Consumer complaint received 2016-10-03
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: VA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about my loan

Complaint:
My servicer, Fedloan, misrepresented information to me about the payment amount I would be responsible for and that would be debited from my account during the transition period from changing from the Income Based Repayment Plan to the Revised Pay as You Earn Plan. A direct debit was initiated from my account although I received notification that direct debit service was suspended. I learned that the standard payment amount was automatically debited from my account today. I also have not received correction to my PSLF investigation request. 
Based on the misrepresentations I received from Fedloan, to my financial detriment, I am asking that the standard payment amount be credited back to my account and that the new REPAYE amount be effective XX/XX/2016. 
XX/XX/2016, I called the servicer and asked about the process of paying the {$5.00} forbearance and how long it would take to process because I did not want to forfeit XX/XX/XXXX for public service loan forgiveness and have the new payments start in XX/XX/XXXX. I was told that as soon as the payment was received, the system would generate the bill for the REPAYE payment. I also called to dispute the incorrect number of PSLF payments. They said that the investigation process was ongoing and no resolution had been reached yet. 
On XXXX, I called Fedloan to dispute the number of PSLF applied payments which was incorrect. I was told that the investigation into my PSLF request had been resolved and that I received XXXX electronic letters in my inbox. I found no such notifications. I also called to to find out how I could have my REPAYE plan become effective XX/XX/XXXX instead of XX/XX/XXXX, thus forfeiting 2 months of PSLF instead of 1. I requested to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor told me that I could submit the {$5.00} forbearance payment as soon as possible and that would create a system notification to generate the bill for the next month. I asked her if there would be a problem since the payment required when I logged into my account said {$0.00}. She advised that I should still submit the payment. She also was adamant that I received the PSLF investigation letters which she later emailed to me. I never found these in my account inbox. 
Then on or about XX/XX/2016, I received the bill notification for the {$5.00} forbearance. I was confused since I already paid the {$5.00}. I called Fedloan and the representative said that the {$5.00} payment I had sent on XX/XX/2016 was not applied because there was no active bill yet. I told her that the supervisor told me to do so, and she said that I would have to cancel that payment. And then pay the {$5.00} again in response to the bill I received. 
I last checked my account the week of XX/XX/2016 and the next payment amount still was " {$0.00}. '' I also saw that direct debit was not activated on my account. I called Fedloan that week and asked what would happen to my account for XX/XX/XXXX. I was told nothing would happen and that my REPAYE payment would initiate in XX/XX/XXXX. I asked if that XX/XX/XXXX would be just forfeited, and the representative said yes, I would just lose that month. During all my calls with Fedloan, I was never told that I would be responsible for the standard term payment while I transition from IBR to REPAYE. Also, my direct debit was deactivated, so the amount debited was unauthorized. 
Today when I logged into my Fedloan account, I saw that there was a message that my account is past due and that I have the option to initiate direct debit. I do n't know when the direct debit was initiated. I was assured many times, I would not be billed the standard amount while transitioning from IBR to REPAYE.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation