Consumer complaint received 2016-06-09
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: PA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Having problems with customer service

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX my loan was transferred from XXXX to FedLoan servicing. The transfer process has not been easy. I was in the REPAYE program from XXXX and my loan was to be transferred to FEDLOAN as the REPAYE program. Instead, the loan was put into the IBR program by FEDLOAN. When I called to find out why I was told by the consultant that that is the way it transferred over and I was told I would have to provide proof that I put it into the IBR. I told the consultant that it was n't my responsibility to provide proof that there was a problem with the transfer of data. He eventually transferred me to a supervisor who said she researched it and it did transfer over to REPAYE but for some reason the billing system mistakenly put it into IBR. She then escalated it for the correct program. They tried to charge me XXXX to exit the IBR program but I said that I had already paid that IBR fee back in XXXX to XXXX. She said she would escalate that as well. Over the last two months the XXXX payment never left and I put the loan into forbearance until it was figured out - I was under the impression that the payment fee was gone and I would have a payment due in XXXX. Now I have gone two months without making a payment which is two less months toward loan forgiveness. I was recently informed that I am in REPAYE and I owe XXXX starting on the XXXX of XXXX. However, when I log on the XXXX XXXX payment does n't show up but it shows that I now owe XXXX for the forbearance. I was informed that the XXXX would drop off on the XXXX and I would have to log on the XXXX to make the payment of XXXX that is due on the XXXX. I was further informed that the XXXX could take up to XXXX weeks to disappear as they have to verify that I do n't owe the XXXX exit fee. The billing system is so confusing I am not sure what to pay or when to pay it. I am not sure if anything I pay will count toward my public service loan forgiveness. 
Additionally, the payment history did transfer but I am being told that they have to verify m y payment history. I was told in XXXX that it takes for weeks, I was told in XXXX it takes XXXX weeks and I was told today XXXX XXXX that it can take up to XXXX months to review as they have to verify manually my payment history. However, no one ever verified my loan history. The phone rep said that the loan history is verified electronically. When I asked her does manually mean that they make phone calls or letters to verify my payment history? She said no that it 's all sent over by computer. I asked her why it takes so long and she just says that is their policy. 
What I want is for my payment history to show up, for the XXXX to drop off and to be given credit for XXXX and XXXX toward my public service loan forgiveness as the mistake is theirs and not mine. They need to clean up the billing system and make sure my information is reported correctly on their website and guarantee that my payment for XXXX that I hope to make on the XXXX will count toward the loan forgiveness. 
I feel that they need to manually verify my debt as it seems there is a mess up with the calculation dating back to approximately XXXX Somehow an additional XXXX to XXXX XXXX has appeared during that time frame. It 's important to find the original paperwork and not verify what is on the department of Educations website as that is not accurate and what I dispute. When I call the department of Education I am told that I have to put all complaints through the loan servicer. My last concern is that there is no way to write and request changes to the loan servicer in order for me to protect my credit rights. I have no control over what the person on the phone writes or does on the computer. So this seems like an issue and I need clarification on how to write and dispute information with this agency via letters and continue to make payments so that I can qualify.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation