Consumer complaint received 2017-02-14
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about my loan

Complaint:
Dear Representative, I 'm writing to dispute the American Education Systems ' ( AES ) entries on my credit report on account XXXX. This account was opened to finance my college education. I received the loan XX/XX/XXXX. After receiving the loan and making all installment payments in full and on-time for the entire history of loan repayment ( over three years XX/XX/XXXX ), my loan suddenly went into default because the loan servicer claimed that I had filed for bankruptcy. I found out later that my mother and co-signer on this loan had filed for bankruptcy without my knowledge and AES had automatically defaulted my loan without providing me with notification or an option to payoff. 

My co-signer 's filing had no bearing on my ability to pay my loan. I could have paid off the loan in full had this been an option. Since my co-signer filed for Chapter XXXX bankruptcy, I should have been given loan payoff as option. Instead, it took months of my own effort to contact AES customer service and National Collegiate Trust ( original lender ) seeking information about what happened with my loan and how I could continue to pay it. 

I eventually found out they sold it to XXXX, which is where I am now sending the monthly installments. To date, I am current on all payments. I am still being reported as having defaulted on my loan payments since XX/XX/XXXX, even though I am continuing to send monthly installments to the new loan servicer. 

AES reports their automatic default action as a " Charge Off '' on my account and this negative information is now affecting my ability to obtain good interest rates on a mortgage. AES customer service has misinformed me that the credit reporting agencies ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ) are the only ones who can remove this information. After filing a dispute with these agencies, I am informed by these credit agencies that the deletion of the negative information needs to come from AES. AES has also told me that they can not remove the negative information due to the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ) - even though this act is intended to protect consumers from unfair credit reporting, not punish responsible borrowers such as myself. 

I have a proven track record of on-time, paid-in-full monthly installment payments in the years preceding and following the recorded default caused by my mother 's bankruptcy. I have records of all of my payment history available if needed. AES has violated the notification requirements of the FCRA and repeatedly provided me with false or misleading information about my account and their ability to resolve it. AES has turned a good loan bad with their irresponsible charge off of this account and I am being penalized for their actions despite proving myself to be a responsible borrower. 

I request CFPB require AES to immediately remove the negative information from my credit report for account associated with XXXX. 

Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation