Consumer complaint received 2019-01-07
Company: LendKey Technologies, Inc.
State: NE
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
This is the second complaint I am filing due to XXXX XXXX   's unwillingness to work with me and their malicious business practice.

I graduated from my XXXX program inXX/XX/2018 and had to study for boards before starting work in XX/XX/2018. My loans had been in forbearance because I have been in school for the last 8 years and could not afford {$1200.00} plus a month. I used up my 18 months of forbearance and was becoming delinquent on my loans because I couldn't start my new job until XX/XX/XXXX. I called to ask what i could do to get current and was told nothing could be done and I just had to make as many small payments as I could to bring the loans up to date. I informed them this would not be possible as I am in a XXXX program and barely make {$2100.00} a month so I would never be able to bring the loans current as I was delinquent by ~ {$4000.00} by the time XX/XX/XXXX rolled around and I started making money. I called Lendkey twice monthly from XX/XX/XXXXtoXX/XX/XXXX to work out what I could do to remedy the situation.

In XX/XX/XXXX the loans were ~ {$7500.00} delinquent as my attempts to make {$600.00} payments every other week was getting me nowhere. I made the decision to take a {$5900.00} loan from my 401K to pay this down. The loans are mostly current, I am about 20 days late on 2 of them and will make an additional payment of {$630.00} this month. I called Lendkey again this month to ask what I could do as I was struggling to pay {$1600.00} each month. They told me I could apply to refinance the loans which would lower the monthly payments now that I was mostly current and that I would get approved for a decent rate. I just received notification that my request has been rejected. I am a new XXXX XXXX   in a required XXXX  program trying to help XXXX and struggling to make ends meets. I can not live of off the {$200.00} a month I am left with after trying to pay these loans.

After my initial complaint, the company responded and said I could apply for an extension on my forbearance and/or call the VP of loan servicing. I applied for an extension in the middle of XX/XX/2018and was deniedXX/XX/2018. I have left messages with the number that was provided to me to contact the VP of loan servicing ( XXXX ), no one has gotten back to me. Lendkey also said they have reached out to me to discuss other options available to me. This is not true, no one has contacted me except to tell me that I am delinquent on my loans.

I can not afford to pay what they are asking as I will be unable to pay rent/utilities, buy food/gas, pay licensing fees to advance my career and get better pay. I can't simply go out and get another job due to the nature of my XXXX program and working roughly 60 hours a week. This is unacceptable and I will not risk being evicted or putting my career in jeopardy to pay this ridiculous fee. Because of how late I am on these payments, my credit score has been negatively impacted. Therefore I am not able to refinance or consolidate with another company because this. I will continue to submit complaints until Lendkey and I come to a more reasonable solution/payment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation