Consumer complaint received 2019-02-02
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
I previously submitted a response to the CFPB and XXXX  XXXX   was quick to provide a response simply to close my complaint without actually making any effort to resolve the issue. XXXX XXXX is not properly counting my qualifying payments as a result of how Loan servicing companies who are contracted through the federal government choose to apply payments. Simply because during a few months in XXXX and XXXX we paid a little extra towards the student loans, the companies moved the extra towards the next month rather than applying to the principal. Unfortunately this is not something that is clear to the average borrower. As a result, even though I never paid less than the amount I was billed, 6 of my 93 payments from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX are not even being recognized. I am truly astounded that XXXX is allowed to continue being the sole servicer who handles the PSLF program. Rather than working towards assisting those who work full-time in public services qualify for forgiveness, they clearly demonstrate their main intention of extending the time for repayment thus increasing their profit. At this point I feel completely defeated and truly hope that the Department of Education realizes that they either need to provide a clearer direction on how XXXX is handling the PSLF or they take steps to have additional servicing companies. Despite my efforts to gain assistance from XXXX and the parent company PHEAA, there appears to be no end in sight. It is astounding that it took the company close to a year to " manually review '' the payments that I had made from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX and provide an incorrect count. Then when I submitted my first complaint with CFPB on XX/XX/XXXX they were able to response in less than 24 hours on XX/XX/XXXX indicating that " XXXX performed a thorough review of your accoun ) t. Specifically, we review the account activity notations, payment history, and forbearance/deferment history. '' So unless they were not actually taking any action during the initial period until I took the steps to have them expedite the manual review, there is no way that the XXXX was able to actually conduct a thorough review. I would hope that with this second complaint that XXXX actually takes the opportunity to be an advocate on my behalf. It is not reasonable to believe that paying a few extra dollars here and there would end up costing thousands in additional payments. I will continue to try and pursue getting this issue resolve. I have made it a point to ensure I take the steps to ensure I remain eligible for PSLF. I have always been on an Income driven repayment plan. I have always made payments time and for the amount on the monthly bill. Unfortunately I did not expect a loan servicer contracted through the federal government to apply payments in a way that benefited them I now submit the XXXX annually. I am just waiting on a response for the form I sent this month ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to update the additional payments made. While I am not confident that this additional complaint will result in an actual resolution - I truly hope that rather than receiving a canned statement that XXXX actually makes an effort to properly county my payments. And I know that I am not the only VICTIM who has had to deal with an improper count of qualifying payments.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation