Consumer complaint received 2023-12-02
Company: Maximus Education, LLC dba Aidvantage
State: KS
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted the following complaint to studentaid.gov : My loans have been forgiven via the PSLF program ( thank you ) ; I received notification of this via letter dated XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with a loan service rep supervisor on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, and requested a refund for the payments i'd made on my loan since XXXX. At that time she said she'd submitted the request and i should receive the refund within 150 days ( per subsequent email and phone conversations, this was verified ). I did receive a refund for the payments made in XXXX, XXXX, & XXXX, after my loan was sold from XXXX to the next loan servicer, but i never received a refund for the payments made from XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  thru XX/XX/XXXX, and when I called to inquire today, was told i won't receive a refund for these payments. It is my understanding that if i had not made any payments at all between XX/XX/XXXX and the time when my loan was forgiven thru the PSLF program, all those months would still have counted toward my total 120mos of service & payment, and that amount, too, would have been forgiven. If needed, i can provide evidence of the payments made between XXXX thru XXXX  ( printed from the AidVantage website ), as well as the letter from fedloan dated XXXX XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  notifying me that my loans have been forgiven. I reviewed the information about suspended payments & repayments provided by your website; it seems my understanding is correct : If you have Direct Loans that are not in default [ I have never been in default on my loans ], and work full-time for a qualifying employer during the payment suspension [ I have worked as a XXXX employee at XXXX XXXX, XXXX  since XXXX ], you can earn credit toward XXXX and XXXX as if you continued to make regular monthly payments. You can think of them as {$0.00} payments. The only thing you need to do is submit the PSLF and TEPSLF Certification and Application ( PSLF form ) to get qualifying payment credit. Refunds You can get a refund for any payments you make during the payment pause ( XX/XX/XXXX, through XXXX XXXX, XXXX ). Even if you get a refund, that month still counts toward PSLF, as long as all other qualifications are met. Just call your servicer to ask for a refund. [ I made monthly payments of {$720.00} XXXX XXXX, & XXXX XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX of this time period ] There is some confusion about who owned my loans at the time of discharge. My servicer had been XXXX Aidvantage ; shortly before my loans were discharged, I received notice that they'd been sold to XXXX XXXX However, XXXX has no record of receiving my loans. I also saw on the website at that time that the sale was canceled because my loans were being discharged. I received a notice ( online ) from Aidvantage dated XX/XX/XXXX that Based on conversation with one of our representatives on XX/XX/XXXX, a refund request was submitted on that date for {$13000.00}. '' I still have not received that refund. 
I contacted SEN XXXX XXXX 's office to request assistance, with multiple communications in XXXX, but ultimately their response was that I needed to contact my loan servicer for assistance ( which I'd already tried to do, as explained above ). 
At present, per the studentaid.gov website, I have two complaints open -- the one referred to above, opened on XX/XX/XXXX, Feedback Case # XXXX, which is " in review '', and another, Feedback Case # XXXX, which I just submitted on XX/XX/XXXX, which is " pending. '' There was another submitted on XX/XX/XXXX, Feedback Case # XXXX, which was closed without any comment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation