Consumer complaint received 2020-02-21
Product: Debt collection — Federal student loan debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive enough information to verify debt
Company: NEW YORK STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICES CORPORATION (HESC)— (VA)

My mother was diagnosed with XXXX XXXX and placed into a care facility in XXXX. My uncle and myself were designated as POAs in charge of her financial and health care. In XX/XX/XXXX, we received a notice in the mail that my mother had an outstanding student loan of a little over {$24000.00} from New York Higher Education Services Corporation that had gone into collections and that beginning XX/XX/XXXX, they would be taking out {$190.00} from her $ XXXX/month Social Security to pay the collections. Please note this is her only income. We immediately filed a XXXX  and XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ) Discharge with the Federal Student Aid ( an Office of the Department of Education aka XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX, per instructions. The application was filled out completely and stated that while a decision was pending, no money would be collected from my mother 's Social Security and that a decision could take up to 120 days. That has not been the case, however, as money has been taken out every month since then and we are now going on almost 120 days with the application still " pending. '' At the end of XXXX we spoke with XXXX representatives asking why money was still being taken out of my mother 's Social Security while her application was being considered and they referred us back to New York Higher Education Services Corporation, stating they had sent two letters to stop collections on the account while the application was being processed. When I called New York Higher Education Services Corporation, it took me over 4 hours to get in touch with a live person who informed me that they could no longer see any paperwork sent to them because the account was in collections and that I would have to speak with the collections agency. They were extremely rude and unhelpful. When I then spoke to the collections agency, they informed me that all stop on collections must come from the originating loan provider, or the New York Higher Education Services Corporation. XXXX would also not provide a copy of the letter sent to the New York Higher Education Services Corporation or proof that it was sent at all. In the meantime, at the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX, my mother 's doctor received a request from XXXX for additional information regarding her XXXX XXXX diagnosis. Information that was already submitted with the initial XXXX discharge paperwork from her doctor, asking the same questions and for the same information that was previously submitted by her doctor in XX/XX/XXXX. This additional information request was under the guise that her application could not be processed without that information, but it was already included from her doctor with the initial paperwork provided in the original application. Now that this " additional paperwork '' has been provided ... for the second time ... the discharge paperwork has been send to the Department of Education for consideration in another 45-60 days. According to XXXX, this does not count against the original 120 day timeline because they " needed additional paperwork. '' While all this is happening. Money is still being withheld from my mother 's Social Security Benefits, her only source of income, and the primary source that pays for her XXXX XXXX care facility. It has now been almost 4 months and we have been doing everything that has been asked of us, but all we have been getting is the run-around. Thank you.