Consumer complaint received 2022-02-14
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: NC
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 am writing in reference to the PSLF student loan program and the temporary waiver program. I have been employed in public service since XXXX, and I have had eligible Direct Loans since XXXX. For the reasons I will list below, I am requesting the following actions : 1. That, for all borrowers, the DOE modify the rules of the PSLF waiver so that periods of forbearance be included as being in repayment status, as interest did accrue during those periods and was added the principal of our loans. 
2. That, for me personally, the DOE review my account and give credit for payments when I was in forbearance while my loans were serviced by XXXX. According to a recently-settled federal lawsuit, XXXX illegally steered me -XXXX and thousands of borrowers -- toward forbearances when we were eligible for income-based repayment programs that would count toward PSLF. 
3. That the DOE make whole, me and other borrowers whose financial lives were irreparably damaged by the actions of XXXX XXXX which was acting as the DOEs agent. While the DOE did not illegally advise me and others, they are ultimately responsible for XXXX actions on DOEs behalf. 
4. That the DOE review and correct erroneous information on my payment history, especially the years, XXXX where XXXX recorded me as being in forbearance. XXXX refuses to make those corrections because my loans were transferred to Fedloan as part of the PSLF program. 
5. That the DOE, in compensation for their agents illegal acts and continuing refusal to correct errors, give me credit for being in repayment from the date that the PSLF program began, which would make me eligible for forgiveness as of XX/XX/XXXX, which is the first date that anyone was eligible for PSLF. 
6. That the DOE forgive my loans under the PSLF waiver and therefore, refund all of the payments I paid after XX/XX/XXXX, the first date of eligibility. 

Please allow me to explain more thoroughly why I am making this request. I am writing as a student loan borrower and a public servant. I have been teaching since XXXX, first in public schools and now in a public university. My first student loans were taken out in XXXX and then were consolidated in XXXX. These student loans have caused a lifetime of debt, stress, and worry for me. They prevented me from owning a home and from helping my children with college, and they almost drove me to bankruptcy in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. 

When President Bush created the PSLF program, I was overjoyed, but because I was unable to make payments because of my low salary ( the biggest drawback to being a public servant ). My loan servicer, XXXX XXXX could have offered my income-based programs to help with repayments, but instead, XXXX told me that forbearances were my only option. I was repeatedly threatened with default, and the only option I was given to cure the problem was forbearances. 

I was not the only person that received this treatment from XXXX 

As a news story reports, Since XXXX, XXXX has been mired in a growing number of lawsuits. This includes suits from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) and 39 state attorneys general. One of those Attorney Generals was the North Carolina AG. A major settlement announced on XX/XX/XXXX, that requires XXXX to provide a total of {$1.00} billion in relief to private and federal student loan borrowers. 

As part of the XXXX lawsuit settlement, cheated borrowers are to receive a {$260.00} restitution payment. This is an obscenely low amount, considering the tens of thousands of dollars in interest I was charged during forbearance. 

As the lawsuit settlement shows, XXXX intentionally and illegally damaged borrows like me. Their actions cost me tens of thousands in compounded interested and more damagingly, made my reduced payments under forbearance ineligible for PSLF forgiveness. The PSLF waiver at this time will not count forbearance periods as being in repayment, even though it WILL count periods when money was due but no payments were made. 

Does that make sense to you? 

While I am grateful for this PSLF waiver, I am also frustrated because according to the guidance on the Department of Education website. PSLF borrowers have always gotten conflicting information from the DOE and its servicers, and we are still getting confusing information. For example, the DOE is recommending that borrowers consolidate old loans to get a higher payment count, but servicers like FedLoan, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX are advising borrowers to cancel those loans, telling them that consolidation will reset the payment history. This kind of misinformation is pervasive, and it confuses borrowers, who may miss the chance at getting eligible payments counted. 

Throughout the time that XXXX serviced my loans, they made a multitude of errors on my records. Those mistakes are still in my payment history, and XXXX refuses to correct them, as my loans were transferred to FedLoan for PSLF. So the servicers are STILL making it difficult to receive PSLF. 

In addition, because of its history of purposely denying borrowers the chance at PSLF, the DOE needs to be far more liberal in allowing payment histories to count. That includes allowing all payments periods when interest was charged to be considered as repayment periods. 

Thank you for your time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief