Consumer complaint received 2019-05-31
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: AZ
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
I applied for Public Service Loan Forgiveness in XX/XX/XXXX. It was initially declined due to not having a qualifying loan on record. After numerous conversations and resubmitting applications and/or employment verification forms, errors were supposedly corrected. According to a conversation with XXXX at FedLoan Servicing, my employment verification was approved XX/XX/XXXX. My paperwork was approved XX/XX/XXXX ; awaiting record of number of payments received. Followup conversations would lead to statements that I was not qualified and/or employment verification was still needed and/or the wrong application was sent. Customer service individuals would continue to make initial statements noting the same until being probed by me to check previous notes. Each time they would realize the error and state that they would forward it to a supervisor for review and that it should be corrected in approximately 10 business days. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I resubmitted all forms to FedLoan Services via certified mail, for which I received receipt. In frustration, I also contacted Senators XXXX (  XXXX ) and XXXX for assistance on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, a letter was sent to Senator XXXX XXXX office ( Senator XXXX received similar letter ) from XXXX XXXX-Supervisory Loan Analyst-Federal Student Aid, noting that my application was approved and being processed, with a note that I had only made 99 of the required 120 payments. That number was later corrected and my final payment should have been XX/XX/XXXX. I have continued to make payments since then ; the last being XX/XX/XXXX. 

Follow up calls since XX/XX/XXXX have been equally fruitless ; again hearing statements of missing applications, employment verification forms, etc. Each time, after probing by me, the error is discovered with promise of forwarding to another department for review. XX/XX/XXXX, I once again received written confirmation of employment verification, yet the customer service response was similar. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX ( Employee # XXXX ) to check the current status of my application. Once again, there was no action noted : no application, no employment verification, nothing was initially found -- not even my name matched a previous letter sent to me by FedLoan. After continued probing and her apparent communication with a supervisor, my information was discovered but XXXX noted that the employment verification was denied. I stated that I had a letter from them that stated my current employer had been verified and I had similar letters from previous employers. XXXX once again left to speak with a supervisor. Upon her return, XXXX stated that they had been verified and that they needed to account for the number of payments. She asked me to hold. After several minutes, XXXX returned stating that they were unable to access any payment records and would forward this for review. I expressed my concern that this same conversation seems to be continuing with each phone call : each time they can't find it, then it is found then denied, then they find the error and need to count the months of payments, etc. I asked how to specifically follow up to ensure this is finally completed. XXXX acknowledged seeing the previous notes, including XXXX XXXX name from over a year prior to this call. XXXX stated that I would have to wait several weeks to receive a notification letter. 

No specific recourse is available to me. I have sent the appropriate applications and verification forms numerous times. I have received a notice of payments made and my last payment should have been on XX/XX/XXXX. FedLoan Services continues to avoid the completion of this application ; begging the question if they ever to intend to do so. The record keeping, handling of applications, etc. seems to reflect the same issues as the VA hospitals are charged with in caring for our veterans. Noting surveys on various web sites, complaints against FedLoans processing of Public Service Forgiveness applications are extremely high ; as tens of thousands have applied for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and very few have received forgiveness. One report noted less than one hundred received forgiveness as of last year. 

In any case ... I applied, my employment was verified, I have made the required payments, yet still no forgiveness has been given nor any reasonable explanations for the delay or ability to monitor progress. 

Please provide any assistance that you can. Regards and thank you

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation