Consumer complaint received 2017-07-26
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: AES/PHEAA (IA)

I was recently transferred to FedLoan Servicing in XX/XX/XXXX after completing an initial certification for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Since the the transfer, FedLoan Servicing has failed to review my income based repayment plan. I sent my initial copy of the requested documentation a few days after receipt of the request. I did not get a response after a few weeks, so I sent a second copy via certified mail which arrived the first week of XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from FedLoan which stated " Within the next 10 days ( if not sooner! ), we will review your request and send a follow up email of next steps and any additional actions needed. '' No additional information was ever sent, and the claim was not processed. I made a follow up call to FedLoan on XX/XX/XXXX ( 10 days after I received the email ) and was told by their representative that I should simply wait until my IDR request is processed to make a payment. I informed the agent that this would make me late on payments if it did n't process in time. She stated that this was not a problem and that there would be no late fees or impact on my credit. She also stated that my IDR would be reviewed by XX/XX/XXXX and so there was no need to worry, and that if I put in a forbearance request it would only serve to further delay my request. The agent stated that she would not give me a written copy of her recommendations. This made me suspicious. I did some research and determined that this would, in fact, have a negative impact on my credit rating. Further I did not understand why a forbearance would deny my request as this has not been the case in the past. Given the inaccurate nature of the information provided, I called back on XX/XX/XXXX and attempted to record the call. Agents would not let me record the call, however, and threatened to hang up if I attempted to do so. They would not give me a written version of their recommendations, either, leaving me only with my own notes of this conversation which would be subject to dispute. I escalated to a manager to discuss this. After it was clarified I would not be able to keep indisputable records of this conversation, the agent stated that I would not be delayed for requesting a forbearance and that this was in my best interest. I confirmed that missing a payment would impact my credit rating, the opposite of what the previous agent had told me. This agent stated that they would need at least until XX/XX/XXXX to process the request. I stated this was unacceptable but the agent said I did n't have a choice and that my best course of action was to take a forbearance for an additional two months. I complied, not having any other options. The agent stated he would put in a request to expedite processing because he acknowledged I was given incorrect information in the past. It is now the end of XX/XX/XXXX and my request has still not been processed. I called FedLoan again on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX and the agent stated that the request had not been reviewed, and that she thought it would be soon. When pressed for a tentative date, the agent said she could not provide one as there was a high volume of requests. I have now been in forbearance for 3 months. I would not want or need the forbearance were my application processed in a timely manner. I have both the willingness and ability to pay the amount that I was paying under my IDR plan which was recently renewed through XXXX before submitting the PSLF application. Further, this will ultimately extend the time I am in repayment. I have no control over this and am at the mercy of the servicer. I feel trapped and confused, and have no way to verify the veracity of what I 'm being told by the servicer, nor any way to document exactly what they are telling me.