Consumer complaint received 2018-04-04
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: AES/PHEAA (IL)

I have experienced several issues on the part of XXXX XXXX   mishandling my loans. I apologize for the length of this statement and thank you in advance for taking the time to hear my story. I am reporting two overarching issues. 

Of relevance, I am currently under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) program. 

1 ) Miscounting of qualifying payments : My loans were being serviced by XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX, at which time they were transferred to the care of XXXX. Subsequently, XXXX has miscounted the number of qualifying payments I made towards PSLF during my time with XXXX. Per the records on XXXX, I had made 31 qualifying payments towards my 20 cumulative student loans prior to the transfer to XXXX. My account on XXXX indicates a wide range of qualifying payments made under XXXX ranging from 1 to 21. Not only is this an error but impossible, as I was making lump-sum payments to all my loans on a monthly basis via auto-debit. My billing statements reflect that those monthly payments were being applied across all of my loans. I called XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to inform them of this discrepancy, and was told this error is common and would be resolved in 30-45 business days. I have called several times since that 45 day window closed and have repeatedly been told it is being worked on and to keep waiting. I have also offered to forward my payment history to customer service and been told this is not necessary, that they have all the information they need. 

As of my billing statement issued on XX/XX/XXXX, this issue has still not been resolved. As of my most recently submitted and verified employment certification form, I should have 43 qualifying payments made towards all of my loans with the exception of two that were recently consolidated ( those two were consolidated and disbursed XX/XX/XXXX, and I do not include these as part of the issues detailed above ). 

2 ) Switching from Income Based Repayment ( IBR ) to Revised Pay-as-you-Earn ( REPAYE ) plans : On XX/XX/XXXX I was informed my request to switch from IBR to REPAYE had been approved, and my first payment under REPAYE would be due XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$1800.00}. This same piece of correspondence indicated my loans were placed in forbearance as part of this process and that I would not be responsible for making this payment. On XX/XX/XXXX I received correspondence indicating that I was responsible for making an interest payment in the amount of {$3700.00}, but that I could opt out of this payment and instead the interest would automatically capitalize. I called XXXX customer service to confirm I would not be penalized if I chose not to make this payment. On that call I was told I needed to either pay the due interest in full or opt for a minimum forbearance payment of {$5.00} in order for my REPAYE plan to activate. I chose to pay the {$5.00} minimum ( payment posted XX/XX/XXXX ), and was assured my auto-debit payments would proceed as normal for the next bill due on XX/XX/XXXX. My account details reflect that after my {$5.00} payment my interest subsequently capitalized as expected. I then proceeded to make my payment of {$1800.00}, payment posted XX/XX/XXXX. 

However, on XX/XX/XXXX I received correspondence that XXXX had received and processed a forbearance request applicable to date range of XXXX. I had not requested this forbearance, and called XXXX customer service to inquire why this forbearance was placed on my account. I was told that my payment from XX/XX/XXXX had been misallocated towards payments that were being flagged as overdue. On this call ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I was assured that I did not actually have any past due payments, and that this was an artifact/clerical error during the transition from IBR to REPAYE. The actual overdue amount in question has varied over the past month, seeming to change after every call to customer service, but never going away entirely. My online account currently indicates an overdue amount of {$490.00}, I received a past due notification on XX/XX/XXXX stating the amount in question is {$420.00}, while my most recent e-billing statement dated XX/XX/XXXX indicates that the amount overdue is {$430.00}. Customer service has assured me multiple times on multiple calls that all of these amounts are errors and should be wiped from my account. I had also been assured that my XX/XX/XXXX payment would be re-assigned to my loans as intended to qualify towards PSLF, and that the forbearance would be lifted from my account. 

Subsequently, the forbearance was lifted on my account but I still have 13 of my 22 loans flagged as delinquent and overdue for payment. On XX/XX/XXXX I called customer service to inquire why I was still being flagged as overdue for payments. I was told on this call that while my XX/XX/XXXX payment had been reassigned towards PSLF as promised, the past due amount was never actually flagged for removal. Due to the error, I was promised that this issue would be resolved and the overdue payments would be eradicated within 48 hours. On XX/XX/XXXX I called customer service after the 48 hour window had closed to confirm the issue had been resolved. On this call I was told that the error was inappropriately flagged by the previous customer service representative and that I should wait another 48 hours to see the issue resolved. 

At this point, I have lost any trust that customer service will actually do what they say they will do, and am reaching out for assistance. 

I thank you again for taking the time to hear my concerns, and appreciate any assistance you can provide in resolving these issues.