Consumer complaint received 2017-01-19
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: IL
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are handled

Complaint:
I consolidated my loans XX/XX/XXXX so that I would be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. At that time, I also qualified for an income based repayment plan. No paperwork was immediately available to certify my employment. XX/XX/XXXX I submitted my first Employment Certification for PSLF. XX/XX/XXXX my loan was transferred to FedLoan for the purpose of helping me " closely track '' my progress towards eligibility for forgiveness. I had already been signed up for automatic debit through my checking account with my previous servicer, which carried over to FedLoan, who continued to automatically debit my payment from my checking account. My payment changed slightly, but not materially. ( It changed from {$300.00} to {$270.00} ) My payment had changed in the past when I was with my previous servicers ( XXXX and XXXX, respectively ) so I did not take this to be a sign that anything was amiss. When I qualified for IBR I also submitted paperwork to allow my servicers to access my federal tax returns for the purpose of adjusting my monthly payment based on my income. From XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX, my IBR payments were qualifying towards my loan forgiveness. XX/XX/XXXX, FedLoan sent me a new application for IBR but did not include any explanation of WHY they were sending the application, nor did they disclose that they had stopped counting my payments towards PSLF. Unfortunately, I delayed submitting this paperwork because my monthly payment was affordable and had not materially changed. I believed, in good faith, that my payments were still qualifying towards my PSLF, whether or not I remained in IBR. I did send electronic correspondence to FedLoan asking why I was sent that paperwork and asking for clarification as to whether or not I remained in the IBR plan or not. I never received a response. XX/XX/XXXX ( more than a full year later ), I received a warning that my loan payments were not qualifying towards the PSLF program. I called FedLoan immediately and at that time, FedLoan disclosed to me that not only was I no longer in the IBR plan, but that they had moved my loan into a non-qualifying payment plan at the time they took over the servicing of my loan. 
Because of FedLoan 's lack of transparency and communication, I continued to make my student loan payments between XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ( 18 payments! ) without receiving credit for those payments towards my PSLF, which has caused me financial harm. Why would FedLoan tell me that they were taking over the servicing of my loan to specifically help me track my payments towards PSLF only to inexplicably and without proper notice change my repayment plan to a " nonqualifying '' plan and then not notify me for 18 months that my payments were not qualifying? I was under the impression that if I was ever removed from IBR, that I would be moved to a standard repayment plan, which is a " qualifying '' plan. I have appealed to FedLoan TWICE to reconsider and have been in touch with an Ombudsman to help me with this process. I have asked FedLoan to count those 18 payments towards my loan forgiveness but they have not budged. The ombudsman told us that the difference in the payment between a qualifying plan and the nonqualifying plan that I was forced into only amounted to about {$400.00} total and suggested that we ask FedLoan to consider giving me credit for those payments if I were willing to pay a lump sum to make up for the difference. Again, that request was denied. I recently read the lawsuit that you filed again XXXX regarding their unfair and deceptive practices. I do n't know if FedLoan is owned by XXXX, but it appears they are also engaged in unfair practices. I trusted FedLoan to act in my best interest. Unless this is resolved, I will have to make 18 additional payments ( now over $ XXXX/month ) before I can apply for forgiveness.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation