Consumer complaint received 2022-08-24
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: MD
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
Since the waiver rules for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX were announced in XX/XX/XXXX, I have been trying unsuccessfully to have my qualifying payment count credited correctly. By rights, I should receive credit for roughly XXXX payments toward forgiveness under TEPSLF rules. Instead, FedLoan Servicing has credited me only XXXX payments as of my latest application for forgiveness in XX/XX/XXXX- which is to say, those payments since consolidating into Direct Loans from FFELP loans. 

I have been in repayment on my federal loans since XXXX. They were consolidated in XXXX into an FFELP consolidation loan ( s ). Since then, with the brief exception of a short forbearance in XXXX or XXXX, I have paid the full monthly amount, in full, on time, every month. 

Since the PSLF only goes back to XXXX, I am only entitled to credit under the waiver for months I was in repayment on my federal loans and in qualifying employment between then and present. And during that period of time, I have two periods if qualifying employment. I worked for a qualifying non-profit from midXXXX through XXXX, XXXX. And I have been a federal employee with XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX through present. 

When the TEPSLF rules were announced, I followed the direction on Dept. of Ed. 's website to reconsolidate my FFELP consolidation loan into a Direct Loan. And when that process was complete, I submitted an application for loan forgiveness, with the supporting documents verifying my qualifying employment, confidently expecting the forgiveness of my outstanding balances ( about $ XXXX ). Instead, in XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, I received notice from FedLoan Servicing that I had only 1 qualifying payment. 

I spent many hours over the next several months trying to contact someone at Dept. of Ed. or FedLoan Servicing who could straighten out the problem. On the rare occasion I got through to a person at FedLoan Servicing- and could make them understand the problem- I was told " be patient '' and that they were waiting for updated payment counts from Dept. of Ed. So I waited patiently. And months went by. So I submitted another application for forgiveness in XXXX. They rejected that application too, upping my qualifying payment count to XXXX. In short, they are refusing to credit any of the payments on FFELP loans before consolidation into the Direct Loans, which is not in accord with the temporary waiver rules for PSLF. 

It's now coming up on 10 months - almost a year - since I submitted my application for forgiveness and was entitled to receive it. I have reached out repeatedly since XXXX to FedLoan Servicing, Dept. of Ed., even my congressman. I have sought help from Dept. of Ed. 's ombudsman 's office and received no response. About a month ago, I filed a request for reconsideration of my payment count with Dept. of Ed. As yet, no response. We are shortly coming to the end of XXXX, when the waiver period ends. Right now, instead of the loan forgiveness I should have, I have a Direct Loan that has added 10 years to my repayment schedule and has raised my interest rate over the schedule and interest rate on the FFELP loans I had in the first place. That is, I'm actually worse off right now for having sought PSLF loan forgiveness. The program is clearly not operating as it should - in my case, anyway. 

If you can help resolve this for me, I would be very grateful.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation