Consumer complaint received 2018-06-05
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Company: Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RI)

When I was in college, I got a lot of mailers from RISLA stating that they were the loan company that would really help me. Being only XXXX at the time, and a first-generation college student, my mother and I were eager to find a student loan option that would really help me. Boy were we wrong. RISLA has done nothing to help me, and they do not look out for their customers, only themselves. 

When I applied, as I stated, I was only XXXX. My mother had to be a co-signers on my account. The loan officer told her ( never me, no-one once reached out to me and I didn't think anything of it at the time because I was so young ) that she would have to co-sign, but the loan would be mine, and that she could be taken off after " a year or so. '' Flash forward to 6 years later, when it is clear that I can not take her off the loan unless I check almost all of these impossible buckets, which includes having a DTI that I, as someone with student loans, would never be able to have. The loan officer also told her about the income based repayment plan, stating that if I, the borrower, was making below a certain amount ( i.e. my gross income ) they would readjust my payment amount per month so that I could afford it. Not once was it mentioned the two biggest caveats : 1 ) that I would make no dent in my principal AND my loan amounts would actually INCREASE each month, and 2 ) that they wouldn't actually be basing this plan off my gross income, but rather the income of me and my co-signer. My co-signer, as I stated earlier, is my mother who is not helping me with my loans. She was put on as a co-signer only because I could not get the loans, and we made it clear that she would not be responsible for the payments. She is not a co-borrower, but RISLA does not seem to know the difference as they use the terms interchangeably in all of our communications ( i.e. they choose which term and its accepted definition works for whatever argument they are making ). 

So now to the present. Last year, I was making about {$28000.00} annually before taxes. They wanted me to pay almost {$1000.00} a month on my loans. I applied for the income based repayment ( IBR ) and my payments were reduced to about {$500.00}. {$500.00} a month when I was making about {$1500.00} a month was still a burden. I have a car payment and insurance that equaled about {$500.00} a month, as well as general living costs. I ended up not being able to move in to an apartment with a roommate, because I wouldn't be able to afford food, let alone any other necessities. I thankfully received a major promotion, and am now making a little less than {$44000.00}. Still, {$1000.00} a month payments were too much for me. I reached out to RISLA many times during XX/XX/2018 to see if they could only consider my income and not my mothers when doing this option, as she was not paying the loans and was only a co-signer. The answer numerous times over was no. They gave me other options, including refinancing ( which would increase my payments to $ XXXX/month ) or getting rid of my mother as a signer ( which would make me ineligible for the income-based repayment program, and an option which I clearly did not qualify for ). My mother called, and she was told that they would likely make the initial decision to not do the income-based, but that we could appeal it and we would likely win that appeal and reduce my payments. Whoever said that clearly was lying, because they didn't even consider my appeal. I wrote a letter explaining the situation that I submitted with my application, and it is clear that they probably didn't read it because they did not respond to me at all other than sending me and email saying my application was denied. My mother called to appeal, and she was treated rudely and told it doesn't matter what we say, this is what we signed up for. How did we sign up for this when no-one even told me about it? 

Overall, RISLA did not work to help me. They took advantage of me, and made me sign on a dotted line at the age of XXXX without explaining anything or even speaking to me at all. And they unfairly judged my payment plan using my mother 's income, knowing she wasn't helping and that she was only a co-signer. They would not work to help me, which is something they say they will do, and treated me rudely on the phone and through email. And they just were deceptive. They never told me the nuances of the income based repayment plan, how it would increase my balance or how it would take my co-signer 's income into account, not only during the loan application but also during my time with them. I am very upset, and now have to take on a major financial burden that I can not afford. I think they need to right their wrongs.