Consumer complaint received 2019-05-29
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: TX
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
I started paying off my loan over a year ago ( I believe it was in XX/XX/XXXX ), and it was out of sheer frustration and lack of a better option. I finished school at XXXX ; my job prospects were nowhere near as high as they were when I was XXXX, as a result it took me a long time to find decent work and so I had a lot of deferments on my loans. 

When I finally started to work again I tried to get a repayment program that would meet my ability, and was told my payments might be in the 700/month range, and was told to continue with another deferment while they worked the plan out. 

When I checked back at the appointed time they had no answer for me and told me to defer again, and at that time they told me my payments would 1300/mo or thereabouts. I asked why the large change in payment, and was told this was my only option. I was told my wife made too much money, and I told them my wife also has large student loans herself ; they said they would take a look at that I could just defer again while they did so. 

Finally and again I had to contact them, they did not contact me they said they got my payment DOWN to XXXX/month. I asked what happened to the XXXX/month payment, they told me it went up because of the deferments I said that they themselves told me to defer while they worked it out, without saying that it would affect the pmt. They replied they were sorry, they cant do anything about it. 

I could not get a lower payment, I could not defer any longer, so I started paying XXXX/month. 

I recently lost my job ( end of XX/XX/XXXX ), and contacted FedLoan again ( week of XX/XX/XXXX ) to see if I could temporarily lower my payment until I could find work again. The agent I spoke with directed me to the website where she walked me through what I needed to do to LOWER MY PAYMENT temporarily, and I had my wife do her part in sending her information. I got a reply a few weeks later, saying that my new payments would be almost XXXX MORE than they were when I was working. 

I called again ( on or about XX/XX/XXXX ), asking the agent how on earth it was possible that my new payment for me being unemployed was now way higher than my payment was when I had work. She said that was the only program I was qualified for. A PAYMENT THAT WAS MORE THAN IT WAS WHEN I WAS EMPLOYED. 

She said my wife made too much. I asked why they took total household income into account but not total household outflow of cash. She said, oh, you want us to take her loan payments into account, we can do that, we just havent done that yet. 

So I asked how they could give me a new higher payment amount when they hadnt even taken my wifes loans into account, and I got some lame pat answer that made no sense to me. She said it would take a few weeks to set a new payment plan. 

I asked what about the XXXX payment coming due on XX/XX/XXXX she said No, that plan is finished, you owe XXXX now. I asked how I could possibly owe XXXX if they hadnt finished taking my wifes loans into account yet. She told me I could defer it until they figured it out. 

So now I am unemployed, stuck with a XXXX payment which is XXXX dollars higher than it was when I was employed, on a program their agent told me to apply for knowing I was now unemployed, and my only options are : Pay it ; dont pay it and incur more charges and constantly be behind ; or defer yet again incurring more fees and interest. 

I do not want a free ride, I took out loans expecting to pay them back, I had a lot harder time finding employment than I did when I was younger and FedLoan instead of helping me find a sustainable way to pay back what is owed chooses to make it extremely difficult for me to do so, demanding I make payments that are not sustainable, and hitting me with more fees and interest the whole time. 

This is not the behavior of an organization that wants to help ; this is the behavior of a for-profit machine that cares not about the people it serves, but only about making money. Their practices are misleading, confusing and intentionally skewed toward incurring more costs to the end user. They are taking advantage of peoples desires to better themselves through education to gouge them with interest. 

I want to pay back what I owe ; they are making it practically impossible to for me to do so without a severe negative financial impact on myself and my family.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation