Consumer complaint received 2016-08-20
Company: Equitable Acceptance Corp
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:
I fell victim to a student debt relief scam. I got a call XX/XX/XXXX by a company named XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ), and spoke to a man named XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) who told me new legislature passed by the Obama administration made me a candidate to decrease my monthly payment for a small one-time fee. He said my {$230000.00} outstanding balance with my loan servicer, XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ), would be paid in full, and that my payments would be lowered to {$39.00} a month or so. 

I was sent a link to sign a form online, which would expire in a certain timeframe so I was pressured to sign it immediately. I then got a credit alert from a corporation called Equitable Acceptance that said I owed {$1300.00}. I had never heard of this sum and did not recall hearing the name of this bank. When I tried logging into my XXXX XXXX account, my password did n't work. I assumed perhaps they had paid the outstanding balance and I no longer had an account, making XXXX XXXX XXXX my new loan servicer. I tried calling XXXX repeatedly to clarify, in vain. He had said I could call him anytime. I left voicemails, never got a call back. 

Equitable Acceptable charged me {$39.00}, which I thought was my monthly student loan payment. However, XXXX XXXX then charged me a sum for the month I had never heard of, {$59.00} or so. I finally called the customer service department at XXXX XXXX XXXX Department for clarification. I was told that, contrary to what XXXX XXXX told me, XXXX XXXX was still my loan servicer, my outstanding balance had not been paid in full as he suggested, and that {$59.00} was my new monthly payment with XXXX XXXX. 

I then called XXXX XXXX, and spoke at length with a security specialist named XXXX. He was very helpful and filed a complaint on my behalf. XXXX XXXX had requested my information to access my account with the Department of Education, which I disclosed. Based on what we could see on my account, they had not only changed my password to login, but they had frankly falsified information. They listed my email address as one I had never heard of, XXXXXXXXXXXX, which means I personally was no longer receiving any communications from my loan servicer. XXXX informed me that, in order to lower my payment to {$59.00} a month, they renewed my income-based repayment plan by claiming I had XXXX children. I have XXXX children. 

XXXX had lowered my monthly payment by lying to the government. When I asked him what my new interest rate would be, he did not answer directly. In addition to $ XXXX monthly that I owe to this new bank Equitable Acceptance, with an outstanding balance of {$1300.00}. After creating an account with Equitable Acceptance at https : //www.equitableacceptance.com/, I was able to find that my initial balance was {$1300.00}, with {$23.00} of accrued interest already. Therefore, instead of helping me pay off my student debt, this company created a new debt with interest. I must have given them my credit card information because they had started to charge me $ XXXX monthly. I effectively got charged {$1300.00}, with interest, to have someone lie to the government and report I had XXXX children. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and Equitable Acceptance Corporation must be shut down. This is fraud. There is no new student debt relief legislation. I was misled and systematically lied to. I called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX, spoke to supervisor XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX said all calls were recorded. I asked if I could obtain the recording of my initial call with XXXX XXXX, which was made sometime in XX/XX/2016 She said this was not possible. After hearing I was upset at having been lied to and scammed, she literally hung up the phone on me. 

I can not handle any more debt. I am almost XXXX, in XXXX dollar of debt, single, overworked and burned out. Please help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief