Consumer complaint received 2018-04-03
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: MI
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:
To whom it may concern, I recently had my loans switched from XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX. This switch is due to me working for a non-profit organization and working towards the public loan forgiveness. Upon verification of my employment, I received a letter from the XXXX XXXX XXXX dated for XX/XX/XXXX. This letter provided information stating that I qualified to participate in the forgiveness program and they'd be contacting my current Loan provider for a transfer of my loans. Throughout this process there was no communication from the company. I would try to call, and would be on hold for anywhere between 10-30 minutes, and still not receive a response. I did not have time to wait longer than 10 minutes due to my work schedule, and their hours of availability. A few days before my XX/XX/XXXX payment to XXXX was due, the loans were transferred and I was unable to make that month 's payment. I sent an online question to the XXXX  XXXX to request an update and how to make a payment, and did not receive a response. I never received anything in the mail and/or e-mail. I continued to check my XXXX XXXX account online and it had no information. I sent 2 messages in XX/XX/XXXX with a general response of " thank you for contacting us. In response we wanted to share what others found useful ''. But did not receive an actual response until XX/XX/XXXX "  welcoming '' me to XXXX  XXXX. At that time, I logged into my account again, to find my account to be delinquent, at an interest rate of 6.25 % instead of 6 % ( which it should be for direct deposit ), with an unpaid interest amount of {$260.00}. The amount also shows that my payment is past due by 18 days, and that it could be reported to credit agencies. At that time, I review the paperless inbox, which has 3 letters, all dated for XX/XX/XXXX. One is welcoming me to the program, one is asking for me to pay my past due amount, and how my privacy is protected. I tried to call them, again, and the recording said I may have to wait for 10-15 minutes for a response, and I was on-hold for 25+ minutes. Now, due to this companies lack of communication, poor customer service, and lack of ethics, I am now behind in payments almost a month, have an interest rate that is inaccurate, is charging me for not paying my bill ( which I was never informed how to do so during this transfer process ), and could never get a hold of anyone to help me. Please help me address and resolve this issue. Due to this organizations practices, why am I, and others like me, being charged instead of being allowed to pay our bills. For all I know, they may have sent me something in the mail that got lost, and wouldn't know it because they never answered their phones/e-mails. In my opinion, the unpaid interest should be waived, my account should be put back into good standing, and interest should not be started until today. 
I am looking forward to your assistance and response. Please contact me by XX/XX/XXXX Thank you, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief