Consumer complaint received 2018-07-12
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: FL
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:
In XX/XX/XXXX my loans were transferred to XXXX  from XXXX because I signed up for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program as a XXXX XXXX. In XXXX they notified me that my monthly payment would be over {$850.00} which I can not afford ( I was always paid ahead on XXXX and never had such a high payment, but that started over with XXXX  ). I switched to the PAYE program in XXXX and request a reduced payment forbearance ( {$5.00} ) for XXXX. They sent a letter stating they would send a bill for {$5.00} but NOT to pay the {$5.00} until I received the bill. I waited and waited. Twice I called XXXX to see where my bill was but they insisted that I should NOT pay the {$5.00} until I get the bill otherwise it would go towards my balance and not towards the change in payment plans. I never received the bill. I have screenshots and proof that I never received the bill. Eventually, on a third attempt to contact XXXX to ask where the bill was, the customer service rep I spoke with said my bill was overdue and I was disapproved for the PAYE because I was late paying the bill and would now go back on full standard payment schedule. I protested and they said they would resubmit the payment plan request. However, because I was " late '' paying the bill, I could not afford the XXXX bill of  {$850.00} so I had to request a forbearance again. After this forbearance ended, XXXX capitalized my interest in the amount of {$720.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. I again protested that it was the fault of XXXX that I was late paying my bill and thus forced to request a forbearance. The manager I spoke with that day agreed and submitted a request to the U.S. Department of Education to reverse the interest capitalization. The request was submitted XX/XX/XXXX. It was approved XX/XX/XXXX. Several customer service reps I spoke with all acknowledged the approval. I have it in writing that they acknowledged it. First I was told that it would take 30 days to show on my account. After 30 days and no change, I called again. Then I was told it would actually take 90 days to reflect on my account. After 90 days I called again. Then I was told that they could see the approved reversal in the system but that there must be an issue causing it not to reflect on the account. We are now in XX/XX/XXXX. The person that day told me it would take about 72 hours to reflect on my account and that she would call me back in a week. A week goes by with no call. I call again and was told that if someone said they would call me back that I should wait until I get a call back. After another week and some change I called on XX/XX/XXXX. At this point, the woman on the phone told me that a review was completed on XX/XX/XXXX and that my request to reverse the interest capitalization was denied. After being told several times by customer service representatives since XXXX that the request was approved and will be reversed soon, that it was a matter of time or a matter of a technical glitch, I was being told completely opposite information that it was denied. I never at any point received correspondence or an explanation about the request, the decision, what to expect, or what the next steps were throughout this entire process and all correspondence on the issue was initiated by me. Every month that the interest capitalization is not reversed despite it's approval, I gain interest on a principal amount that is inaccurate due to the XXXX system never sending me a bill in XXXX. It has been 5 months now which means the {$720.00} has accrued {$180.00} in interest and will continue to collect interest until it is resolved. The lack of communication and random unexplained sudden denial of a process that was approved back in XXXX is unfair, inaccurate, and quite frankly is just pure theft.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation