Consumer complaint received 2023-11-23
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: Maximus Federal Services, Inc. (NY)

After speaking to several experts about how to make sure I get the full benefit from the IDR adjustment, I decided it was in my best interest to consolidate all of my student loans. 

The last communication I received from Aidvantage about upcoming payment due dates was from XX/XX/. It said I had two upcoming payments, one for {$120.00} and the other for {$180.00}. Both payments had a due date of XX/XX/. ( attached ) I received a letter in the mail about consolidation information dated XX/XX/XXXX  giving me 10 days to review the information before the consolidation process begins, this letter included loan amounts. 

On XX/XX/XXXX  I received a troubling message in my Aidvantage inbox ( attached ) titled Loss of benefit. This message read : ... your loan credit has been retracted because you didnt make your first 12 Monthly Payments on time. When the loans listed below were disbursed, you were awarded the opportunity to receive a XXXX percent loan credit. This credit was based on the Original Principal loan balances, minus cancellations, refunds, and returned disbursements. Unfortunately, because you didnt meet this on-time payment requirement, the credit has been added back to your principal balance, increasing the amount you must repay. 

It then listed four loans with disbursement dates from XXXXXXXX  with an original principal balance totalling {$28000.00}. XXXX percent would come to {$140.00} This came as a total surprise to me and there are several troubling aspects. 

First, I have never missed a payment on these loans. Second, over the years I have already paid thousands of dollars on these loans over the years. 

I recently received a notification that my XXXX  score tumbled. My fear is that Aidvantage reported the incorrect information to the credit reporting agencies that either included false information that I missed a payment, or adding back that {$140.00} back to my loans which triggered a tumble in my credit score. I am still looking into this and trying to figure out what happened. Im also worried that my new consolidation loan might be for the wrong amount. 

I tried calling Advantage to learn as much as I can and encountered a few problems. Twice the call was simply interrupted by a survey and the call was dropped. This meant having to call multiple times, wait on hold, and bring each representative up to speed. Aidvantage said they had no payment history for my loans, and could not provide me with the original agreement for this opportunity to receive a XXXX percent loan credit. 

One rep told me this was a servicer error and I should ignore the message. I agree this is a servicer error, but I cant simply ignore this if my credit report is impacted or my loan amount is wrong. Aidvantage told me there was nothing they could do to fix this error. 

I am still researching the situation and might learn more information in the future, but I wanted file a complaint to document the problem with the information I currently have. When servicers cause these kinds of errors the burden falls on the borrower to fix them and it takes an extraordinary amount of time. Here I am spending half of a holiday trying to figure this out, document as much as I can, and file complaints.