Consumer complaint received 2019-04-03
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: HI
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:
I've been making loan payments under the PSLF program consecutively, since XX/XX/XXXX working for a state government agency. In XX/XX/XXXX, I changed jobs to a county job and received an increase in pay. In XX/XX/XXXX when I applied for recertification, my application was " denied '' due to my increase in salary. I expected to have a change in my monthly payments, but was stressed upon seeing this notice that I was " denied. '' I contacted XXXX immediately and a customer service rep switched me to a plan with the lowest monthly payment. Unbeknownst to me, the " plan '' she switched me too did NOT qualify as a plan to make repayments under for PSLF. I learned of this by an email notice one month  later. I contacted XXXX again, and again was told I was on the wrong plan. I once again tried to submit paperwork to get under the correct plan. In XX/XX/XXXX I received another notice my application has been " denied. '' I called XXXX again and was now told to apply for REPAYE. I was told that a payment in XX/XX/XXXXwill NOT count towards the 120 monthly payments because paperwork will not be processed in time, but the monthly payment will be very low. I paid {$880.00} for XX/XX/XXXX, and then {$440.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. I received another notice in XX/XX/XXXX that I am still not on a plan that qualifies for PSLF. I contacted XXXX AGAIN and spoke with someone who convinced me he was knowledgeable, and assured me I was on the right track. I am on REPAYE and my monthly payments will be {$800.00} beginning in XX/XX/XXXX. I asked him if he could send me an email to memorialize our conversation, but he said he could not do so. I paid {$880.00} over the phone to him for my XX/XX/XXXX payment, and he told me that all payments, including XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXXwould count towards the 120 payments. Today I received a notice for automatic withdrawal, and the amount was only {$450.00}. I called XXXX and spoke with a very rude person by the name of XXXX who not only hung up on me, but was supposedly a supervisor. She refused to explain how this mess happened, and would not acknowledge they XXXX XXXX up. I relied upon their advice and information when choosing a plan to pay under. I asked the right questions to assure myself that I was paying under a plan that would qualify for PSLF. Not only was I given incorrect information, but now I have months of payments that do not count towards my 120 payments for PSLF. I relied on XXXX customer service reps to my detriment. I have no idea what is going on, what payments count towards the 120, and why certain payments don't count. I don't understand why it takes three to four months to process paperwork, and as the consumer, I am penalized for their lack of diligence. I have been told completely different information from each customer service rep I've spoken to and have now lost all trust and confidence that XXXX is properly servicing my loans so that I qualify for forgiveness in 3 years. I am at the end of my rope and ready to hire an attorney to file yet another lawsuit against XXXX. Please help!!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation