Consumer complaint received 2021-12-16
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: BCO Consulting Services (GA)

On XX/XX/2021 at XXXXXXXX XXXX, I received a voicemail from a person identifying their name but no reference to an organization, requesting a call back regarding a notice that was recently sent out regarding the federal student loan forbearance and relief program expiring, and that she wanted to ensure I don't lose any potential pre-qualified status for loan forgiveness or loan discharge, further noting that she would go over these details upon a call back. I later learned this company to be BCO Consulting Services. She requested a call back at XXXX. 

I interpreted this message as a representative of the US Department of Education itself, which to my understanding regulates the rules and regulations around loan forbearance, or a representative for a firm directly contracted by the US Department of Education, contracted by the US Dept. of Ed. to assist borrowers in re-initiating their loan payments after an extended period of COVID-19 forbearance that was offered to all borrowers, to my understanding. 

I called XXXX back on XX/XX/2021 at XXXXXXXX XXXX and was greeted by a different representative than whom left me a voicemail. This representative did not identify himself or the company, rather immediately started asking me questions regarding caller verification, loan status, income, and tax filings. He was able to provide me accurate information about my student loans that I assumed would only be privy to my loan servicer and lender, further giving them credibility in my mind that this was an official representative of the Dept. of Ed. or an associated contractor. He also was able to change my studentaid.gov login information given information I provided him or that he had available, to which he provided me this new login information. Again, my understanding was that this was free assistance in re-initiating my loan repayment, after an extended period of forbearance. This representative then quoted me an income-driven repayment option that was associated with the lowest monthly repayment amount, quoting me an income-based repayment plan at $ XXXX. for 240 months, with the first 4 months at {$240.00}, set on an auto-payment schedule. This representative  advised that after 4 months of auto-payments, my loan servicer would then take over repayments. He then allowed me to request a specific auto-payment schedule. He asked me to provide either bank account information or a credit card to setup the auto-payments ; I provided him with a credit card. He then guided me through signing a contract for this repayment plan over the phone, without discussing any details of the contract or asking if I had any questions, simply directing me to sign and initial in certain areas on an electronic contract he emailed. Finally, this representative advised I am to submit financial documents, specifically a 30 day pay stub or my last year 's tax return to an email address he provided within 5 days. 

On XX/XX/2021, I contacted my current student loan servicer, and discussed this experience with a representative to verify its legitimacy, after later having the sense that it didn't feel legitimate. This representative advised I call the FTC to report this and provided their number. She advised that the first 4 payments would be going directly to this alleged consulting firm, and none of these funds would be directed towards repayment of my student loans, as I was led to believe. Upon running financial assessment tools used by my official servicer, this representative could not verify any loan repayment option that came even remotely close to what was quoted to me by the third party consulting firm.