Consumer complaint received 2024-10-19
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: EdFinancial Services (NY)

Edfinancial services are trying to demand I pay back {$4700.00} plus interest because they " sent a duplicate refund '' by accident a year and a half ago. When I was going to beauty school in XXXX, I had no choice but to take out a loan of {$9000.00} to make tuition, which I paid off by the end of my school year. After I graduated, XXXX XXXX school took out another loan with edfinancial services of {$670.00} without my consent. I filed a dispute with XXXX XXXX XXXX  to which the loan was put on forbearance until XXXX while the investigation was going on. Last year of XXXX, the case was settled and I received forgiveness for that. I also received a letter in the mail stating I would be getting a refund back based on my claim. So at this point I owed nothing and I received a refund in full for what I paid for back when I was going to school thanks to the loan forgiveness and my claim. Today XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from edfinancial services and an email right after stating I need to check my inbox. Upon signing in, I immediately noticed the late payments and the amount the website was claiming I owed. I called edfinancial services to which they pointed me to the inbox on their website. On XX/XX/XXXX, they have sent me a letter on their website stating that they sent a duplicate refund of {$4700.00} and they want me to pay it back. The charges I have pending on the website add up to {$4900.00} because they have already started charging me for their payment plan plus interest. I had no idea where this came from or why, a year and a half later. I am in disbelief. I have other inbox notifications from them on their website. XX/XX/XXXX, they sent a letter showing I have loans that needs to be paid. It's the same loans that I disputed back when I finished school but they added more money on top of it to add up to {$4700.00}. It also stated that I wouldn't need to make a payment until XXXX and they are putting me on a payment plan of {$50.00} a month. On XX/XX/XXXX, they sent a letter titled " 11 day delinquency notice '' saying that I am XXXX or more days past due on paying back that loan of {$4700.00}. On that same day, XX/XX/XXXX, they sent out another letter showing a billing statement which shows that I am 2 months late for paying them back and I now owe them {$100.00}. Which is weird because in the inbox from their site, I received those 3 letters back to back in one month ; two on the same day. On XXXX XXXX, on their edfinancial website inbox, I received a letter of " delinquency '' stating that I am XXXX or more days past due for paying them back. On that same day, XXXX XXXX, I received another letter on their site with another billing statement showing that I need to make a payment of {$150.00}. Today, XXXX XXXX, I received a call from an unknown number, which I don't answer unknown numbers due to scam likely calls. I received an email from edfinancial services right after saying I need to check my edfinancial account but a warning for possible scam. I decided to put the number that called into XXXX and it turned out to be edfinancial services calling, so I logged into the website. Only once on the phone, the customer service representative told me that I should check my edfinancial inbox. When I did, I noticed a letter which was received that same day, XXXX XXXX, stating the refund error on their part but that I have to send back the refund. The refund that I did not know I had to send back which is also starting to grow interest. I also received no warning for it yet it is showing as a loan and only today was I notified about it being a " duplicate refund '' that needs to be sent back. On my student aid account, I have no pending loans. Everything is paid off and forgiven. Yet on edfinancial services they are insisting a loan needs to be paid back. Now, this was a year and a half ago that I received said refund. I am broke and unemployed, living with my mom. That money was used to help with rent and other living expenses. I do not have the money that they are demanding back with Interest. I also do not appreciate that they are trying to just dump this responsibility on me last minute with no warning. As you can see, they sent me a notice only on their website then right after another stating that I was already past due for said payments, which I don't understand how that's possible. I would like to know if it is possible to investigate this because to me it seems pretty sketchy. This is also not my fault that they made a mistake a year and a half ago. I don't think it's right that I have to be responsible for their mistake. I am broke and unemployed so there is no way that I could afford this right now and it came out of the blue from my knowledge. 
At the end of the call with Edfinancial services, they told me I would need to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX to file a dispute. I talked to 3 Edfinancial Service customer service representatives who did not fully understand my problem and insisted that I had to pay back this " duplicate refund ''. The last representative encouraged me to call XXXX XXXX XXXX to see if I can make a dispute. While on the phone with XXXX XXXX XXXX, the customer service representative was so confused on why I was being charged because it shows on my account that I have no pending loans and everything was paid off or forgiven. The Federal Student Aid customer representative then connected me with a supervisor who was also confused on my situation and insisted that I make a complaint on Federal Student Aid website to make a dispute against what it happening. The supervisor also stated that they have never seen this type of situation before. 
I have made the claim on the Federal Student Aid website and I am also making a claim on CFPB as well to help resolve this sketchy situation.