Consumer complaint received 2018-08-20
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: NY
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 concerned that XXXX is failing to process my payments from my XXXX XXXX XXXX. This jeopardizes my credit, my loan status, and my payments towards public service loan forgiveness. 

My XXXX monthly payment of {$220.00} is due on XX/XX/2018. For this payment, I submitted a request to XXXX to issue my monthly payment from my XXXX XXXX XXXX  to XXXX. I made this request to XXXX on XX/XX/2018. I requested this payment a month before my due date because I have experienced significant delays in XXXX applying these payments. Yet still my account appears delinquent. 

My online XXXX account shows that XXXX accepted this request on XX/XX/2018 and the payment was scheduled for XX/XX/2018. As of today, my XXXX account has still not credited my account with this payment. My account states that my payment is 10 days past due. My XXXX online account shows that this payment was deducted from my education award. 

I contacted XXXX by phone on XX/XX/2018, XX/XX/2018, XX/XX/2018, and XX/XX/2018 to see why my payment has not been processed and applied to my account. Each time I spoke to a representative, I was told vague statements about processing times and I was told to wait longer. Each representative told me that XXXX does not have the payment. 

I contacted XXXX to verify the status of the payment on XX/XX/2018 and XX/XX/2018. Both times XXXX representatives told me that XXXX received the payment via EFT. The XXXX representatives stated that XXXX recently elected to receive payments from XXXX electronically, as opposed to the paper checks they previously received. XXXX verified that the payment was sent XX/XX/2018 and stated that it should be received no later than 2-3 business days from XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX stated that the payments are sent to XXXX with my first and last name and the last 5 digits of my social security number. 

When I contacted XXXX on XX/XX/2018 I first spoke to a representative named XXXX. She told me that she does not even know what XXXX is and asked me more than once if it was another loan provider. She then transferred me to XXXX, employee ID XXXX, who told me that XXXX only sends things on Fridays so the payment would have been sent XX/XX/XXXX. She told me that they have not received the payment yet and there is a 7-10 day processing time. I asked when my payment would be applied. I was transferred to XXXX, who stated that he oversees the processing and accepting of XXXX payments. XXXX provided me with his direct line, XXXX, and stated that I can call him directly if I am having issues with my payments. He also stated that XXXX did not receive my payment from XXXX yet. He stated that he was not aware that the payments from XXXX are now being sent via EFT. I was told that XXXX is putting in a request to find the missing payment. This phone call lasted one hour. 

On XX/XX/2018, my XXXX account still was not updated to reflect my payment. I called XXXX at XXXX. He did not answer and I left a message with my name and phone number and asked him to return my call. I did not receive a call back. 

When I contacted XXXX on XX/XX/2018 I spoke with XXXX, employee ID XXXX. She told me that XXXX did not receive the payment from XXXX. She said that she saw the request to find a missing payment on XX/XX/2018. She told me that it takes 7-10 business days to process the request. I asked XXXX to clarify if she meant that it would take 7-10 business days to apply my payment or search for the missing payment. XXXX put me on hold to " look into that for me. '' XXXX then told me that it would be 7-10 business days for XXXX to process the request to look for the missing payment. I told XXXX that that time had passed. XXXX told me that they do not count the 6th, so I should check my account on Monday or Tuesday. She told me that EFT payments do not go somewhere different than the paper check payments. XXXX told me that there are delays in applying XXXX payments because they do not send the account numbers. I told her that XXXX provides first and last name and the last 5 digits of the social security number. XXXX agreed but said that because more than one person has the same name that there might still be delays in processing. I told her that no one else has my name. XXXX then told me that she was just saying that as an example. At no point was I told who is actually searching for the " missing payment '' or what that process entails or when I could expect and answer. 

None of the XXXX representatives provided me with any concrete information regarding my account. They all told me to call back or check online. They always reference a " processing time '' for any action, even for them to look into an issue. When I asked what date my payment would be processed, I did not receive a date. I was told it would reflect when it was received. 

I have experienced several issues with XXXX applying my XXXX XXXX XXXX payment in the past year. Their representatives do not provide useful information and they are not helpful. I am usually on hold for at least 30 minutes before speaking to anyone and several times I have been told that only certain people have access to the XXXX payments so I am transferred to someone else and I have to wait on hold for longer. Often my account appears to be delinquent while waiting for XXXX to process my payments. XXXX provides unacceptably poor customer service and does not use care in handling accounts and payments. This experience has created an immense amount of distress, worry, and time wasted in attempting to get FedLoan Servicing to do its job.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation