Consumer complaint received 2019-12-23
Company: Nelnet, Inc.
State: IA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
I have two student loans through XXXX XXXX where my dad was the co-signer, and he filed chapter XXXX bankruptcy in XX/XX/XXXX, so my two student loans were pulled into my dad 's chapter XXXX bankruptcy repayment plan. 

As soon as the accounts were marked bankruptcy by XXXX I lost all visibility to the loans. I could not make any payments on the account online, I could not see my balances, and I had no address of where I could mail a payment to. 

I called XXXX XXXX multiple times asking to speak to someone so I could still make payments on these loans, or if they could be removed from the chapter XXXX bankruptcy so I can still pay on them. Every time I called in to XXXX, they transferred me to their bankruptcy representative for Iowa. I left two voicemails asking for the loans to be removed from the bankruptcy and offered to sign something if had to so I could still make payments. XXXX never called me back. 

I talked to my dads bankruptcy lawyer  and he said to stop making the payments and let the chapter XXXX take care of the loans. I did what the lawyer told me to do, but then in XX/XX/XXXX XXXX dinged my credit for a late payment on the student loans. 

I talked to my dad and he said their bankruptcy XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX so he wasn't sure but he sent me his discharge papers and there is a several thousand dollar discrepancy between what XXXX says I owe and what my dads court papers say is left on the account. 

The discharge papers show that when the bankruptcy started the first loan had a balance of {$4700.00}, and the second loan had a balance of {$5800.00}. The papers also show that the courts paid {$4300.00} on the first loan, and {$5300.00} on the second loan. That leaves a balance of {$470.00} on the first loan, and a balance of {$580.00} on the second loan, totaling {$1000.00} principal balance left for my entire account. 

When I log on to XXXX they show I still owed over {$4000.00} on both of my loans. As of today, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX shows I owe {$3700.00} on one loan and {$850.00} on the second loan. Back in XX/XX/XXXX I called in and asked an agent at XXXX why the amounts differ and he said it was due to them buying the loans from XXXX Bank, and I asked if that would cause a $ XXXX discrepancy then he said to send in the discharge papers for XXXX to review. An agent emailed me back a couple weeks later saying that the difference in amounts was interest charged that the court did not take into consideration. 

I tried to pay these off before they even reached this point but XXXX would not respond to me, I've tried to work with XXXX to show them that they're charging me $ XXXX in additional interest due to XXXX bank not responding to me when I wanted to pay these off back in XXXX. XXXX doesn't seem to understand. I just get responses about how I am reading the discharge papers wrong because I am only seeing a balance left for one student loan but not both. Or I get a response that says its interest that I owe. I am not reading the discharge papers wrong, and I am trying to negotiate the remaining balance on my account so I can pay it off and close it out but XXXX will not work with me. 

I requested to pay this back during the bankruptcy and was ignored, you can not come back five years later saying now I owe $ XXXX in interest due to your lack of response. If you assume XXXX XXXX debt you also assume their mistakes which includes the one they made on this account by not letting me pay it back sooner, which would have resolved the issue of the additional interest.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation