Consumer complaint received 2017-04-24
Company: Utah System of Higher Education
State: WA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
I have  XXXX  student loans throug h UHEAA. I g raduated in  XXXX  of  XXXX . With my first job, I did not make enough to pay all my student loans every month, so I applied for deferment with UHEAA. It was granted. I finally did get a better job but that was right when my deferment was supposed to end  XXXX   XXXX . I went ahead and moved across country and began the process of buying a an expensive dental practice. I called UHEAA in early  XXXX . I can not supply the specific date without a court order because it is from my business phone line. I spoke with a representative and told him my situation and that my wife and I were also having a baby in  XXXX   XXXX , and that I still could not pay my student loans for a few more months. The rep asked when I thought I could, and I replied that I could in  XXXX  of  XXXX . He said Great, I will put your account in deferment until  XXXX  and we will have your first bill due in  XXXX . He told me that he put my accounts in deferment. He did not say I needed to do anything else to make it so. It was done. I was so relieved! A representative of the company said I was deferred. He even told me what I needed to do next, which was to call back sometime in  XXXX  to set up my payment.     I called them back on  XXXX   XXXX , at which point, I was informed that I was not in deferment and was in fact  XXXX  whole months late and owed {$3000.00} right then! They had left no message on my phone number listed on my account. My phone number had not changed since  XXXX . They had it. I never received a letter from them even though I gave them my new address in that phone call previously mentioned. None of the emails they sent clearly said I was overdue, just that I should contact them and had coded images. I wasnt concerned at the time because I knew exactly when I needed to pay again. This is UHEAAs error. UHEAA tells me over the phone that it is not their problem and that there is nothing they can do to help me because I do not remember the name of the person I talked to that told me I was put in deferment.     Every phone conversation is supposed to be documented and or recorded. They also claim over the phone that the only way they can look up a specific phone call is if I supply the phone number that I called from. They used my cell phone to look up the previous call. They did not find it of course because I remembered after that phone conversation that I had decided to use my work phone ( with multiple lines ) so that I could have my account info in front of me on my cell phone for ease on the phone call in question. It really is upsetting to me that, if I understand what I was told correctly, somehow they have recorded or otherwise documented phone calls floating in their system unattached to the appropriate account holders? Just telling you what I was told. How is this appropriate?     I decided that the only way to communicate with UHEAA is through written letters. I sent them certified mail asking them to report to the credit bureaus that I was disputing the claim that I had been 6 months late. By law they have 30 days to report Disputed on my account to all the credit bureau s. ( Fair  Credit Reporting Act sect ion 623 ( a ) ( 3 ) ). Th ey never indicated that I was disputing their record keeping within those 30 days or ever. I have proof of this to be supplied along with this testimony. This impacted me because I can not consolidate or refinance any of my student loans at lower interest rates with a longer term with another company that I can trust. I am always denied. I have very high interest rates on my student loans and I was given no option other that those interest rates and was only offered a ten-year term. Furthermore, I applied for a home loan 4 times with  XXXX  different companies. All were denied because my credit report says that I was 6 months late on  XXXX  accounts with no other indication in my defense. I have had to lose money through rent since.     Next I decided that maybe they needed to hear it from a lawyer. So I had my lawyer write to them  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX  requesting that they retrieve the phone call that I made to them in the beginning of  XXXX  supplying my company phone numbers. I did this hoping they would actually look into it and finally deal honestly with me. They replied two months later on  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  by sending the same letter they had sent on  XXXX  previous occasions with an added line saying that the only phone number THEY called was the phone number on my account. I was asking about a call I made to them. They also indicated or implied in this letter that they did not have to follow FDCPA law because they are governed by the Department of Education. The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal law and they are an entity who reports to credit bureaus. How does this not apply to them? In this same letter, they indicate that they have included  my Master Promissory Note, bu t they did not. They literally pretended to not even understand the request clearly stated from my lawyer. They did not include information that they said that they did. In the beginning of  XXXX  I called them, they did not call me. This is the call I was asking them to look for.     Since I can provide documentation that they do not report fairly on my credit report by supplying that I dispute their claims within the 30 days they are given by law, I want them to be accountable for what their representative said from the beginning of this ordeal. I have never been late on a payment with them since this time. I have paid more than the minimum multiple times. I have tried over and over again to speak to or write to this company with the belief in professional integrity. I have not found it with this company. I believe they should be investigated for poor record keeping, poorly trained customer service and other personnel, hour long wait times, illegal credit reporting practices, but also, and maybe more importantly, intentionally finding ways to charge people unfairly. I have already complained to the BBB.     I have tried to communicate with UHEAA for so long, for too long. They are government run and feel that they are above the law. They will claim that they have no evidence of that call. If that is even possible to be true, then they do not keep good records, and they have untrained people dealing with thousands of other peoples dollars. They say they do not have to follow the fair credit reporting laws in writing to me AND that it is not their job to make the change to the credit report, that the credit bureaus are the only ones who can. This is not true. The credit bureaus go off of what UHEAA supplies to them.     I would like for them to find my call or to figure out why they dont have it. I am not sure if anyone even looked for the phone numbers supplied in the letter from my lawyers in  XXXX  of  XXXX . Their response indicates they did not even understand the question, so this strongly suggests that they did not. Does UHEAA have record of what letters were sent to me and when? Did the letters they supposedly sent to me, get returned to them? What address is listed on those letters? Did they make reasonable effort to contact me? The fact that no messages were left on my pho ne ( a num ber that had not changed since  XXXX   ), in dicates that they did not. They claim they called my parents, but if that were true, my par ents (  who I see frequently and have given me numerous mes sages ) w ould have contacted me for that is who they are, but they did not get any message. Ever. Their phone number has never changed since before I was born.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief