Consumer complaint received 2019-02-25
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NJ)

In XX/XX/XXXX I graduated from XXXX University with a XXXX XXXX and approximately {$85000.00} in student loans. That was around the time that the federal government enacted the public service loan forgiveness ( PSLF ) program. I contacted my loan provider, Citibank, to consolidate my loans and discuss repayment plans. They never informed me that I was eligible for the PSLF and did not assist me with obtaining the correct type of consolidated loan or repayment plan needed for the loan forgiveness program. It was several years later that I learned about the PSLF program and contacted my loan provider to make sure I was fulfilling the requirements. I then spent the next 10 years working with XXXX XXXX XXXX  as a XXXX XXXX XXXX for various companies. In XX/XX/XXXX I applied for the PSLF and was denied. I was told that I had the right repayment plan but the wrong type of loan despite consolidating the loans with the specific intent of meeting the requirements for the PSLF program. This was the first time that I realized that I was mislead by Citibank. 

At some point my loan was purchased by XXXX. I then consolidated my loans again and reapplied to the IBR plan with the specific intent of working towards the PSLF program. I was told by XXXX that everything was in order, that I met all the requirements and I restarted the clock. In XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX to check on the status of my progress as I was confused about why I had not received the yearly application to renew the IBP plan. I was informed that I still was not making progress as this time as I had the right loan but the wrong repayment plan. This was the second time that I realized I had again been deceived by my loan provider. I then called XXXX to inquire as to how this happened as I was laboring under the belief that I had everything in order. XXXX confirmed the consolidation was successful but that they never received the application for the IBR plan. I told them I didn't know how that was possible because 2 years ago I was told by Navient that everything was in order for the PSLF. The XXXX representative said that he was sure I was told that but that's not how it is now. He proceed to tell me that even though I don't have the IBR plan my current standard repayment plan also met the qualifications for the PSLF program. I told him he was wrong that I needed the IBR plan. He again said that the standard plan met the qualifications for the PSLF and  only after my insistence and double checking his facts did he acknowledged the mistake. This was the third time I was lied to by my loan provider. I have been mislead, misdirected, manipulated, and flat out lied to by my loan providers for the past 12 years. I have made career and life decisions based on the false information they provided me. Their actions are a flagrant abuse of power with the specific intent of deceiving the borrowers, bilking us out of our hard earned money, and forbidding us the financial debt freedoms awarded by the federal government.