Consumer complaint received 2019-11-21
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: WA
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:
For the past 4 years I have been tracking my student loans very closely due to discrepancies. I have requested my payments be double checked and certified ( XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX of XXXX and XXXX of XXXX ) and received information that I was on the correct plan, and I was on track to complete payments by late XXXX/earlyXXXX. I had believed I would have had these paid off much earlier, but certification and appropriate payment plans have been difficult to obtain resulting in delays. I will review a few of the double checks I have done in attempts to pay off this loan through PLSF- I have several more instances if need. 

In XXXX of XXXX my payments were reviewed through the PLSF application process, and at that time I had 55 payments. In XXXX of XXXX, 23 additional override payments were added ( documentation available ) and I have made 42 payments since that time for a total of 120 payments. 

In XXXX of XXXX I requested through PSLF paperwork the number of qualifying payments, and in XXXX of XXXX 107 payments were counted for a payoff date of XX/XX/XXXX. 

In XXXX of XXXX I submitted PSLF paperwork to check the number of payments had payments reviewed ( case number XXXX ) and my payments were at 107 in XXXX of XXXX. I have made 13 payments from the XX/XX/XXXX on- dates this certification covered were Pre XX/XX/XXXX, and submitted the employment certification form as the letter ( see attached ) as requested, totaling 120 payments as of XX/XX/XXXX. FedLoan sent me a letter suggesting I apply for PSFL as I had made the120 payments in XXXX of XXXX. 

When I applied ( XX/XX/XXXX ) for PLSF I had records of 120 payments. My payments were recalculated ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and 35 payments were deleted that had be counted and certified by Fedloan at earlier dates. Details on the recalculation have not yet been given. Current paperwork states I have 85 payments, and my PLSF application was denied. 

I have been told by Fedloan servicing that tracking appropriate payments is not their job, and that discrepancies in tracking from former loan servicers are also not their responsibility and I needed to contact them ( documentation available ). 

Today I spoke to emp # XXXX at FedLoan who stated many of payments did not count as they had not been certified until this time ; my certification was just for employment purposes and that payments are not checked until PSLF was submitted. This is particularly frustrating as I have repeatedly asked for my payments to be checked ( application, email, phone call ). I have documentation with submitted PSLF applications that have overall payments at higher numbers than currently calculated. I tried to explain the above but was not able to get through to anyone who would deviate from the above payments were now calculated correctly, and former calculations were inaccurate, or numbers provided on paperwork were not representations of actual checked payments. 

I believe it is inappropriate and financially harmful to people to give them incorrect or misleading information. If I had known how may loans would have been handled over the past years I would have independently refinanced at a much lower rate and greatly regret I did not do so. I believed the PLSF would be beneficial, and it has not been due to the many delays and recounts of payments. 

I have many letters stating the # of payments over the years leading up to 120 payments and multiple reviews on these payments. If these reviews are inaccurate, then it is impossible for someone to check to see if they are in an appropriate plan. It should not be the responsibility of the loan holder to pay ( with interest ) for the inaccurate reporting of the loan servicer. These letters and confirmations should not be given if they are not accurate, and Fedloan servicing should be held accountable for the information they are giving. Documentation is available upon request for all dates and information. Please let me know you have received this correspondence and if you need any further information.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation