Consumer complaint received 2017-09-26
Company: Student Services
State: GA
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:
O
n XX/XX/XXXX I was contacted by XXXX XXXX ( her phone number was XXXX- it no longer works ) with XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX ) to help consolidate my student loans and help get me out of delinquency. She informed me that XXXX could help me consolidate my loans by cutting out the middle man and that I could get my loans paid off faster by taking advantage of their student loan forgiveness program.
I was informed that based on income I could pay them a {$260.00} down payment and {$81.00} a month ( which included a fee of {$42.00} a month ) for them to consolidate my student loans and allow me to participate in the student loan forgiveness plan. I was told that if I had my payment auto drafted that I could get a .25 % rate reduction. I was also told that consolidating my loans with them would boost my credit and that this would allow them to pay off my loans and consolidate them into one loan.
I provided them will ALL my personal information : social security number, bank account number, XXXX ID and password, phone numbers, addresses, and birthdays- everything they asked me for- because I was given false information and lead to believe that they were affiliated with the government and that this was the only way to participate in the student loan forgiveness plan.
After a few months however, I started to notice the web address XXXX XXXX  had given me ( XXXX ) wasnt active. Then I noticed that her phone number didnt work anymore. Then the companys name that was taking the payments out of my account started changing ( first it was XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, then XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, then XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX).
In XX/XX/XXXX my loan provider, XXXX XXXX, started requiring me to fill out an income driven payment application around XX/XX/XXXX every year. For about 2-3 months during that time I would notice that I would be making my payments to my third-party servicer ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and money was coming out of my account but that the payments werent being made to my loan provider ( XXXX XXXX ). I started making calls to XXXX with the phone numbers they provided ( XXXX ; XXXX ; XXXX ; XXXX ) to try and get in touch with someone regarding my account and I would always get an answering service and the same generic response, We will pass this message on and someone will call you back shortly. Only no one would ever call me back. When I would call XXXX XXXXs, they would immediately ask me if I wanted to make a payment to get my account caught up and I would explain to them that I made my payments through a third-party ( XXXX ) and that I was trying to get in touch with that third-party ( XXXX ) to see why my payment hadnt been made. No one at XXXX XXXX  understood what I meant and would just continue asking if I wanted to make a payment.
Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX XXXX and spoke with XXXX. XXXX explained to me that I did not need a third-party provider to receive student loan forgiveness and that they ( XXXX XXXX ) provide those services for free. He took down all the information I had on XXXX XXXX XXXX to put in my file and recommended I contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau immediately and get help with this matter.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation