Consumer complaint received 2023-10-19
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with your payment plan
Company: EdFinancial Services (TX)

EdFinancial has not changed my repayment plan to the new SAVE or updated my monthly payments despite already being enrolled in the new SAVE plan on studentaid.gov and the SAVE plan guaranteeing my monthly payments should be {$0.00} due to being unemployed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email about a new message in my EdFinancial inbox that my loans were removed from the SAVE Plan due to not completing a recertification application and income documentation by a deadline. The issue is that EdFinancial claims to have sent me a reminder to do so when I have in fact not received any such notification in my EdFinancial inbox or even any information on when this deadline was. This message is the earliest correspondence I have when checking my EdFinancial inbox. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another email stating I owe {$230.00} due XX/XX/XXXX. This prompts me to apply for the SAVE Plan on studentaid.gov to lower my payment. When I logged in to my account on studentaid.gov, the site prompted me by stating I already had an existing payment plan and to change my plan instead of submitting a new application. I did that only to find out my current repayment plan is the new SAVE Plan. I left my application the same but let the site access my tax return to calculate my new monthly payments. 

Because I am currently unemployed and don't have any taxable income, my monthly SAVE payment should be {$0.00}, and studentaid.gov shows that I would indeed be paying $ XXXX  monthly under this plan. I submit my changes and wait for my application to be updated accordingly. On XX/XX/XXXX, my application is marked complete and that my servicer has finished revising my application. 

Fast forward to today on XX/XX/XXXX, and EdFinancial has not done anything to update my monthly payments. In fact, I received the most baffling, yet hilarious email from the regarding my account on XX/XX/XXXX. 

This email, marked XX/XX/XXXX, claims my loans are are not eligible for an Income-Driven Repayment plan ( IDR ) because payments are not yet due for my loans. 

Here 's the best part : My loans will enter repayment status on XX/XX/XXXX. Now, I'm not the best at math, but XXXX was seven years ago. So unless I traveled back in time to when my loans weren't due while writing this complaint, I should be on an IDR. Preferably SAVE.

Furthermore, any attempts to call EdFinancial has me put on 3-4 hour long wait times, making getting any information from them painstakingly difficult. I have also emailed them regarding this issue but have yet to hear any response. And now I have received a delinquency notice on my account for a payment that I should not be paying under my current circumstances. 

I am beyond frustrated with the lack of any concise information on what they are missing to update my payment plan when studentaid.gov shows me enrolled in {$0.00} SAVE monthly payments. If anything, it seems malicious that these loan servicers are expecting people struggling to make ends meet to XXXX it up and make payments instead of putting up a fight. These loan servicers ' level of unpreparedness to handle these payment plans is unacceptable and something has to change to fix this mess not just for me, but for anyone else dealing with these monthly payments.