told to wait weeks or months and call back. Meanwhile, the qualifying payments that I have made and continue to make are not being accurately accounted for and applied to my loan forgiveness eligibility.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation