Consumer complaint received 2018-12-03
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: Utah System of Higher Education (IL)

I have been trying for months to move from an Income-based Forbearance Repayment Plan to an Extended Repayment Plan with XXXX  XXXX. Here are a list of things that went wrong and incorrect information I was given : XX/XX/XXXX : Interest Capitalization for a total principle balance of {$31000.00} XX/XX/XXXX : Last normal payment on income-based plan for {$180.00} XXXX XXXX : I was told all I had to do to move from Income-based to Extended was to use a temporary hardship forbearance so the current amount due would be taken care of and my Extended application could be processed to begin for my XXXX due date. ( My income-based plan was ending after XXXX and I was told as long as I didn't reapply, I would be fine. ) XX/XX/XXXX : I logged into my account and found a full payment of nearly {$700.00} due. I called XXXX and was told that I actually had to make a payment of at least {$5.00} to get off of my Income-Based plan. I made the payment on XX/XX/XXXX for {$15.00}. Once I did this, my Extended plan could be processed. Again, I was told to do a temporary hardship forbearance to take care of the amount due. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I logged in and again saw a payment due of nearly {$700.00}. I called again and was told the exact same things as XXXX with the exception that I should wait a little bit so I pay the amount after it had been billed out. I made a payment on XX/XX/XXXX for {$15.00}. Again, I do a temporary hardship forbearance before I make the payment. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Same circumstances. I call and am finally told that I need to actually get a bill and then I can pay it. I call later in the month after I still have not received anything in my inbox. The person tells me I can make the payment. I make a payment of {$15.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Same song and dance with Temporary Hardship Forbearance. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I am told I paid the wrong amount in XXXX. I paid {$15.00} but I should have paid {$35.00}. I do a temporary forbearance, and am told I am right on the cusp so I won't get a bill until XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I log in a few times, but my amount due is always {$0.00}. I receive no notifications other than an email for a regular billing statement. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Still a high payment. I call again and was told I didn't pay the XXXX reduced amount of {$50.00}. I am almost sure I agreed to a {$5.00} amount for XXXX, but regardless, I had never received notification. I ask again to do a reduced payment for {$5.00}. I am told I should call back around XXXX or XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I call on XX/XX/XXXX. I inquire about my bill because I have not seen any emails about it. I am told on this call that the notifications for these bills are being sent via traditional mail and not via email. I have been paperless with XXXX  since at least XXXX. My bill has been generated. I make my payment. I am told to call back at the beginning of XXXX to make sure my Extended Plan has been  processed correctly. The representative and I went through my notifications on the website. There were none in the folder she expected them to be in. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I call back on XXXX. I logged in before I called and see an amount due of {$700.00}. I am put on hold for around 15 minutes while the rep tries to see what has gone wrong. When she gets back on the line, she tells me that it seems my payment has been overlooked because usually the bills are created on the XXXX or XXXX, so they look for payments AFTER those dates. I was billed on the XXXX and paid on the XXXX. She says she's going to process my paperwork and get me going on the extended plan, but it might not take before my payment is due, so I should do a temporary hardship forbearance. I said I will keep checking in and ask if there is anything I can do about the fact that I have not been able to pay down my principle in 8 months and now that the interest has capitalized again, my principle balance is over {$1000.00} higher. She says there is nothing that can be down because technically I could have been making payments this whole time. I tell her that I really could not have been and was suggested to wait until it all went through because it is super complicated to get off of an Income -based plan.

My complaints boil down to these : 1 ) I have been paperless for years and yet received no notification of these bills via email and was only sent notification via traditional mail. I was not told this until 8 months into this problem 2 ) It took at least 3 months for me to be told that I even needed to wait to be billed for a smaller amount. ON top of that, I was told at first I didn't have to do anything because my forbearance plan had expired. 

3 ) I was told nothing can be helped because " technically '' I could have making payments is a slap in the face. 

I feel like I am being thrown into shady processes to avoid having to put me on an extended repayment plan. All I want to do is to be able to afford my student loan payments, but XXXX is making it extremely difficult.