Consumer complaint received 2016-08-16
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: NY
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Need information about my balance/terms

Complaint:
I was in forbearance on my student loans while I was unemployed ( spousal circumstances had me relocating from XXXX to XXXX in XXXX XXXX ). I chose forbearance for 1 year, knowing that it would take me a little while to find a job in XXXX and get settled enough to resume payments. Forbearance went into effect in XXXX XXXX. In XXXX XXXX, I called up Fed Loan Servicing ( a.k.a., Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency ) and told them I wanted to resume payment and asked what my repayment options were. They outlined the plans, we chose a reduced payment plan for the larger of the loan " clusters ''. I was told that in order to process my application for the reduced payment plan, they would need to take my loans out of forbearance and put them in the standard repayment plan - but that I would not owe the amount due under the standard repayment plan ; that I should ignore the bill when it came due saying that I owed the amount under the standard repayment plan ; that in XXXX, my new payment plan would be in effect and that amount due under the standard repayment plan would not be relevant, would " disappear '' - that I would see the total due for all my loans that I agreed to under the reduced repayment plan in its place. It is now XXXX and XXXX payment periods have gone by since they told me this. I have had to call them 6 times to sort out what the amount I owe toward my loans is under the reduced payment plan and to what particular loans I need to pay what amount. Also note that in all this time, I have never received documentation of what I 'm being told - despite that it involved payment amounts. And all the while, XXXX of my loans still shows that I owe ( and am now delinquent on ) the full amount under the standard repayment plan. I was assured every time I called that " by next billing cycle, your reduced payment plan will be in effect '', that I should continue to ignore the delinquent notices and the amount shown that I owe under the standard repayment plan. I have just called them for the sixth time to sort this out. Tonight they tell me I need to go into forbearance again for one month and that " next billing cycle, your bill will depict the reduced payment plan amount ''. The amount that I 'm past due will go back into the pool of what I owe totally - and I know that because I 'm in forbearance for even one month, the interest I will owe on my loan will be higher than it would have been had I been actually, legitimately, on the reduced payment plan -- which they assured me I would be by XXXX when my payment came due. I am beyond fed up. Fed Loan Processing has screwed this up so much that now my payoff amount at the end of my loans will be higher than it should have been. And I still have no way of knowing that come XXXX, when my bill is due again, this will be any more sorted out than it is now. They ca n't or wo n't provide documentation of what 's discussed on the phone ; they will only send me a notice of the forbearance I verbally agree to. I 'm not even sure what I can do if, in XXXX, this is still the case.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation