Consumer complaint received 2019-04-13
Company: Action Financial Services, LLC
State: IL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Federal student loan debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was already discharged in bankruptcy and is no longer owed

Complaint:
I filed jointly with my husband for the first time this year, and we were told we would get a refund of {$1400.00}. We received a notice stating that our entire refund was being offset to defaulted student loans. My loan servicer XXXX  notified me that while I was behind on payments that I had not yet defaulted on my loan or entered " pre-default '' yet. I contacted the debt collection agency ( Action Financial Services ) who were very helpful to a point, asking lots of information bout my household income, and lots of info about our expenses. When I asked when i had defaulted on my loans they informed me that they had taken over the loans in XXXX of XXXX, but they were not able to provide me with info as to who my loan servicer was prior to this.The provided me with number to contact to inquire about this information. I reached out to the loan locator number they gave me and found out that my loans were being serviced by XXXX prior to them being sent to collection in XXXX. 

In XXXX I contacted a company that was helping people with filing for a debt forgiveness program through the government. The company needed my PIN and asked for {$900.00} up front to use as good faith payment to XXXX ( may have been under XXXX XXXX still at the time ) and they also used up my last deferment I had available to me as part of the process. I would never had agreed to this process if I had not had two other people I know go through this process and have their loans drastically decrease. 

On the XXXX website they have multiple stafford loans listed as consolidated or not owed. And I had assumed that this was because the loans had been paid and processed by the government program I had signed up for. But now I am not sure. I do not remember receiving anything from XXXX that my federal loans were being handed by another loan provider, and if i did i would likely have assumed that due to the program I had worked with that this info did not pertain to me. 

The current loan holder and debt collector have stated that they will help me get out of collection if I make payments that are between {$480.00} and {$440.00} ( both amounts which i have informed them that I can not afford pay ), for a consecutive 9 months, and then my debt would be moved to yet another loan servicer. I was informed that because both my income and my spouse 's income were being used to calculate what I was expected to pay, regardless of what I as an individual were able to pay, that was low as the payment could be made. The only other option offered to me was that I could open another loan through an outside company ( that i would have to find ) and pay off the defaulted debt all at once, and that they would waive the late fees associated with account. If i did not do this, then I would be paying on the total amount due of over {$42000.00}.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation