Consumer complaint received 2024-04-12
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: Nelnet, Inc. (AZ)

My father, XXXX XXXX, and I are cosigners on Educational Loans that we originally received from XXXX XXXX. The loans were transferred ( sold ) to Firstmark Services, who took over servicing the loans from Greatlakes ( XXXX XXXX  ). Since taking over the loan, Firstmark Services have received regular, on-time payments that either grossly exceed the amount due or slightly over the amount due. My father pays {$400.00} a month since XX/XX/XXXX until present. I paid {$300.00} a month ( some months were split $ XXXX {$150.00}, others $ XXXX {$25.00}, etc. Please see Payment History Spreadsheet ) until XX/XX/XXXX in which I switched to paying the remaining regular payment balance, which was $ XXXX {$180.00}. Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, my father and I paid well over the monthly balance due ( {$580.00} ). From XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX, we paid the exact monthly payment due each month. In XX/XX/XXXX, the company raised our minimum monthly payment from {$580.00} to {$600.00}. XXXX, which meant I increased my portion to {$200.00}. This means my father and I have been paying {$600.00} to cover our monthly minimum balance. From XX/XX/XXXX until present, the company has stated that we are past due {$100.00} each month in addition to our {$600.00}, even though we are paying {$600.00} before the monthly due date. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I called Firstmark Services because I noticed the past due amount of {$100.00}. I spoke to, XXXX, a customer service representative and explained that my father and I split the payment, and it was always paid prior to the due date. I explained that we always paid more and in-full. The agent speculated that the past due balance is likely due to the payment being split as opposed to being paid all at one time. While researching, the agent said that part of our payments was double paying one loan, so that meant another loan was not being paid. He said that this was due to how the funds were allocated. He said that it wasnt being allocated appropriately because of the split payment. He went through our payment history and assured me that the problem was going to be fixed. He took my payment and allocated it to the missing loan payments ( exact amounts were not disclosed ) and assured me this would fix the problem. The whole call took 39 minutes. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, the problem was not fixed. It had gotten worse, and our account was past due significantly more. Being concerned, I called Firstmark Services again on XX/XX/XXXX, to see why the problem had not been corrected. The call began at XXXX and lasted 47 minutes. I spoke with a female agent ( name not noted ) and explained the previous call to her. She confirmed that the changes the previous agent made were still processing and the past due balance should be cleared within 5 business days. 

My father and I continued to make payments as we always have, yet the issue continued to persist. As of XX/XX/XXXX, I had another past due balance of {$100.00}. I called at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX . Again, I explained the issue and immediately asked to speak to a supervisor. Instead of connecting me with a supervisor, she placed me on hold to research my claim. The call was disconnected because she did not return. I called back at XXXX and spoke to an agent who immediately connected me with, XXXX XXXX a supervisor. XXXX and I spoke for 40 minutes. XXXX and the agent prior to the transfer asked me if I made my payments online and I told both that I did make my payments online. XXXX said that if I make a payment online, I can pick what loans the payment is allocated to. He explained that the total amount we pay each month is split between 5 separate loans ( loan numbers : XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ). Each loan has an individual monthly due amount ( See attached photos for amounts ). He said that the loan number that is creating the error is XXXX, which has a regular monthly due of {$150.00}. He said for some reason the system does not allocate this payment fully, so it is only getting a portion of the payment, which creates the past due balance. He told me I could make a payment directly to that loan and it would prevent the past due amount. In the meantime, I went to look over the Pay by Loan section on their online XXXX. However, as I looked further into my loans, I noticed that the loan XXXX had a {$0.00} amount due and my next payment is not due until XX/XX/XXXX. I asked XXXX why this was and why is the regular monthly payment ( for that individual loan ) is still included in my overall monthly payment of {$600.00} if I am not paying it. He responded, I dont actually know. Let me look into it. He explained that all the times my father and I paid over our monthly amount due, it did something that would push the due date for this loan out further. This was unclear and upon my own research on the companys website, I found the following : Extra payment amounts ( any amount higher than the current amount due ) will be applied to your loan ( s ) with the highest interest rate. Note : If your lender allows your due date to advance more than 59 days, then extra payments will be allocated to keep all due dates closely aligned. It became evident to me that XX/XX/XXXX is not closely aligned to my current due dates of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX nor were payments to this loan being applied to my highest interest because the loan not being paid is my highest interest rate. 

While on the phone with XXXX, he and I added up each of my regular monthly due amounts for each loan ( including the loan that I do not have a payment on ), but each of us got a different total amount. He said on his system, I should be paying {$610.00}, but I was still getting {$600.00}, which includes paying the loan where there is a {$0.00} amount due. ( He logged into the same system I use, and the total amounts were the same. Both showed that we are to pay {$600.00} per month and he could not explain why that it but chalked it up to an IT error. ). In fact, I did the math of what it would be If my father and I were not to pay that loan, the total overall amount we would need to pay each month would be {$480.00}. I asked XXXX, where is the {$110.00} that we pay each month to that loan with the {$0.00} amount due because it is not being applied to any of my loans? He said he did not know and that is very strange. He told me that I could make an individual payment to this loan to avoid interest. I said why would I pay more when you are already receiving the amount that the loan payment is? Why am I paying for a loan when the company is not applying my payment to the loan nor is the company allocating the money to a different loan? Where is my {$110.00} that I pay every month? Again, he did not provide me an answer for where our payment to that loan is. Additionally, XXXX told me that the loan is still accruing interest. I said, so I am making a payment to a loan that is not receiving a payment and you are charging me interest that essentially means that I am paying more for a loan than I need to be because the company is not applying my payments and making money off of me due to interest, is this correct? He said it sure seems that way. I said that it sounds like a massive scam to me, and I need to contact a lawyer or the XXXX XXXX XXXX  because it sounds like money is being stolen from me. Every month, we are missing {$110.00}. It is not being applied to other loans nor is it being paid to my loan XXXX, which is my highest interest loan that will give the company even more money in the long run for the loan due to high interest. I asked XXXX again as to why the loans are not being allocated to all 5 loans and he said they are supposed to be allocated to the benefit of me ( the consumer ). I asked him how is it for my benefit when you are taking money, not applying it to the loan, and then charging me interest because the company delayed making my payments? Additionally, where did all of our overpayments go because we still owe a considerable amount of money for having paid $ XXXX {$400.00} over payment each month for 4 years. XXXX said that we have a large amount of overpayment, and this is what caused my due date for loan XXXX to be pushed out so far, but again, this goes against what the company posted on their website because one of my loans should be receiving an additional {$110.00} as I mentioned to XXXX. Furthermore, I said if one of my loans was receiving the additional {$110.00} ( say for instead loan XXXX, which is supposedly past due for {$100.00} ), then I would not have a past due balance. I told him {$110.00} is more than {$100.00}, so I would not owe a past due amount. He continued to say he did not know what is going on and that there must be something wrong with how the system is allocating the payments, but that I could make sure that didnt happen by paying an individual loan my {$200.00} payment. Since he and I were not able to resolve the issue, I informed him that I would be contacting a lawyer and the XXXX. ( However, after speaking with my father ( cosigner ), he advised to contact the Attorney General. ). He cancelled my pending payment to my overall balance and the call ended. 

After the call ended, I logged into my account to make the individual loan payment. Every attempt I made was futile. The system would kick me out ( see screen recording ) and I would be forced to log back into my account. This happened three times before I decided to just make my overall payment. This adds to my theory that I am being scammed because why would XXXX tell me to pay a certain way and then the system kicks me out, thus preventing me from paying a loan to avoid past due amounts. 

I am genuinely concerned that Firstmark Services is taking money from me and not applying it to my loans, then charging me more by saying that I am past due. They are wanting me to pay the {$600.00} plus {$100.00} each month, but one of my loans is not getting paid and the funds that are supposed to be allocated to that loan are nowhere to be found. This is making my other loan past due, which they are telling me I need to pay for. Meanwhile, they are collecting interest on a loan that I pay money for, but they are not applying it to the loan. With any other loan, if you pay more, it gets applied to the whole loan and is not used to push due dates in order for the company to accrue interest on the consumers highest interest loan. Based on my payments with Firstmark services, there should be at least one loan paid off since we began repayment in XXXX. However, not a single loan has been paid off. We have paid almost {$40000.00} and nothing is paid off. How is this possible? 

Update : I have been dealing with this issue since XX/XX/XXXX. I found an email I sent the company inquiring about the same issue in my photos last night and can provide the email exchange documenting that I asked about overdue payments and being told the monies were misapplied. Additionally, I contacted the company last year about the random increase in my monthly payment. The representative told me that the company increases my payment yearly, which I was not made aware of. I was not provided the terms of my loan at this time for me to review.