Consumer complaint received 2018-03-22
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: MT
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:
Thank you for considering my complaint. This is a complaint that while XXXX XXXX has accepted 61 timely payments from me on a IBR or REPAYE plan, it has refused to acknowledge that I have made 61 payments towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program ( PSLF ). Honestly, dealing with these student loans stresses me out more than almost anything else in my life. Whats particularly frustrating is that Ive done nothing wrong and yet it seems it requires too much work just to stay on top of this. My hope is that this letter gives you a summary of my student loan saga. My goal is to have my actual payments towards PSLF match the servicers records. I have over {$230000.00} in total debt, so I am very invested in making sure that everything works out. 

After graduating XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, I attended XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX, graduating in XXXX with a double major in XXXX and XXXX XXXX. My parents and grandparents paid for my XXXX education, so I have no student loan debt from that time. 

I enrolled in XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX in either XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. I remember taking XXXX loans and XXXX XXXX loans. I think I went through the same financial aid process that everyone does. However, since I was in XXXX for XXXX, I was considered out of state for the first two years of XXXX XXXX. I finally got a waiver from the XXXX president and paid in-state tuition for my last year. I graduated in XX/XX/XXXX. 

After completing XXXX XXXX and initially declining to take the XXXX XXXX, I enrolled in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( now called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) [ XXXX ] to get a XXXX in XXXX XXXX. I do remember calling someone to verify that I could pay for my education with student aid, and that person stated that I did come in under some kind of maximum threshold. In addition to the standard fall and spring semesters for two years, I took summer language programs in XXXX and XXXX, also paid with financial aid. The XXXX summer program was through XXXX, and the XXXX summer program was through XXXX XXXX XXXX ( while XXXX and XXXX were not yet fully merged as I was attending, it was clear that they already had a very strong partnership going. It seemed like the loans all came from the same source ). 

There was a lot of financial aid drama during my time at XXXX. I have forgotten most of it, but it was very unpleasant. The most frustrating experience occurred when one semester, for reasons that have never been explained to me, somebody somewhere was denying me financial aid. The student aid counselor said that I was not being approved for the regular process ( maybe Stafford loans ). To pay for one of my semesters, I took out a joint XXXX loan and then something called a XXXX XXXX loan, which appears to be an internal loan program that is run inside the school. 

At some point during my attendance at XXXX, I became aware of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. I also decided that I was going to take the XXXX XXXX after all, knowing that I needed to get a job. Around this time the XXXX oil boom was taking off. Lawyers were charging huge billable hours to handle divorce cases and the like. I had started making phone calls and developing plans to go to that area so that I could make money to pay off my loans. But I also started applying for the XXXX XXXX XXXX because I knew that PSLF could forgive my loans after ten years of service. PSLF was a major driver into my ultimate acceptance of a XXXX XXXX job once I was offered one. 

I was also aware that PSLF applied to loans starting XX/XX/XXXX. I, of course, had started my first semester of XXXX XXXX just a few months before that. Thats why I became interested in the Temporary Special Direct Consolidation Loan Program. This was a temporary, very limited program, and you might not have heard of it. Here is a link to an article that mentions it : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX It was my understanding that by using this program, those first semester early XXXX XXXX loans would be converted into PSLF loans so that everything would be forgiven after ten years of payments. Thats the reason I applied for it. The program had a hard deadline of XX/XX/XXXX and I applied well in advance of that deadline while I was either still in school or right around the time I graduated. I believe that the entire process went through successfully as well. 

I graduated in XX/XX/XXXX and I began working as a XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I have worked as a XXXX XXXX with the XXXX XXXX XXXX ever since. On every anniversary date I have submitted documentation verifying my employment, but one year my human resource officer made an egregious typo that suggested I had only been working for a few days. I have repeatedly tried to get this cleared up over the years and have submitted multiple documents with my correct start date. With the assistance of an attorney, I believe that this matter has been corrected, although I am not completely sure. 

After the six-month grace period, loan payments started to arrive. At the very beginning my income was so low I had payments for {$0.00}. I was told that this actually counted for PSLF, but I distrusted them so much that I sent in very small payments just to make it clear that I was making payments and that I expected eventual forgiveness. Soon enough my income leaped up and I began making much higher payments under IBR.

I pay the exact amount they are asking for every month and I pay every month. I have never declared bankruptcy. 

At first, my payments were being serviced by the XXXX XXXX XXXX. This company was based in Montana. They are no longer in business. At some point, XXXX XXXX XXXX assigned all of my loans to XXXX XXXX. They are my servicer today. I cant remember all of the nonstop drama, but it has never been clear if XXXX XXXX knows about all of the payments I made to XXXX XXXX XXXX. An attorney informed me that XXXX appears to be aware of these payments. I am not entirely sure if the change in servicers happened before or after my first payments started. 

The vast majority of the money that I owe is with XXXX XXXX. As an aside, I have also been making a separate payment to another company, which originates from the XXXX XXXX fiasco at XXXX. My original servicer was XXXX XXXX and is now XXXX XXXX. That matter involves about {$6200.00} and is not the focus of my complaint here. 

Over the last two years I have grown increasingly frustrated that the numbers appearing for PSLF on the loan statement have not matched the actual payments that I have made. After repeated calls, I was put through to a supervisor, who said that he would do a formal review. This supervisor also suggested that I switch from IBR to REPAYE, which would reduce my payment amount while still being PSLF eligible. I did so in XX/XX/XXXX. There was a LOT of drama with the stupid {$5.00} payment that I had to make during the changeover period. I actually made this {$5.00} payment ON TIME, but I paid it on a Saturday and the website refused to do anything until Monday after the due date. This created a lot of drama but I think it was resolved. At this point, however, my patience of dealing with the servicer without legal counsel has ended. 

The formal review of my PSLF numbers finished and seemed to change nothing. I have included a copy of my most recent bill. As you can see, the numbers are all over the place, which makes absolutely no sense since all of my loans came out of the grace period simultaneously and they have all gotten the same payment every single time. And of course Ive never taken these individual loans out on the date disbursed date. Like many students, I just signed a promissory note and that was it. 

The student loan payments are due on the first of each month. For the payment due on XX/XX/XXXX, for example, I made my 54th payment. I know that it was payment # 54 because ever since I started this, I have tracked the number of payments. On the memo line of every check I write down the payment number, and I also put the payment number in the check register. It has been aggravating, but I collected all of the bank statements where I have made each payment. Rather than send you five years of bank statements, I have included a tracker of each payment, along with the check number and the date the money was drawn by XXXX from my account. 

Of course, XXXX XXXX has accepted every check that I have sent them. It is an undisputable fact that they have accepted 61 payments from me as of the XX/XX/XXXX payment. I want XXXX XXXX to acknowledge that I am at 61 payments for all of my loans ( 62 come XX/XX/XXXX ), and that all of my loans are PSLF eligible at the 120th payment. Thank you for your review and I look forward to hearing from you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation