Consumer complaint received 2017-06-08
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: FL
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 have been enrolled in the Income-Based Repayment ( IBR ) program with American Education Services ( AES ) since  XXXX  and I am required to recertify annually for the program by submitting an application along with financial documents. This year, the re-certification process changed slightly and rather than submitting my application and financial information directly to my loan servicer ( AES ) as I have done every time in the past, I was instructed to " log into StudentLoans.gov to complete an IDR application, which will be forwarded to AES ''. I followed these instructions and completed the re-certification process, submitting my application and financial information, according to the directions provided at StudentLoans.gov on  XX/XX/2017 . On  XX/XX/2017 , I received an email letter from AES stating that Since we did not receive your complete annual documentation, your new payment amount is not based on your income and family size ; however, your loans will remain on the Income-Based Repayment plan. Your new monthly payment of {$1100.00} is first due on  XX/XX/2017 . On the same day, I also received an additional email letter from AES stating that Interest has been capitalized on the loan ( s ) listed on the reverse side of this letter. This occurred because your forbearance, deferment, or grace period ended. The loans listed in both letters were the same loans.
Upon viewing this information, I made a call to AES about the loans in question and after a lengthy conversation with the representative, it was concluded by the representative that the address provided by StudentLoans.gov to mail my re-certification documentation was incorrect and instead appeared to be the address of their sister company and not AES. The address I was provided and mailed my documentation to was, FedLoan Servicing   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  ,  XXXX , PA   XXXX  . The representative then provided a fax number and proper address for me to re-submit my information for review to which I promptly complied. However, due to this error, two events occurred which have negatively impacted me financially. First, all unpaid accrued interest on my student loans accumulated during the previous 4 years ( approx. {$4200.00} ) was capitalized on my student loans. Second, my loan payment due on  XX/XX/XXXX  increased dramatically to {$1100.00} from {$490.00} the prior month.
In addition, I take issue with the enormous amount of misinformation being provided by my loan servicer. According to their documents provided on  XX/XX/XXXX , my loans remain on the Income-Based Repayment plan to which a key benefit is deferment of interest capitalization, yet interest was capitalized on my student loans that very same day. Also, they stated that Your new monthly payment of {$1100.00} is first due on  XX/XX/XXXX , however the increase happened almost immediately with the increased payment being due on  XX/XX/XXXX 7, not  XX/XX/XXXX .

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation