Consumer complaint received 2017-08-22
Company: Nelnet, Inc.
State: CO
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:
On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I received a call regarding my student loans by a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX. The salesperson stated that the company provided services for relieving student loan debt, providing an income-based driven repayment plan, and could consolidate my federal student loans through the Department of Education. The salesperson made it sound like there was no other way to do this except for going through a company just like XXXX XXXX XXXX to do it for me. It was not clear that the company did not have a relationship with the DOE, and they continued selling the service by calculating my monthly payment and quoting an interest rate. I signed up. They sent me forms to fill out ( assuming they were power of attorney ) and requested my XXXX ID and Social Security number. I emailed the forms back. In the mean time, I was thinking that I could save money by having someone else contact the DOE for me and situate my repayment options, until they stated that for the services, they needed a fee payment of nearly {$700.00} which could be broken up into XXXX payments, or I could save by paying {$590.00} that moment. The guy on the phone XXXX XXXX XXXX, stated that " usually customers will put the amount on their credit card instead of a monthly payment ''. So I did. After getting off of the phone with XXXX, I looked up the company and found that people were calling the company a scam, and that there were ways of doing this on my own where I did not need a third party assist. I emailed XXXX XXXX XXXX the next day XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and requested to have my {$590.00} refunded back onto my credit card and let them know that I would not be needing their services. However, I received an email back later the same day that stated verbatim, " Please understand that it is imperative that you speak with a case XXXX in order to file an official report and/or to request your enrollment agreement contract to be void in null. Please leave your best available phone number, and available time to reach you, or you may contact us at the numbers listed below. We look forward in resolving this matter in a timely manor. '' Based on the instructions, I called the number from the e-mail and requested a refund. The case XXXX I spoke with stated that they would put in a refund request with the cancellations department, but because it was late in the day and the weekend was coming up, that it may not be processed until the following Monday. I told the case XXXX that it would be fine, as long as I got my money back and my account was canceled. A few weeks later, I received my credit card statement and saw that the {$590.00} had still been charged. I immediately called XXXX XXXX XXXX again, and none of the reps I spoke with had any record that a cancellation request had been submitted. I was also told that they would need a XXXX to approve of the request, and that the XXXX would not be back to the office for a few days. I waited, and called back a few days later. Still no record of my calls, nor the cancellation request. The policy sent back to me once I signed the documentation clearly states : " XXXX. XXXX XXXX. The XXXX cancellation policy is designed to exceed state law requirements ( for the Clients protection ) and be easy to understand : If you are unhappy or dissatisfied at any time prior to receiving your completed application documents ( the services you are purchasing from the Company ) then simply send a letter, email or facsimile to the Company requesting a refund and cancelling. Once Company completes its document preparation services and  sends documents to the Client, Client shall not be entitled to a refund unless subject to above guarantee or if Client requests such cancellation within their state statutory cancellation right. If at any time you have questions, please do not hesitate to call or write to us directly. " Also, I have not seen any paperwork sent from them in regards to servicing my student loans as promised. My loans have not been consolidated, and I received a notice from my current servicer that my first loan payment will be in XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation