Consumer complaint received 2019-02-27
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Don't agree with the fees charged
Company: AES/PHEAA (CA)

I submitted my Income-Based Repayment plan application on XX/XX/XXXX ( my deadline was XX/XX/XXXX ). On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email that my application couldn't be processed and that I would receive a letter detailing why. I was told I was in a pending status. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a vague letter in my XXXX XXXX inbox that either my current income couldn't be determined or the income documentation was more than 90 days old and that I should submit new documentation " within the next couple of days. '' Nowhere was it mentioned that my interest could capitalize. I realized that the documentation I had submitted was from XX/XX/XXXX ( so 10 days off from my submission date ) and submitted a new pay stub on XX/XX/XXXX ( in the " next couple of days '' as requested by XXXX ). I then randomly logged in to my account on XX/XX/XXXX and noticed that my interest had been capitalized on XX/XX/XXXX! I also noticed on XX/XX/XXXX that there was a letter in my inbox ( which I had NOT been notified of by email and would not have seen otherwise ) stating that " Since we did not receive your complete annual documentation, your new payment amount is not based on your income, '' even though I had submitted the correct documentation on XX/XX/XXXX. I called XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ( since XX/XX/XXXX was a weekend ) and a request was placed to look into this. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX to check on status and was told that it may take 7-10 business days. They were able to finally process by IDR Request at that time. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX to check on the status and was told they were very busy and it may take up to 20 business days. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that the review of my case was completed on XX/XX/XXXX and they had denied my appeal to " de-capitalize '' my interest because I missed the deadline. Throughout the whole process I talked to multiple XXXX   reps. Each person had a different answer for me. Some employees told me that interest can never be " de-capitalized, '' while others said that was not true. Several employees told me that it doesn't matter that the interested was capitalized since I was in PSLF and it wouldn't matter in the end ( I don't plan to use it ). While my initial income verification form was off by 10 days, this would have been easily fixable if XXXX would have processed my application in a timely manner ( before the XXXX deadline ). I submitted my new paperwork in a timely manner. I also find it egregious that the letter telling me my interest was capitalized stated that I hadn't completed my paperwork ( even though I had ) and it was NOT sent to my email inbox until XX/XX/XXXX. Additionally, besides employees giving me completely different information literally every time I call XXXX, they never provide any written confirmation of our conversations or a case number, so they rely on their completely inaccurate internal information ( i.e. gentleman on XX/XX/XXXX saying my review has closed on XXXX, when the person I spoke to on XX/XX/XXXX told me case was still open for review ).