Consumer complaint received 2023-12-20
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Problem with customer service
Company: Nelnet, Inc. (MI)

On XXXX XXXX XXXX, I submitted an application to consolidate my student loans ( which are all Direct consolidation loans - 2 of them ) into one. One consolidation loan was from XXXX  and the other was from XXXX. I was doing this to ensure that all of the loans had the payment history on IDR/ICR to all be forgiven. Nelnet them contacted me via email and said they couldn't process my application without the missing information they are requesting in a message in my account. There was NO SUCH MESSAGE anywhere in my account. I wrote back to tell them this, and they then said that I could not consolidate my loans, as I can only have ONE consolidation loan. That is obviously a lie, because if I can only have ONE of them .... then how is it that I has TWO, then, from two different years? Makes no sense. 

Also, you CAN consolidate several consolidated loans into one. According to the UPDATE ON CONSOLIDATION LOAN ISSUES XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on Attachment A, Page 2, it states " A borrower may consolidate an existing FFEL or Direct Loan Consolidation Loan only if the borrower includes at least one other eligible loan in the consolidation. The other eligible loan MAY be another Consolidation Loan. If the existing Consolidation Loan is in default, the borrower must also either make satisfactory repayment arrangements on the defaulted loan, or must agree to repay the new Consolidation Loan under the income- sensitive ( for the FFEL Program ) or income contingent ( for the Direct Loan Program ) repayment plan. '' I have included XXXX  as an attachment, so you can read it. 

So, in short, Nelnet lied to me and then began to ignore my emails asking for a solid explanation of why they were not processing my consolidation application, which remains in an 'open ' status to this day, over 6 months later. Their refusal to consolidate the loans in a timely manner led to the XXXX originated consolidation loan being forgiven on XX/XX/XXXX, but the XXXX consolidation loan was not. Had that perfectly valid application been processed within the 4-6 weeks it should have been, both consolidation loans would now be forgiven. Otherwise, if I can only have ONE consolidation loan as they claim ... then forgive the whole thing - both the XXXX AND XXXX originated loans. 

This is costing me over XXXX, as I am one of those poor souls who has been subjected to extreme compounding interest resulting in a balance far higher than my orginal loan amounts, even after 20+ years. To say I'm frustrated and disappointed is by far an understatement. I expect XXXX XXXX XXXX to be moved to fix this issue in my favor. They LIED and then didn't bother doing their job or even communicating with me anymore. In fact, it is nearly impossible to get through to them by phone and they don't answer emails. This isn't just plain incompetence .... this should be criminal! It is inexcuseable for an " Official '' Student Loan Servicer. 

They claim they can't do anything about this and I have to talk to the Federal Student Loan offices. I have, since I can actually get in touch with the Federal people and HAVE talked to them. They say Nelnet needs to deal with this and Nelnet DOES HAVE the ability to fix this.