Consumer complaint received 2017-07-14
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Don't agree with the fees charged
Company: AES/PHEAA (MO)

I am on an IDR plan. XXXX XXXX sent me a message on XX/XX/XXXX through their website portal informing me I needed to recertify. They also sent me a generic message to my email informing me something was sent in my portal on XX/XX/XXXX. Unfortunately I did not check my portal so I never  viewed or received my actual message. I thought anything actually important to my finances would have been marked as such due to other emails they sent. <P/> I previously only checked my portal on XX/XX/XXXX to retrieve my tax documents to file my income taxes. Before that they emailed me on XX/XX/XXXX and that email subject line actually said " IMPORTANT TAX RETURN DOCUMENT AVAILABLE '' versus the generic message so I knew something important was in my portal and should be checked versus something generic like an updated privacy policy, but I also knew I could wait until I was filing my Taxes to login.
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In XX/XX/XXXX I received emails on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, which prompted me to inquire why I received 2 message so close when they typically spread out generic emails. I also realized it had been about a year since I previously submitted my income documentation for IBR. I did a password retrieve and logged into my portal on XX/XX/XXXX and saw both the XX/XX/XXXX message and a new message informing me my plan had changed.
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I immediately submitted the required documentation to renew my IBR on XX/XX/XXXX. I then called that day after submitting and spoke to a representative. She told me it would take 2 months to process the new request due to my mistake and I would need to do a forbearance if I could not make the new payments that were 6 times higher than my previous IBR payment. I agreed to do a forbearance because I did not want to create additional financial hardship on myself or potentially miss a payment. She also told me to cancel my direct deposit payment, otherwise they may accidently draw the larger payment on my account, even with forbearance. I agreed to that additional safeguard.
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They ended up processing my IBR request within a week ( not 2 months ) so it was completed on XX/XX/XXXX, but they will not start it for my XX/XX/XXXX payment. They also capitalized my interest adding {$8100.00} to my balance. I called and asked them if they could undo it all now that my documents were submitted and processed with my previous arrangement allowing me to make my previous or even new IBR payment since 2 weeks of time are still remaining, but they said no.
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I believe they should have made the subject line to my email clear with something along the lines of : " IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR REPAYMENT PLAN '' was sent on XX/XX/XXXX instead of the generic " A new message is waiting for you to view '', and they should also have seen that I did not access the portal or letter for months, so while the letter was sent I never actually opened it or knew of the contents.
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They could have texted, sent paper mail, sent an email with a more informative subject line, or any other number of means to make me aware important work needed to be done on my part to prevent financial hardship.
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I believe XXXX   is putting very minimal effort in order to reduce the likelihood consumers timely renew IDR requests. They should have made a second attempt to contact me allotting some time to timely submit documentation.