Consumer complaint received 2017-03-08
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Received bad information about my loan
Company: GREAT LAKES (DC)

This is a complaint against the Great Lakes Company. Better Business Bureau had specifically recommended reaching out to you with these concerns. 

Through my correspondences with this organization, I have been verbally lied to and assured on three occasions that proved to be false, and been told false written statements by this company by a Senior Executive, which was provided to the Better Business Organization. It was only after I had to involve In House Counsel at Great Lakes that they subsequently changed their story regarding how they had misrepresented my claim to the Better Business Bureau. 

The Background : There are multiple instances of the Organization putting unreasonable barriers toward a consumer being able to pay their loans. Notably, the Organization has a policy wherein they do not provide the contact information of customer representatives, and consumers are told that representatives do " not have access to e-mail. '' This is not the industry standard. Other student provides allow for electronic communications. And, as I detail below, as this company makes false statements and false verbal assurances, this is a company that should absolutely be required to have electronic communication as an option for student consumers. 

The Specifics : On XX/XX/XXXX, Great Lakes e-mailed me that my income-driven repayment was received. A month later, I reached out in XX/XX/XXXX for a status update, and was told that my payment schedule would be " generated over the weekend '' and be provided the next Monday or Tuesday. I was assured I would be able to pay my first bill in XX/XX/XXXX. The following week, I called again to check on the status of my application and when the payment schedule would arrive. I was again told that it would be " generated over the weekend '' and received by " early next week. '' The payment schedule never arrived. I again called the next week for an update on my application, and was told by the first customer representative that the payment schedule would be generated " over the weekend. '' As this had been the third time over a period of three weeks that I was told this statement only to then never receive the document the subsequent week, I asked to speak with her supervisor, XXXX ( XXXX ). XXXX informed me that he needed to do " research on my account '' because he had " no idea '' why they were telling me that the payment schedules would be generated. In his opinion, all of the representatives would need to get " talked to. '' I 'm not sure why three representatives would have responded with the same misstatements, but there are significant concerns with the training of representatives if they are telling consumers something that is not reflected whatsoever on the account. In a review of my e-mails, I am in receipt of the same exact e-mail from Great Lakes on three occasions regarding the company receiving my application for income-based repayment. On XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, I received the same e-mail from Great Lakes, stating " We received your income-driven repayment application. '' I 'm not sure what is causing this extreme disorganization, but clearly the Office was in receipt of these documents by XX/XX/XXXX, and for whatever reason, it has provided me the same e-mail over the next two months. 

Their False Statements Provided to Better Business Bureau : Consumers - especially vulnerable consumers such as students - are generally unsophisticated when it comes to reporting the conduct of Great Lakes. What makes this story so concerning is how Great Lakes responded when I submitted the complaint to the Better Business Bureau. The initial responses from Better Business yielded no positive resolution, so the Director of Customer Support, XXXX, became involved when it was escalated and when I had written to the President of the Company. XXXX responded to the Better Busin