Consumer complaint received 2016-05-07
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: MO
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Can't repay my loan
Sub-issue: Can't get flexible payment options

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX, I received a message from the servicer of my student loans, Fedloan Servicing, which informed me that I needed to re-submit annual documentation to renew my income-based repayment plan for my student loan balance. I replied in a very timely manner, mailing them my renewal paperwork and all current income verification as requested during the first week of XXXX XXXX. Then in XXXX XXXX, I received a message stating that my request for renewal on my IBR plan was completed and was denied due to income verification that was greater than 90 days old. This was no fault of mine as I submitted current income data with my renewal - they just did n't process the renewal timely and automatically placed me on the standard 10-year repayment plan making my monthly payment due XX/XX/XXXX a balance of {$1000.00} some odd dollars. The message also stated I had 30 days to provide current income verification. Since I had just completed my tax return, I went to their website and immediately uploaded my XX/XX/XXXX tax return documents, and emailed them about the additional verification provided, and how my renewal was not processed timely by them and that this was no fault of mine. I sent them several messages in the last four months, and rarely, if ever do they reply. Eventually this was processed just before the XX/XX/XXXX due date of my {$1000.00} payment, but was processed incorrectly according to my AGI for my family size and my payment was still substantially too high at over {$200.00}. I again emailed, requested a hearing and to speak to a supervisor. No response other than : pay your bill, you owe this. I called twice and spoke with representatives and requested a hearing or appeal on my case and to speak to a supervisor. The last time I was given to the " Escalation Unit '' for Fedloan Servicing, and spoke with a woman named XXXX. I gave her all of the information relating to the original problem - them not processing my renewal timely, causing my income data to be beyond the previous 90 days as required by their policies, placing me into the standard 10-year repayment plan, me resubmitting my tax return for a correct re-determination, an incorrect re-determination which caused my payment to be much too high to be able to afford to pay, and then they finally, finally got it processed correctly and I was given my correct repayment amount, but since they processed this re-determination after the XXXX payment due date of over {$1000.00} ( for the 10 year plan ), they applied the IBR plan to begin in XX/XX/XXXX with the correct amount and carried over the missing payment I did not make of over {$1000.00} from XX/XX/XXXX - leaving it as a late payment, unpaid balance that still requires being paid, and are negatively reporting to the major credit bureaus that I am delinquent in payments and owe an outstanding balance that I never should have owed if not for their errors. When I spoke to XXXX in the Escalation Unit at Fedloan Servicing, she offered a one month verbal forbearance for the XX/XX/XXXX payment which I did not accept as I have public service loan forgiveness and this would negatively impact that as that would not be a qualifying payment. She then said she would send my IBR renewal back to the processing team to get them to try to process it backdated to XXXX to erase the {$1000.00} payment that I still owed, but that she did n't think this was possible. I maintained that until this occurred, I still wanted a hearing request, an appeal, and to speak to a supervisor. I still have not heard XXXX thing from a supervisor, their agency in regards to my request for an administrative hearing, and have not corrected their mistake and are negatively affecting my credit and payment history. I have been patient, timely in submitting paperwork in every step, and feel sick from this terrible service. Correct the mistake, for the love of all that is holy.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation