Consumer complaint received 2021-04-30
Company: COAST PROFESSIONAL INC
State: MA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
My complaint is with Coast Professional Services, and the US Department of Education. Coast has continually and systematically mishandled documents, failed to correspond, prematurely terminated payment arrangements, and performed other acts in a sustained effort to violate my rights as a borrower, all with the goal of continuing to charge usurious fees to which they are not entitled, and to keep my account in collections for their own financial gain. The US Department of Education is included in this complaint because they have provided false information to me, have also lost documentation, have refused to address my concerns, have refused to recall the loan from Coast in accordance with their own policy, and have appeared to aid and abet Coast 's illegal collection practices. I have made no less than 5 separate attempts to enter into a loan rehabilitation with Coast, as well as directly with the Department of Education. In each instance, paperwork was claimed to have been lost, documentation was claimed to have not been received, required correspondence was not sent to me, requests have been denied without due process, documents sent in perfect condition were altered to be made illegible, and other actions counter to regulations and in violation of my rights as a borrower. The most recent example begins in XX/XX/XXXX, where I contacted the Dept of Ed to make one of many attempts to rehabilitate my loan. I was told to forward my request directly to the Dept of Ed, which I did immediately. I received tacit confirmation of the receipt of my complete request, since I received a separate correspondence from the Dept of Ed regarding the enclosed {$600.00} payment, and stating that the payment should have been forwarded to a different address from my request. I continued to make payments directly to the Dept of Ed for XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, each payment being {$600.00}, which exceeds the amount given by the Department of Ed during my XX/XX/XXXX phone call. Having not received any response from Dept of Ed, I contacted the agency on XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX. At that time I was informed that the Dept of Ed representative in XX/XX/XXXX gave me incorrect information, and the request could not be processed directly with Dept of Ed. The Dept of Ed then advised me that the request and all documents were scanned and forwarded to Coast. I was advised that I could issue a complaint against Coast, and if they fail to respond, the loan can be recalled from Coast and rehabilitated through Dept of Ed directly. I issued the complaint on that day. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a response from Coast dated XX/XX/XXXX. In that response, Coast did not address the status of the loan rehabilitation request that was sent in XX/XX/XXXX, instead, Coast conflated the request with another previous request from XXXX. XXXX stated that the documentation was illegible. I contacted Dept of Ed on XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX. I was informed that Dept of Ed scanned the documents to Coast, but that the scan, performed by Dept of Ed, was not legible. The original documents were no longer available. The two supervisors that I spoke with refused to correct the document scan. They refused to address the incorrect response from Coast. Despite the original assistor on the phone being able to see the Coast letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, and even reviewing the contents, both supervisors claimed that they did not have access to the letter. Again, this was despite the fact that the original assistor was able to volunteer specific details of the letter. In the midst of asking for instructions on how to escalate the complaint, the supervisor ( name and id available upon request ) disconnected the call without cause. It appears that the Dept of Ed is colluding with Coast in an effort to keep my loan in collections, for profit. It is important to me to clear this up, and I have acted in good faith at every turn, over the course of years, only to be thwarted by both Coast and Dept of Ed. I have made payments, and submitted documentation. I have dutifully contacted both Coast and Dept of Ed. My efforts have been nullified by both Coast and the Dept of Ed. This has been motivated by profit, and has been to the detriment of myself, and my family both financially and career wise. The resolution that I'm seeking is that Dept of Ed recalls the loan, so that I am able to make payments directly with Dept of Ed. I am also asking that the negative results on my credit report be removed, as they are the direct result of Coast and Dept of Ed 's negligent, malicious, and capricious actions, recognizing my good faith efforts to pay my student loans. I am asking that Coast be disallowed from charging fees on this debt to which they are not entitled. And I am asking that I am given the chance to pay the full amount of the loan as agreed, and in a timely manner, to the Dept of Ed. I am not asking for an elimination of the debt, as I have benefited from my education in ways that I couldn't have imagined. I want to pay. I want to be in good standing. But Coast and Department of Education are colluding to make that impossible, and I hope to have your help in correcting this folly. I will gladly provide any details you may need. I am grateful for your help in this matter.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation