Consumer complaint received 2022-08-08
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: KS
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
I am in the midst of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and I called FedLoan on XXXX XXXX to discuss the fact that I had old student loans out, and that I did NOT want them forgiven. I expressed my concern about the older loans being forgiven before they could be consolidated with my newer loans. They noted my concern. I called FedLoan again on XXXX XXXX to express this concern specifically and to ensure that the forgiveness didn't happen to my older loans. Further, I asked what could be done to prevent this. A " case file '' was going to be opened and I was told that I would be contacted within 24-48 business hours. XX/XX/XXXX, those older loans, the ones that I specifically asked not to be forgiven and what steps I need to take to prevent them being forgiven were .... Forgiven. I called FedLoan XXXX immediately upon finding this out to complain and see what my options were. He ( the guy I talked to was named XXXX XXXX stated that he would send his supervisor an email to see what my options were. XXXX stated that he would return my call ASAP and I never heard back from him. XX/XX/XXXX - I called back immediately, and ironically talked to XXXX again. He stated that he sent the complaint up to his supervisor, and read me the response. The response indicated that the loans probably couldn't be reinstated, but they still have a balance on them. He said I could continue to escalate the issue if I wanted, which I did. 
During the escalation process, FedLoan gave an update on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I began the process of consolidation as I did not trust FedLoan to follow up with my complaint in a timely manner. The consolidation was done because of inaction by FedLoan. The most important aspect of this complaint is that FedLoan gave me incorrect assurances and information and did nothing to help me in my request to stop the loan forgiveness. I called twice before the loan forgiveness occurred attempting to stop the forgiveness ( XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ), and FedLoan employees opened up a case file. I was told the case file would take two days for action to occur. It was during this delay that the forgiveness occurred. I strongly feel that had action occurred in a timely manner, this whole situation may have been alleviated. I called the day forgiveness occurred, the day after it occurred and still was not given any pertinent information regarding my case. I tried to call ahead of time to alleviate the situation and FedLoan did noting to help me or follow my requests. In my calls prior to the forgiveness, I was given incorrect information about the loans, forgiveness and the process. A case file was opened which delayed any action that could be taken. This delay resulted in my loans being forgiven.

I followed up with FedLoan on XX/XX/XXXX as I had no current information on the escalation. I was informed " to confirm, your loans have been paid in full as a result of consolidation, and, as such, your loans are no longer serviced by our office. '' This disregards any sort of solution to the problem ( incorrect information given by FedLoan, the delay and subsequent forgiveness of the loans ) and simply lets FedLoan bypass the issue. Basically, FedLoan has provided no solution, but is using the fact that the loans are passed on to another servicer as an excuse to not have to investigate or provide a solution to the problem. The larger issue is that the problems started with FedLoan in the first place, with their employees, they have done nothing to resolve this, and are using the consolidation as an excuse to not have to deal with this issue. I have gone to great lengths to try and resolve the problem before it happened and yet, FedLoan has just delayed the issue and have used excuses to have to deal with the issues. Thank you for your time, consideration and investigation into this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation