Consumer complaint received 2017-07-31
Product: Debt collection — Federal student loan debt
Issue: Communication tactics — You told them to stop contacting you, but they keep trying
Company: AES/PHEAA (PA)

American Education Services aka PHEAA has been consistently harassing my co-signer and me even after making payments to resolve the delinquencies that occurred on and off throughout the course of the loan payment process. I 've spoken with a number of representatives at AES who claim it 's their legal obligation to continue with letters and phone calls until the account is current, in addition to calling and sending letters after the account is current. I also call them whenever I will be late with a payment letting them know when a payment will be made, however they state that calls and letters will still take place. This is a direct violation of my consumer rights as a citizen. This is severe harassment. If I was late with payments, they never fell delinquent past 30 days. In the event that you are calling to make arrangements, that should immediately indemnify any communication unless that payment arrangement becomes null and void as of the scheduled date the payment is set up to be made or thereafter. If communication continues again in the event that a loan is late by only a matter of days, I will be filing a complaint with the district attorney in addition to hiring my own attorney to investigate the constant harassment throughout AES/PHEAA. Keep in mind, that it 's absolutely fraudulent to send a co-signer a notice asking for a payment after a payment was already made. That is an attempt to collect money for something that was already collected. Here are a few testimonials I 've found which go into fair details about the immoral activity that takes place at AES/PHEAA : 1. When I first started paying on my student loans I assumed payments were being applied as directed ; I was completely wrong! Please make sure you check on any payment you send to your student loan. I have tried to send an extra payment on a monthly basis to try to pay off my debt, and after countless calls and speaking to managers I have come to accept I have to check on my loan minimum twice a month. The problems have ranged from my extra payments not being applied AT ALL ( in which case I have to send bank statements and copy of check ) to my account being placed on " Paid Ahead '' status as it continues to accumulate interest. If you check the website, it states you can target specific loans online, which is completely false. Every manager I speak to gives me a different reason for my payment being applied as they see fit, versus how I am asking for my payment to be applied. Reasons range from putting a cap on how much you can pay towards a subsidized loan to a letter being mailed with the check with " EXACTWORDING. '' In one of my previous calls, I had to have the manager dictate the letter I needed to  write, which I send out with my check on a monthly basis. Of course this has done nothing to the way my payment is applied, as now they tell me letters are thrown away once thecheck is received and the person receiving the check is not the one to apply the payment. 
Now, along with the letter stapled to the check, I have to write 3 things on the memo field of the 
check, " DO NOT PLACE MY ACCOUNT ON PAID AHEAD STATUS '', the loan number I want to  target, and my account number. You would assume with all this information I would not have a problem ; however, you are wrong again! My payment is still not applied to the account stated, Ihave to spend a minimum of 15 minutes on the phone verifying all my contact information and getting pass the automated service explaining how I have to call EVERY single month, and I have to wait 7-10 business days before my payment is reapplied. In some cases, this does not happen and I need to call again, in others, I have to submit yet another letter asking them to reapply my  payment. I sure wish I had looked at my loans closely for the first 5 years of payments ; or that I had the money to pay them off once and for all! 2.
I have received 6 letters in the mail, and an email claiming and I owe them money for my graduate school loan. All my loans are with XXXX, and they have no record of transferring any of my accounts to another lender. The department of education also has no record of me having any loans with them. What they are doing is fraud and harassment. 3. I borrowed $ XXXX in student loans, which were sold/consolidated with AES. This was the biggest mistake of my life. I would have been better off with a loan shark. I have paid over $ 28K in loan payments but still owe $ XXXX. That means $ XXXX went toward principal and $ XXXX went to interest and fees. I have tried get assistance with to no avail. Their only response is to pay more than my scheduled payment. 4. I received a letter that I was going into default. I called and explained I had recently gone through a separation and was a struggling single parent of XXXX. I could n't afford my regular day to day bills and could n't afford the payment. I was told that I could do a voluntary arrangement on top of the 15 % garnishment that was being sent to my employer. Well I worked 4 plus years in my current position for state of SC and state rules say you ca n't maintain job and have a default loan. So now I 'm without employment and there is no check to garnish but now my children and I may soon be on the streets. 5. I am very much a responsible borrower. I pay on time and never missed it. This company is not helping students to help pay for student loans. The interest rate keeps increasing after transferring from XXXX XXXX XXXX to AES. It keeps increasing ever since I got transferred to AES. Thiscompany is making people stressed more. I have never received more than 1 bill statement with  Bank XXXX XXXX 's account. With AES aka " XXXX XXXX '' company, I have received at least more than 2 statements monthly. MAKING PROFITS IS TRULY THEIR MISSION! It is totally NOT reliable. This company should NOT exist because they are merely making profits out of students who are responsible borrowers/new borrowers. Therefore, they do n't deserve any stars. 1 star because it was required! They deserve 0 STAR! This company should be XXXX XXXX XXXX! Or change it to " XXXX XXXX! 6. This company is by far the worst Company I have ever had to deal with. They send threatening letters demanding you pay so much or else they will take further action. Will NOT work with you in arranging payments you can afford and will NOT defer your loans if you are still in school. Total rip off and you will be paying out the XXXX if you get a loan with this company. They need to be shut down for their practices. If I would have known all of this in the beginning I sure in heck would n't have gotten anything through them ...