Consumer complaint received 2016-12-20
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: PA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Don't agree with fees charged

Complaint:
Over the years of working with FedLoan Servicing, I have had a number of issues and problems with my account. 
At the onset, the consolidation and placement into IBR took 5 months, and I could not start making payments for some of my loans until I was 10 months into my XXXX. This is a major financial problem for me, since I would have to take a forbearance with the payments, and the PSLF payments would have to be made up at the end of the period, with higher payments. Thus, although I should have been eligible for PSLF payments in XX/XX/XXXX, I did not start some of their actual payments until XX/XX/XXXX. With XXXX, my date of forgiveness began to fall backwards from XX/XX/XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX with 4 months of extra payments as an XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX ( $ XXXX * XXXX / 12 months * 4 months = {$10000.00} ) FedLoan Servicing incorrectly processed my work re-certification forms multiple times over the years, and I it would take them months to correct their errors. During these times, I had to take at least 2 months of extra forbearance for them to get the paperwork under order and get me back into IBR. Again, this set me back to pay even more as an XXXX ( $ XXXX XXXX XXXX / 12 months * 2 months = {$5000.00} ). 
In XX/XX/XXXX, when I called them to ask about the new Revised Pay As You Earn ( REPAYE ) program, which would have me making XXXX % payments instead of XXXX % ( along with other incentives ), they told me to not take part of the program and instead re-certify for IBR. I did so in XX/XX/XXXX. When I called in XX/XX/XXXX to ask why my payments were so high ( {$600.00} per month ) and that I have had problems paying them, they said I should have signed up for the REPAYE program ( payments of only ~ {$400.00} per month ). This was their error and they apologized for not telling me about it sooner. Since I had already paid {$600.00} for 3 months, this was an excess of {$610.00}. 
I submitted the paperwork to enroll in the REPAYE program, though a downside would be another month of forbearance for processing the papers. Additionally, they requested that I make a {$5.00} payment for one month. This would not be a problem for me, and we specifically spoke about how it would be taken out of my account using direct debit, automatically. That amount was not taken out, and I was charged {$5000.00} for the next month 's bill. The person I spoke to at FedLoan Servicing was rude and told me I should have known this, I would have to do another month of forbearance, and she would not listen to my case. I finally spoke to a supervisor who said he would try to put an override on the payments, and try to get my payments corrected so they would count for PSLF. Again, this set me back to pay even more as an XXXX ( $ XXXX XXXX XXXX / 12 months * 2 months = {$5000.00} ). 

These errors on behalf of FedLoan Servicing have cost me significantly. I am now at $ XXXX in debt, still at 8-9 % interest. The light at the end of the tunnel ( i.e. the forgiveness date ) keeps getting pushed back. 

FedLoan Servicing should count any forbearance on my account as payments for the PSLF to make me eligible to have all of the debt forgiven in XX/XX/XXXX, and that they reimburse me {$610.00} for the payments of IBR instead of REPAYE. Alternatively, they should reimburse me {$20000.00} for the payments I will be making to them in XX/XX/XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation