Consumer complaint received 2020-06-20
Company: ACCESS GROUP INC.
State: TX
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
Dear CFPB, I previously filed a complaint against Access Group and its loan servicing company XXXX XXXX. 

The complaint is # : XXXX Here is what my complaint said : Dear Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I would like to bring to your attention a financial loan servicing company for private student loans that I believe is not managing student loans honorably during this time of national crisis. 
XXXX XXXX which is a Division of XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX, NE XXXX XXXX is managing loans for Access Group. They are following the loan policies of Access Group and so this complaint is also regarding Access Group. 
https : //www.accessgroup.org/current-borrowers I attended XXXX University back in XXXX. This was before the Department of Education restructured student loans. As students we were not given any options for GradPLUS loans and had to select Private Loans for funding for our education. Private Loans was all that was available to us at this time. For some reason the Private Loans were not included in the restructuring of the student loans and it has left many people like me dealing with these private loan companies that treat us very unfairly. Why would my government do this to students? I do not understand it. My official graduation from XXXX University was XX/XX/XXXX and by XXXX the financial market crashed. This was not my fault and I lost my life in XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX because there were no jobs! All of that with the financial industry was not fair to me and yet nothing was ever done to help those of us placed in this terrible situation of losing our careers and professional jobs. The financial industry was bailed out but no help was offered to people like me who lost our jobs and were saddled with these horrible private student loans. These private loan companies do not care about people. 

These private loan companies refuse to place our loans in forbearance while we are completing accredited university education programs. They refuse to offer any income driven repayment plans and now given national crisis are still going to charge interest and are only allowing a 1 month forbearance while everyone else is eliminating the interest and offering at least 2 months forbearance while evaluating this national crisis that is affecting everyone. It is just awful. There are no words really that can express how horrible these private loan company policies are for people who were trying to better their lives coupled with the policies of my government that have allowed for them to do this. Additionally, at times there are situations of personal crisis such as having to care for a mother with end stage XXXX XXXX and THESE PRIVATE LOAN COMPANIES DO NOT CARE AND IT IS FINANCIALLY DEVASTATING. They treat people awful and ruin peoples credit. 
I have paid on all of my student loans over the years but I personally have endured extreme hardship at this time. I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  offering XXXX XXXX XXXX. Though my services ( XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) to patients are XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX  has been severely impacted by the Coronavirus crisis. It has literally killed my business. I dont even know how I will have money for food and electric bills which will continue to accumulate if they are not paid. I do not have support since I am single and it is a very frightening time. I have been paying these private loans even while I was in school working to complete my XXXX. I am really angered that they refused to recognize my in-school status and now are continuing to charge me interest during a time of national crisis when people have been ordered to stay home. 
I was very disturbed by how I was treated today when talking with the representative with XXXX. Please review the private loan policies of Access Group and  XXXX XXXX. 

Thank you, I would like for this company to treat private student loans like what they are STUDENT LOANS. They should offer the same polices that our government offers for student loans. They need to really evaluate how they are also treating people during this national crisis as currently they are operating well below what all the other companies are doing. 
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- New Complaint XXXXXX/XX/XXXX : I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX who has been greatly impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. I lost over 75 % of my XXXX. I have lost almost all self-paying patients. Insurance plans such as XXXX take almost a month to reimburse me for my services and it has been an very difficult time. 

Since XXXX, I have tried very hard to become a provider on many health insurance plans so that I can work within the healthcare network and grow my business and pay my student loans back. For the last 3 years I have been dealing with provider discrimination. Many insurance companies like XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX and XXXX are discriminating against me ( I am a XXXX XXXX  XXXX with XXXX XXXX and XXXX level degrees in XXXX XXXX ) preventing me from being able to get on the plans to provide services. I have had to file many complaints and have been able to eventually become a provider on the following plans XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX. I got on XXXX late last year and I am newly on XXXX beginning in XXXX of this year. It took me almost 3 years to get on some of these plans which has been very financially damaging to me and my business! However the majority of people in my area are on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX health plans and I have been unable to receive any help dealing with provider discrimination with XXXX. I had already been losing thousands of dollars a year due to not being able to get onto the health insurance plans and losing the opportunity to work with the many people that have called me with XXXX  for my services ( I list of the people who have contacted me ). It has been so very difficult but I have kept on trying to get on the health plans so that I can work as a health professional and now the COVID 19 pandemic has caused me to lose most all self-paying patients and has even caused people to severely limit hiring a clinical nutritionist. Thankfully some people are still using their health insurance or I would not be able to pay for food to eat and electricity and water etc. My situation is dire. I have not received any aid for my business though I am trying to apply again. 

I recently received an email notification from XXXX XXXX that my loan payment was coming due on XX/XX/XXXX and that it had now increased from {$510.00} to {$860.00}. I called them on XXXX and spoke with XXXX about it. I told him that I could not pay the bill. I actually can't pay the {$510.00} and so {$860.00} is even worse. It really is terrible what has happened to the bill. XXXX put me on hold and told me that they would lower it to what I was already paying which was {$510.00}. I told him that I can't pay it but that to go ahead and make the change and send me that invoice. Instead of doing what was discussed on the telephone XXXX sent me an invoice for {$860.00} ( See the attached document ). 

It is really very terrible that these private education loans are not being treated like education loans! We don't have any option for income based repayment plan or anything. The global pandemic was out of my control. I had been paying my bill and my business was growing but now it has been severely damaged. I don't know what to do. I am a single woman with no support. I have to pay for my home and costs to live. My situation is very dire and I can't pay this bill and it is going to ruin my credit. Why hasn't my government done something to help those of us that have private loans? How did my government let this happen to us in the first place? I didn't have a choice with regard to the loans except to not better myself and get the education that I needed. Why weren't these loans taken over by my government when they restructured the student loans? It is appalling that major corporations and the financial industry has been bailed out with billions of dollars and those of us who provide vital health services to the public can get the help that we need for our student loans. 

As I said in my previous complaint : I would like for this company to treat private student loans like what they are STUDENT LOANS. They should offer the same polices that our government offers for student loans. They need to really evaluate how they are also treating people during this national crisis. How can they expect for people who have lost thousands of dollars or even who have lost their jobs to pay their loans and to pay almost double what it was before. I don't understand this!!!! It is not right!!! 

Attached is the recent invoice that I received and also the letter that I sent to XXXX XXXX today. 

Please help me. 

Thank you,

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation