Consumer complaint received 2019-12-29
Company: Nelnet, Inc.
State: CA
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:
I have a large amount of student loan debt that I am currently in the process of paying off. 

Since I graduated a few years ago, I have been paying via the income-based repayment option ( IBR ), and making these monthly payments electronically, through Nelnet and XXXX XXXX websites and using my Chase checking account as the account to pay from. Having my account set up this way normally offers me peace of mind - my account is linked to my payments, so I will never miss a payment by accident, etc. I normally receive a monthly billing statement electronically from Nelnet ( subject line : " Your student loan billing statement is available '' ), with no additional correspondence ; normally, I just archive these emails as I regard them as status quo. 

On XXXX XXXX, I logged into my Nelnet account on a kind of lark, because I had actually been talking to my family about my loans and wanted to take a look at my interest rates, etc. I noticed that my account was due to be auto-charged in the following days in the amount of {$2500.00} ; I wasn't sure why this was but I immediately cancelled my auto-debit information in the hopes that this was a mistake of some sort. I received a pop-up message stating that cancellation of such information takes three full days ; however, with no other options ( and it being a holiday ) I just hoped that the cancellation would take effect in time, and that the charge amount I was seeing was not actually accurate. 

Two days later, on XX/XX/XXXX, I woke up to a notification from XXXX that my account balance was - {$900.00} and I realized with a sinking feeling that this payment from Nelnet had still been charged to my bank - a payment of {$2500.00}. I called Nelnet to complain but was told they considered the payment to be " authorized '', so they could not cancel or refund it. I was charged this amount because my IBR plan had lapsed, and I did not realize that the deadline to recertify had approached. 

According to Nelnet they gave me two notifications of this - one in early XXXX to recertify, and one in early XXXX that they were about to charge me electronically. However, these notifications were only sent via email and I was not given any notice via phone call nor snail mail ; as such, these notifications absolutely did not register on my radar. ( Despite what this situation may suggest I do try to be " on top of '' my student loans and obviously if I had known the stakes involved I would have re-certified immediately. ) On my current level of income, the amount that I was charged feels absolutely exploitative. I was given those two small notifications via email ( over several months ) but otherwise the company made very little effort to let me know of the extremely LARGE charge they were about to put on me. It overdrew my account and I had to borrow money from my mom ; if she was not able to offer me support in that moment I know overdraft fees would have continued to rack up and the impacts of this charge would continue to haunt me. 

As it stands, my savings are completely wiped out. 

I feel upset, blindsided and exploited ; it feels this series of events was designed to undercut me as a student, consumer, and citizens.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation