Consumer complaint received 2017-07-08
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: AES/PHEAA (MA)

I am writing to file a complaint against FedLoan Servicing. In XX/XX/XXXX, I filed for employment certification for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and I was notified that my outstanding $ 150,000+ of student loans would be transferred to FedLoan for servicing because my employment qualifies me for this program. <P/>From XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX, my monthly payment was {$0.00} in the Income Driven Repayment plan I had been enrolled in for nearly 4 years, as I had limited income after finishing my XXXX Degree. In XX/XX/XXXX, I receive notification from FedLoan that it was time to recertify my income to calculate the new annual payment. I reviewed the materials available to me, and determined that the best move for me would be to switch from the Income Driven Repayment Plan to the REPAYE plan. I called FedLoan in XX/XX/XXXX before filling out the certification form to let them know I was looking for the cheapest monthly payment option, and was told to indicate that in a checkbox on the form. <P/>Given that the online portal to pull IRS tax information was shut down, I was required to submit my tax return and form through the document upload portal, which I did at the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX - well before the XX/XX/XXXX deadline to submit the form. <P/>About a week later I received an email from FedLoan letting me know they had received my information, and would begin processing. About another 2 weeks later, I received another email telling me they were still processing it and not to worry. Another 2 weeks later, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from FedLoan telling me my request had been put on hold, with no description of what that meant. <P/>
I called FedLoan to get information on what " on hold '' meant. When I called, FedLoan told me that everything was fine with the application and they were waiting to process it until it was closer to the actual payment start date ( which would be in XX/XX/XXXX ). I expressed my frustration, explaining that I needed to know what my monthly payment would be to appropriately allocate funds. They apologized and said I 'd have to wait until XX/XX/XXXX to get the bill, but could estimate the payment around {$230.00} with my submitted information. At this point, I was also told that to change plans from the Income Driven Repayment into any other plan, I was required to make one month of the full, standard  payment, which was {$860.00}. I told the representative on the phone that I could not afford that payment, and that that was not indicated anywhere in the forms to me. She said it was listed and I must have missed it, however I would be allowed to make an adjusted payment if I could not afford the {$860.00}, in order to kick in the new REPAYE plan. She said I could choose the payment amount as long as it was more than {$5.00}. I told her I could afford {$200.00}, and she entered that information on file. <P/>On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email about my " Deferment of Forbearance '' from FedLoan, when I opened it, I determined that the " adjusted payment '' suggested to me by the customer service representative was actually a month of forbearance, which was not communicated to me at the time. <P/>Then on XX/XX/XXXX, I received notification from FedLoan via email that my new Repayment Terms were available. When I opened the document, it was for the full standard repayment at a payment of more than {$1700.00} per month. I immediately called FedLoan. They told me the repayment information had been incorrectly applied to my account, and they could see the income recertification form with my account, and as long as I made my adjusted payment of {$200.00} before the due date on XX/XX/XXXX, I should receive my updated, correct billing statement on XX/XX/XXXX. <P/>On XX/XX/XXXX I made my adjusted payment of {$210.00} to FedLoan, expecting to receive the correct monthly repayment amount for XX/XX/XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I received my billing statement today, XX/XX/XXXX with a monthly payment of {$1800.00} - the standard repayment plan amount. FedLoan does not offer customer service on weekends, and now I need to wait until Monday to resolve this issue. <P/>I have been extremely proactive about my student loan repayment. The amount of time and effort I put forth to ensure my monthly payment was affordable and correct seems wasted at this point. I also find it extremely deceptive that a month of the standard repayment amount is required in order to determine your new, income based payment for the year. I was told this was only done once, when switching out of the IDR plan and into any other plan, however the fact that I was required to make a payment in order to find out my new monthly payment ( which was n't even correct ), on top of the fact that the adjustment was actually a month of forbearance ( which was not communicated to me ), is extremely concerning to me. As a young professional with significant student loan debt, I am trying to be proactive and responsible with my repayment. FedLoan is making that exceedingly difficult.