Consumer complaint received 2018-02-22
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: WA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX and I feel that my cosigner and I were duped in to this loan. I would like XXXX to prove ownership of this debt ; I took out this loan with XXXX Bank. I can not file bankruptcy according to the paperwork I received when I ordered a copy of my contract, why? Because this is a XXXX loan, which means nothing to me. If you look up XXXX loan I believe they filed bankruptcy and I have no idea what that has to do with XXXX bank. The document I have states that this is a XXXX loan because it meets the IRS code of a Qualified Education Loan, after all the name of the loan in question is XXXX XXXX, XXXX Loan. I would think that if it is promoted as a legitimate student loan that just as other student loans there would be options available to lower the payments. I have called and asked about refinancing or some of the other programs on the AES website since they are the servicers and been told none of the options are available to me and that I cant refinance. I was also told in a letter on XX/XX/2018 regarding my email at the beginning of XXXX that even though we have made payments on time for over 36 months that I can not remove the cosigner because I used the deferment, well this isnt stated anywhere, and most student loans you can remove the cosigner after 36 months of on time payments. What does deferment have to do with it? 

There are pages missing or fabricated from my loan agreement, the first page which is the signature page is clearly numbered 1 by the fax machine ; none of the further pages have any numbers or information from the fax they could have been changed and added at any time. For example the first two pages have no page numbers except as I mentioned the first page has a fax page number stating this page is 1/8 one of eight, the third page starts with its own numbering which starts at page 2. So there are pages 2, 3, and 4 which look like they can just be added to any loan if a person asks for copies, there are no signatures or initials. Also in reading the court filings regarding AES/PHEA and filed by the CFPB I believe it states that the ( Note Disclosure Statement ) is supposed to be on the first page of which it was not with the documents that I did receive concerning my contract. Another interesting thing is that the beginning page says that it is page 1 of 8 yet when I requested a copy of my agreement I only got 6 pages and a disclosure notice to the cosigner at the end that looked like it had just been added to my paperwork and could have been printed at any time just like half of my agreement. 
I am asking for proof of this loan, it was made with XXXX Bank and is now owned by XXXX and serviced by AES, I have no idea where this loan has been and who actually owns it. I would think that AES collecting on a loan they cant prove ownership of would be fraud and they should give any money paid back to me. 
I have attempted to make payments and stay current with American education services ( my loan servicer for private student loans ) and this loan is to the point where I can no longer manage paying it. I am a XXXX veteran living off of my XXXX pay and my cosigner was medically retired and is now living of social security and they can not afford for me not to pay this loan. The issue is that my actual lender who claims to own the loan is called national collegiate trust. The company buys up old debt and then collects on it, I never actually had a loan with XXXX but they bought my loan. I now have no relief and can not get in touch with anyone at this company. 

AES has been suing individuals who owe them for the past few years and many of these cases have been thrown out because once the case goes to court they can not provide proper proof they actually own the debt, and the borrower case is dismissed in many of these cases. My issue is I have not defaulted to this point, but because of my limited income I have no choice. I just cancelled my Automatic Monthly Payment for XXXX and hope from this complaint I can finally get some relief. National collegiate trust needs to be held accountable and they need to prove they bought my loan. There are thousands of people in my same position just looking to get some assistance and speak with XXXX about their loan and try to lower payments. 

I have never held an account with XXXX XXXX XXXX If XXXX holds paperwork from previous loans, that information should be provided, showing a complete assignment of the debt from the original creditor. XXXX XXXX bought and securitized student loans. These securitized notes were then sold to debt investors. XXXX XXXX then hired collection agencies to pursue debtors for collecting what they considered to be outstanding debts. Federal laws mandate collectors to possess the documents that prove debts they want to collect are indeed owned by the people theyre pursuing. Over 2,000 collections lawsuits that were filed on behalf of the trusts were in violation of the laws. In these lawsuits, the trusts do not have or can not find the documentation necessary to prove either that they own the loans or that the consumer owed the debt. Valid affidavits must be signed by a witness with personal knowledge of the consumers account records. But such affidavits dont exist for any of these lawsuits. 

Employees completed and notarized sworn legal documents for lawsuits brought on behalf of the trusts. XXXX XXXX also filed at least 486 collections lawsuits after the statute of limitations had expired. If there is a class-action lawsuit to help those negatively impacted by XXXX XXXX and its debt collector who sued thousands of students by relying on false or misleading legal documents and couldn't prove that those being sued were the actual owners of the loans in dispute I would like to be included, compensated for damages, and have the following AESXXXX account removed from my credit report : AES/XXXX XXXX XXXX in the name of XXXX XXXX XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation