Consumer complaint received 2017-08-21
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: PA
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:
In XXXX XXXX I submitted my Income Driven Repayment Certification form to my loan servicer, XXXX XXXX. When calculating my monthly payment, XXXX XXXX failed to take into account my husband 's loan burden despite correctly completing all of forms. I was billed for {$1000.00}. I placed my first phone call to XXXX on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX to report the miscalculation. During that phone call, the representative confirmed there was a miscalculation and placed an expedited request to fix the mistake, stating that it would be finished within 24-48 hours. After waiting 7 days, my request had still not been  processed, so I called XXXX XXXX again on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX and another formal request was submitted to expedite the review, which I was again told would take 24-48 hours. I was told that on Monday 's there is no one available to process such requests since everyone is too busy answering phone calls. I called XXXX XXXX again on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX to check on the status of my request for them to fix their mistake, I was told by employee ID XXXX that the request was still being processed and despite the numerous previous 24-48 hour guarantees I have received from XXXX, he was guaranteeing my issue to be resolved within 72 business hours ( five and a half days ). During that phone call, I was also informed that the bills are processed on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX despite mine being scheduled for direct debit on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, so in essence I was told that I would be billed for the incorrect amount. During that phone call, the representative submitted a request to the Treasury Auditing department to review the payment and remove it/replace it for the correct amount. I was told this process would take 3 weeks, however my payment was due in 11 days. After waiting 68 business hours, I called on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX to check on the status of my request. I was told by employee XXXX that the request was still in the queue and had yet to be reviewed by anyone, I was told that I should wait and call back in another 48 hours, which was unacceptable to me. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor. I was transferred to employee XXXX who also confirmed that I had to continue to wait and at this time my only options for this months payment were to A ) make the payment that was incorrect and of no benefit to me since I am in PSLF, B ) file a forbearance for the month which would capitalize my interest and negatively effect my credit, or C ) miss the payment or pay it late which would cause me to loose my interest rate reduction for on time payments. I clarified that all of these options were negatively effecting me despite the understanding that this was their mistake. I was then transferred to another supervisor, employee XXXX who reviewed my chart, confirmed that they made a mistake and was able to reprocess my forms. Employee XXXX recalculated my payment for the correct amount of {$640.00}, which would not be billed until next month, XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. For this month 's payment due on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I was instructed to pay the new amount of {$640.00} even though I am still being billed for {$1000.00}. Employee XXXX told me that the review of this months payment would take 60 days to complete and in that time period, it would appear to their computer system that I had made an incorrect/late payment until they fixed it in 60 days and I would continue to get notifications that I had made an insufficient payment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation