Consumer complaint received 2020-01-22
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: IA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
I am attempting to recertify my Income-Driven Repayment ( IDR ) plan. I have done this in past years with no problem, but this year is the exception. 

I completed the IDR recertification process on studentaid.gov on and was informed I needed to submit additional materials to my loan servicer due to my spouse 's change in income. I have had to do this before, and did not have a problem in the past. 

I gathered my income information - most recent pay stub - and my wife 's information - a pay stub and a receipt of payment for XXXX XXXX XXXX she provides - along with information regarding frequency of payment for all income and submitted it to my loan servicer, FedLoan, on XX/XX/2019. 

On XX/XX/2019, I received a notification that my IDR application was incomplete, and was further notified I would receive a letter detailing the reasons my application could not be processed. To date, I have not received this letter. I immediately attempted to call FedLoan to discuss what the problem was, only to find that their " customer service '' number is a completely automated answering system with no ability to speak to an actual human - all button choices result in the system repeating in an infinite and infuriating loop.

I drafted a letter further explaining my and my spouse 's income, explaining that no other documentation exists, and asking that FedLoan consider my narrative further documentation of my income. I submitted this letter through FedLoan 's online documentation system on XX/XX/2019. 

After a week, I had not heard from FedLoan, nor had I received the letter they claimed they sent me. On XX/XX/2019, I sent an email through the FedLoan internal email contact system, alerting them that I had not received the letter and asking that they forward it to me through email or through their electronic document delivery system. 

On XX/XX/2019, I received what appears to be an automated email response from FedLoan,  which did not address the fact that I still had not received the letter they claimed to have sent me. Instead, the email merely stated " We have received your request of an Income-Driven Repayment ( IDR ) plan on XX/XX/2019 and your proof of income on XX/XX/2019. Once your request is processed, we will send you a notice with the results. '' This email encouraged me to reach out to their " customer service department '', the aforementioned automated system with no possible human interaction. 

On XX/XX/2019, I again received notification that FedLoan was unable to process my recertification request and an assertion that a letter would be sent to me detailing why they could not continue with my request. The first purported letter has still never arrived. I then sent FedLoan a  message through their internal email contact system and demanded they immediately contact me to discuss their inability to process my request and alerted them to the fact I would be filing this complaint.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation