Consumer complaint received 2020-03-30
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CO
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:
There appears to be conflicting information on your website and my loan servicer 's website and studentaid.gov 's website regarding the CARES Act requirements for loan forbearance and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program ( PSLF ). 

Section 3513 ( c ) of the CARES Act says " the Secretary shall deem each month for which a loan payment was suspended under this section as if the borrower of the loan had made a payment for the purpose of any loan forgiveness program '' Your website ( https : //www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-student-loans-and-coronavirus-pandemic/ ) says " I am working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness , what impact can this have on my progress? If you are working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) you need to be aware of a few key items. For your Direct loans, even though your payment is suspended, those months WILL count toward loan forgiveness programs as long as the other the PSLF program requirements are met. Please note that only Direct Loans are eligible for PSLF. All Direct Loans are owned by the federal government. If you have other types of federal loans and are working in public service, you can consolidate most, if not all, of those loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan, which could potentially become eligible for PSLF. Learn more about the PSLF program requirements. '' However, this appears to contradict these sources, which were checked today ( XX/XX/2020. ) : However, my loan servicer 's website ( https : //myfedloan.org/borrowers/covid ) says " Special Considerations for Borrowers Pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness or Loan Forgiveness through an Income-Driven Repayment ( IDR ) Plan : The time spent on the emergency administrative forbearance will not count toward your required payment count. If your income has changed as a result of COVID-19 you may be eligible for a new lower IDR plan repayment amount. Find out if you qualify for a lower payment at StudentAid.gov/idr. '' Student Aid 's website ( https : //studentaid.gov/announcements-events/coronavirus ) says I'm making payments and hoping to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) , but I can't work right now due to coronavirus. If I miss a payment, can I still qualify for PSLF? If you dont make a payment for a month, or enter a deferment or forbearance because you can not afford your payment, that month will not count toward PSLF. However, qualifying payments do not need to be consecutive, so you will not lose credit for payments that youve already made. As a reminder, all borrowers seeking PSLF should enter an income-driven repayment plan, which bases monthly payments on income instead of on loan debt. If you believe that your work will be impacted for a long period of time, you can recertify for your repayment plan early, to take into consideration your drop in income. Of course, PSLF also requires you to be working full-time for a qualifying employer to receive credit toward PSLF for a month. If your employer does not consider you to be working full-time during this period, then this month or these months will not count toward PSLF even if you make a payment. However, paid sick leave or other leave time may be counted by your employer as hours worked for the purposes of PSLF. To learn more about PSLF, visit StudentAid.gov/publicservice. To learn more about income-driven repayment, visit StudentAid.gov/idr.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation