Consumer complaint received 2023-11-19
Company: NEW YORK STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICES CORPORATION (HESC)—
State: NY
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Federal student loan debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive notice of right to dispute

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern : In XX/XX/XXXX, I graduated from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) with a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Over the course of those 4 years I took out 15 loans that totaled {$83000.00} across at least three different loan servicers. It was very difficult to keep track of all those loans so shortly after I graduated I consolidated them all and dutifully began repayment. 

Never once late on a single payment, and scraping together whatever extra I could to lower my principal balance, by XXXXthirteen years after graduatingI had reduced my total student loan debt down to {$13000.00}. After being emancipated at the age of XXXX and putting myself through college shortly thereafter, this felt like an incredible win. 

However that feeling quickly dissipated on XX/XX/XXXX after answering a call from a woman named XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX. She told me I had a XXXXXXXX XXXX in default with XXXX. You can imagine how surprised I was to receive a call from a collections agency after how faithfully I had paid back my student loans, and that more than a decade had passed since I would have taken out said loan and this was the first I was hearing about it. Another thing that really surprised me was that I had closed on my first house just a few days before taking her call, a process that took over a year to complete as it was a short sale, and my lender ran my credit report no less than 3 times throughout the year, never once finding any loans in default. 

I explained to XXXX XXXX that I had consolidated all of my student loans after I graduated. I remember her saying that she hears this happen often with XXXXXXXX XXXX, that for some reason they dont get included in the consolidation. 

But why was this the first time I was hearing about this loan? XXXX XXXX told me that XXXX had a phone number I didnt even recognize on file. I asked if they had my XXXX email address on file as it was a main means of communication with the school while I was in undergrad, and I still actively use it to this day, plus I am actively on the XXXX alumni network e-mail list. She said they did not have my email address on file which totally shocked me. How earnestly were they trying to get a hold of me about this loan? I get calls every year from XXXX asking me to donate money, surely my phone number is on file somewhere at the school! And it clearly wasnt difficult for XXXX XXXX to find my correct phone number considering she was just issued my case and able to immediately find it. Whats more, I answered the phone on her first attempt, showing that I was not in the practice of dodging calls. 

Where the true misdeed comes in is that the loan was now more than double its original amount. When I first took out the loan it was {$3500.00}, but now after all the collection agency and other fees were tacked on, I was told the balance had drastically increased to {$7600.00}. ( As you will read below, the balance was in fact even higher than that by more than {$700.00}! ) My heart sunk. Just when I thought I was in my final stretch of paying off my student loans and therefore able to afford my first housea dream Ive worked towards my entire lifeanother XXXX XXXX of debt is mysteriously thrown into my lap. It felt extremely predatory. Had I known about this loan when I initially consolidated after graduation, I would have paid it off, and on time. Just as I did with every other loan I ever had. 

The second transgression occurred when I was told that there was only one option for settling up on the balance. I asked XXXX XXXX if I could pay off the loan in full in order to negotiate a lower balance. Ive heard plenty of stories of others blatantly ignoring their student loans for years, then once the collection agency contacts them they are able to knock off thousands of dollars in exchange for repayment. Surely there was something that could be done to lower my balance considering that the original loan amount was less than half the current balance, and I had absolutely not defaulted on purpose. I suggested I call XXXX directly to speak with them about this possibility, but XXXX XXXX told me that XXXX had passed my case on to her agency so negotiating wasnt possible and my only option was to consolidate this XXXXXXXX XXXX, at its current balance with all its fees and interest, with my one remaining student loan that I held with XXXX, and that it had to be on an Income Driven Repayment plan, and that she would walk me through the process right there on the phone. So she talked me through every step I needed to take on the studentaid.gov website to consolidate the defaulted XXXX XXXX with my XXXX loan during that first call on XX/XX/XXXX. Once we finished all the necessary steps, she told me that the consolidation shouldnt take more than a week or two to fully process. 

A couple weeks passed and the XXXX loan still wasnt showing in my XXXX account which worried me as I thought new late fees could be accruing with each day, so I decided to call the XXXX XXXX XXXX directly on XX/XX/XXXX to try and get to the bottom of everything ( despite XXXX XXXX telling me it would be useless ). I left a voicemail explaining my situation and asked for a call back. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with a very helpful woman named XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). She told me that my balance was in fact {$8300.00}, not the {$7600.00} amount XXXX XXXX had told me over the phone. I later also received a physical letter from the collection agency XXXX XXXX XXXX with the {$8300.00} balance. 

I couldnt believe another {$600.00} was somehow added to the balance! XXXX XXXX said she could at least remove a late fee of {$100.00} from my balance ( though that doesnt seem to be reflected in my current balance ), and told me about a rehab option for my XXXX XXXX which XXXX XXXX XXXX neglected to mention. 

Although the initial payments for the rehab offer were significantly higher, it had the benefit of removing any past due reporting from my credit report once I had completed 10 months of on-time payments, which I wanted to take advantage of. However I first needed to figure out where things were in the consolidation process so that I could cancel it and instead elect for the rehab offer. 

After speaking with XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX that same afternoon at the collections agency to ask why the XXXX loan amount was suddenly higher than the amount she originally told me it was, and if I could cancel the loan consolidation so that I could move forward with the rehab option I had just learned about. XXXX XXXX told me that there are often discrepancies with her system and the schools system which is why the numbers were off. She then started a conference call for the two of us with XXXX who was processing the consolidation to check on its status as it had already been more than three weeks since I submitted the consolidation request. The XXXX rep told us that the consolidation should be completed by the next day so it was too late to cancel it. I really wasnt surprised that just fell in line perfectly with the whole saga. 

In summary, here are the unscrupulous and predatory issues I would like to address : First and foremost, it does not seem that XXXX made an XXXX effort to contact me about this loan before it went to default. 

When the consolidation went through my student loan balance increased from {$13000.00} to {$22000.00}. This reflects a {$8300.00} increase which is higher than both amounts I was previously quoted by both the collection agency and the XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Of that {$8300.00} increase, {$4800.00} is fees. This might not seem like a lot to some, but it is to me. Thats {$4800.00} that I need to fill my oil and propane tanks, replace the dangerously frayed electrical service wires on my house, repair my stove, pay for my health care, etc. There is no shortage of immediate bills and this is a lot of money to divert from them for fabricated fees on a loan I didnt even know I had. 

The {$100.00} late fee XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX said she removed from my balance was never actually removed, or at least it seems that way I never received an itemized breakdown of the XXXXXXXX XXXX balance so I have no way of knowing. 

I was not given all my options for repayment during that initial call with the credit agency, specifically the rehab option, and was led to believe my only option was to consolidate right then and there over the phone. It wasnt until I took it upon myself to call XXXX XXXX XXXX directly, which the collections agency rep strongly discouraged me from doing, that I found out about the rehab option. But at that point it was already too far along in the consolidation process to switch to the rehab option. 

I would appreciate a reduction on my loan balance considering the exceptionally predatory practices I was subjected to. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation