Consumer complaint received 2016-10-13
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are handled
Company: HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS INC (CA)

The university transferred my Federal Perkins Loan from one payment processor ( Campus Partners ) to another ( Heartland ECSI ). There was no notification from the university. The old payment processor stopped working without no useful error message ( simply logs users out from login. they simply said 'website is under maintenance ' ). I made countless attempts to login and pay ( the university 's financial aid website now mentions this migration. however, you have to actively seek out this page on XXXX. That would require, first, that you know to search for the keyword 'Heartland ECSI ' or have lots of free time to constantly monitor the universities webpages for updates ). 

Eventually I contacted campus partners by phone and was informed about the migration. The representative was being evasive and sparse on details. I was concerned my payments would be late and hurt my credit report / score. They reassured me that during this transfer process we 'd be given a 90 day grace period. The representative told me I should have received notification about this in the mail already. I verified my address was up to date. Eventually, a couple weeks later, I finally received mail from Heartland ECSI ( Around XXXX/XXXX/2016 ). 

Previously, on campus partners, I was on a quarterly payment cycle. In Heartland ECSI 's mail, they said that for those previously on quarterly payment cycles would have a payment due ( XXXX/XXXX/2016 ) and the XXXX of the calendar month in succeeding quarters, ie : XXXX/XXXX/2016. I wanted to make my payment early, even before XXXX/XXXX/2016 ( when payment is due for people on monthly payment schedule ). I tried to login to Heartland ECSI and pay. Decent looking website, unfortunately, the website does n't function : the analogy here is a the website equivalent of a shell company. None of the payment options worked. The irony is that they are a payment processor, and they ca n't get this one job right. 

( 1 ) For debit cards, they have a {$10.00} convenience fee. This is highway robbery. I worked at a XXXX XXXX previously where I had to deal with XXXX, and this is just plain immoral. Unfortunately, both of my ATM cards did not work. 

( 2 ) For credit cards, they do not accept XXXX. I could not pay with my XXXX creditcards. 

( 3 ) Paying with bank account + routing number does not work. 

I am a XXXX at XXXX. I can tell good software from not-great software that works from software that is a shell. Heartland ECSI 's website is a shell. It looks decent on the surface, but I 'm skeptical at this point that they can actually process payments or have any backend system implemented ( maybe when someone submits a payment, the website sends an email, and they have a XXXX armed with a keyboard who manually does data entry of people 's bank / card information? ). 

The XXXX browser adds warning messages that the website is loading insecure scripts. I tried XXXX, and XXXX, too. Red warning text appears everywhere to " enable popups ''. I have a checking account, but not checks, so I ca n't pay with checks. I do n't feel comfortable providing my financial information over the phone. Then again, one has to wonder if using ECSI 's website is any safer. If they ca n't even get basic things to work, how can students expect them to reliably safeguard critical and VALUABLE data. 

I tried again on the XXXX/XXXX/2016, and my account was indicated " late '' / past due. 
I tried again on XXXX/XXXX/2016 with all those payment methods above. This time, I am ATLEAST 2 months late. Why do I say 'atleast '? Well, it seems Heartland ECSI thinks I 'm on a monthly payment schedule and since my last quarterly payment was in XXXX, that 's now XXXX late. 

My credit score is affected. Heartland ECSI is charging me late fees. Their " convenience fees '' are highway robbery. This is immoral. The university threw us to the wolves and pretended it 's not their problem.