Consumer complaint received 2017-09-26
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: AES/PHEAA (CA)

All of my student loans are with Fed XXXX XXXX. I am on an income-driven repayment plan. I submitted my XXXX XXXX XXXX application for XXXX on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I called and spoke with XXXX # XXXX who informed me that the IDR application was received and that they are 'finishing the review '. He told me that my payment would be {$54.00} through the next year because my income had n't changed much. He told me that my payment would basically stay the same even if I increased my income by $ XXXX. 

My XXXX XXXX payment was due around the XXXX. I received no determination from Fed XXXX on my IDR application by this payment due date. I called a Fed XXXX representative in mid XXXX and it was suggested I take a forbearance to cover the amount of time it would take for them to complete the 'review ' of my application. I think this is completely insane ... why should I have to use forbearance time? 

Fed XXXX then approved my XXXX XXXX XXXX application and adjusts my payment from {$54.00} to {$100.00}. I was shocked! My income did n't increase by 100 %, how could they increase my payment by 100 %? On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I called Fed XXXX to complain and request my IDR application be reviewed again given my income had n't increased that much. I received no response on that request until a call today to Fed XXXX supervisor. 

So, in the time it took Fed XXXX to determine if I qualified for an Income Driven Repayment program, I had to use forbearance time which, in turn, is now affecting my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX program. We made a payment of {$54.00} on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX based on the information that XXXX # XXXX had given us in our XXXX/XXXX/XXXX phone call. 

Then, I received approval from Fed XXXX for the IDR and my installment payment was now at {$100.00}. I called on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX to request a recalculation of this amount since my income had n't increased and based on my conversation with XXXX who said my payments would n't change. I received no follow up from Fed XXXX on this request. 

So, my installment payment for XXXX was due XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX we made a payment of around {$53.00}, the remaining amount given we had already paid the {$54.00} on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. I called Fed XXXX on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX and requested the XXXX/XXXX/XXXX payment while in forbearance be applied to the XXXX/XXXX/XXXX due date. 

Now today, I receive an email from Fed XXXX saying my account is delinquent and they are reporting me to the credit agencies. What is going on? I paid and called several times, but it still was n't taken care of. 

So, today, XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I called Fed Loan and spoke with XXXX # XXXX, then supervisor XXXX XXXX XXXX, then his supervisor XXXX # XXXX. I informed them all that the situation is unacceptable that I am being threatened with reporting to credit agencies yet Fed XXXX was clearly negligent in processing my request and payments in a timely manner. While on the phone, my XXXX/XXXX/XXXX payment magically was processed toward my XXXX/XXXX/XXXX due date. If I had n't called and spent over an hour on the phone with Fed XXXX, nothing would have been done. I was told by XXXX that nothing was done on my XXXX/XXXX/XXXX request to have my XXXX/XXXX/XXXX payment applied to the XXXX/XXXX/XXXX due date because 'we have a lot of other requests. ' I find this completely wrong. It 's not ok to just say 'we are busy ' so the consumer must suffer. This is people 's money, my family, my life. The system is broken and needs to change so consumers do n't keep getting screwed!