Consumer complaint received 2022-05-05
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: TX
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
I have a federal consolidated student loan that is serviced by Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency dba FedLoan Servicing. The loan was consolidated in XXXX, but FedLoan Servicing maintains the consolidated loan as two loan sequences : a subsidized student loan and an unsubsidized student loan. I have been an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in the United States XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX. I have remained on XXXX XXXX at all times since XX/XX/XXXX. Since XX/XX/XXXX, I have never requested for my loans to be placed in forbearance. However, FedLoan Servicing has placed my loans into forbearance on numerous occasions to process their own paperwork and for their own benefit. They have even retroactively applied forbearances to my account several years later to correct their own billing errors when I was in active repayment during that time period and both the Department of Defense and I were making payments towards my student loans. Every year of my XXXX XXXX XXXX, I have filed a yearly certification form to determine my payment amount under an income-based repayment plan. Since the start of my XXXX XXXX I have been enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan. I am in the Revised Pay As You Earn plan. The Department of Education reviews my income on a yearly basis and determines my monthly repayment amount based on my previous year 's tax information. I have also been periodically submitting requests to certify the number of qualifying payments towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Within the last year, I have submitted two Employment certification forms : XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX, a representative from FedLoan Servicing called my current supervisor in the XXXX XXXX to verify my military service. My supervisor confirmed that I was in fact an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and that I worked with him. The representative asked him if he knew the XXXX XXXX XXXX number for the XXXX XXXX. My supervisor explained that he did not know that number off the top of his head, but that it is available online. I never received any information about that form and my payment count did not update on the FedLoan website. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an e-mail from Federal Student Aid Information Center that stated : " ED-FedLoan advises the last application you sent for PSLF in XX/XX/XXXX was incomplete. '' I then submitted another form within four days. As of today, FedLoan Servicing is stating that I have made XXXX qualifying payments for purposes of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. In fact, I should have XXXX payments. Even with additional oversight, they are looking for any reason to delay a proper accounting of qualifying months for student loan forgiveness. Recent changes to the PSLF program allow all months spent on XXXX XXXX to qualify for PSLF. FedLoan Servicing 's website specifically lists XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX as being " Ineligible Payments '' because " You do not have a bill due for this payment period. '' I was on XXXX XXXX in the XXXX XXXX during both of those months. This information needs to be corrected on my account to accurately reflect the number of months that I have spent on XXXX XXXX in the XXXX XXXX. I have access to a large number of records through the Department of Defense that demonstrate that I have been on XXXX XXXX, with no break in XXXX XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation