Consumer complaint received 2016-06-13
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: MN
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are handled

Complaint:
In XXXX 2016, I submitted an application for the REPAYE repayment plan. As a part of that application, I elected to pay a one-month reduced payment forbearance, rather than making a standard payment, before entering REPAYE. I was previously on an income-based repayment plan. Several months went by before any action was taken on my account. In XXXX, I was contacted by a borrower advocate on behalf of a complaint my husband had filed due to similar issues with his request for a new repayment plan. Given the issues that I was also having, I emailed the advocate and detailed the length of time my REPAYE application had been pending with no action. The very next day, on XXXX XXXX, 2016, a forbearance was placed on my account beginning XXXX/XXXX/2016 and ending XXXX/XXXX/2016. In addition, I received a second letter also dated XXXX XXXX, 2016, indicating that my one-month reduced payment forbearance of {$100.00} had been approved. I believe the only reason any progress was made on my account was due to the intervention of the borrower advocate. The Reduced Payment Forbearance was in effect from XXXX/XXXX/16 to XXXX/XXXX/16. As a result, I made a {$100.00} payment on XXXX/XXXX/16 to satisfy that obligation. I then received a statement on XXXX/XXXX/16 indicating that I owed the {$100.00} on or before XXXX/XXXX/16. I subsequently called Fedloan, my servicer, to speak to someone about why my payment did not count, given that it was made in the forbearance period. I spoke with a supervisor who assured me that the payment should count since it was made in the forbearance period and would be taken care of administratively on Fedloan 's end. That issue has never been resolved. The {$100.00} continues to show as due an owing. I called again on XXXX, the due date for the {$100.00} payment as the payment continued to show as due and owing. I spoke to a representative who agreed that I did not owe and additional {$100.00} and was not sure why the matter had not be taken care of. She referred my account back for review that day. I expressed my discomfort about the fact that my account continued to show that I owed {$100.00} and that the date of the call was the due date for that payment. I was reassured that I did not need to make an additional payment and the situation would be rectified. On XXXX/XXXX/16, I received a billing statement which indicated that I owed an additional {$100.00}. It acknowledges a payment received on XXXX, but nonetheless indicated that I now owed {$200.00} on or before XXXX/XXXX/16. I do not know where the additional {$100.00} charge came from. I called Fedloan to inquire and a representative simply told me that she did not know what I was talking about and did not show a {$200.00} charge on my account. Despite this fact, I entered REPAYE and made my first payment under the new plan on XXXX/XXXX/16. I called again on XXXX to inquire about this {$200.00} payment that showed as due and owing on that day. The representative told me I could enter a " post-dated '' forbearance through XXXX to try and " cancel out this payment '' or I could be referred back for review but that would take several days and my account would continue to show as delinquent in the mean time. I repeatedly asked for clarification about how a forbearance would assist, but she assured me it would, so I gave her approval to place me account in a post-dated forbearance through XXXX. It is now XXXX, it does not appear that any action was taken on my account. it continues to show that I am delinquent by {$200.00}, despite the fact that my payment was only {$100.00} and I paid {$100.00}. I have called Fedloan so many times over the past few months that it seems to be a waste of time. I am extremely concerned about the fact that my account shows I am delinquent when I have made all payments in a timely manner. I am concerned about negative impacts on my credit due to Fedloan 's continued issues and mismanagement of my account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief