Consumer complaint received 2024-01-05
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: EdFinancial Services (UT)

I have contacted EdFinancial at least 6 times since XX/XX/XXXX to resolve issues with the SAVE application I submitted on XX/XX/XXXX through studentaid.gov. I have been lied to on every call - the reps tell me that they'll fix everything and that I shouldn't make payments until their fix goes through, and then on the next call I'm told that the previous rep either had lied about the process, had lied about taking action, or both. This has cost me {$8000.00} in accumulated interest. 

On the first call ( XXXX ), I was told my SAVE application was in their backlog. In case the application wasn't processed in time, I was told to disable autopay on my account. 

The second time ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I was told that what I had been told was untrue, the application was lost, and that I should re-do it over the phone. At that point I had been billed for over {$1000.00}. I was told that the application would re-set my this bill, so I shouldn't pay that existing amount. I asked to apply the 1-month administrative forbearance so that the paperwork would have time to process. 

The third time ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I was again told to not worry about the growing past-due balance, as it would take time for it to be reset. There was no record of the administrative forbearance. 

The fourth time ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I was told that none of this was true, but I could apply for a hardship forbearance that would reset my past-due balance, and that an administrative forbearance was not available. I was walked through the process, asked to acknowledge the required disclaimers, and told that the application had been submitted. I was told to expect this to take 7-10 days. I was not told I had accumulated interest that would capitalize. 

By the fifth call ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I had lost all confidence and called to make sure that my forbearance had been submitted. I was told there was no record that it had been entered, much less processed. I was asked to re-submit my application, re-read the required disclaimers, and told it would take 7-10 days. 

My 6th chat was today ( XX/XX/XXXX ), and I was told the XXXX forbearance would take up to 45 days to process. Interest would continue to accumulate ( I am up to {$7700.00} in interest alone ) and would capitalize once the application was approved. I was told I could just go ahead and pay all the past due balances ( now {$2500.00} ) to prevent any further interest accumulation. 

They recommended that I cancel the hardship forbearance and move forward with an administrative forbearance. that would take an additional 35-45 days to process. I could still pay all past-due balances and interest if I wanted to keep any further interest from accumulating. 

Had I been told in XXXX that my application had been lost, I would have re-applied before the deadline. 

Had I been told in XXXX or XXXX that the SAVE application approval would not re-set my balance due, I would have bit the bullet and paid the extra amount. 

Had I been told in XXXX either 1 ) that administrative forbearances were still available, or 2 ) that interest was and would continue to accumulate, or 3 ) that it would take over a month to process, I would have paid. 

Had I been told at any time that following EdFinancial 's advice to not make monthly payments was resulting in over $ 1k of accumulated interest per month, I would have just paid. 

I was lied to repeatedly by EdFinancial representatives, and the result is that I am much deeper in debt than I was when I applied for SAVE.