Consumer complaint received 2018-08-17
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CO
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 called on XX/XX/XXXX to double-check my " Paid ahead '' status for my loans. As of my XXXX account statement, there was a clause on there that stated that I had made enough payments to be paid ahead through XX/XX/XXXX. However, on my XXXX account statement, my account statement said that I was no longer paid ahead. I called to confirm this information with a representative via telephone, who reviewed the account and said that I was still paid ahead and that the information had not been updated on the website and that the letter was incorrect. I then decided to suspend my XXXX payment to allocate the money elsewhere. 

I received my XXXX statement, which said that I also was no longer paid ahead. I called to get more information on why this was the case on the XX/XX/XXXX call referenced above. At that time, I was informed that due to a new software upgrade/change, all paid ahead statuses were negated. To confirm with the representative, I then stated my interpretation of his statement : that I was still in a paid ahead status, however the new software had not taken that into account yet, which he replied that my interpretation was correct. I then also asked for confirmation that if I suspended XXXX 's payment, that I would not get in trouble. He put me on hold to double check a few things, and came back with a new explanation, saying that since I had submitted my Pay as You Earn Employment Verification applications, this put me on track for PSLF ( which is  something I had inquired about several times before, as I have been working for PSLF-qualifying employers for over five years now, and have been misinformed about how to get the paperwork in place to take advantage of the program ( see previous complaint ). He said that with the submission of the eligible employer paperwork, that makes it so I can no longer have a paid-ahead status on my account. I told him that I this is not the first time that I have had my income redetermined, and it should have been noted on my account that I was on/seeking eligibility for PSLF ( as I have made that reference on several of my calls that I had placed in previous months ) and that none of the representatives, in particular ones that I spoke with regarding my paid ahead status, made any mention that being on PSLF would negate a paid ahead status. 

I submitted paperwork back in XXXX to recertify eligible employment ( that's the only upload I have on record, unfortunately, as I had mailed that paperwork to XXXX XXXX back when my loans were consolidated in XX/XX/XXXX, but that submission is not reflected on my account ), so the fact that no one mentioned this clearing any paid ahead status in any of my calls between said XXXX submission and the XX/XX/XXXX phone call is infuriating. 

Furthermore, no where on the XXXX XXXX site do I see any information that being on PSLF will negate a paid ahead status, most namely these two articles : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I DO acknowledge the statement that says that paying ahead can interfere with what constitutes a " qualifying payment, '' however at NO POINT have I asked to remove the paid ahead status from my account. I had one representative ask if this was something I wanted to do ( back in spring of XXXX ), however I DECLINED that option. 

To confuse matters even more, the XXXX website has a statement on my XXXX bill that's due that it is reduced because my previous payment was more than the required amount, so I am paid ahead by the overage ( my normal amount due is XXXX, I paid XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, so now the payment due in XXXX is {$200.00} ). I brought this up to the representative on the phone, which he said that I can pay ahead and that will be stored, but every time I resubmit a recertification of employment for PSLF, that will wash out any pay ahead status. He asked if I want to be taken off of PSLF to get paid ahead status back, which I asked if that would make it so my paid ahead status would put me a year ahead like I was before, which he said he could not guarantee that, so I declined this option. 

I was on the phone for over an hour with XXXX XXXX to try to get information that made any sense as to why my paid-ahead status is removed ( even though nothing has changed over the last two years ). This again illustrates the misinformation, mismanagement of payments, and complete conflict of advice I get from numerous different staff members from XXXX XXXX. I was made aware of the paid-ahead payments not being qualified payments for the XXXX required to be forgiven ( though this information was not given communicated to me until this year, not when I originally planned to utilize the PSLF program. That information was also not on their website until after I was enrolled in PSLF either ), however no one mentioned anything about losing paid ahead status was revealed. Even in the response from XXXX XXXX   to my last complaint mentioned that my account was reviewed " in detail '' and at no point did they mention that my account was over a year paid ahead, to which I would lose that benefit when enrolled in PSLF. The reason this is such a big deal is I have incurred a large amount of debt recently that I would like to suspend a few payments to catch up on said debt, and I thought I had a VERY large safety net in paying my student loans that has since been revoked for no clear reason. 

Dealing with XXXX XXXX in the last 5 years has been an extremely stressful and confusing experience.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation