Consumer complaint received 2018-07-20
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: IA
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:
XXXX XXXX manages my loans but is incorrectly recording the number of qualifying payments I have made toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ). I had multiple email exchanges with their department of Consumer Advocacy last year to try to straighten it out. Below is the text of a letter I sent to XXXX in XXXX, I have received no response. 
" XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX I am writing in regard to my Public Service Loan Forgiveness tracking. I believe your records are  incorrect as to the number of qualifying payments I have made on my loans. I checked with XXXX, who held my loans before they were transferred to XXXX ( I also attempted to check with XXXX, who held my loans before XXXX, but they no longer have records on file ). XXXX  records indicate that I was on an Income Based Repayment plan from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX for one of my loans, and XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX for the other. ( Obviously, the latter time period includes payments that are ineligible because they were before XX/XX/XXXX and there was a gap from XXXX when I returned to school so my loans were deferred. ) The paperwork I received from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX lists these payment periods as being on an ineligible repayment plan but does not list which plan. IBR is eligible, so I wonder if there was not a mistake made when my loans were transferred from XXXX to XXXX. I received another message from XXXX recently adjusting the number of remaining payments, but this is still not correct. If XXXX asserts that I was on an ineligible plan, I would like to see the documentation indicating exactly which plan I was on for each payment I have made ( to XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX ) over the course of the life of these loans, beginning in XXXX. Documentation from XXXX is attached. I have been very disappointed in the way my account has been handled, months go by before I get a response to messages, and out of the blue I get notification that youve removed more of my qualifying payments without providing justification. '' Here is text of one of the last emails I sent to their office of Consumer Advocacy last summer, the issue  has not been resolved. 
" XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX  to Office Hi XXXX I am following up on your phone call from XX/XX/XXXX regarding the status of my PSLF application. I have reviewed all of the documents available to me on XXXX. The number of qualifying payments has been updated ( as of XX/XX/XXXX ) but are still not correct. I am pasting below summary information about my payment history based on my employment dates. ( I don't have actual school separation dates and grace period/deferment dates, so I have tried to make conservative estimates ). The paperwork I have received from XXXX does not match up with my calculations. I would like to see information about why certain payments did not qualify. All of my employers have been qualifying entities ( education/non-profit ) and I believe that I have been on some sort of income-based plan since the start of my repayments in XXXX. I know that I had changed which type of plan and had direct debits put on hold during plan changes or annual re-certification, but each time I asked customer service representatives if that would affect my PSLF plan and was told not to worry, it would not. I also know that my loans have changed hands ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and now XXXX ) so I am hoping that is not the problem. 

So, the first question is which payments did XXXX consider to be qualifying and which did not? I would like documentation of this for my records. The second question is why both of my loan accounts have not had an equal number of qualifying payments since XXXX? Note that during my time at XXXX, only 2 payments counted toward one loan and 4 toward the other loan. Is there some sort of issue where my monthly direct debits are not paying on both accounts? 
You may reach me at [ cell number ] if you have questions. Thank you for your attention to these issues, XXXX Date Employment/Loan Status XXXX. XXXX Left school to work for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX 6-month grace period ends, payments begin XXXX XXXX XXXX Program begins to track qualifying payments XXXX. XXXX Returned to school, loan payments deferred XXXX. XXXX Graduated, grace period begins XXXX XXXX XXXX Started work for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 6-month Grace period ends, qualifying payments resume XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Started work for XXXX XXXX , payments continued XXXX XXXX XXXX Employment continues, first date certified at XXXX XXXX dates XXXX should be 17 qualifying payments, not sure how many counted ( *no paperwork from XXXX confirming ) XXXX should be 15 qualifying payments, not sure how many counted ( *no paperwork from XXXX confirming ) XXXX should be 17 qualifying payments, only count XXXX XXXX should be 4 qualifying payments, only count 2-4 Dates Employer Total qualifying payments for which documentation was submitted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 4 Grand total 53 '' I have a number of other complaints about XXXX and how they handle my account, but I recently learned that thousands of other people have had similar problems with the PSLF records. I hope there is a solution.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief