Consumer complaint received 2017-09-22
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Company: AES/PHEAA (CA)

It 's been a nightmare. From XXXX to XXXX XXXX I have been trying to end forbearance and re-start on my IBR program. I was on IBR before, but this time i asked to switch to new REPAYE program. I got an email in XXXX requesting my income info as forbearance is ending. i sent my most recent taxes. weeks later got response application denied. i called and they said it was denied because they sent the application too early and did not request to end forbearance. odd because i only sent it because they emailed me. ok, so i re-sent IBR application asking to end forbearance. weeks pass and nothing until i receive a surprising bill for XXXX XXXX ( my normal payments are XXXX so this was a shock ). I was on autopay so if i hadnt checked they would have just taken XXXX from me. I called back asking about status of IBR and what new bill is. I was told its a capitalized interest payment i have to make and that my IBR app would be denied until i made it, only once i made payment would app be considered. i dont have XXXX and This sounded odd, i waited and called again. this time the rep told me i dont have to pay the XXXX and can pay what i want and asked me to name a number. i said {$500.00}. they said wait until new bill arrives for {$500.00}, pay it, then we will process ibr app. i waited weeks. no bill arrived for {$500.00}, still showed XXXX willl be taken out of my account. i called back. they said the modified {$500.00} bill would not be sent. I asked why. they said because the request for a lower bill came after the original bill for the XXXX. 
( so the only way to have avoided this would have been to request a lower interest capitalization payment prior to it being billed, but how can i request a lower bill before i am given a bill to begin with? it makes no sense so ). they said dont pay the XXXX bill, let it expire and they will cancel it in month and i woud reapply. i told them im not comfortable having a XXXX bill on record that i dont pay, i have no wriitten evidence that im not supposed to pay it and dont want to XXXX up my PLSF plan. i asked if anything we can do to remove the XXXX interest bill and just give me the {$500.00} interest bill and would be happy to pay it so i can resume my IBR plan. they said they needed to cancel my original IBR application and end original forbearance ( and i would make no payment and XXXX bill removed ) and then i would be put back on a temporary new forbearance and be given new interest bill, i pay that, and then i can resume my IBR plan. the new rep also told me the {$500.00} payment did n't need to be so high, i can make it a payment of just {$5.00}. so i asked for {$50.00}. i was told i would receive bill for {$50.00}. i asked to cancel autopay as i didnt trust another big bill coming. i waited weeks. no bill came. autopay never cancelled so i cancelled it myselfi called back, no help. each time i call they seem to have no evidence of prior arrangement. finally a bill came for {$49.00}. i paid it. i waited. nothing. got notice IBR denied. i called back. they said the {$49.00} wasnt enough because i agreed to pay {$500.00} and my ibr app had been denied because i had waited too long to pay them. i told them this makes no sense because delay has been on their end, ive just been waiting forever to pay my reduced interest bill, finally after 2 months it arrives for {$49.00} and i paid it. i also told them the lady rep said i was approved to just pay {$50.00}. they then told me the bill for {$49.00} was sent in error, it should have been sent for {$50.00} and my Ibr app can not be processed until i pay remaining amount, and oh by the way i am right there is another ibr application pending in addition to one that was cancelled but we can not process it until you pay remaining dollar. ( was anyone going to tell me this if i hadnt called???? ). so i paid remaining dollar. ive waited weeks. still nothing. three months and ten hours of phone calls and emails and ... nothing. no idea if my ibr app is even being processed. no idea if they registered i made required {$50.00} payment. everytime i call they tell me something completely different. im lost.