Consumer complaint received 2017-10-22
Company: Red Bishop LLC
State: SC
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 had filled our XXXX forms as I always do. I attended XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and reached out to XXXX since I had no family or friends who could guide me on the process at a new school as expensive as XXXX. The institution did not tell me that when applying for financial aid that I would be taking out federal loans I had no idea about. I was confused the entire process and misguided completely. I was asked to take the entrance and exit counseling and was also informed I had to take this and was lead to believe that EVERYONE was required to take this. I took the first entrance exam before I even received my initial aid amount for the Fall XXXX quarter. At this point I still had no idea this was for federal loans I would have to pay back. After asking for help several times from XXXX they congraudlated me on my awards I had and scholarships. I did all that I could to get whatever money I could without taking a loan out since I had no contribution fro my parents and I was paying for this all alone. I was told to take the entrance counseling a second time. Confused since I already took it in XXXX of XXXX, XXXX yet again said I needed to complete this in order to attend the school. I still at this point had no warning this was for a federal loan. XXXX  misguided me and I would have never went back to school. They also told me that I had to take a private loan out so I had to find a co-signer for that as well. The hole I have dug myself into is not much compared to other students but its a lot for me. I wish the information was clear and made known that I was taking out several loans. XXXX made it seem like I had tons of financial aid and then told me to take a private loan out to pay the remainder. I now have 3 loans out and was only aware of 1. Which was the private loan I had taken through XXXX. The entire process had red flags and had I not spent so much money on admission fees I would have backed out. Its saddening to me since that was a school I worked hard to get into and wanted the education. The direct loans were for the amounts of {$1100.00}  and {$2000.00}. The private loan was for {$4700.00}. My complaint is that XXXX did not explain the process to me when I was very uneducated on students loans and reached out and asked to make certain that something like this would not happen. The loans were through XXXX and I thought the mail I received was spam. I also did not receive anything about this loan until now. Almost 1 year later which I was I was caught off guard when I got a notice of these loans. XXXX not only did not assist me properly they even came back after my first quarter was completed and told me they re did my financial aid and ordered me to pay them personally back another {$500.00}. With little explanation and told me my credit would be ruined if I did not make the payments. Ignoring my emails and making snide and rude comments to me on my concerns being voiced to the school. I hope that others think twice before falling into the scam that is our education system in this country. Its very unfortunate that citizens who want to get an education and try very hard are misguided during the process. I was never informed I was taking out direct loans. I was told I must complete this paperwork and that everyone has to do it. Now I am stuck with 3 loans when I thought I only had 1. Financially distressing me and making it nearly impossible for me to get a head. 

Not only was this information made unclear but during my time at XXXX the professors made several errors with my online attendance. Had I not caught the mistakes myself, my aid would have been jeopardized. This is also unprofessional. Before deciding to not return for the second quarter I was planning on returning. They said I submitted tax information wrong and my tuition went up. I did not even know how this was possible since I gave permission for XXXX to directly take my information from the IRS. They then raised my cost and how much I had to pay out of my own pocket. I requested a refund of the cash I had sent from the original tuition cost which was {$2100.00} because they were asking me for almost double that after I made that payment.

I also was awarded a {$5000.00} grant for eLearning ( email in attachments ) and that is not even seen on the copy of my financial records ( attachments ). I have no idea if this was even applied to my tuition cost while I was there. 

I have provided emails with the school in my attachments. The ones that I have. I also have submitted a complaint elsewhere and with FAFSA.  Please contact me with any additional information that may be needed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation