Consumer complaint received 2015-09-10
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Can't repay my loan — Can't get flexible payment options
Company: Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A. (WA)

Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I went to XXXX XXXX XXXX University in XXXX Washington -- In doing so, I took out {$20000.00} in federal loans, and XXXX separate private loans in the amounts of {$10000.00}, {$10000.00} and {$12000.00}. -- for a total of around {$52000.00} in student debt. The private loans were disbursed in XXXX and XXXX, right before the financial crises -- XXXX of the {$10000.00} loans were from XXXX XXXX, and the {$10000.00} and {$12000.00} loans were from XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ... ). 

These loans had an interest rate at the time of around 4 %, I was promised I would have plenty of flexibility in repayment, and furthermore, the loans required a co-signer -- and the accepted my mother as a co-signer who is on Social Security/XXXX. At the time I was just eager to go to school, so I accepted their terms of a 10 % " processing fee '' which immediately added $ XXXX to the balance. Shortly after I graduated, my loans were assigned to XXXX ( my Federal Loans also changed from their lending banks to servicers ), and XXXX was completely unwilling to work with me -- there was no way at my current income I could afford {$500.00} in loan payments, as well as my federal loan obligations. I make {$2000.00} net per month, live alone, and rent and utilities are around {$1000.00} total ( for a fairly small apartment ) -- after vehicle expenses, gas, and some groceries, I maybe have {$200.00}, if that left total -- and I was sending it to my student loans. 

For the first year they let me make partial payments, and have forbearance -- then after that, they said there was " nothing they could do '' ... and so I paid on the loans, $ XXXX-XXXX per month. I tried to refinance the loans, which they said would get me down to $ XXXX-XXXX per month and offer some additional relief, but they said my credit was n't good enough ( due to delayed loan payments that they themselves reported ) ... Needless to say, this went on for about 4 years, until I was somewhat behind on my loans ( 60-90 days ) -- and I had sent in a {$400.00} payment. A week later, I checked the XXXX website, and it said I had a XXXX balance. I then got a call from XXXX XXXX, and Weltman Weinberg and Reis -- XXXX had referred my loans to collections. XXXX XXXX had one of the ( initially ) {$10000.00} loans -- now at $ XXXX after interest, and has been very willing to work with me. They ended all accruing interest, and I have payments set a {$100.00} per month -- when I get behind they reset this and the loan will slowly get paid down. The XXXX loans are a different matter -- these went to Weltman, Weinberg and Reis. They are demanding a minimum payment of {$740.00} per month -- there is no way in hell I can make this, as well as payments to XXXX XXXX and my federal loans. Weltman refuses to stop interest from accruing, and tell me they would be happy to " settle '' my loans for {$12000.00} each ( with their " interest '', they are both nearly {$20000.00} each ) in one chunk -- when I ask how they think I can do this, they say " get a debt consolidation loan '' -- I 've tried that, there is NO ONE who will touch me. 

I do n't know what to do!! I have about {$400.00} per month I can pay for ALL my student loans ... I 've cut expenses to the bone and can get it up to about {$500.00} per month -- for all of them. I need to either figure out how to get a debt consolidation loan from a lender who does n't care how bad these companies trashed my credit ( the collection agency 's suggestion -- of course they could n't refer me to any lenders ) -- or at least get the agency to agree to very minimal payment terms, and cap the interest until there is a point when my income is better and I can increase my payments -- or have them actually help me by finding a consolidation lender who will take these out of collections/rehabilitate them so that the payments are more reasonable -- which is what I was asking AES to do all along!