Consumer complaint received 2023-10-30
Company: Maximus Education, LLC dba Aidvantage
State: FL
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:
Before making any calls to Aidvantage I searched the website for my desired information. 
I was unable to find the information that was used to calculate my loan payments. I first attempted to get assistance with my loan provider on XX/XX/2023 by phone. My previous loan provider was XXXX and somewhere my loans were switched to Aidvantage. When my loans were owned by XXXX I had to recalculate my loans due to being furloughed by my employer prior to the loan being put on hold. I had talked to customer service representatives that assured me that once loans were started up again I would be given a reduced payment based on my unemployment. Fast forward to today. I called Adivantage to inquire about how my payment amount was derived. I was told by the representative that they " made up '' the amount I was billed and automatically with-drawled. I asked to receive the calculation method. I was not given any further information. Once I realized the lack of appropriate response I realized that I was going to need to put my requests in writing. I have done so with an email that was sent on XXXX. I failed to receive a response by XXXX so I wrote another email that I have copied and will paste to this letter. 

This is a follow up due to lack of response following previous inquiry lack of response. 

Dear Aidvantage representative, I recently called your customer assistance number to inquire about my recent autodraft. I asked about how my loan amount was calculated. I was rather shocked to hear the representative tell me that they just made up the amount I was to pay. 
Prior to the COVID shutdown and the action taken by the government to hold student loan payments I was furloughed by my employer and requested a recalculation of my loans based on the fact that I had no income present. At this point my loan provider was XXXX. During this period my loan provider changed to Aidvantage. The understanding I had with them was that once loan payments were continued I would still be provided relief based on my unemployment and need for recalculation prior to the mass loan deferments. 
I am interested in seeing the numbers used to calculate my loan payments. I believe this is something that I am entitled to but clearly wasnt provided when I inquired over the phone. I recently sent an email to Aidvantage but realized I had not kept a copy of my message for my personal records and unlike typical emails I was not left with a sent message in my outbox for my records. 
I continue to struggle with payments due to infrequent income and would like to get better customer service than I was provided upon my initial call that required me to wait 53 minutes before speaking to a representative I have been waiting for a response to my email as they say most emails are returned in two days however others take longer. I was given a response on XX/XX/2023 that my inquiry had been received yet I have not been given a response to that email. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Below is a copy of the response I received from this inquiry Making a payment/My bill - XXXX - ref :! XXXX.! XXXX : ref Thank you for your inquiry. 
Please do not reply to this email as it is an automatic response. 
You can expect a response from one of our Customer Care Specialists within two business days. Some questions, however, may need further investigation to provide you with an appropriate answer.

For immediate assistance regarding COVID-19, such as recent updates and frequently asked questions, we encourage you to visit : https : //studentaid.gov/announcements-events/covid-19. 
We want to assure you that Aidvantage is closely following developments in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please know that we are working directly with the Federal Student Aid Loan Servicing to provide temporary relief programs to assist eligible customers

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation