Consumer complaint received 2022-02-25
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: SC
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:
Hello, I am writing in reference to a partial forgiveness that was done on my account. I have been with FedLoan for at least 10 years now and have received conflicting information which I'm sure you understand is frustrating. 

My complaint actually covers loans obtained at both the XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX, SC ) and XXXX University. However, the site would only allow me to enter one school. 

To give you a little background, after the announcement of the Limited Waiver on XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email on XXXX as many did- from DOE stating that at least 77 payments that were deemed " unqualifiable '' would now be added to my overall PSLF payment count. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the DOE to see what I needed to do next to make sure all my ducks were in a row. The rep told me that the DOE had no information and that I needed to contact my loan servicer, FedLoan, since they are the administrators of the PSLF program and would be able to tell me exactly what I needed to do to benefit from the waiver. In the meantime, some questions arose for me pertaining obtaining a refund on the payments I'd made during the pandemic. So on XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with 2 FedLoan reps regarding 2 things : 1 ) information on refund possibility, and XXXX ) what I needed to do next to maximize benefit from the new Limited Waiver. The rep helped clarify my refund issue but stated that since all of my loans were Direct Loans, I didn't need to consolidate. This is the crux of my issue. So at this time, I am feeling pretty confident that I needed to do nothing else and that it was just a waiting game at that point. I have my 2 jobs complete new ECF forms so that any missing qualifying employment dates could be added. The forms were received by FedLoan on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I receive notification that 2 of my loans had been forgiven, however the counts on the remaining 9 loans were not updated. On that same day, I contacted FedLoan about this and what was going on, why only 2 loans were addressed. I spoke with XXXX at FedLoan who informed that my counts prior to reveiw were 41, and that with the update and dates of the loans they were forgiven. He also informed me that had I CONSOLIDATED, all of my loans may have been forgiven at one time!!!! How disappointing to hear this after I'd spoken to a FedLoan rep and told I didn't need to! XXXX was very nice and patient while I tried to wrap my head around what he was telling me. He said that because all of the remaining loans have the same payment count of XXXX, there really wasn't a need to consolidate at this point and just wait to see how the Waiver would affect these remaining loans. He was very encouraging which I really appreciate but it was so disheartening to have this happen. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another email from the DOE providing a status update on the Waiver progress. It confirmed that I am one of more than a million borrowers which will benefit from the limited waiver. What this means, I do not know. To date, my account still shows that my last ECF/PSLF form ( submitted XX/XX/XXXX ) has been received and that payment count is in progress. I just would like some clarification of why all counts were not added at the same time the counts for the 2 loans were. It's obvious that the " at least '' 77 payments were added to the 41 count balance as a result of the waiver. Why wasn't it added to the payment counts for the other 9 loans? I was misinformed by FedLoan and I'd also like to know why. I see people who have just consolidated to FedLoan 30-days ago getting full forgiveness while I wait after having done what was advised. While I am happy for those borrowers, I was mislead and told incorrect information, and now I am left confused and having to figure it out. This is very important to me and it would mean a lot to have my loans totally forgiven as it would be a game changer for me and my family. I know that on a grander scheme of things, I may be just another number but behind ever number is a person and a family.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation