Consumer complaint received 2017-04-24
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: AES/PHEAA (UT)

When I came out of the original forbearance after earning my degree, I was put on repayment plan. I was told when I first called FedLoan servicing that a graduated repayment plan was the only repayment plan I qualified for and my payments will go up, against my wish or ability to afford an increasing payment at certain time intervals. Every time there has been an increase ( approximately  1-2 y ear intervals ) I call and explain the same problem, I can afford payments and will continue to repay my loan, but can not afford continual  $  XXXX /mon  th  increases. Most recently on the last increase in  XXXX  my payment increased from approximately $  XXXX  month  to {$400.00}. I called on   XXXX   and discussed this with a Fed Loan Servicing rep ( ID #  XXXX  ). I was told I did n't qualify for additional repayment plans because several of my student loan lines had a different due date then the others, but they could have simply changed the due dates to match each other and then qualify me for the other repayment plans. I asked why this was n't offered to me before and the representative stated they do n't know. I asked for the change to be made and then was told I qualified for a standard repayment plan  (  payment amount will not change ). This representative told me that because of the due date change I would show past due approximately {$78.00} for a couple of the loan lines until the due date change and payment plan change had finalized the following billing period. I advised that representative I would remit that " past due '' payment plus the monthly payment I had been making to compensate for the change and keep my account current. The rep went through the disclosures with me regarding the changes and quoted my new payment on the standard repayment plan of {$270.00}.   **I received and have attached a copy of the payment plan confirming their quoted statements. ** I remitted payment in  XXXX  as I advised the agent I would do. I logged into my account in  XXXX  to find they had also applied a deferment ( which I did not need ) but I still remitted a monthly payment of approximately {$270.00}. Now in  XXXX  I logged into my account this month to see that my minimum monthly payment was raised again anyway and is showing due for approximately {$370.00}.   I called today  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   and spoke with representative ( ID #  XXXX  ) asking why my payment is higher again then what I was quoted. I was told by that representative that the previous rep in  XXXX  misquoted the payment plan and I will have to pay what the new payment is now showing because whatever I was quoted before is only an estimate, even though it was not even reasonably close to what I was quoted. I was told the only other option would be to switch me back to the graduated repayment plan, but that would increase my payments on intervals that included approximately $  XXXX  month  and up to $  XXXX  month.    I responded with these payment options are not reasonable and was told I can try a income based repayment plan. However, they do not take into consideration basic necessities such as child care, transportation, health insurance, etc and only allow a minimal amount for housing, utilities, etc. Additionally, I would be forced to supply my spouse 's income even though she is not obligated for my student loans. After breaking this option down, it would also raise my payment to over $  XXXX  month.    I disputed this with the representative stating they are backing their customers into a corner with extremely high monthly payments without any option to reasonably repay loans without serious potential problems in defaulting.   I advised the representative that I  may  seek legal counsel regarding the inconsistencies in what they have quoted and asked for the name and/or ID of the last representative that misquoted the information to me in  XXXX  as well as his information.   He refused to provide any information regarding identifying the representative stating it was in their best interest to protect their " private information ''. The call then escalated and I was transferred to a " senior '' representative.   This senior representative ( ID #  XXXX  ) stated that the rep in  XXXX  made an error that should have been caught and they had input 10 years ( which is accurate in regards to what I was quoted in  XXXX  to begin with ) but they should have only used 6 years which is the remaining term I had left from the original repayment start date. I advised her this was their error, not mine as the consumer and am trying to resolve this with reasonable options to repay my loans. I asked for the ID 's for her representatives that I spoke with and she initially refused, until I advised her I work in a compliance/legal position with a lender and am familiar with FDCPA and CFPB laws and regulations. I reminded this representative that loan servicing companies/debt collection agencies, etc. are required to identify themselves and provide valid identification to their consumers upon request. It was at this point that she provided all of their employee ID # 's but withheld their names.   It was also at this point that she offered to start a consolidation option for me that would combine all  8 in dividual loan lines into  1 . She provided a quote of {$170.00} a month at a much higher rate of 5.8 % than my existing loan lines and would extend it out to 20 years. She stated this would be the only option to permanently lower my payments to a reasonable amount ( however, this would increase the amount I would repay them by approximately {$16000.00}  ). I  asked if I can over pay on this new payment amount to compensate for the additional interest and term and she stated I could. She asked if I would like to do this and I expressed a deep concern about going through this process again when I was misquoted before. I asked the representative to confirm that this quoted monthly amount is correct and that I do in fact qualify for it. She confirmed that the information she quoted is correct.   I asked about a solution for this month 's payment and she offered to approve another 2 month deferment while the review for this consolidation is processed. She advised me she would send an email that I would have to reply to in order to process this request. I have completed the reply to this email and am waiting to get a response. However, I have been severely misled and taken advantage of as the consume. I am being given contradictory information and being led into repayment plans that are not reasonable or accurate and are in no way in the best interest of me as the consumer. Instead, I am being forced to either default on monthly payments that are unreasonably high or change to a repayment plan that drastically increases the amount of interest I have to pay to FedLoan Servicing.