Consumer complaint received 2021-05-27
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: PA
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:
I am writing to request your assistance in regards to FedLoan Servicing 's ( FedLoan ) and the Department of Education 's marked and unacceptable delay in processing my Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) application. I had made 120 PSLF qualifying payments by XX/XX/XXXX. I therefore submitted my first Application for Forgiveness ( PSLF ) to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, my payment counts were updated on the FedLoan website to reflect the 120 PSLF qualifying payments, and I was told by telephone by a FedLoan representative that my loans were then being forwarded to the Department of Education for final approval for forgiveness. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a forgiveness denial letter on the FedLoan website which stated as the reasoning, MISSING INFORMATION : Your employer certified the dates of employment that were entered in Section 3 of the application. However, the employment end date is before the employment begin date. This statement did not correlate with logic, as my employment begin date ( at my current employer, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was correctly listed as XX/XX/XXXX, and the checkbox for Still employed was correctly checked. I contacted both FedLoan Customer Service as well as the Ombudsman. I was told that this denial was an automatically generated message due to the fact that my forgiveness application had been in duplicate XXXX both faxed and uploaded ), and that my forgiveness was not denied and rather was still being reviewed and to continue waiting. 

The XX/XX/XXXX letter was the last written correspondence from FedLoans until XX/XX/XXXX, at which time a Qualifying Payment Update was posted to my account, showing 121 PSLF qualifying payments and again stating eligibility for forgiveness, though still no statement on forgiveness application status nor notification of forgiveness. Contacting FedLoans by phone has resulted in no specific status update aside from in process or dropped phone calls. 

Yesterday ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I contacted the Office of Consumer Advocacy at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency ( PHEAA ) to enquire about my application, since it has been greater than 90 days since my application for PSLF forgiveness. I did receive a very timely reply today that they verified my application is being reviewed -- however, based on their email, despite that it has been over 3 months since my application for forgiveness, my application has not yet been forwarded from FedLoans to the Department of Education for final review and approval. They also stated that it may be an additional up to 6 months once forwarded before approval is granted, and that they could not specify a timeframe for any of the above.

To summarize, I have worked full-time for a nonprofit organization and made >120 payments ( 120 as of XXXX, which was over three months ago ) and have only had two employers during this timeframe ; I have submitted ECF forms regularly throughout this time to keep on top of my status toward PSLF and have followed all program rules and guidelines carefully. It has now already been over 3 months since my application, and it sounds like there is an undetermined amount of time still before my application will be forwarded to the Department of Education, then once there, it could still take up to 6 more months. Throughout this time, I must continue to work for the same employer to be able to receive forgiveness. I am unfortunately currently in a stressful work situation with discriminatory practices and concerns. I have fear of raising these concerns due to needing job security for this program. This time delay is taking a significant toll on my mental, and thus even downstream physical ( due to loss of sleep, fatigue ), health. I would like to at least change my job to another nonprofit organization, however I do not know if even that move would cause a problem with the PSLF forgiveness process, or if it would then have to start all over again. So, I am effectively stuck in my current position, with significant downstream effects on my well being, which also affects my family. 

I am asking for your assistance. Any help you can provide to expedite my PSLF forgiveness application being forwarded to the Dept of Education for final review, and a final determination of forgiveness after this already >3 month wait, would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief