Consumer complaint received 2018-03-20
Company: Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority
State: MA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
My issues with XXXX  go back to just about the first day I graduated college and had to start repaying my loans. Their customer service is an embarrassment, as their reputation will show if you do 5 minutes of research into their customer reviews on various websites. Firstly, their website is completely inefficient and more often than not, the password you set up does not work. When you attempt to reset the password by entering your social security number, it does not work. When you attempt to find out how to contact somebody who can help you, there is no information that is well spelled out for you. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I was in my second year of paying my student loans. I had never once missed a payment. I received a bonus at work, and decided to use it to pay a few months worth of my loan right away. I contacted XXXX  customer service -- -the number took me about 20 minutes on their website to track down. I asked the customer service rep if I paid 4 months worth of the loan in one shot if they could simply use the money that was over the payment amount to pay up the next 3 months and continue my regular payment cycle once that was complete. The customer service rep assured me this would be done. This did not happen. They applied everything to principal without notifying me. How did I find out? 2 months after this phone call, my parents home equity line was frozen because XXXX reported that I " missed a student loan payment. '' Since my mother, a teacher, was a cosigner, it froze my parents home equity line in the middle of a home renovation. It took us 5 weeks to rectify this. I had to beg and plead with XXXX representatives to send a letter of goodwill to the credit bureaus to rectify this. It stripped myself and my parents of our dignity as working people in the process. 

In recent years, XXXX was sold to XXXX XXXX XXXX. This was NOT made clear to anybody and my password yet again did not work. I attempted to recover, and nothing worked. I attempted to call and ask for help and they " could not recognize my social security number. '' In XX/XX/XXXX, I needed to save money for my wedding and a few financial emergencies that came unexpectedly. I called XXXX to attempt to get on an Income Driven Repayment plan and received no help. I kept being told I would receive an email to sign up -- that never happened. I expressed to them calmly, " I simply can not afford this loan payment for the next 6 months. Will you assist me so that this 6 month period does not destroy my financial future? '' I was met with silence. Out of frustration, I hung up. If this company hadn't ruined my credit, I would refinance -- -but why would I risk applying to refinance? To date, I still have not been able to recover my password. Their password reset system does not recognize my social security number -- -what an embarrassment of a company. 

This company is hands down the single worst company I have ever dealt with. They are everything that is wrong with the American economic system and they need to be held to account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation