Consumer complaint received 2022-02-04
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: PA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
In XXXX, I was transferred to XXXX XXXX from Direct Loans. I was with XXXX XXXX until XXXX, when I applied for XXXX. I was then transferred to FedLoan Servicing and was told I did not qualify for XXXX due to having the wrong type of loans and the wrong repayment plan. It wasn't until XX/XX/XXXX, when the XXXX waiver came out, that I began pursuing XXXX again. I thought my loans got consolidated when they were transferred to FedLoan, because I was only making one payment to FedLoan, which was coming out of my checking account monthly as an auto draft. I had read that if you are making one payment it meant you had a consolidation, and because of this, I did not apply for a consolidation right away. I began researching online and Social media regarding XXXX. People were talking about only consolidating you loans if you DIDN'T have all Direct Loans and you WEREN'T already with FedLoan. For example, if you had XXXX loans. I contacted FedLoan several times and received conflicting information, like you don't have to consolidate because you already have Direct Loans. Then I read a question on the Student Aid website regarding the waiver asking HOW MANY PAYMENTS CAN I GET IF I CONSOLIDATE LOANS WITH DIFFERENT NUMBERS OF QUALIFYING PAYMENTS, WHICH STATES : " ASSUMING THAT YOU REPAYMENT HISTORY OVERLAPS FOR EACH LOAN, THE CONSOLIDATION LOAN WILL BE CREDITED WITH THE LARGES NUMBER OF PAYMENTS OF THE LOANS THAT WERE CONSOLIDATED. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU HAD 50 QUALIFYING PAYMENTS ON ONE SUBSIDIZED XXXX LOAN AND 100 QUALIFYING PAYMENTS ON ANOTHER SUBSIDIZED XXXX LOAN AND YOU CONSOLIDATE THOSE LOANS, YOU WILL RECEIVE 100 QUALIFYING PAYMENTS ON THE NEW DIRECT CONSOLIDATION LOAN. IF YOUR REPAYMENT HISTORY DOES NOT OVERLAP FOR EACH LOAN, THE CONSOLIDATION LOAN MAY BE CREDITED WITH MORE THAN THE LOAN WITH THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PAYMENTS ( FROM STUDENT AID WEBSITE ) ''. 

I began seeing that borrowers were getting total forgiveness ( in the six figures ) for loans that they more recently took out ( say for graduate school ), because they had XXXX loans that they had been paying of for XXXX, and they Consolidated their old XXXX loans with their new loans and received total forgiveness. 

I contacted FedLoan and XXXX XXXX, in which Student Aid would transfer me back to FedLoan, if I mentions PSLF or Consolidation. FedLoan would put me on hold for about an hour, then when I mentioned Consolidation they would say, " I will put you through to that Department ''. Then they would put me on hold for another hour. After several calls to get the information I was asking about, I found out there isn't a XXXX Department. I decided to send an email instead of wasting my time being put on hold, and never getting my questions answered. 

I emailed FedLoan on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX p.m. asking " If I consolidate my seven *7* Direct Loans, will I lose my count for the XXXX waiver '' ( see XXXX. XXXX ). At XXXX p.m., I received an email back saying they would get back to me as soon as possible ( See 1b ). I never did hear back from them until XX/XX/XXXX, after I finally XXXX ( See 1c & 1d ). If you look closely at their email, it looks like they sent the email on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, but in fact I never heard back from them until XX/XX/XXXX saying the matter was resolved. It's ironic that after I filed the Consolidation on XX/XX/XXXX, they finally emailed me back saying it was resolved when they never even responded to my question to begin with. 

I emailed them back on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX a.m. saying it was never resolved ( 1e ). I still haven't heard back from anyone. This was par for the course with Fed Loan, they NEVER answered any questions, and that's why I emailed. It is also shady that they were able to make it look like they ha responded in XXXX instead of XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX ( See 2 ), they sent me a letter congratulating me on XXXX for two loans ( Sequence XXXX & XXXX ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX a.m. I decided to Consolidate my 7 Loans since they showed up on XXXX XXXX 's website ( See XXXX ). 

I submitted a Complaint with XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ( See * ) and it is still in review. On XX/XX/XXXX I requested to escalate to the Ombudsman XXXX ( See bottom of 8 ). Still no response. I finally got through to a representative that told me to go ahead and Consolidate, and as I was getting my information together ( XXXX tax return, etc. ) they went ahead and forgave me for two of my loans ( 1 & 2 ), which were already Direct Consolidation loans. They never afforded me the opportunity to Consolidate all seven loans in order to get the highest count of overlapping payments that I have been making since XXXX. Also, they never let me know how many payments I have made over 120 to get a refund. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent FedLoan an email ( See 4 ). I could only print it this way from their website about my complaint. I still haven't heard anything. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, a letter was sent to my FedLoan letter box ( See 5 ) saying they are in the process of completing my Consolidation and I had 10 business days from date of letter to change or cancel. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another letter stating there were changes to my consolidation loan and 2 loans were removed ( see 6 ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a live chat to FedLoan and they ended the chat with no explanation ( see XXXX ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted FedLoan asking for a XXXX that understood Consolidation. It was going to be a long wait so I asked for a call back and I never received one. 

If needed, I can submit other documentation about who I spoke with when calling FedLoan regarding payment questions and Consolidation. 

My resolution is to be forgiven for all 7 of my loans ( as others have ) and that I get written documentation for all my payments that counted towards forgiveness for the two loans, so that the payments get carried over if they don't count in the other five. I am hoping to get this resolved before I am transferred over to another student loan servicer for XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation