Consumer complaint received 2024-08-12
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: Earnest Inc. (NJ)

The most recent grievance has been a repeat of the unfair and shady business practices that they have been doing for years now. This recent infraction started when I called to see if they offered any interest-only payments while I'm in school as I will be returning this fall ( this was back in XXXX I believe ) and then when I realized I could do interest-only payments before school and deferment during school I opted for the interest-only payments early so I could begin putting money away for school. At the end of this period, I got my bill for XXXX and they suddenly raised my monthly payment. I was never given communication as to why the payment was raised, and even while I was on the phone, the individual told me that my payment would return to the original monthly payment at the end of the interest-only payment period. I called to see what the issue was ( this was now XX/XX/XXXX, I believe ) and the woman on the phone told me she'd call me back with more information. Nobody ever called me. This is something they have done in the past to try to get me off the phone. Someone did eventually email me saying he was doing an investigation, only for their " investigation '' to end with them justifying raising my payments. They referenced payments from back in XXXX  to justify it. The situation with XXXX, is that I called to see if they offered some sort of skip-the-month or delay-the-payment option, and the guy, I happen to remember his name was XXXX, advised me to un-enroll from autopay and pay when I can. He assured me that there would be no consequences for that. Well, he lied, as their business practices are. Because a few months later, I asked to see if I could qualify for a lower monthly payment and they cited the fact that I had a late payment for refusing to give me the option to apply for a lower payment. When I pointed out that they were the ones who advised me in the first place to pay late and assured me that I would have no issues, they still did nothing and left me stuck with an unaffordable payment. Then when I pointed out all the months I had been paying on time, once again I, the customer, was dismissed. Therefore, to try to cite that payment now after how they screwed me over is absolutely inappropriate. Furthermore, later on, there was an issue with my bank that caused me to be unenrolled in autopay, and they raised my rate, and again never explained why. I had to call and they said they'd lower it once I re-enroll into auto-pay, and when I re-enrolled they rescinded the offer to return to the lower rate, which forced me to go through the XXXX  to get it handled. I mention that to show how this company has had a history of lying, withholding information from customers, and in the end harming the customer and that is neither right nor fair. The man XXXX who has been handling my case has not been attentive or considerate and as a person that's not okay because this is my livelihood that is constantly being undermined and attacked by these individuals and the company as a whole. They need to improve and work on their business practices and communication. They have my email and they NEVER reach out and email me about these things until something comes up and I have to reach out to them. The communication is inadequate and so is the shadiness of it all I've had enough, and certainly I'm not the only customer feeling this way.