Consumer complaint received 2019-06-29
Company: Premier Student Loan Center
State: WA
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:
Back in XX/XX/XXXX, I was contacted by Premier Student Loan Center about my government loans. I was informed that they helped students see if they are eligible for student loan forgiveness. After speaking with them and going through some questions, I was told that I was eligible for a student loan forgiveness program and would receive a total of approximately {$32000.00} of forgiveness on this program. This program was an earned program, where I would make a minimal payment monthly, & at the end, the rest of my loan would be forgiven. The company asked for a payment of {$200.00} for the first 6 months, which would pay for them assisting me & being a third party for me to receive this forgiveness program. After those 6 months, I would pay a {$40.00} payment each month which would go towards my forgiveness program on my loan. They then created a FSA Federal Student Aid login for me & had complete access to account as well as my XXXX information. They also had me sign Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Documents. They then sent me a copy of my current federal loans, a congratulations email, & asked for referrals and also offered a {$25.00} visa to any referrals given. A couple days later, I received an email from my student loan provider, XXXX, that they have received my forbearance request and it is being processed. I thought this seemed odd that it was going into forbearance & didn't say anything about forgiveness, so I contacted the company to make sure everything was fine and they assured me that was how it was going to show on my account & everything was going how it was supposed to. A couple days later, I received an email from FSA that they received my request for an Income Driven Repayment Plan. I thought this was part of the process as well. A couple days passed again, in which I received another email from Navient saying I was approved for forbearance, then another email saying they received my Income Driven Repayment request. All of these requests were done by Premier Student Loans. When I went to go back into my accounts they had changed the passwords, I then I had to contact the company in order to get my login information. Since then, I have been making payments as usual. Recently in XXXX XXXX, they contacted me in regard to my " annual forgiveness program renewal ''. They requested 2 copies of my most recent pay stub, & /or a copy of my federal tax return. They also noted that " not sending in these documents can prolong, postpone, or place your recertification on hold. '' I do not recall sending any of these documents, & I then received an email saying that they have reviewed my " file for accuracy and have submitted my recertification application to the Department of Education. '' I also then received an email from XXXX stating they have received my Income Driven Repayment request. This was all work done by Premier Student Loan center again. A few weeks following I received an email stating that my annual recertification application has been approved by XXXX and my new payment information for the year is listed below : Repayment Program : Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment ( REPAYE ) Monthly Payment Amount : {$0.00} First payment Due Date : XX/XX/XXXX This is the last of contact that I have had with them. My payment of {$40.00} has continued to come out of my account. After seeing the scams on the news, I reached out to XXXX in regards to my forgiveness program, which I am currently not on & no payments have been made on my student loans with the company. Right now, I am on the Income Driven Plan, & not on a forgiveness program. They informed me that this company was scamming me & pointed me in the right directions in order to get this resolved.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief