Consumer complaint received 2021-02-16
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Getting a loan — Confusing or misleading advertising
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NM)

Dear Friends at CPFB, I graduated from college back in XXXX  and soon after the Public Service Loan Forgiveness act was passed. I was very excited to hear about this program since I was over {$20000.00} in debt and excited to start my career as a woefully underpaid XXXX XXXX XXXX 

Graduating college while working full time was a huge and maddening endeavor on its own. Immediately after graduation, I then began scattering to find a job in my chosen career so that I can put my education to good use for the children of this nation and, hopefully, all of mankind. 

At some point after graduation and when the FSLP was being signed into law, I began getting phone calls from Citibank and put them off several times until, one day, I happened to have time to hear their sales pitch. They were very excited about the current low interest rates at the time and made me feel like it would be foolish not to consolidate my Federal Direct loans immediately, while the rates were so very low. 

I was young, naive, and this was my very first time owing money to anyone at all. I was overwhelmed at the time, very concerned about how I was going to afford the payments on this massive loan, and had zero experience in the real world. It sounded like it would really simplify my life and save me lots of money in the long term. I thought nothing of it and, of course, did it.

About 12 years later, I was so excited to finally hand in all the paperwork for my PSFL. I had worked tirelessly as an underpaid public servant and made my 120 payments only to find out that the loan that I now have ( that has since been transferred from Citibank to XXXX ) is not eligible for PSFL and that I would have to switch to a Federal Direct loan and start my ten years worth of service and payments all over again. 

I recently saw that the CPFB helped to find multiple legal violations on the part of Citibank, where they were fined a great deal of money. I greatly appreciate your agencys efforts in fighting for the people and truly hope that I can find similar recompense for this offense that I have encountered. 

I have a sneaking suspicion and strong belief that Citibank ( possibly in cahoots with our own government ) made a concerted effort to get young and naive new graduates to consolidate their loans in order to make sure that the loan never needed to actually be forgiven down the road. I was wondering if this was an issue that has ever been brought up by others and if there are any avenues for recourse for someone in my position. 

I guess that ultimately, I did not do my due diligence to assure that the loan consolidation was truly right for me. I wish that I was more wise and jaded back then and maybe I could have identified this rouse before being tricked like I was. But doesnt it seem odd that the interest rates happened to go way down immediately after the PSFL bill was passed and then immediately after, Citibank starts making relentless sales calls to lure people out of their direct loans. 

At the time, I was young and idealistic and would never expect the world to do such things to people, but now I feel like I have learned a lot more about the sad state of affairs in the profit at all cost financial system we live in and the whole thing sure seems like foul play to me.

All in all I am extremely disheartened to learn that I dedicated over ten years of my life in service of the public believing, all along, that I would be rewarded for my tireless efforts. I am tempted to just stop paying the loans, simply on principle and to give up my career in public service for more lucrative employment because I am seriously jaded and angry. I dont believe that this was the intended result when the lawmakers of the time passed this bill but, thus, here we are. 

I believe that I have affected and improved the lives of hundreds of children during my years as a XXXX  XXXX  and I would like to continue to do so. I am just at a crossroad now with my first child and a new partner who has XXXX boys of her own and it just feels like I may not be able to continue working for the insulting wages that teachers are paid in most of the country .... especially not after being as wickedly duped as I truly believe I have been. 

Any support or guidance in this matter is so very appreciated. 

Sincerely, XXXX