Consumer complaint received 2018-11-28
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: MA
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 graduated from XXXX XXXX school in XXXX, and have worked full time ( 40 hours/week ) as a XXXX XXXX for the same non-profit XXXX XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX, without any breaks in employment. Prior to starting work in XXXX, I had consolidated all of my student loans ( for both XXXX  and XXXX ) with the department of education, and applied for an income-based repayment plan. I have been re-approved for the IBR plan each year, and have made payments without fail for the duration of that time. There have been two periods of approximately 1-3 months each where my payments ( which were still on time ) did not qualify for IBR. The first was when I did not submit my IBR application on time ( I would argue due to lack of adequate notification ), and the second when I started submitting the employment certification forms ( which were not, at the time I entered the IBR, required annually to work towards eligibility for PSLF ), and my account was moved from XXXX to XXXX  XXXX. Since I have been with XXXX, I have made all payments fully and on time. As noted above I have not had any changes to my employment status. I have submitted documentation necessary to both reapply for IBR annually and to recertify my employment status. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, when I submitted my recertification form, the response indicated that over the previous year a number of my payments had not been approved as qualifying towards PSLF. I called XXXX to ask why. The customer service representatives acknowledged that they could see the discrepancy, but stated they could not give any information as to why this discrepancy was there. They advised me that the only way to get additional information and to be able to speak to someone further about this was to file an appeal. I filed an appeal in XX/XX/XXXX. I was told that XXXX had up to a year to manage my appeal. I continued making payments in full, on time. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, my monthly bill from XXXX indicated that I had made 78 qualifying towards PSLF payments towards each of my loans. In XX/XX/XXXX, my monthly bill from XXXX indicated that I had made 38 qualifying payments towards PSLF on each of my loan. I called XXXX, and was informed that the drop in qualifying payments was likely a result of the appeals process. They had no further information, either on this or on the status of my appeal. By XX/XX/XXXX, the number of qualifying payments on my bill had increased to 46. It has stayed at 46 for each of the bills I've received since then. In early XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX to inquire about the status of my appeal. I was told that XXXX had until XX/XX/XXXX, to complete and respond to my appeal. It is now XX/XX/XXXX, and I have gotten nothing. 

I have been making payments consistently, in full, and on-time since I began my XXXX work. I have always followed the guidelines required to make qualifying payments towards being eligible for PSLF ( which have changed -- I did not initially submit re-certification forms annually, however have consistently since they became a requirement ). I am troubled by the lack of transparency XXXX demonstrates in their interactions with me, and that I have been following their guidelines to qualify for loan forgiveness, yet it does not appear that they will deem me to be eligible to apply for PSLF in anywhere near the amount of time that payment history and employment history suggests that I should be able to. And, with their lack of willingness to communicate with me, I feel I have been effectively stone-walled.

I committed myself to working with deeply underserved populations in the non-profit XXXX XXXX field, knowing that with the amount of debt I have ( {$160000.00} and rising ), I would be unable to do so absent the option of PSLF. I have made personal sacrifices in the process ( i.e. not switching to part-time work after the birth of my son ). Having gotten as far as approximately two years away from the date that I am supposed to be eligible to apply for PSLF, I am instead approximately 6 years away from eligibility, and stuck, effectively in limbo, with nobody able to give me any answers. I can not go back and make different choices about the career choices I have made, however can warn others against devoting themselves to non-profit higher education degrees and non-profit work if it requires taking what I now understand is an unreasonable amount of debt in order to do so. Shame on you, XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation