Consumer complaint received 2018-10-05
Company: GREAT LAKES
State: CT
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:
I have a consolidated student loan ( U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ( XXXX ) Balance {$250000.00} ) serviced by Great Lakes, that was under an Income-Driven Repayment Plan. I use auto-payments, have never missed a payment and have always re-certified when notified to do so, on time. 

However, this year, Great Lakes failed to meet their federal requirement as a loan servicer to notify me of a recertification deadline approaching and send me an application and instructions regarding documentation. I did not receive an email notification, or a letter in the mail, or any other correspondence regarding this. Further, there is nothing about recertification in the message center on Great Lakes ' customer portal, despite all other important notifications being located there. 

As a result, I missed a recertification date of XX/XX/XXXX. I only became aware that the deadline passed when I logged into the website XX/XX/XXXX because I had my own personal reminder to check on recertification status in XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX was the date of my first payment after recertification and my understanding is that recertification occurred every 12 months, not 11. I had no way of knowing that my recertification application was actually due on XX/XX/XXXX, and was never notified of the approaching date, or that I was late. 

When I realized I needed to re-certify, I immediately completed an application on that day, XX/XX/XXXX. I received a notification via email from Great Lakes that my application was received on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email notification from Great Lakes that unpaid accrued interest had been capitalized, added to my loan principal, resulting in a nearly {$60000.00} increase in my principal. Upon receipt of this email, I called Great Lakes Customer Service and spoke to a " supervisor '' - XXXX - at extension XXXX. She alleged that a notification to re-certify was sent on XX/XX/XXXX, that it was the only notification that they send, 99 days prior to the date of recertification. Aside from being incredibly unethical and questionable in terms of motivations to only send one notification 99 days ahead of a recertification deadline, I never received this notification. I contend it was never actually sent. I maintain a record of all important emails from my servicer, with special attention to recertification applications. I can produce these as needed. 

When I asked for her to provide me with proof it was sent, she could not do so. When I asked her why things like tax form notifications and other important notifications were in my customer portal message center ( see attached ), but this alleged notification to re-certify does not appear there, she did not have an answer. She repeated to me that she could not do anything because the " capitalization is a federal requirement. '' As an attorney and borrower, I feel that my rights are being violated by this servicer. I requested a review of my account and loan be taken immediately, pursuant to the guidelines established for disputes in these matters. She informed me that she would " call me back in a few days once it is reviewed. '' I requested that the results of this review be put in writing, and she did not respond to this request.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation