Consumer complaint received 2018-04-10
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: TX
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
From XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, I made payments on my loans under the PSLF program. I regularly submitted the employer paperwork, however, only a few of those payments are recognized while others are still outstanding.

My loans are all federal loans, and the DOE changed servicers 5 times.

InXX/XX/XXXX, I was told that I needed to provide documentation of all my qualifying payments because the department of education had lost the records. I went to my bank and had every payment from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX printed. The payments showed electronic payment and checks to " Department of Education for Federal Student Loan Payments ''. I submitted this paperwork and supporting documentation to XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. I also had to prove that my enrollment at XXXX University started in XX/XX/XXXX, notXX/XX/XXXX. I used information from the XXXX XXXX XXXX because the XXXX  were arguing that I was in school starting inXX/XX/XXXX.

On XX/XX/XXXX I called and spoke with XXXX XXXX  because the PSLF documentation was still not updated on my account. He stated that I had 21 payments on record and the additional payments would still need to be reviewed. He stated that I would have an overide processed forXX/XX/XXXXbecause I was not in school at that time and should have those payments counted. His supervisor, XXXX told me they would expedite my review.

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  stated that 21 payments were on record and additional payments still needed to be reviewed. She was putting in a request for payment tracker and that I would need to wait 60-90 days before this was completed.

On XX/XX/XXXXit was confirmed that my direct debit was established and prepared for billing starting in XX/XX/XXXX.

On XX/XX/XXXXI called because the specific payments I designated had been working correctly for XX/XX/XXXXbut not for XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX had mismanaged the amounts directed toward specific loans and XXXX XXXX  went in and manually overrode the payments to correct the amounts.

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX said that 21 payments were showing as qualified for PSLF even though the website was only showing 20. She stated that the other payments from XX/XX/XXXX were still under review and that it now takes 6 months to review PSLF requests. She stated that this request should be completed by the end of XX/XX/XXXX for me. She stated that it showed that the forms were approved and are processing the payment amounts.

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a notification that the period from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXXwas under review. On XX/XX/XXXXI received a notification that my loans were placed on forebearance fromXX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX - I did not request this.

On XX/XX/XXXXI called because my autopayments were reduced. I was informed that because the forebearance was processed it had reduced the amount due. I also was informed that it might take a few days for the payment ( which was already pulled from my bank on XX/XX/XXXX ) to clear and that it would be retroactively approved as on time. XX/XX/XXXX was unsure why a forebearance was placed on my account and transferred me to PSLF staff. XX/XX/XXXX reviewed the administrative forebearance that was placed on my account and stated that it was " some sort of error in the system ''. He stated he would remove theXX/XX/XXXXto XX/XX/XXXX forebearance on my account and that I should log in and manually make payments on those loans in order to qualify for PSLF for XX/XX/XXXX.

The PSLF program is now 6 years behind in processing my paperwork for qualifying payments from XX/XX/XXXX. There are frequent issues with repayment, even with autopayment set up. I am spending a considerable amount of time calling, on hold, and speaking with multiple individuals because the XXXX organization can't manage their documentation, processes, or correct information.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation