Consumer complaint received 2022-01-26
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: DC
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:
This is a continuation of Complaint ID XXXX, which I submitted on XXXX. That complaint dealt with the amount of time it took FedLoan to process my IDR request. The staggeringly incompetent company has finally processed it close to two months later, but the amount is grossly inaccurate, calculated contrary to federal regulations and the application. 

I applied for IDR on XXXX ( XXXX IDR Application XXXX ). I said on my application that my income had decreased since my last taxes. I requested to be put on the IDR plan with the lowest monthly payment. On XXXX, I received an email from FedLoan that the request was received, that I may receive additional emails regarding the status, and that I could check on the status online ( XXXX IDR Application XXXX XXXX ). The first time I checked the status, it said I would receive a follow up email by XXXX with any next steps. The next time I checked, the date was XXXX, and the next time after that the date was XXXX. I sent them an email on XXXX through the online system asking about the status and if anything was needed ( XXXX IDR Application Email XXXX ). The online system changed their date for response every day so that the deadline was always two weeks later ( XXXX IDR Request Date Changes ). On XXXX, they responded to an email I had sent on XXXX that they would provide the document in up to 10 business days. On XXXX, I received a document that all of my loans that had errors in the payment amounts showing monthly payments of approximately {$1000.00} even though I am in school status and no payments are due ( XXXX Student Loan Verification Letter FedLoan Garbage ). That day, I again contacted them through the online system asking about the status and if anything was needed ( XXXX IDR Application Email XXXX ). On XXXX, I received an email that my IDR application was processed. It did not say the payment amount, but the online system said it would be {$980.00} on the IBR plan ( XXXX IDR Repayment Amount ). 

The payment amount is about {$400.00} more than I calculated it would be based on the definitions in the regulations and my AGI and what is provided on the studentaid.gov website ( XXXX Student Loan Repayment Amount XXXX ). After some calculations, I realized they had used my total gross income, not my AGI, along with the XXXX federal poverty level ( which was updated for XXXX effective XXXX, considerably before my application was processed so the XXXX level should have been used ), and put me on a repayment plan that requires 15 % of discretionary income when I was eligible for a plan that requires 10 % of discretionary income and I had requested the lowest payment amount. I never provided my income on the application and FedLoan never requested proof of my income even though I contacted them repeatedly to try to figure out how to provide it. I contacted FedLoan and a representative told me there was an income certification that " someone '' provided, although she refused to tell me what the certified income was and who provided it, but that she would put in a request to have it sent to me within 10 business days. The representative also told me that I would have to provide my XXXX and XXXX taxes for the REPAYE plan, although they were never requested and she could not provide any citations for why they would be required.

FedLoan took almost two months to provide me with an IDR approval that was calculated contrary to federal regulations and my request on the application despite me making numerous attempts to contact them so this could be processed correctly. I even filed a complaint with the CFPB to attempt to get FedLoan to contact me to calculate this correctly. This is an extremely basic calculation- I was able to make an XXXX that can calculate the amount based on any AGI and the current XXXX - and it is a waste of taxpayer resources for a company to be so incompetent at providing this extremely routine and basic service. I am waiting on this approval to be able to get a mortgage, and so this failure is also costing me money as mortgage rates have increased since I applied and continue to increase. I know that FedLoan has been dropped as a student loan servicer in part because of the numerous lawsuits and other problems that they have caused to citizens but this is no excuse for failing to perform this function during their continued servicing of my loan.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation