Consumer complaint received 2018-05-17
Company: Social Finance, Inc.
State: PA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
Monday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX I answered my cell phone and talked with a person who identified herself as an employee of XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX. ( every other day of the week, and after XXXX  or XXXX XXXX on Mondays, I usually can not answer my phone personally because I am working. ) The XXXX employee informed me they filed a suit in court on behalf of SOFI, my private student loan company, regarding a {$37000.00} student loan. I asked to return their call within the hour. I wanted to get to a better location so that I could discuss my situation and hear what they had to say. I told the XXXX person I was so thankful to hear from them because I had tried repeatedly to resolve my SOFI student loan problem in XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I explained I had never heard from SOFI since my conversation with the SOFI XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX loan servicing manager XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. In my phone conversation with XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX had said he thought he could help me and that perhaps there had been a miscommunication between XXXX and SOFI. He said he would reach out to SOFI 's servicing partners in reference to my student Loan 1 disbursed XX/XX/XXXX and my student Loan 3 disbursed XX/XX/XXXX. I told the XXXX person I had been waiting to hear back from XXXX XXXX or someone from SOFI. When I called back, I was put on hold, transferred to the wrong department and misunderstood repeatedly, but was finally able to connect with someone at XXXX who could talk with me regarding my SOFI loan and the suit filed against me. When I asked her to explain what was happening, I was told I needed to pay {$37000.00} immediately or the suit would go to " judgement. '' When told her I had repeatedly asked SOFI to resolve the situation and even tried several times to contact XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX she gave no explanation as to why it was so hard for me to contact them. When I asked why I had no other phone calls from XXXX, no contact from them even though I had left phone messages in XX/XX/XXXX, she explained that their privacy policy does not allow them to leave a message on a voicemail which does not have a greeting which specifically identifies the recipient of the message. I explained that I did get a letter recently but it referenced SOFI filing suit and I was trying to get in touch with SOFI to find out what was going on. When I explained that I could not afford this kind of a payment having no assets ( I am in the process of applying to XXXX XXXX  and incurred the loans in a XX/XX/XXXX at University of XXXX that I completed in XXXX ) she then suggested that I could pay within 24 months and then later she suggested 36 months. I replied that I was very interested in repaying my loan, as I always have been, but given my financial situation, the most I could possibly afford at this time was approximately {$250.00} a month. She said this would not be acceptable but to take another look at my finances and call her back. When I told her that I had been trying to resolve this situation with SOFI since XX/XX/XXXX and that I had repeatedly communicated with SOFI directly and as well as XXXX, the SOFI loan servicer, she was not interested in helping me resolve the situation with SOFI. 
I have experienced this same intransigent attitude with XXXX and SOFI over the past several years, especially in regards to these two loans. SOFI has chosen to interpret the clause " deferment terms at the discretion of the lender '' in these two loan agreements in a very narrow way. " Deferment terms at the discretion of the lender '' are interpreted as 12 months total of deferment options. This 12 month limitation is not exactly stated in my loan agreement. I discovered this limitation on forbearance options in XX/XX/XXXX. Until this time, SOFI was very gracious as I worked with their career and job development department to complete the necessary requirements to regain my XXXX license and seek a better paying job than my XXXX position. As long as I kept my career coaching appointments and did my homework assignments, my loans were kept in forbearance. I greatly appreciated this novel approach to a student loan company and student relationship. On XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a General Forbearance Request for Loan 1 and 3 and upon calling on XX/XX/XXXX was told there would be no more forbearance on Loan 1 and that Loan 3 was in Economic Deferment until XX/XX/XXXX. This was confusing and upsetting. But that same day, my XXXX year old mother fell and XXXX XXXX XXXX. The emergency room physician at the small hospital where she was initially treated told us there was no treatment for her and that she would XXXX XXXX XXXX of her XXXX. Over the next week we debated as a family to pursue XXXX and decided to go ahead with XXXX XXXX XXXX in spite of the risk. The day of her XXXX I spoke with a XXXX representative who called about my overdue loan from the hospital hallway outside of her room. I was her XXXX XXXX XXXX through the rest of the summer and did not return home until late XX/XX/XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a General Forbearance Request for all three loans with a letter and additional supporting documentation expressing my desire and commitment to repay my loans. I also explained that my primary employment was still as a XXXX and XXXX. However, I had regained my XXXX XXXX license and increased my XXXX XXXX employment. XX/XX/XXXX, in a telephone call with XXXXXXX at XXXX, regarding the status of my forbearance request, I was told that my forms were uploaded on XX/XX/XXXX and approved the day before for a suspension of payments which would begin XX/XX/XXXX for 3 months, until XXXX XXXX. He advised me to request a refinance of my loans under a 20 year option and explained that I would need to contact SOFI directly at XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX I discovered Loan 1 and 3 were 7 days past due. Calling XXXX, I talked with XXXX  who told me that Loan 1 and 3 had only 12 months of forbearance-according to how SOFI interpreted my loan agreement, unlike my third student loan with SOFI- Loan 2 disbursed XX/XX/XXXX, which has three years worth of forbearance options. He suggested I contact SOFI and request refinancing. I called SOFI and talked with XXXX  who helped me to submit my request for refinancing. My request was denied, my loans were not eligible for this kind of option. At this time, I had gained enough work to be able to make a monthly payment and somehow avoided going into default status. XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a General Forbearance Request with a  letter and additional documentation explaining that I was working hard to increase my employment through XXXX XXXX but had only gained temporary employment. XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a General Forbearance Request online specifically for the period XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX with a letter of explanation and proof of income. This was granted. XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted a General Forbearance Request with a letter explaining that the temporary work was unstable but that I had been hired in a full time position and needed a little more time to stabilize financially and move through the probationary period. I did not include additional documentation with this request because I had been told earlier by a XXXX representative that it was not needed. This request was denied. No explanation was included with the denial letter and I assumed XXXX/SOFI had changed their minds and decided to stick to their original insistence that only 12 months of forbearance were available for Loan 1 and 3. XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX regarding my denial and learned that a {$440.00} payment was due on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX for Loan 3 and a {$600.00} payment was due on XX/XX/XXXX for Loan 1. At this time my car broke down unexpectedly on the XXXX outside of XXXX resulting in a {$500.00} towing bill and {$3000.00} repair bill. I was able to pay the towing but needed to borrow from friends to mange to pay the repair bill. By the end of XX/XX/XXXX, I saved enough to make a loan payment. I called XXXX XX/XX/XXXX to make a payment of {$500.00} and was told I only owed {$120.00}. Astonished I asked why and was given the details regarding only Loan 2. Asking regarding Loan 1 and 3, the XXXX person told me no such loans existed and suggested I was mistaken. She refused to pursue the matter with her supervisor. I could not reach anyone at SOFI who could help me. XX/XX/XXXX I sent a letter to XXXX imploring them to work with me regarding loan 1 and 3 and sending more documentation regarding my monthly bills and employment. XX/XX/XXXX I talked with XXXX  at XXXX who located the loans in their system. He said I needed to wait a couple days to find out what was going on. He also looked at my XX/XX/XXXX General Forbearance Request and told me that it was never forwarded to SOFI because supporting documentation was not included. He encouraged me to file again and contact SOFI directly. I could not get through to anyone at SOFI regarding my situation so I called XXXX and XXXX connected me directly to SOFI and I was able to talk with XXXX. XXXX was very encouraging! He thought there was a good possibility that SOFI would make a way for me to pay on Loan 1 and Loan 3.  He assured me that I would receive a call from SOFI. I did not. XX/XX/XXXX, I called SOFI and talked with XXXX. XXXX told me that one loan was in transition to XXXX, a collection litigation firm at XXXX XXXX and someone at SOFI would ask them to get in contact with me. She was not sure about the other loan, it was not showing up in her system. She talked about getting the two loans out of default status through SOFI talking with loan servicing. XXXX did not call me. I also talked with XXXX  at SOFI that day who told me that XXXX had discharged the loans not SOFI and that the Forbearance was denied because of a lack of documentation-a technical detail. She told me the loans were " pushed '' into collection with XXXX and that I needed to contact them. Calling XXXX that evening, I spoke to XXXX  regarding the nature of the missing documentation. He said, contrary to what I had been told up to that point in time by various XXXX representatives over the last year, that what XXXX was looking for in documentation was not common house bills but a bill change like a large medical bill or a reduction in work hours. He asked if I had any unexpected expenses and I remembered my car breakdown and the towing and repair bill. He encouraged me to resubmit a new General Forbearance Request to XXXX documenting the car expenses and requesting they back date it to XX/XX/XXXX. I submitted a new General Forbearance Request with a letter and documentation that day, XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with XXXX at SOFI. He told me that SOFI let XXXX know I want to pay the loans and get back on track. Calling XXXX to confirm they had received this information, I spoke to a XXXX representative who reviewed my General Forbearance Request regarding Loans 1 and 3 sent XX/XX/XXXX and the communication from SOFI. This person told me SOFI was  not referring to loans 1 and 3 but to loan 2. This did not make sense because Loan 2 was in good standing at this time and still is and did not need to get back on track! I asked to speak with the supervisor. The XXXX supervisor told me there was no information in my file about reversing loans 1 and 3 out of default. She said that in order for XXXX to take my student loans 1 and 3 out of default status SOFI must direct them to do so. I then called SOFI again and told them what happened with the XXXX call. I was told that the loan servicing department at SOFI could make that decision, but I needed to call back and ask to be connected directly to the loan serving department. I did call back repeatedly and was told each time that the loan servicing department was not available. On XX/XX/XXXX I called SOFI again. I was told that my General Forbearance Request was " in progress. '' I asked to be connected to the servicing department. This time I was connected to XXXX  at the SOFI servicing department who said I had no loans with SOFI! Calling XXXX back, I talked with XXXX who said that Loan 1 and 3 were charged off but that they could be brought out of default status if notification was received from the lender. XXXX suggested a conference call with SOFI, XXXX and myself. During this conference call XXXX at XXXX suggested XXXX at SOFI talk with her supervisor who then confirmed I did have previous loans with SOFI : loan 1 and 3.  However, this supervisor said I needed to talk to an upper level supervisor at SOFI and then have that person reach out to a SOFI person at XXXX. I was then connected to XXXX  in XXXX XXXX XXXX, an upper level manager in the loan servicing department at SOFI. This brings me back to the beginning of my story with the kind words spoken by this manager and the assurances given to me that he would reach out to the servicing partners to find out more information and email me by the next day XX/XX/XXXX. As I told the XXXX person, I have heard nothing from XXXX  at SOFI,  even though I have tried to reach him through SOFI, until the letter I received and the phone conversation with the XXXX representative. 
This has been a very long explanation. I hoped to give you an idea of how hard I have tried to communicate with XXXX and SOFI in the midst of family responsibilities and building my employment hours. I believe XXXX, SOFI and  XXXX have colluded to deny me a timely humane resolution to this problem and would greatly appreciate your help in resolving this problem.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation