Consumer complaint received 2018-08-24
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CO
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
I am so distraught ( again ) about the conversation I had with XXXX XXXX. There has not been a single helpful conversation. I decided to go to school and pursue my XXXX 's and do everything I needed to do to effectively start my payments, paperwork, certifications, applications, etc. I pay my bill at the exact time every month. And yet, it is still the most difficult devastating process I have ever had to ( consistently ) deal with. I just received a letter in the mail saying that my rebate has been disqualified due to a late payment, which was dated over a year ago. The payment they are saying is late I was told over and over that it was taken care of and would not be considered late because I had been on the phone with them multiple frustrating times trying to get my loans transferred over to them from XXXX, having to submit an application that they never received because none of my paperwork transferred over, so I had to resubmit everything! Then to have more notifications saying it was denied, which gave no reason, so I had to call AGAIN. I had to submit my loan payment application, my IBR application, and my PSLF application and nothing was complete on there end and they said it could take up to 2 weeks or so just to be reviewed. In the meantime, they told me that they would submit a forbearance because I didn't want my payment to be considered late. Even after that month forbearance, they still didn't have everything completed, so my payment was extremely high, and they told me to wait and the payment wouldn't be considered late. I was told in XX/XX/XXXX that my payment would NOT be considered late. Over a year later ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I receive a random letter in the mail that says my Direct Loan Rebate is Disqualified due to a late payment ( that same one they told me was taken care of ), and there's NOTHING they can do about the rebate now. I am APPAULED and SO Distraught how much stress and frustration that working with them has caused and I get absolutely nowhere, even when I speak to a supervisor. Even more frustrating, when they were reviewing the notes in their system, they spoke as it was so simple and 100 % my fault that the payment was late. I want action taken against this horrendous company, and don't understand how they are still allowed to exist, knowing that I am by far not the only person that this has happened to! I want to take any and every action I can against them because this has been the absolute WORST experience in my LIFE, and makes me regret making the decision to go to college thinking it would be best for me and my future. I regret it completely when it comes to trying so hard to deal with XXXX XXXX! I am SICK! 

I have the documentation that I have received through my portal, but unfortunately, everything has been by phone conversation so I have NOTHING to refer to besides these horrible memories ... The few times I did try to resolve things over email, my email kept getting passed around to different people every time I would reply which got me absolutely nowhere so I had no choice but to call again. This is COMPLETELY HORRIBLE!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation