Consumer complaint received 2017-05-19
Company: ACS Education Services
State: CA
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:
ACS Education services  Consolidated student loans  from college from  XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX   ( University   XXXX   XXXX   ) an d law school from   XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX  (   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX    ).      After I filed Chapter  XXXX  bankruptcy in   XXXX   and received a discharge in     XXXX   XXXX  ,    I set up payment arraignments with ACS-Education, the servicer for these student loans. The   XXXX  l oans totaled roughly {$35000.00} and I have made each payment on time since   XXXX   XXXX  .     The issue lies in my legally required periodic billing statements which I should receive each month ( Regulation Z - Truth in Lending A ct & Student Loan Act ( CFR 682 ) ). I have elected for Automatic Clearing House ( ACH ) paym ents from my checking account to receive a .25 % interest rate reduction. I can only receive this reduction by also electing to receive all information via email, which is great. However, ACS-Education only submits ACH Remittance notices via email and not Billing statements. In addition, Billing statements are not available online at their website either. The representatives also confirm that I am unable to do ACH payments to get the interest rate reduction AND recieve my legally required statements which should have my balance, interest acrued, interest rate, interest paid, principle paid, remaining balance, payment options, etc. Increasingly troubling is that I am unable to get my statements printed for the past 3 years and the representatives from  ACS Education  claim all of the same information is on the website but they are incorrect because various disclosures are missing, various information is incomplete on their website.     The inten t of Congress an d the legislature to requir e Creditors ( including  student loan servic ors ) to provide  periodic billing statements is to ensure fairness, transparency and Notice  ( knowledge ) i s given to the consumer whom owes the debt. Furthermore, t he US Gover nment allows consumers to file private right of actions against Creditors who violate these fundamental Lending practices and issue statutory penalties of {$1000.00} per occurance under Fair Debt Collections Practices Act  ( Ro  senthal Act-California state law similar  in nature to FDCPA ). However, since these loans are backed by the Federal Government, these servicors are given immunity and protected by a law that shields consumers from filing lawsuits via private right of action. For example, these violations by  ACS  should warrant {$1000.00} fine for each month they failed to provide me my state ment ( times 2 for both loans ), which would equal {$72000.00} over the past 36 months they failed to meet their requirement.      Even more puzzling is tha t ACS essention ally coerces debtors into ACH payments so they can receive a APR reduction. This practice then prevents statements from being created and sent to debtors, thereby saving Billions of dollars in printing and mailing costs which more than makes up for the messly .25 % APR rate reduction consumers receive.     This appears to be much more of a organized crime such as racketeering then simple loan servicing. I am appalled at this and I do not simply want to get my statements hereon out, but I want to be compensated for damages incurred just as if the Loan servicer was a creditor not shielded by the fact that these are Federal student  loans ( Student Loan Act ).      Lastly,  ACS h as further harmed me by failing to provide me with all of my legally available payment options. Since I owe over {$30000.00} wit h ACS and co mbined with all my student loans over {$60000.00}, President Obama wrote into law the student releif act that provides extended loan payment terms from  10 to 20-25 years, but ACS continuously for 3 years indicated that was n't an option. Recentl y I forced their hand by issuing the law and asking to pull the promissory note which gave 25 years regardless while all the w hile ACS clai med I only had 10 years to pay the loan.     These acts are abusive to say the least and displa y ACS 's willful  disregard to laws, consumers, fairness, transparency and equitable relief. I am disgusted and ashamed to say this only ha ppens in America.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation