Consumer complaint received 2018-12-05
Company: Ameritech Financial
State: CA
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:
In XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Ameritech Financial. My conversation with XXXX XXXX, Ameritech representative, led me to signing an agreement with Ameritech Financial to what I thought was Ameritech taking over my parent plus loan from XXXX. 

I was told that I was being signed up for a loan forgiveness program ; and if I made my payments on time and renewed my loan agreement every year, my loan would be forgiven at 25 years. XXXX said my payments would be approximately $ XXXX/month. I was hesitant and asked XXXX if it would be possible if both my daughters father and I could each make an additional $ XXXX/month payment in addition the initial {$99.00} ( paying approximately $ XXXX/month ) to pay off the loan quicker. His response was that we didnt need to do this because the loan will be forgiven. 

After signing the agreement, my loan payments to XXXX stopped, which I thought was accurate at the time being that Ameritech Financial was taking over the loan. I received notification from XXXX that there was nothing due on my account, so I assumed everything was moving forward. 

Then I received an email from XXXX at the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX showing my loan balance at {$100000.00}. I panicked and was confused. I immediately called Ameritech and spoke to XXXX XXXX. I asked her why I was getting this email. She explained that the loan was being serviced by Ameritech but the loan will continue to be held by XXXX. I said, so interest will still accrue on my loan during the 25 years Im making payments to Ameritech for which I could be responsible for at the end of the 25-year term if my loan is not forgiven? She said, yes, but assured me that the Department of Education would forgive the loan and for me not to worry. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX stating my payment was due. I was confused. That same day I received a call from Ameritech saying I was approved for the loan forgiveness program. I asked why then did I receive the notice from XXXX. The rep said thats my payment. I said, wait, then what am I paying to Ameritech? She said thats just the service fee. I said, that is not what I was told by XXXX and explained what I was told. She said she would have to investigate the situation. 

They came back to me saying that they reviewed my conversation with XXXX and admitted that I was misled and that they want to make this right. ( I recorded this call. ) This is when I found out about the Federal Trade Commission lawsuit. I received a letter from the FTC stating I should ask for a refund from Ameritech Financial. I contacted Ameritech and was informed that they are not giving any refunds while they are going through the court proceedings. 

After a lengthy call with XXXX to see what interest accrued during the time my payments stopped until the time I was approved into the loan forgiveness program, I was informed that the interest accrued totaled {$1700.00} ( XX/XX/XXXX, to XX/XX/XXXX ). On top of that there was also an interest charge of {$3200.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, for non-re-certification of my loan application, which I was unaware of ( Ameritech  was supposed to take care of the re-certification and did not ). Therefore, this amount was added to my loan. 

I paid fees to Ameritech totaling {$1800.00}. Adding this amounts above, this brings my total loss to {$6800.00}.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response