Consumer complaint received 2016-07-13
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about my loan

Complaint:
I am a borrow that has followed all instructions in a timely fashion, desires to, and is able to make on time IBR payments. Despite this, my current loan holder 's unreasonable policies and inefficiency are preventing me from doing so. 

Here 's the background information. In XXXX, several of my loans were held by Fedloan while the remainder were with XXXX. Recertification for the year starting in XXXX XXXX was sent ( on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ) to both XXXX and Fedloan. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, XXXX confirmed approval of IBR payment in the amount of {$280.00} to begin on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. Upon submitting documentation for PSL around XXXX XXXX, I was notified that my remaining Navient loans would automatically be transferred to Fedloan ( making Fedloan the holder of all my loans ). 

This is where the problems began. On multiple occasions between XXXX and XXXX XXXX, I spoke with Fedloan representatives in response to several letters I received that stated I needed to complete recertification to remain on IBR. I was repeatedly told that my recertification information had been received but that it would not be processed until immediately prior to the XXXX statement. I also asked whether I should resubmit recertification due to my Navient loans being transferred and was told this was not necessary as XXXX would pass on all information. In XXXX XXXX, I received a statement for {$810.00} and was told that they had not received IBR recertification information from XXXX. Upon sending to Fedloan documents from XXXX confirming approval of IBR, I was told that because XXXX transferred the loans to Fedloan before my first recalculated IBR payment for the XXXX year, Fedloan was not obligated to this amount and I was therefore placed on the standard repayment plan. I questioned this process but also the amount of {$810.00} given that the XXXX calculator estimated standard payments of $ XXXX/mo ( depending on whether my spouses student loans were included in the estimate ), however, no one could address this discrepancy. When I asked to speak to a supervisor or third party that could address my complaint, I was told that there were no oversight agencies or personnel. They did say that they would leave a message for another FedLoan department to call me the next day at an agreed upon time, however, this call was never received and when I called to let them know I was waiting for this call, the person who answered was unable to appropriately direct me or answer my questions. 

I 've since completed a second recertification for IBR ( REPAYE plan ). Confirmation that steps were being taken to transition to REPAYE was received from FedLoan ( on XXXX ) and I was told that I would be placed on administrative forbearance for 1 month during which time I would need to make XXXX {$5.00} payment after which the REPAYE payment plan would go into effect for the subsequent period. I made this {$5.00} payment on time for the month of XXXX and am now being told that I must remain on forbearance and make another {$5.00} payment for the month of XXXX because they did not process the payment plan change in time. Upwards of 8 months ( or longer as this has yet to be resolved ) to process an IBR recertification request seems unreasonable. As part of the PSL program, I am eager to make payments that will count towards the program, yet Fedloan seems to be unreasonably slow and provides inaccurate information that interferes with making reasonable payments. They denied the request I made today to expedite the change in payment plan stating that they had already sent out statements and were unable to make any changes in payment amount once that has occurred. I 'd like you to be aware of these irresponsible practices and any advice to remedy the situation would be welcomed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief