Consumer complaint received 2018-09-27
Company: Vermont Student Assistance Corporation
State: FL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Private student loan debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Indicated you were committing crime by not paying debt

Complaint:
I am

a two year XXXX XXXX, and I have been having trouble with the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation. When I decided to go to college as a high school senior, I went through VSAC for my student loans because I was told how great and reliable they are when it comes to working with low-income students/students in need of help paying for college. I ended up borrowing {$140000.00} ( my current remaining balance ) from them to pay for my education over the course of four years, and now, two years after graduation, they are giving me a very hard time with repaying my loans to them. Through my four years of college, I had apparently been applying for and receiving their private loan, not their federally funded loan -- I had even been in touch with their employees over this process and was never told about it. My father cosigned for me, but he never noticed anything about it either -- we were under the impression that all of their loans were federally funded. I am now to the point where they want me to be paying close to {$1500.00} a month to repay my loans, and I am being told I have no other options as they were the private loans. I work for a small company that only employs 10 people, making only {$16.00} an hour. My rent doesn't even cost as much as what they are asking me to pay. I wanted to be able to split them up and pay them off individually in a way that I could afford on my small salary, and they told me it was not an option. I'm not trying to avoid paying them, I just can't afford my full monthly payment -- the interest alone is almost {$800.00} a month. I am at the end of my rope, having been told for two years now that its all or nothing when it comes to repayment, and I just don't know what to do. I have been putting these loans into forbearance since I graduated, but now the interest just keeps accruing. The more I keep researching the situation, the XXXX  lawsuit keeps popping up, and it just seems like what I am going through with VSAC is almost identical to these people who are going through this with the XXXX  law suit. I just can't be the only person going through this with VSAC. I just want someone to look into them so badly -- there is no way that a company can legally only give someone one and only one option to repay a loan. As I said before, I want to pay them, I just don't have the money to pay them what they want. The last time I spoke them ( about three months ago -- XX/XX/XXXX ) I asked them what would happen if I didn't make the full payments, as my options for forbearance were becoming limited ( apparently, I'm only allotted a certain number of these ), and they told me my credit score would drop and they would start garnishing my wages. How am I supposed to pay for my necessities if they are garnishing my wages? So now I am frantic, trying to figure out the best course of action, and I am coming up with nothing. It has been two years of this, and they are not willing to bend at all. I can't even count the number of times I have told them all I can afford is about {$150.00} a month, and they've brushed it off with the excuse of " you have limited repayment option. '' I can't be the only one going through this, and I can't be the only one to see that VSAC is d
oing the same this as XXXX.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation