Consumer complaint received 2017-06-13
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: OR
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
I went to XXXX school betweenXX/XX/XXXXand XX/XX/XXXX During this time I took out loans through XXXX  XXXX XXXX for both years totaling around {$30000.00}. While I was in school this was the beginning of the the Loan Forgiveness Program - enacted by the federal government. It required 10 years of federal  loan payments ( 120 qualifying payments ) and 10 years of straight XXXX employment. As soon as I received my XXXX degree and ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and started paying off my student loans I worked directly with XXXX XXXX to make sure that I was paying 'qualifying payments ' for Loan Forgiveness. I also worked on Consolidating my loans and specifically asked if this would affect my ability to qualify for the loan forgiveness program. During this time I had a permanent appointment with the XXXX and in XX/XX/XXXX accepted a full-time permanent job with the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, XXXX. I have continued to work for the XXXX XXXX as a XXXX XXXX to date. - In XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX contracted the servicing of my loan out to XXXX XXXX XXXX - a government contractor. At this point i had already applied for and was paying out of a 'income contingent plan ' - When my loan was transferred I called up XXXX XXXX to be sure I was paying a 'qualifying loan payment '. I was assured that I was. I called annually to make sure my payments were qualifying. - AroundXX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXXI called up XXXX XXXX and asked if I went in Forbearance for a period of 6 months, would this affect my ability to qualify for the Loan Forgiveness Program? I was told that the period that I did n't pay would n't count, but once I began paying again, I could continue to add up payments to qualify. I took a period of 6 months of Forbearance because my car broke down and I needed the funds to pay for a used vehicle. - In XX/XX/XXXX I called up XXXX XXXX to get out of Forbearance and continue paying off my loans. I again spoke with several representatives to ensure I was under a " qualifying loan repayment plan - income contingent '. All representatives insured me I was. - InXX/XX/XXXX I submitted my paperwork to the US Department of Education to count up my qualifying loan payments - Within a couple of months I received an email saying that my Loan was being transferred out of XXXX XXXX XXXX and to XXXX XXXX XXXX. A month after this I received a letter stating that I was NOT making qualifying loan payments - In XX/XX/XXXX I  called XXXX XXXX XXXX to see why I was n't making qualifying payments and was assured by the representative that I was making qualifying loan payments - I made sure that he put this in the notes on my account. - InXX/XX/XXXX I received another notice that I was n't making qualifying Loan payments, and called XXXX XXXX XXXX again. This time I was told that I had n't been making qualifying loan payments since XX/XX/XXXX - at the beginning of my loan payment. This means that I had been making monthly loan payments for close to 8 years at which only a 'handful ' were considered 'qualifying '. I also learned that because I consolidated my loans in XX/XX/XXXX, none of the payments I made previous to this would count towards 'loan forgiveness. During this time I have a letter that I wrote to XXXX XXXX ( faxed with my income contingent request ) asking if Loan Consolidation would negatively affect my ability to apply for Loan Forgiveness. I never heard a response. - Over the last couple of months I have talked with XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX several times to work out all of this. XXXX XXXX XXXX does not take responsibility for not giving XXXX XXXX the accurate information even though they contracted out the loan on their own accord. XXXX XXXX XXXX says that they do not administer the Loan Forgiveness Program and that I need to talk with XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX/Department of Education. I have also talked to a couple of Representatives within XXXX XXXX who admitted that the Department of Education did not provide consistent guidance on 'qualifying loan payments ' nor were they consistent with the information they did provide. - I also submitted an application for an 'Income Driven Repayment Plan Request after learning that none of my loans were considered qualifying. It took XXXX XXXX XXXX two months to process this request meaning that 2 more payments were considered 'unqualified ' Summary : -I was consistently told by both XXXX XXXX XXXX ( government contractor ) and XXXX XXXX XXXX that I was making 'qualifying payments ' when indeed i was not. - After further investigation I learned that after applying for a 'income based loan payment program ' XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX XXXX was supposed to email Student Loan Holders that they needed to apply annual to 're-qualify ' - I was never emailed anything around this. - Also, in XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXXI asked XXXX XXXX if I consolidated my loans if this would negatively affect my ability to make qualifying payments. I never heard back. I later learned that 'Loan Consolidation ' is considered a 'new loan ' and all previous loan payments do not count towards Loan Forgiveness. - Neither XXXX XXXX nor XXXX XXXX XXXX is willing to take responsibility for the lack of correct information. I have consistently worked for the XXXX XXXX for the last 8 + years and have worked in total for the XXXX XXXX for 15 years. All of this time I was making payments I believed I was making qualifying payments as told by the loan holders. Recently I was told this was not the case. <P/>I am looking for some guidance and help here as I am running out of options contacting both entities. <P/>thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation