Consumer complaint received 2018-03-25
Company: HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS INC
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:
The issue at hand stems from both inaction and a lack of information from the load servicing company XXXX XXXX. The dates and actions provided below are based on correspondences, many of which can be retrieved via email archives, between myself and XXXX. The loan in question is a Perkins load which is qualified for deferment/cancellation per federal law. The deferment, as specified in the XXXX XXXX Form, " Request for Perksins Deferment and/or Cancellation - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX '' ( complete form can be provided on request ) is valid per my verified employment as a XXXX XXXX XXXX   at XXXX Massachusetts in XXXX Massachusetts. Despite this, through no fault of my own, XXXX has marked my loan as delinquent because the correct forms were sent to the wrong contact at the XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). A list of dates and actions will be provided below specifying the direct actions taken by myself to ensure I was compliant with federal law and the rules set fourth by XXXX. I am not asking for any type of additional recourse all I want is XXXX to do the only job they are responsible for. Managing my loan. Please note any emails or forms that have not been destroyed by XXXX can be retrieved as evidence. 

XX/XX/XXXX Received email from XXXX indicating my annual student load statement was prepared. 

XX/XX/XXXX Completed " Request for Perkins Deferment and/or Cancellation '' and mailed it to XXXX per the instructions on the form XX/XX/XXXX Received incorrect billing statement indicating I was liable for payment that should have been legally deferred based on the actions I was responsible for. 

XX/XX/XXXX Contacted XXXX to ensure that paperwork was properly received as I had received a billing statement indicating I owed money for a loan that was legally being deferred. Per my call I was informed by XXXX that I needed to contact the Bursar 's Office at XXXX. Contacted the Bursar 's Office at XXXX and was told that XXXX mailed the paper to someone who no longer is employed with XXXX. This in itself is problematic as there is no indication from either XXXX or XXXX that the completed paperwork, which has my home address, employment information, and last 4 digits of my social security, is accounted for and is now simply floating around. After receiving the correct information from XXXX I was informed by XXXX that I should ignore the billing statement for XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX Received past due billing statement indicating not only was I still liable for a billing statement that XXXX told me to ignore but that no corrective action had been taken since speaking with them. 

XX/XX/XXXX I once again contacted XXXX to determine what exactly went wrong in the process that I was assured had been taken care of. In this call a number of troubling outcomes were determined listed below : No one including a manager ( " XXXX '' ) could tell me if the forms that I had correctly provided in a timely manner had been sent to the right contact at XXXX, or to any one at all. There was no quality control to speak of that would have indicated any type of chain of custody or accountability had they not been sent correctly. In fact they told me that it is possible they may have shredded the applicable documents because no action may have been taken in the 30 day window they give themselves before sensitive documents are destroyed. 

" XXXX '' ensured me that she would look into the issue and contact me either later that day or the next day. 

Received no return correspondence with anyone from XXXX since then ( this is being written XX/XX/XXXX ) On Friday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I attempted to contact XXXX to see if I could get any followup on my issue after 30 minutes of being on hold I ended my call. 

I will be conferring with legal council next week if we do not receive any resolution to this issue. I am not asking for anything other than XXXX do the only job they are responsible for carrying out. The fact that XXXX is included in this transaction is baffling to me as I could have mailed my own documents to XXXX without XXXX. However, as the way it is set up I must go through them and will continue to diligently follow the rules they set fourth. 

Finally, I appreciate any help I can get on this and it is obviously a time sensitive matter as they have now reported my loan as delinquent which has real consequence on my credit score. If this negatively impacts my credit score/ability to secure credit in the future I will absolutely have questions on taking legal action. 

Best Regards and thank you. 

The attached forms are to provide this context : The completed deferment form is to demonstrate that the form was completed by the responsible parties ( myself and my employer ) before payment would have been due ( XXXX ). 

The XXXX statement is to show that I am indeed qualified and had been participating in the deferment program through XXXX. 

The XXXX statement is to show that because of XXXX 's inaction I was found to be liable for XXXX 's payment. 

The XXXX statement is to show that my loan is now delinquent because XXXX has been unable to effectively manage my loan.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation