Consumer complaint received 2023-12-16
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. (IA)

I called Aidvantage on XX/XX/XXXX to request a refund for the money that I paid extra during the Covid Payment pause when I didnt have to make payments. During that conversation, I was told that XXXX researchers would have to look into the payments I had made to determine the refund amount. I told the person on the phone that I kept track of my loan payments and it was something to the amount of {$11000.00}. I wanted to make sure they found all the payments to get my full refund. The rep said she would trust me with that number and wrote it down. She said it would take XXXX weeks and I would get a note in my account or a letter stating that it was complete. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX to check on the progress because I had heard nothing and was assured each time that things were working as they should. I was even told on XX/XX/XXXX that I would hear something within the next week or so. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my loans were transferred to XXXX as part of the PSLF forgiveness plan. I called Aidvantage again on XX/XX/XXXX as I had heard nothing from them and was told that my request was submitted incorrectly on their end. I was told it was nothing I had done wrong but rather something an Aidvantage representative did. Furthermore, the rep reported to me that the date of the submitted incorrectly was XX/XX/XXXX. This means that the XXXX times I called between my refund request on XX/XX/XXXX and this call on XX/XX/XXXX that XXXX separate reps gave me false information regarding my refund request. I was on the phone with this rep and he went through all of my loans individually and found that I was due a refund in the amount of {$11000.00}. He said he talked with a supervisor who would approve it quickly. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called Aidvantage again and was told that the refund was approved by a XXXX that day ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I followed up again on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that on XXXX ( with no contact to me ) they determined they could only refund me for the loans that were not transferred to XXXX so my refund amount was lowered to {$10000.00}. Frustrated, I requested a supervisor who told me that I would have to call XXXX to request a refund for the remaining refund balance because XXXX now serviced my loans. I stated that if Aidvantage had not made the mistake on XX/XX/XXXX and had not given me false information on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, then this would have been resolved before my loans were transferred to XXXX. 

I asked if there was anything that would happen to rectify the situation if XXXX was unable to refund my loan overpayments and the supervisor at Aidvantage told me there was nothing they could do. I requested the phone call records I had made and/or a transcript of my calls to Aidvantage and was denied. The only thing they would be able to do would be listen to the calls and handle the situation internally. I commented that that did not help my situation and the supervisor agreed. 

I called XXXX and they confirmed that they would not be able to refund the overpayment because the CARES act ended on XX/XX/XXXX and my request was now after that date. Due to Aidvantages negligence and falsehoods, I am out approximately {$1300.00} with, according to Aidvantage, no recourse.