Consumer complaint received 2021-08-13
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: WI
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 first applied for loan forgiveness under PSLF in XX/XX/XXXX ; I was told I was ineligble, but not told why. I reconfigured my loan payment to increase payment amount so that i could get out of debt faster. The informaiton I was given by FedLoans at this time gave me no clue as to why I was rejected in the first place -- my decision to change loan type was driven solely by a desire to get rid of debt faster. I didn't know that I was making myself eligible for PSLF -- the information made it seem like I was simply -- -not eligible. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I was encouraged by a friend to apply again. As a result of that, I had one loan ( XXXX XXXX ) forgiven, but the XXXX XXXX  had met only a small number of the total required payments. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted FedLoan to ask why the subsidized wasn't fulfilled. Employee XXXX XXXX ID XXXX ) put in a review for me. He agreed with me that it seemed there should be more of the payments eligible. 

I found out on XX/XX/XXXX, that my review was complete. The only information I was given ( pdf available to provide evidence ) was : " Thank you for contacting FedLoan Servicing. Per your request we have completed our review of your eligible and qualifying payment counts in your pursuit of Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). We can confirm your payment count is accurate and now consider the matter closed. '' There was no information on why. I called that day and talked to XXXX ( ID XXXX ). He told me he saw that I was paying both subsidized and ubsubsidized under the same payment plan for the entire duration of my loan repayment, so it did not make sense that one was qualified and the other was not. He put in a dispute for me, but had no information on whether I would receive a response. 

Additionally, on the information with my account, the payments listed as ineligible say that the primary reason they are ineligible is : " I have an ineligible payment plan. '' Eligible payments started in XX/XX/XXXX, but in XX/XX/XXXX, they stopped being eligible. I believe this was when I consolidated from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to FedLoan. When doing so, there was no information given to me that indicated anything was changing on my loan repayment type, and there was no information about PSLF at all -- if there had been that information, I would have known to take the correct action. In fact, I did not even know PSLF was a THING until about XXXX. How could I have known that I was " not on an eligible repayment plan '' unless I was given the information that I was or was not? 

Further evidence of this being the case is that the loans I paid between XXXX and XXXX are eligible under TEPSLF, but not PSLF. This indicates that my original loan wasn't eligible until Obama expanded it ( which I only learned about within the past few months ). Again, if this information was readily available and explained when I first went into repayment ( when I was already employed by an eligible employer ), let ALONE when I reconsolidated with FedLoan, none of this would have happened. I understand I am responsible for finding information out -- but how would I have known to look for something I was not informed existed?

Additional information on my loan page says : For your payments to count towards PSLF and TEPSLF forgiveness, the payment must be received within 15 days of the due date. I have paid diligently for 140 total payments now. I used autopay in order to avoid missing any payments and to ensure I paid on time. 

It feels to me that this process has been constructed to be confusing and unclear. The amount of information given on PSLF and acceptance/rejection is minimal and completely unhelpful. I have felt lost and frustrated because I can't get any answers on how any of this happened.

I have now paid 140 payments toward my loans, 20 more than the required number for loan forgiveness. Given that ONE of my loans was eligible -- under the SAME plan as the other -- there is no reason that I can understand why I would not be eligible for complete forgiveness.

Lastly, please note that I have worked for the same public university the entire time I have been repaying my loans. There has been no gap in my employment, though my loan eligibility summary says there are two payments that need verification of employment. They HAVE all the information on my continual employment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation