Consumer complaint received 2019-09-16
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CO
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't temporarily delay making payments

Complaint:
This complaint is centered around multiple attempts to defer payments on my private student loans. In short, the loan servicer, American Education Services has provided inaccurate information resulting in 1 ) forbearance being denied and 2 ) severe delinquency of the account. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, after confirming my eligibility, I submitted a request to put all my loans in forbearance as I was working toward a professional license and while caring for my XXXX   small children. I did not receive income during this time. My request was approved however I was notified in XX/XX/XXXX that I had a payment due. Confused, I submitted another general forbearance request online. After another notification I was approved but yet I still has a balance due, I called and learned that private student loan forbearance required a separate request- An MRU Forbearance Request. An AES employee emailed me the private forbearance request form on XX/XX/XXXX and I completed them and sent them in via U.S. Postal service per the instructions. I also made a payment on the account in XX/XX/XXXX to demonstrate I was striving for resolution. This payment was very difficult for my family. After several weeks and yet another payment accrued, I received a letter ( dated XX/XX/XXXX ) indicating that my forbearance request was denied. I called AES to find out why the request was denied and learned from an employee that I signed the form XXXX XXXX XXXX and the request was denied because I signed my married name ( which is my legal name ). Interestingly, my payments to AES have come out of my banking account with the name XXXX for the past five years but that discrepancy raised no flags. In any event, I found out that I needed to change the name on my account so I furnished AES with the necessary documentation to do so. I was told by AES that I should submit another MRU Forbearance Request which I submitted on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, AES notified me that my name change was accepted but still not word on the MRU Forbearance request. On XX/XX/XXXX I was notified my MRU Forbearance request was denied because now I owed too much on my loans to be eligible for forbearance. So I call again and learn that if I payed {$370.00} on the account, I would then be eligible for the forbearance. So, again, I made a very difficult to make payment that day, XX/XX/XXXX and submitted a third Forbearance Request. The third request was denied because the AES employee who told me to pay XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX was, " mistaken '' and needed to pay another {$370.00}. I did not have the funds to do so and was told that I should just consolidate my loans with another company. At this point, I no longer have faith that I can resolve this with AES. The reasons for the initial denial and subsequent denials now seem intentionally obstructionist. I have made a small payment on the account for the past few months to show some effort until I am able to get back to work and resume payments.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation