Consumer complaint received 2020-03-20
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: AES/PHEAA (VA)

This problem is with FEDLOAN SERVICING ( FLS ). 
THIS WAS ALL PRE-CORONA. 

XX/XX/20 Called FLS for PLUS loan payoff amount. Was told {$4000.00}. 

XX/XX/20 Sent check for {$4100.00}. Included overage because I sensed they'd let the check sit around for awhile & more interest would accrue. Called FLS & notified them a payoff was on the way for my PLUS loan. Asked them to notate account. 

XX/XX/20 Noted no payment applied by FLS. Called & reiterated info from XX/XX/20 call. Agent assured me they would take care of it when it arrived. I continued to make payments towards the account, sensing they were going to lose it ( mail takes 3 days max ). By XX/XX/20, my balance owed was {$3700.00}. 

XX/XX/20 Called again, FLS said they still never received it. One hour later, I looked online, & it had been received, however was not used to pay off the PLUS loan - had been applied willy nilly to all other loans. Gave them a few days to fix on their own, noting I'd provided directions many times. 

XX/XX/20 Called & explained problem to agent. She said, " well that's not the way you do any of this, you just make a payment & call for us to fix it ''. She was not making much sense & wanted to read all the account balances, how much of my PLUS payoff had been applied to them, & what the new balances were. I kept trying to refocus her & have her correctly apply my payment. She was frustrated & & said " your other loans might go into default ''. I told her I was a XXXX  & didn't have much more time before my XXXX came back. She said just call back later. 

XX/XX/20 Called back, got a more cogent agent. She said she had to " pull out her calculator '' & tried to re-apply my payoff. Her confusion was palpable. When she thought she was done, she said, " I hope this works, good luck, if it doesn't, call back ''. She also said, " I don't think your other loans are going to go into default ''. Why do you all keep saying that to me, I asked? She said " Oh we have to say that ''. 

XX/XX/20 Concerned & shocked at the low level of performance I encountered, I sent an email asking anyone in their office to check my account for accuracy. 

XX/XX/20 One week later, I received a response from ID # XXXX. This person said yes, the PLUS loan was paid off & the overage applied to XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX. I replied to the email, asking them to check again. Not because I was trying to be annoying, but I sensed that the email was a parroted response to my question & that they had not checked. They actually responded again with the same response. 

XX/XX/20 Home due to Corona. Checking up on the workers at FLS again. As expected, they have NOT APPLIED MY PAYOFF TO THE PLUS LOAN. IT STILL HAS A BALANCE DUE OF XXXX. 

XX/XX/20 Called FLS. Now, they are closed due to Corona. Sent them an email. Told them I was reporting them. 

XX/XX/20 I want your agency to look into FLS, & investigate why there are unskilled agents handling my payments & loan, repeatedly making errors with nonchalance. I want my PLUS loan paid off, and the overpayment from the check, {$360.00}, to be applied to XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX. 

I am going to continue to share this story as I believe this is the tip of an iceberg of mishandled money & student loan accounting. 

Thank you for your time. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX