Consumer complaint received 2020-12-15
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Federal student loan debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
I completed all of the legal forms to place myself on an IDR Income-Driven Repayment Plan with FedLoan Servicing during a period of unemployment. This was accepted and my cost per month was {$0.00} according to the agreement as stated in the repayment plan. I then had some of the previous money that I paid on my student loan returned to me because it was a time of financial crisis. The FedLoan loan officer that I spoke to on recorded calls to FedLoan Servicing assured me that this would not impact my credit or my life in any negative way and that the only negative consequence would be that the interest would continue to rise and I would pay more at the end of the life of the loan than I would if I didnt have some of the money refunded. Apparently my loan was in forbearance while my repayment plan was switched to an Income-Driven Repayment plan, and so this would have no negative impact, as I was told repeatedly. I started to receive letters in the mail about late payments in XXXX when my repayment plan was set for one year at $ XXXX/month. I called FedLoan Servicing to ask them about the letters. I was told repeatedly that the letters were in error because it takes the system a while to update. I would check online on my loans and find red writing saying overdue. Again, I would contact FedLoan Servicing and they would again and again assure me that this was all an error. A direct quote from FedLoan Servicing is to disregard those messages. I called at least four times and spoke to a representative over the course of several months in the later months of XXXX. Again and again, I was told the false statement that everything was totally fine and my payments werent late and that the information just needed to be updated by the system. I didnt take note of dates and times of these phone calls because I wasnt aware that the information I was receiving was false and that it would ultimately come down to this. I talked to one agent at FedLoan Servicing that told me that he was going to look into the matter for me and find out what was going on. He called me the next day to tell me that everything was totally okay and that I had absolutely no reason to worry. After that, when I got a final notice, I called FedLoan Servicing yet again, and was told that my loans were not serviced through them anymore and were now with a debt collector called XXXX XXXX  XXXX. Immediately, I did what it took to talk to FedLoan Servicing, who once again made false statements saying that they would look into it and that they take these matters very, very seriously. I told them about the recorded phone calls, and they promised to look it up. I never heard back from them by email, mail, or phone. XXXX XXXX  XXXX said that at that point, the best thing I could do was go through a loan rehabilitation program to take my almost 15 years of perfect credit history and try to restore it in some way. I cant tell you the amount of frustration and agitation this caused. It wrecked havoc in my life. I spent 15 years building my credit, and I am at the age where I just bought a new car and am looking to buy a house. This ruined my financial future. I wanted to just pay the loan in full by borrowing money from family, but if I did that, then the loan rehabilitation wouldnt apply and the default wouldnt be taken off of my record. I went through the loan rehabilitation program with the US Department of Education from XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. I completed this program and the default is off of my credit reports. I then paid my loans in full. What I seek is justice. I want all of the false credit reporting to multiple agencies about how Im 120 or more days late for payment for 7 different loans held by FedLoan Servicing ( US Dept. of Ed. ) for a total of just over {$17000.00} completely off of my credits. It is unjust. It is a lie. I deserve to have my financial life back from FedLoan Servicing and their inability to accurately provide information to me over a series of more than 4 phone calls. My last contact with FedLoan Servicing was on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX am, when I spoke to XXXX : ID # XXXX from the service recovery team. ( I started taking notes about who I spoke to and what time and what day after I realized that FedLoan Servicing was incompetent and about to deal me an injustice. ) It also would be great to have justice for this wrong-doing and to have training provided for the loan agents who repeatedly gave me inaccurate information. I have waited until now because finally my loans have been rehabilitated and now that it is a bit more settled, I want to take legal action against FedLoan Servicing. Please help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief