Consumer complaint received 2018-12-14
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: NY
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:
Originally I had a loan with XXXX XXXX around XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX, which was transferred to XXXX eventually. I was told my loans would be illegible for both income-based repayment and public service repayment by both XXXX XXXX and XXXX. Over the years I continued to pay, except for when they would mess up my recertification and I would need to do forbearance until they would recertify. Finally in XX/XX/XXXX, I was told that all my loans would NOT be eligible for Public Service forgiveness, because they were done as Parent Plus Graduate. That was not the original information I was given. I then chose to reconsolidated, as specified below based on advice from XXXX and confirmed by XXXX. 

Attached below is correspondence with my student loan servicer, in which I have just found out that both times I had consulted with my loan providers, I was given incorrect information which has impacted my ability to repay my loans or receive forgiveness. I have worked almost all my legal career in XXXX XXXX, first as a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  for 5 years and as an XXXX XXXX XXXX for the past two and a half years. Based upon that, I should be around tow and a half years away from Public Service forgiveness, however since my original provider had set up my loans as Parent Plus, I was not eligible as it is not in the statue. As such, I was told to reconsoldiate my loans so they would be proper, and while that would still not make my 5 years as a XXXX a part of it, I would at least be on track for the 10 year forgiveness, and it would not impact my 7+ years of paying income-based and I would still be eligble for that forgiveness. 

As you can see below, that was not true. I started back at 0, even though I was promised I would not be, so I am 7.5 years from public service forgiveness and 17.5 years away from income-based repayment. That is after paying my loans for over 10 years straight, even when I couldn't really afford to. 


Thank you >> >> Original Message ... 
>> >> >> >> Subject : Income-Driven Repayment plan >> >> Sent : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX >> > Message : Greetings, >> >> >> >> How much more payments would my account need for public services forgiveness and how much more for income-based repayment forgiveness? 
>> >> >> >> I know I was told I had to consolidated to get public service forgiveness ( which meant my previous 5 years from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX may not be counted ) but I would like hard numbers so I could budget. 
>> >> >> >> Thank you, >> XXXX XXXX XXXX ( 24 minutes ago ) to me Thank you for contacting XXXX   XXXX! 

Including the payment effective XX/XX/XXXX you have made a total of 29 payments on the Revised Pay As You Earn ( PAYE ) repayment plan. You have 211 payments remaining to be eligible for forgiveness under the PAYE repayment plan. 

Please use the " Contact Us '' link through your online account at XXXX to submit inquiries via a secure email form. You may also  call us toll-free at XXXX to reach our Customer Service Department, which is open Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX  - XXXX XXXX ( ET ). 



Sincerely, XXXX XXXX  XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( 0 minutes ago ) to accountinfo Greetings, I'm a bit confused, and very concerned, because when I contacted about public loan forgiveness, I was told that I could not get it because my original loans were done with a type of loan that was not covered, and I needed to re-consolidate to get the public loan forgiveness, but that would not impact my income-based forgiveness. Your response seems to suggest that the over 7 years I was on an income-based repayment plan has been washed away, which was not what I was told, and could have impact my desire to re-consolidate. That is two separate times I was not informed fully or correctly about my loan choices and their consequences, which is extremely concerning. I should only have a little over 10 year left, not over 17! What recourse do I have?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation