Consumer complaint received 2018-04-09
Company: ACS Education Services
State: DC
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Need information about your loan balance or loan terms

Complaint:
I have three complaints concerning the student loan service Conduent ( which I believe was formerly called ACS ).

1. I was not informed that the interest rate on my loans would be increasing ; and 2. Two customer service representatives were unable to explain how the interest rate on my loans was calculated 3. The Conduent website fails to provide basic information about my loans, including the payment plan currently being used, a schedule of future payments, or even how many payments remain before the loans are paid in full. The website also fails to provide any information about how interest on my loans was calculated. 


Here 's the longer version of what happened : Conduent currently services two variable-rate private education loans that I obtained from XXXX XXXX while I was in XXXX XXXX between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. This month, my payments went up by about 10 % ( from {$180.00} ( loan 1 ) and {$120.00} ( loan 2 ) to {$200.00} and {$130.00}, respectively ). After being unable to find any relevant information on Conduent 's website, I called Conduent customer service to ask why my payments had gone up. The representative informed me that the interest rates on my loans had gone up by approximately 0.7 % each. Although I had known that the loans were variable-rate, this was the first time in years that the rate had changed, and Conduent did not inform me that it was being adjusted. 

After receiving this information, I asked the representative how interest on the student loan was calculated. She initially replied that it was based on the LIBOR rate. I XXXX the LIBOR rate, determined that it was less than half the interest rate charged on my lowest-rate loan ( ~2.3 % vs ~5.7 % ), and asked again how the interest rate was calculated. The representative then put me on hold for about five minutes, following which she dropped the call. Overall, this call lasted a little under 16 minutes. 

After my first call was dropped, I called Conduent again. This time I spoke with XXXX, who did his best to be friendly and helpful. However, despite approximately 10 minutes of searching, XXXX, who, again, was doing his absolute best, was unable to explain how the interest rate on my loans was determined. The only information he had available was that my interest rate was based on the 3-month LIBOR rate published in the XXXX XXXX XXXX on a specific day of the month. Again, this could not possibly be the entire story because the 52-week high for the 3-month LIBOR was only ~2.3 %,  according to the XXXX XXXX XXXX 's website, while my lowest-interest loan is currently ~5.7 %.  After asking several more questions about my payment plan, I concluded the call, which had lasted approximately 20 minutes. 

I am very frustrated that ( 1 ) Conduent failed to inform me that my monthly payment would be increasing due to a change in the interest rate ; ( 2 ) Conduent was unable to explain how the interest rate was calculated in the first place ; and ( 3 ) Conduent failed to make basic information about future payments ( i.e., payments beyond next month ) available on its website. This information should be readily-available on a loan servicer 's website. Instead, the website simply stated the payment amount due and the interest rate being charged with no outward indication that either had been changed, or how either was calculated. Conduent should be required to provide all information about the terms of a loan on its website.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation