Consumer complaint received 2019-02-25
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: IL
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 transferred by federal student loans over to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX in order to participate in their public service loan forgiveness ( PSLF ). I had been making on-time, qualifying payments ( at least the minimum amount due, income-based repayments ) through my previous loan provider, XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX ( it may have been a different provider originally, but XXXX has been my main loan provider for the last several years ). Since transferring my loans over to XXXX XXXX XXXX, they validated my employer/job as eligible for the program. According to the details of the PSLF program, I should be eligible for loan forgiveness in XX/XX/XXXX, after working for 10 years in a XXXX/XXXX XXXX position and having made 120 qualifying payments ). 
However, they have miscalculated the number of my qualifying payments I have made, despite repeated calls to customer service about this issue. Each time I call, I am told that they need more time in order to appropriately calculate my payments ( I am typically told 6-8 weeks ). Currently, my account shows that I have made 17 qualifying payments on my Direct Subsidized Consolidation Loan, thus indicating I have 103 more qualifying payments to make, indicating I would be eligible for loan forgiveness in XX/XX/XXXX! It also indicates I have only made 24 qualifying payments on my Direct Unsubsidized Consolidation Loan, which indicates I have 96 more qualifying payments to make. I have made consistent, on-time, full minimum amount due payments since consolidating my loans in XX/XX/XXXX. Each time I call in order to address this significant issue, I feel as though I am being given the " run-around '' so-to-speak. I was initially informed that a computer calculates the qualifying payments through my previous loan provider, and then told that an actual person needs to go through and properly calculate the payments if the computer does not do them properly. I was told this would take 6-8 weeks, each time I've called. 
I have contacted Fed Loan Servicing, and specifically the PSLF department 4 times now. I called initially on XX/XX/XXXX to inform them my payments were miscalculated. I was assured this would be resolved within 6-8 weeks. I  called again XX/XX/XXXX, and was told that a Payment Tracking Review Form would be submitted to their accounting/payment department in order for a human to individually calculate my qualifying payments with my past provider ( XXXX ). I called again XX/XX/XXXX to follow up, and again was informed it would take 6-8 more weeks. I called again most recently on XX/XX/XXXX and I spoke to a customer service representative ( XXXX ID # XXXX ) and eventually a Service Delivery Team Member. ( XXXX ID # XXXX ). I was informed that it is now taking One year plus to complete payment reviews. I have never previously been informed of this, and XXXX informed me that we stopped giving people timeframes in XX/XX/XXXX so the person I spoke to in XX/XX/XXXX must have made a mistake ( mind you, I was given a 6-8 week time frame by multiple customer service representatives, as well as different information each time I called ). 
XXXX looked into my Payment Tracking Review, and informed me my payment review is still pending. What pending meant, according to her, is that someone has looked at my payment histories, and was still reviewing it to determine the number of qualifying payments. I informed her that I should be scheduled to be complete with my loan forgiveness next year in XX/XX/XXXX; I asked if there was any way my account could be expedited, given had I known it was going to take this long to review my qualifying payments, I would have requested a Payment Review Tracking form much sooner than I had ( for example, in XX/XX/XXXX when I initially called to alert them of the miscalculated payments ). She informed me this was not likely, given the number of customers they have and the number of individuals reviewing my particular case ; it was impossible to tell just where in the process they were. She informed me that 28 pending payments of mine were being reviewed currently. ( I have made many more than this ). She also informed me that between XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX my payments did not appear to qualify because I did not pay the agreed upon amount. She said, and I quote, You paid more than the minimum amount which means those payment were placed in something called Paid ahead status and thus did not qualify as a qualifying payment towards the loan forgiveness. She informed me that given I paid MORE than the minimum amount during this period, the qualification could be changed, but it was unclear when/how this could occur. I was also informed that there were 4 forbearance timeframes where my payments did not count. I informed her I did file forbearances during tax season in order to get my taxes done prior to paying the updated amount for the year ( since it is an income-based repayment, it requires our taxes are completed to calculate the amounts ). However, I still made the minimum payment during that time anyway. She reported that Fed Loan could move or cut forbearance because payments were made, but again, it was not clear when/how this would occur. 
XXXX also informed me that applications for individuals who are in their 10th year of service ( thus completing their required payments/terms of services ) are reviewed first and given priority for properly calculating payments. She indicated that as I get closer to the end of my service ( In XX/XX/XXXX ), that I would have a better likelihood of having my final payments calculated properly ( if not by XX/XX/XXXX or later ). 
I was informed that I would be notified by mail when this process is complete, which likely would not be until XX/XX/XXXX ( at the earliest ) but also likely later, despite the fact that I originally transferred my loans over to them XX/XX/XXXX. Additionally, I informed her that my 2 loans are showing different qualifying payments when they should be the same ( as theyre consolidated so one payment goes to both loans ). She reported that is a common issue they were looking into for many borrowers. 
Currently, XXXX XXXX XXXX is the only provider approved by the Federal government/Department of Education to manage loans for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. This is the SOLE reason I transferred my loans to them, despite having heard similar complaints to mine from others. The fact that borrowers are being given different, and misleading information regarding their qualifying payments, and that now we are being told it will take over ONE YEAR to figure this out, seems fraudulent to me. Were it not for this program, borrowers may have chosen to remain with their prior lender/loan provider, or sought out a different one to manage their loans. It seems to be they are engaging in predatory practices by essentially forcing borrowers to use them for loan servicing in order to qualify for PSLF, however the method and process by which they determine eligibility appears to be mystifying at best, fraudulent at worst. In the meantime, they are collecting large amounts of interest on my outstanding loans, and apparently I can be punished if I pay an amount ABOVE my minimum payment amount. This keeps borrowers in a vicious cycle of being at the loan providers mercy in the meantime, all the while with no promise or guarantee of loan forgiveness, despite having followed and met criteria for fulling PSLF obligations. PLEASE HELP!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation