Consumer complaint received 2016-07-30
Company: Equitable Acceptance Corp
State: MO
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about my loan

Complaint:
I know that I am victim of student loan scam. 
Right after I lost my job, I started getting calls asking me " Do you have federal student loans? ". On or around XXXX XXXX, 2015, I answered desperate after I had used all of my deferment months with XXXX XXXX loan servicer. I was speaking with XXXX XXXX from the company XXXX XXXX ( see attached ). I thought that her pitch seemed like a scam but she kept telling me how much this program would save me. As a XXXX who works XXXX, I am eligible for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX so I thought that this was only way to sign up. I told her that I had I heard of this program but was unsure how to access it. Since I was in such a vulnerable and panicked place, everything was in collections because I had just been laid off from my job after 15 years. 
So, I began the process of signing up for the forgiveness program with XXXX so that my loans would be forgiven in ten years. For this service, XXXX told me that they would charge me {$39.00} dollars a month on top of my federal student loan payments. I agreed and when I reviewed the contract, I called them back because they were going to charge me {$1300.00} for this service. I called them back and they said that this {$1300.00} was an upfront fee for this service and that the {$39.00} dollars would be the monthly fee once it was broken up over time. Since I was desperate and did n't know that I could sign up for the public service loan forgiveness program on my own, I agreed. I kept asked her is n't this program free? The representative convinced me that the program was not free to sign up for and that I would be lost in the paperwork to sign-up on my own. I reluctantly agreed to sign up with XXXX and signed the contract on XXXX XXXX, 2015 ( see attached ). They then transferred me to another person who took my information for automatic payments. 
I made my first payment of {$39.00} on XXXX/XXXX/2015 to Equitable Acceptance Corporation. Many months went by and then I attended a Student Loan workshop on the XXXX program at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I realized at this workshop that I had been scammed. I reached out to a financial coach at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and she helped me understand the scam and we started finding out the details of what I had fell victim too. I found out that I had a loan for the services from XXXX XXXX XXXX for {$1300.00} that was sent to Equitable Acceptance Corporation ( EAC ). When I called EAC, they said they had no knowledge the money was for and they did not know who XXXX was. Also, that if I stopped paying them, it would adversely affect my credit. I have been paying EAC {$39.00} every month for over a year. The {$1300.00} of the original service had an interest rate of 20.03 %. I am exhausted and furious that this has happened to me when I was at my lowest. Since doing substantial research I have found that the CFPB has helped people like me and gone after these scammers. I hope that the CFPB is already investigating these companies and that they will be brought to justice.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation