Consumer complaint received 2019-05-30
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CA
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:
Applied to be part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program in XX/XX/XXXX. Was surprised to find out that in XXXX, my loans would be moved over to My Fed Loan. Surprised because the information from FedLoans was insufficient in explaining what was happening to my loans, what the terms of the loan would be, and what payment I would be expected to make to maintain a good status with the PSLF program. 

Paid my student loans on time and in the amount of {$290.00} for XXXX through XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX called ( XXXX ) and spoke with " XXXX XXXX '' about monthly payment increasing from {$290.00} to {$730.00} in XXXX. FedLoan has my tax and student loan information that indicate what my income is and that I have 2-student loans in repayment. My recalculated loan payment under the PSFL did not take into account that I have a larger student loan payment being made in addition to the FedLoan. As part of the Public Service Forgiveness Loan Program, I am on an Income Driven Repayment Plan. I have no idea if this is the best plan for my particular situation. " XXXX put me on hold and connected me phone to " XXXX XXXX '' because she said she doesnt handle PSFL and had me call XXXX. 

The new customer service person XXXX XXXX said she would investigate the matter as to why my payments ballooned. In the meantime, she put an " administrative forbearance '' on my FedLoan while the investigation was going on. In addition to the administrative forbearance, my automatic payments were suspended. XXXX indicated that Fed Loans needed to recalculate my loans. Nothing was ever communicated about the outcome of this investigation and my loan amount did not change. Using the limited number of " forbearances '' to investigate matters reduces my chance to resolve payment issues over the life of a 10-20 year payment plan. Both " XXXX XXXX '' and " XXXX XXXX '' could not resolve my issues because neither understood my problem ( multiple student loans and extremely high payments according to my income ). I have had an outstanding student loan payment since XXXX that accrued interest and I have lost several months of the forbearance allotment for these student loans. 

Called XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX XXXX who told me that my administrative forbearance issue was still being processed ( from XX/XX/XXXX ). She informed me that it usually takes 60 days despite the fact that I have an administrative forbearance for 30 days. I could make a payment for {$730.00} but I continue to pay on time my original amount ( {$290.00} ) in XXXX and XXXX. XXXX XXXX created another forbearance request to cover the XXXX bill at the higher amount. XXXX XXXX said she is going to request that my IDR plan payment be lowered ( this is the second request ). She said in 5-7 days this would be processed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received email notification that my monthly payment for my Revised Pay As You Earn ( REPAYE ) plan is now {$290.00}. FedLoan will now use my income documentation and family size to determine my monthly payment. This is effective for all payments from XXXX. It states, " If I wish to leave an IDR plan, [ I ] must have time remaining in the repayment plan [ I ] want to change to and [ my ] new payment amount will be based on the balance of [ my ] eligible loans at the time [ I ] leave IDR. '' Prior to this notification, I was on an IDR plan. I am now getting notification that I am in a REPAYE plan. I did not receive information from " XXXX XXXX '' that this is how lowering my payment would be resolved. Still had a balance due on my account in XXXX that is accruing interest. Still paying my student loan, however, none of these payments are applying to my loan forgiveness program ( PSFL ). 

Continued to pay student loans at the original payment amount despite the forbearance placed on my account ( was told by customer service that paying on time {$290.00} for XXXX during a forbearance is NOT necessary ) despite the fact that this problem of recalculated my loans has still not been resolved. On XX/XX/XXXX called to resolve the delinquency flag on my account. Spoke with XXXX # XXXX who said she will apply the payment that is due back to my principal. She said she would put a forbearance on my account for XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX so my account will not be delinquent ( my account is already suppose to be on an administrative forbearance from the XXXX ). " XXXX XXXX '' suggested that I put my account on a 90-day forbearance to resolve this issue of having my account delinquent, despite saying that she would apply the balance due back to my principal. When I asked " Why do I need a 90-day forbearance? '' " XXXX XXXX '' said that she was just suggesting what is available. I told her that I don't need 90 more days of forbearance. I just need the amount applied back to my principal so my account is not delinquent.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation