Consumer complaint received 2019-10-15
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: OH
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Don't agree with the fees charged

Complaint:
FedLoan servicing is in violation of 34 CFR 685.209 with how they have set the payment on the on my student loans ( I am on the Pay-As-You-Earn [ PAYE ] plan ).

Per 34 CFR 685.209 ( a ) ( 4 ) ( A ) The maximum monthly amount that the Secretary requires the borrower to repay is the amount the borrower would have paid under the standard repayment plan based on a 10-year repayment period using the amount of the borrower 's eligible loans that was outstanding at the time the borrower began repayment on the loans under the Pay As You Earn repayment plan In XXXX of XXXX I received correspondence from Fedloan to recertify my income based plan or my payment would go to the standard payment of {$390.00} ( At the time my payment was around XXXX ). I did get a substantial raise since the last recertification, but did not know how much it would raise my payment. I filled out the re-certification form and choose to give Fedloan access to my tax info from IRS.gov and chose the option to have them review and pick the plan that was most advantageous to me. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received correspondence from Fedloan that I would be remaining on the PAYE plan ; however, that my payment amount had increased to {$410.00}. I immediately called them and told them that this amount was higher than the standard repayment plan. I was then told that if I went on the standard plan that my payment would be {$410.00} ( they calculated as if I was put on the standard plan effective that day and not what the payment would be effective the date repayment began as the regulations require ). 
In XXXX of XXXX I found info on the studentaid.ed.gov that stated the payment amount for the PAYE plan was Generally 10 percent of your discretionary income, but never more than the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. I called Fedloan and tried explaining this, the lady did not quite understand but said due to the misinformation I was given regarding the standard plan in XXXX that she would put in a ticket to try to get the overage refunded to me. 
On XX/XX/XXXX Fedloan informed me that the request was denied, would not give me any information as to why, and would not let me speak with the department that made the determination. Additionally, one of the representatives provided me with more misinformation ( she told me that the standard plan does not qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, that is most certainly not true ).

I am demanding of Fedloan that my payments for the past year be retroactively calculated to be in conformance with 34 CFR 685.209 and that the amount that I have overpaid be refunded expeditiously.

Seeing that my payment amount for the past year has been more than the maximum allowed by regulation, and that Fedloan has not fixed the error despite multiple attempts on my end, I believe that there are probably others facing the same situation. For this reason this complaint is going to, the CFPB, the House Education Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, the House Oversight Committee, Congressman XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. ( I have tried to send a copy to Fedloan, but  their website will not allow me to send the email as it says there is an invalid character, but does not tell me what character is invalid. ) Thank you,

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief