Consumer complaint received 2022-12-18
Company: Earnest Inc.
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
I was approved for private student loans for the XXXX school year with Earnest and received my first loan disbursements for the XXXX XXXX semester. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received email notices from Earnest that updates had been made to my student loans disbursements for the upcoming school terms. I spoke with my student account department at one of my schools and was informed that Earnest contact the financial aid department and provided false information to them about me. I was told that Earnest stated that I withdrew from all my courses after receiving refunds from my Fall disbursements from multiple schools. This false information caused my financial aid office to cancel my loan disbursement for the XXXX XXXX semester. The information they provided to the school was false because I had not withdrawn from my courses at all of my schools. I successfully completed some my courses and received A grades. I was hospitalized during the XXXX  term and had to withdraw from some of my courses due to extenuating circumstances. They didn't speak with me prior to contacting my financial aid department and omitted information regarding my hospitalization which created an extenuating circumstance for me. I called Earnest and spoke with a representative regarding this the following Friday, XX/XX/XXXX and was told my XXXX XXXX loan disbursements for all of my schools were placed on hold. I requested to receive a call from a supervisor or XXXX regarding this and was told that I would be contacted within 24-48 hours. I never received the call that I request, instead I received an email stating that they would follow up with me when they could. I responded to that email and told them they didn't have the right to provide my financial aid office with misleading information and needed to rectify the problem. Following my response, I received another correspondence from Earnest informing me that all my XXXX XXXX loan disbursements were cancelled due to excessive loan debt. This reason for cancelling my loans was inadequate because I had the same loan debt at this time as I did when they approved me for each of my student loans. If they felt my loan debt was excessive, they shouldn't have approved my loan applications when they were initially submitted. They also stated that there were security concerns regarding my account and didn't provide any information regarding that. This decision to cancel my approved loans in the middle of the school year after providing disbursements for the XXXX  XXXX term has put me in a compromising position that is directly affecting my ability to continue my degree programs. I didn't do anything that violated my loan contracts nor did my actions violate any of my school 's policies or guidelines. Earnest has adversely affected my educational pursuits by cancelling my loans and funding in the middle of the school year, which is preventing me from continuing my education and completing my degree programs. In addition to this, they approved me for an additional loan on XX/XX/XXXX for the upcoming school year, prior to them cancelling my XXXX disbursements. If my loan debt was too excessive for them to continue with my XXXX XXXX disbursements, they would not have approved me for an additional loan the day prior to sending me the notices on XX/XX/XXXX regarding updates made on my loan disbursements. My loan debt was reviewed during the application process when I approved the day prior to receiving those notices.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation