Consumer complaint received 2018-11-08
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CO
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
XX/XX/2018 : Applied for recertification of my Income Driven Repayment plan, supporting documents were attached demonstrating that I had made substantially less this year than the previous year. 

The monthly payments were {$1800.00}. I had made all of them in full, on time. 

XX/XX/2018 : Received notification that my IDR request was placed on hold. 

XX/XX/2018 : New monthly REPAYE is recalculated : {$3000.00} due XX/XX/2018. 

I called XXXX and asked them why the monthly payment was so much higher if I was making less money. 

They told me to resubmit the entire application with more documentation and ask for a Recalculation of the IDR. 

XXXX places my account into Forbearance even though I specifically told them not to and all payments had been made in full and on time. 

XX/XX/2018 : I resubmit the application with additional documentation of my income ( letters from employers ). I also fully pay off one of my highest interest rate loans in hopes of lowering the monthly payment. 

XX/XX/2018 : They confirm receipt of my application. 

XX/XX/2018 : I discover that they had placed a forbearance ( though no payments were ever late and they were told not to ). They remove the forbearance. 

XX/XX/2018 : I make the monthly payment that is due in full : {$1700.00} XX/XX/2018 : Letter received that I do not qualify for IDR and XXXX denies my request for recalculation. 

XX/XX/2018 : Letter received that my new IDR after recalculation is {$2800.00}, due XX/XX/2018. 

I call XXXX to ask how this amount was calculated. 
I am told by XXXX staff that it appeared that no one had reviewed the documentation I had sent with either application. 
She stated that they had just used my tax return from the previous year for the new recalculation. 
She resubmits my request for a recalculation with notation to review my new lower income. 

XX/XX/2018 : I called XXXX to ask them what the status of my application request was as the payment of {$2800.00} was due that day. 

I spoke with 3 different people. 

The first person told me to just ask for a forbearance. 

The second person told me it was my fault that the the monthly payment was calculated incorrectly because I had supplied documentation and an explanation of my income. He stated this was confusing for them, even though they had requested it. 

I asked to speak with his supervisor. 

I asked the supervisor if he could easily calculate my income based on the documents that had been sent. 
He was able to do this and agreed that I had demonstrated my income was lower this year than last year. 

I asked him what I should do next if it was recalculated wrong again- he said there was nothing I could do. 

I made the payment that is due in full : {$2800.00}. 

XX/XX/2018 : I receive an email notifying me that my new monthly payment will be {$4100.00}. 

Despite making less money and supplying them with adequate documentation of this, my monthly payments went from {$1800.00} to {$4100.00} with no explanation or recourse.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief