Consumer complaint received 2018-08-23
Company: HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS INC
State: OH
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
My regular payment amount is {$68.00}. I always make my payment on time, and generally pay 1-2 weeks prior to the due date. For example, my due date is the XXXX of every month, and I typically pay around the XXXX of the prior month. In XX/XX/XXXX, I had already made my full payment due on XX/XX/XXXX. I knew my expected paychecks and other expenses coming up in XXXX, and wanted to make my XXXX payment early so I would not owe it later. On XX/XX/XXXX, I made another full payment and expected it to count for my next payment due on XX/XX/XXXX, so I was about 3 weeks early. However, upon talking with company representatives and a supervisor, I was informed of the limitations built into their system which caused my loan to mistakenly appear delinquent. The payment I made on XX/XX/XXXX was applied to the prior month 's payment ( due on XX/XX/XXXX, even though it was already paid ), so when I did not make another payment until mid-XXXX ( for my payment due XX/XX/XXXX ), I was informed that I was >15 days delinquent because I had not yet made my payment for XX/XX/XXXX. After talking the company representatives, my fees were reversed and payments fixed. I was informed that their system would consistently process payments incorrectly if they were paid too early. I was told that I should not make payments prior to the XXXX of the preceding month ( ex. I should not make my payment due XX/XX/XXXX prior to XX/XX/XXXX ). I thought this would be the end of my problems ... 
I continued to make payments AFTER the XXXX of each month with no issues until I received a second incorrect delinquency notice on XX/XX/XXXX. After a lengthy phone call with a representative and their supervisor, I was informed that they accidentally debited my account for {$200.00}, because someone else " accidentally made a payment on my account. '' Apparently, one day they credited my account {$200.00} and removed {$200.00} realizing it was incorrect. They then did NOT apply the payment I actually made of {$100.00} in XX/XX/XXXX ( wanting to pay down a little extra principal ). My {$100.00} payment was misapplied and only covered principal and no interest, and subsequently did not count towards my normal monthly payment. So when it came XX/XX/XXXX, I was delinquent because my payment once again was not applied correctly to my account. This time I received a notice stating I owed {$270.00} ( my {$68.00} monthly payment + {$200.00} past due + {$5.00} late fee ). The auditors and regulators of XXXX XXXX, and their parent company XXXX XXXX XXXX need to require the company to address the systemic issues with their loan servicing platform, which has proved in my case twice, that they are unable to process payments correctly and correctly apply them to principal and interest. I have now received 2 separate delinquent notices in the past 9 months, both due to systemic errors. Completely unacceptable and is causing consumer harm.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation