Consumer complaint received 2018-12-05
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: DC
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:
I submitted my first Public Service Loan Forgiveness employment certification form ( ECF ) to the U.S. Department of Education approved XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) organization XX/XX/XXXX. In XXXX I contacted XXXX to inquiry about the status of my application and was informed that it had been denied because the form ( which I obtained from the XXXX website ) was expired. I asked why I hadnt been contacted and the representative said that a letter had been sent, which I never received. I then submitted a second application XX/XX/XXXX, with a form that had been updated on the XXXX website. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted XXXX regarding the status of my second application. The second application was denied due to an expired form. I pointed out to the representative that Id applied using the updated form from the XXXX website. The service worker acknowledged that application # 1 had been incorrectly re-processed and would submit application # 2 for review. 

Application # 2 was accepted at the end of the month, with payments set for the first of each month. I contacted XXXX to request a change in the due date, explaining that I wouldnt be able to comply with the date because it conflicted with my rent due date. I was informed that I would not be able to change the date at that time but to request a change the next month. After multiple months of requests, my due date was changed XX/XX/XXXX. I also received notification that I was being disqualified for the Direct Loan rebate program because my payments had been received 6 days after the required due date. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted XXXX to inquiry as to why XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX qualifying payments hadnt been applied to my account. Service worker XXXX identified 35 payments Id made during the period and submitted a payment tracking review. In the same month, I mailed documentation for annual recertification of my income-driven repayment ( IBR ) plan. 

XX/XX/XXXX, my payment amount increased nearly three-fold. I contacted XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and service worker XXXX informed me that my payments had increased as the result of an error in processing my IBR documentation. The representative submitted a processing error override request and suggested I resubmit the documents online. She advised that I hold off my payment until receiving notification of the adjusted amount. If I did not receive notification in 2 weeks, I should call back to speak with a supervisor to expedite the override. I did not receive notification and on XX/XX/XXXX I contacted XXXX and asked to speak with a supervisor. I was transferred to supervisor XXXX. I requested she expedite the override request to correct the error made by XXXX XXXX, she assured me the amount would be corrected for XXXX. I then went to the XXXX website to make my monthly payment in the correct amount. The next day I discovered XXXX had taken the inflated amount from my account. I contacted XXXX immediately to correct the error. Service worker XXXX informed me that it would take 90 days to refund my money ( over {$600.00} ) and suggested I dispute the transaction through my financial cooperative. 

I filed a transaction dispute with my credit union. The matter was resolved and the funds were returned to my account. I then re-paid the amount through my credit unions online bill paying service. I am current with XXXX but the XXXX website indicates that I am 41 days past due and that derogatory credit information will be reported to consumer reporting agencies. I contacted XXXX this morning demanding the delinquency be cleared from my account. I was transferred to Public Service Loan Forgiveness service worker XXXX. He said he would submit a past due override as well as, yet another, review of the processing error override. I asked about the status of the payment tracking review which was submitted in XX/XX/XXXX. He informed me that it was still in process and he was requesting that the review is expedited.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation