Consumer complaint received 2018-02-20
Company: Equitable Acceptance Corp
State: NC
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:
I was contacted by phone by a company called XXXX XXXX about student loan forgiveness. I spoke at length with Fed Loans on what the process would be. They excused the down payment for the service because of my financial situation and was given a monthly payment of XXXX. That sounded great to me. I had to submit my tax documents for the previous year and was approved because I work for a company that partners with many government agencies. I was now getting statements from XXXX  XXXX with XXXX payment due. I then went to register my account online and found it to be a different company than XXXX XXXX. I checked the email to make sure it was the same thing that I signed up for and the information matched. I then called the company ( Equitable Acceptance Corporation ( EAC ) ) and was told by EAC that if I pay that XXXX the balance of what was left on my loans would be forgiven. They represented themselves as XXXX XXXX but now they were EAC and  XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

18 months later, I received a bill from XXXX XXXX advising me to pay {$850.00} by XX/XX/XXXX. I then received a statement from XXXX  XXXX of back interest that was due plus payment. When I called XXXX XXXX they told me that I didn't have to continue to pay that they were scamming me. I just looked at my account with EAC and see that I've been paying XXXX a month for over a year and a half but that I've been charged interest that I was not made aware of. The interest is half of what i pay each month. I did not realize that this is really no more than a " credit card '' that I did not approve. The fee was XXXX which of course I couldn't pay but with the information I gave about my financial situation they waived the down payment and said I could do monthly payments. I have been paying since XX/XX/XXXX and my balance is still XXXX. I have paid over {$300.00} in interest and about {$85.00} towards the principle. My XXXX, that's crazy! I now know this is a scam and this could reduce my credit rating tremendously. 

I called EAC for about a month from XX/XX/XXXX until today, every other day. EAC told me that XXXX XXXX went out of business, so that's why XXXX XXXX was reaching out to me. I was told my case was being resigned to another company for forgiveness. They told me my case was being reassigned about 12 times. I was told it would take 1 week, 2 weeks,  and then several months for my case to be reassigned. They also said that my contract is with them but the service was with XXXX XXXX to pay the balance of my student loans. I signed a legal agreement with them and must pay them. They have nothing to do with the service issues. I advised them that I was paying for a service and that I was also recording the conversations on my end as well. I have about 15 recorded calls of them telling me that it's not their fault and I must pay because of the legal contract I e-signed. 

I am now about to be on a payment plan with the XXXX XXXX and need to find out how to resolve this situation with EAC. I would like a full refund for everything I have paid for, I would like the contract ended, and I don't want it to affect my credit rating. They out right lied to me and did bad business on purpose. Happy to send the recordings as proof also. Please help with this matter because Equitable Acceptance Corporation scam many people. They have scammed me and I dont think they even have companies that they have successfully partnered with to provide the service they offer.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation