Consumer complaint received 2017-07-11
Company: GRANITE STATE MANAGEMENT & RESOURCES
State: NC
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:
I took out {$39000.00} of Perkins Loans in XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX to attend XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX School to get a XXXX XXXX with a XXXX Certification and a XXXX XXXX XXXX Certification. At no time did my school financial aid office or my lender inform me that I would qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) program that went into law in XX/XX/XXXX. I attended XXXX XXXX XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. During my exit interview with the school 's financial aid department, I was advised to consolidate into Stafford and PLUS loans and defer my loans until I started XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, but was not advised on the proper type of consolidation that would allow me to benefit from PSLF, even though I was attending a program to prepare me to XXXX in the exact schools the PSFL was designed to serve. My current loans are now near {$70000.00}. My loans were serviced by Granite State/XXXX. At no time during the original consolidation was I informed that I qualified for the PSLF program. Shortly after my first year of XXXX, I had difficulty making my full loan payments. Granite State/XXXX advised that I put my loans into the Income Sensitive Repayment Option in order to make payments that covered accrued interest and no principal. Again, I was not informed that PSLF was an option, even though I had to report my occupation and type of employer for the ISRO. I taught for XX/XX/XXXX full school year, ( making 12 payments that would have qualified for PSLF ) then needed to take a medical leave for XX/XX/XXXX taking a medical deferment for 9 months. I taught the XX/XX/XXXX school year. Again, I was not able to make my full Stafford Loan payments. This time Granite State/ XXXX advised me to put my loans into the Federal Family Education Loan Program ( FFELP ) making 12 payments that should have qualified for PSLF.. Again, I was not advised that I was a candidate for PSLF. I was not able to XXXX for the XX/XX/XXXX school year, but did make FFELP payments to cover interest rather than return to medical deferment. I have now XXXX 5 consecutive years for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in various positions that have all qualified for PSLF. I found out about the Public Service loan Forgiveness program from a coworker ( Who had graduated when I did and had made 7 years of qualifying payments toward the 10 year program ) I attempted to apply for PSLF in XX/XX/XXXX. My application was denied because my loans were not consolidated into the FEDLoans program correctly. My consolidation was not properly recognized until XX/XX/XXXX. Because my school and lender did not inform me of the PSLF and because of the delay in Granite State/XXXX properly consolidating my loans, I currently have 16 qualifying payments out of the 120 qualifying payments needed to complete the PSLF program. Had I been properly advised, I calculate that I could have made 84 qualifying payments by now.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation