Consumer complaint received 2021-09-22
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Don't agree with the fees charged
Company: AES/PHEAA (CA)

This complaint is due to predatory fees charged to me by AES, the loan servicer over the last several years, dating back to XXXX. At that time, there was a change made by the company/servicer ( not myself ) in how auto payments are made/withdrawn. I have been on auto payments since that time and afterward, with a payment withdrawn monthly, never late as far as I knew. I had never logged into their new website, or created a login, as I had no reason to, having been on auto payments and on time for years. In late XXXX, I randomly decided to check up on my loan and how much is left. After creating an account and logging in, I come to find out that since this auto payment method change several years ago, a payment date was somehow offset at the time, with them charging me a small fee. No problem. That is until I dug deeper, and saw a constant identical fee, beginning from that date, being charged to me monthly, over and over, for the last several years until XXXX without my knowledge. Without any communication to me by phone, email or letter that I ever received. This " computerized error '' or offset, caused them to continue to assess me a late fee every month for several years, totaling over {$1000.00}. Despite the fact I was on auto pay and payments were deducted without issue from my account over the entire period. 

Realizing what was happening, I attempted to contact AES both through their website and by phone, but without any proper response or resolution. I would receive a canned response stating the payment back in XXXX was late, which caused a chain effect of every payment being late by a set amount of days ( despite being on auto pay with them for several years ), that they were in the right to charge me these fees. This is without my knowledge, consent, or due diligence made to contact me about the issue. While it may not be intentional and automated on their part, it is predatory in every sense, and I am well within my rights to file suit against them for the fees. 

Instead, I chose to give them multiple opportunities to rectify the problem. Because I could not get anything but a canned response from them, or speak to anyone higher up, I was forced to purposefully stop payment on my loan until the issue was resolved. This worked, as after 2 months, I was finally able to get them to contact me, at which point I finally spoke to someone who could escalate this through the company. I finally spoke to a gentleman who was helpful ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ), took all of my info and complaint, and said it would go to the right place to try and get a resolution. They even agreed with me that the situation was unfortunate, and if they had been in my shoes, they would be equally upset and seek a resolution. Unfortunately, after being sent to their " decision makers '' the response was the same. That they were within their right to take advantage of me and charge these fees going back to XX/XX/XXXX. They cited the website ( which I never logged into, nor was I obligated to ) as a way I could have checked sooner. They cited an old email account they had on file I no longer use that had auto emails sent there. Needless to say, if I was aware of some small {$6.00} monthly charge accruing on my auto pay account, due to some automated adjustment that offset my auto payment into a date that forced them to be late, I would have taken care of it in XXXX. 

Because AES was not being cooperative and it became clear they had no interest in actually doing the right thing for a customer that was taken advantage of by them, I chose to terminate my loan with them by paying it off in full immediately, removing any additional interest they could potentially make. This brought my account completely current, including the predatory fees they charged, and paid in full as of XX/XX/XXXX. This was after months of trying to work with them to resolve the situation. And despite being upset about the situation, I had more important things in my life, and chose to let it go, knowing full well my situation was not unique and they have likely pulled this stunt on tens of thousands of other borrowers. 

Not being content with the fees being paid, and the loan paid in full, AES also placed a negative mark on my credit report for being 90 days past due in XXXX. This was despite the fact I let them know in advance I was stopping payment to force a call back from them and get a resolution. My communication stated that the moment someone contacts me, and they begin the resolution process, whether successful or not, I would pay all that is owed. And I did just that. Had I not done so, I would have never even been able to reach the manager that I did, to try and properly resolve the situation. Until I stopped payment, I couldn't get any meaningful assistance through AES. 

So not only has AES taken advantage of myself, a borrower that was on auto pay, and paid on time during these several years, ripping me off with predatory fees. Not only could I not get proper response from them until I stopped making payments. But then after following proper channels and giving them every opportunity, followed by paying my loan IN FULL, they turned around and nailed my credit, taking it from a perfect XXXX score to the XXXX. 

So this situation will no longer stand and I am filing this complaint. It is my final, good faith effort to get someone at AES to act like a human being, realize what happened was predatory, and resolve the situation. Meaning return the illegitimate fees and remove the mark on my credit. If it is not done, I have all the paper trail, all the dates, and all the details necessary ( many provided and attached here ) to take this to a class action lawyer and let them seek justice for not just myself, but who knows how many others taken advantage of in this same manner. 

I am willing to let this be published in the CFPB checked below, in the hopes that many others will see this, some who have also been taken advantage of in the same way. And if enough come forward, grounds to seek justice for the predatory behavior by AES and the lender XXXX  XXXX, that once presented with the evidence, chose to not refund the predatory fees billed to me in small increments, without my knowledge, while on auto pay, going back to XXXX.