Consumer complaint received 2017-07-03
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: TX
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX : I received notice that my repayment plan was ending, and that I would have to submit a new IBR by XX/XX/XXXX in order to stay on the plan.
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XX/XX/XXXX : I submit an Income-based Repayment ( IBR ) Plan request, along with copies of my tax return.
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XX/XX/XXXX : I was informed by FedLoan that in order to process by IBR ( I was switching plans ) I would have to make a one-time payment of {$150.00}. FedLoan stated that they would inform me of the due date for the {$150.00} payment.
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XX/XX/XXXX : FedLoan informed me that they placed me on a Standard Repayment plan ( no reference was made to the IBR I had submit ), and that my new monthly payment was going to be {$420.00}, starting on XX/XX/XXXX. At this point in time, my payment history was up to date, with the next set of charges owed slated for XX/XX/XXXX.
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XX/XX/XXXX : FedLoan sent me a notice that my interest payment of {$150.00} was past due. I had never received a notice that I had an interest payment due in the first place.
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XX/XX/XXXX : I paid the past due interest payment of {$150.00}.
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XX/XX/XXXX : FedLoan sent me a notice that my request for lower payments was denied because I had not submit the monthly payment. When I logged on to my account, I saw that my monthly payment was now {$720.00} a month ( up from the previous $ XXXX/month ), and payment was not due until XX/XX/XXXX. I had been denied lower payments because I had not paid the monthly payment, which was not yet due.
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XX/XX/XXXX : I submit an Income-based Repayment Plan request, along with copies of my tax return. Again.
<P/> XX/XX/XXXX : FedLoan did not process my most recent IBR, and so I was forced to pay the monthly payment of {$720.00}. I submit an Income-based Repayment Plan request, along with copies of my tax return. Again.
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XX/XX/XXXX : FedLoan denied by IBR, stating that they did not have a copy of my most recent tax returns. <P/>
XX/XX/XXXX : I submit an Income-based Repayment Plan request, along with copies of my tax return. Again.
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XX/XX/XXXX : I received a phone call from FedLoan Servicing about my student loan. I called them, and they informed me that my IBR had been denied again because I did not submit my tax returns. <P/>In talking with the agent, I expressed concern that I could see on my FedLoan account that I had uploaded the tax returns four times, and did n't understand why she could n't access them. <P/>She said that I had only uploaded a payment voucher, and not a tax return. <P/>I asked her to open the document again and to scroll down to the fifth page, where she could find the tax returns. She did as I asked, and confirmed that yes, they had copies of my tax returns, and that she could see all of the previous tax returns that I had uploaded. <P/>My IBR has been on hold because no one could be bothered to scroll past the first page of a 21 page document. <P/>The agent informed me that she would send my request for expedited processing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief