Consumer complaint received 2017-08-08
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: DC
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Don't agree with the fees charged

Complaint:
I submitted documentation to enroll in the Public Interest Loan Forgiveness to the Department of Education on or around XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I was notified via email that the Dept of Education was in the process of transferring my student loans from XXXX to FedLoan Servicing, and that in the next few weeks, I would receive additional information about my qualifying payments. Prior to XX/XX/XXXX, I had received notification from XXXX ( my previous loan servicer ) that I needed to submit my annual re-certification for my Income Based Repayment Plan ( IBR ) by XX/XX/XXXX to the the Department of Education. I then got an letter posted to my FedLoan Servicing online account, dated XX/XX/XXXX, which stated : " You currently repay your loans under the Income-Based Repayment ( IBR ) Plan. Under this plan your monthly payment amount is based on your income and family size. As part of the IBR plan, you are required to recertify annually. Since you are approaching the end of your 12 month payment period, you need to provide your and your spouse 's ( if applicable ) income documentation and verify your family size, so we can recalculate your monthly payment. You must do this even if your income and family size has not changed.If we do not receive your application, your payment will increase to {$2200.00}, first due on XX/XX/XXXX. '' On XX/XX/XXXX, I received two online notifications from FedLoan Servicing. XXXX stating : " Since we did not receive your complete annual documentation, your new payment amount is not based on your income and family size ; however, your loans will remain on the Income-Based Repayment ( IBR ) plan. Your new monthly payment of {$260.00} is first due on XX/XX/XXXX. '' The other used the same quoted language, but changed the last sentence to read as follows : " Your new monthly payment of {$2200.00} is first due on XX/XX/XXXX. '' On XX/XX/XXXX, I was informed that FedLoan Servicing would be withdrawing my {$520.00} ( the payment owed under my still current IBR plan for the month of XX/XX/XXXX ) out of my account on XX/XX/XXXX. ( This amount was in fact withdrawn from my account on XX/XX/XXXX ). I submitted my annual re-certification for my IBR to the Department of Education on XX/XX/XXXX, as instructed by XXXX/the Department of Education because FedLoan Services never indicated that I needed to re-certify by a different date. In fact, they never specified any date in which I needed to re-certify, but indicated in the XX/XX/XXXX communication that I needed to do so by XX/XX/XXXX or my payments would increase. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notification from FedLoan Servicing stating : " We recalculated your monthly payment for your Income-Based Repayment ( IBR ) plan. We used your income documentation and family size to determine your monthly payment of {$680.00} which is first due on XX/XX/XXXX. Your new monthly payment amount is effective for all payments due between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. You are still responsible for any payments due before XX/XX/XXXX. About 3 months prior to XX/XX/XXXX, we will send you notification letting you know that you are due to recertify ( complete a new application and provide updated income documentation ). '' On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email informing me that FedLoan Servicing would be withdrawing {$2500.00} out of my bank account for my XX/XX/XXXXstudent loan payment on XX/XX/XXXX. Last year, I was told by XXXX that I needed to re-certify within ten days of XX/XX/XXXX. After re-certifying, my new monthly payments began on XX/XX/XXXX. Thus, my current IBR payment plan was not set to expire until XX/XX/XXXX. Given the fact that : ( 1 ) I timely filed my re-certification documentation on XX/XX/XXXX ; ( 2 ) my annual IBR re-certification amount had already been processed ( given that FedLoan Servicing 's XX/XX/XXXX communication informing me that my new monthly payment to be {$680.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ) ; ( 3 ) FedLoan provided me with conflicting amounts concerning what I owed for the month of XX/XX/XXXX ; and ( 4 ) my current IBR payments were not set to expire until XX/XX/XXXX, I called FedLoan Servicing in an attempt to understand why they were charging me {$2500.00}. They told me that they would look into it and get back to me, and that I should forebear for the month of XX/XX/XXXX and incur additional interest or pay the full {$2500.00} amount. I declined to do so, and paid the {$680.00} for the month, given that is what my new adjusted IBR payment was determined to be earlier that month, and there was no valid reason to charge me {$2500.00} when I complied with the XXXX annual re-certification deadline that was given to me and technically my old IBR payments had not expired. In fact, it is clear from FedLoan Servicing 's confusing and contradictory communications that the organization simply made an error in processing my re-certification paperwork and determining how much I owed for XX/XX/XXXX. When I spoke to FedLoan Servicing, they said it would take several months to resolve my complaint, a supervisor told me it was my fault that I was charged {$2500.00} because I waited until the last minute to re-certify ( which makes no sense, since the acknowledged that my re-certification was timely received by the Department of Education and my annual re-certification was not due until XX/XX/XXXX. ). I followed up with FedLoan Servicing on a few occasions to determine the status of my complaint, but they have yet to resolve it, and all of my online statements say that I have an overdue balance for XX/XX/XXXX. Recently, I received a call from FedLoan Servicing stating that they were going to report me to the credit bureau for my unpaid balance for XX/XX/XXXX. When I explained that I had submitted a complaint and had not heard back about it, and requested a status update, the representative told me she would call me back with an update. I have still yet to receive that call. I have received additional calls from FedLoan Servicing, however, indicating that my account balance is 90 days past due and will be reported to credit agencies. I need help resolving this matter, as I am a struggling government attorney who can not afford to pay {$1800.00} to cure an obvious mistake made by FedLoan Servicing in processing my IBR payment amount for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. FedLoan Servicing 's incompetence is causing me unwarranted financial harm.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief