Consumer complaint received 2016-08-23
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are handled
Company: AES/PHEAA (NC)

I am a recent medical school graduate and currently a family medicine resident. I am also a XXXX year old father of XXXX, married to my sweetheart for eleven years XX/XX/XXXX. My wife has been very ill and XXXX since XXXX. American Education services and XXXX XXXX ( bankrupt XXXX ) have ruined my credit. They reported me as being XXXX 130 days delinquent to the credit bureaus and yet failed to send me any bills as to make me aware that any of my loans were in repayment. My father is a cosigner on the private loan in question, his credit has been damaged and he was not sent any bills either. 
I have made repeated pleas to representatives from AES since XX/XX/XXXX ( my third year of XXXX ) when I was notified by a collections agency ( XXXX XXXX ) that my loans serviced through AES were past due. I had not received any bills for these loans from AES prior to XXXX XXXX contacting me in regards to the in collections status, upon contacting AES I was told that I had requested electronic bills. I notified the representative that this status was a mistake and I requested to have all bills physically sent to me through the mail from thereon. The representative told me that they lacked the ability to change the billing method of correspondence and that I would have to do that myself online, I then requested to speak to a supervisor and I was transferred. I made the request to the supervisor to receive all futures bills in the mail. I then paid the amount that was past due to XXXX XXXX, the loans were returned to AES and I was notified that I qualified for unemployment forbearance for a maximum of 12 months. I submitted the application and supporting documentation quarterly through the following year and my requests were granted. In XXXX XXXX I contacted AES to explain that I was still unemployed and indeed unemployable due to my status as a full time medical student. I requested to speak to a supervisor ( XXXX XXXX ID # XXXX ) and he advised me to draft a letter to XXXX XXXX requesting a special deferment. I did this and submitted it to AES via e-mail as instructed. I spoke with my father and told him about the situation, he advised me to forward any bills that I was to receive to him that and that he would make payments until such time as I was eligible for internship/residency deferment. 
I did not hear back from AES regarding this request, and with my wife having had to go to the XXXX 7 times over the following 2 and 1/2 months with multiple hospitalizations, I still received no bills, neither did my father. I open everything I received from AES the day they were delivered, and everything that AES can produce on paper was sent to me, except for a bill. You see, once again AES had failed to follow through on my multiple requests to have all bills physically sent to me. 
I was reported as having been delinquent to the credit bureaus, and sent a notice from AES that I was XXXX 130 days delinquent and the entire loan amount was being called due. I have made four payments since that time, and have applied for Internship/residency deferment with supporting documentation, but AES and XXXX XXXX have repeatedly denied my requests stating that my account is too delinquent. I was told that 150 days is the maximum allowed for this deferment to be applied, and conveniently AES delayed the processing of my request ( received by AES XX/XX/XXXX ) and neglected to make a decision until XX/XX/XXXX which put me at 151 days delinquency. They deny any wrongdoing and have merely apologized for any inconvenience. I called again last week and asked a supervisor to help me : XXXX at extension # XXXX, told me he looked through my account with a manager and told me that I have not been eligible for the deferment since the delinquency was first reported, ( before I was notified ), and there seems to be no way out.