Consumer complaint received 2016-06-17
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Don't agree with fees charged
Company: Nelnet, Inc. (CA)

I am filling a complaint about my private student loan. Not because of what the lender, XXXX did, but what the loan servicer, Firstmark Services, did not do. I am in such mental distress because of what they failed to do. A simple case of managing my private student loan is about to spiral uncontrollably and make it, even, extremely difficult for me to manage the minimum payment. 

I have XXXX separate student loans. XXXX is manage by Nelnet Inc., and the other is own by XXXX, which is service by Firstmark Services. With Nelnet, I have a fixed monthly payment. I make my payment regardless because I know how much to pay, unlike Firstmark Services, which does not send me a fixed monthly amount. Without the billing statement, I would n't be able to determine how much is due monthly. 

Firstmark Services claims I had called to change my mailing address, which I have never done. The same address they claim, I had called to change is the same address the debt collector used to communicate with me. 

I called XXXX ( loan owner ) to explain the circumstances surrounding the fact that Firstmark Services never sent me any billing statement after XX/XX/XXXX. They agreed to put the loan back to its previous status from the collection agency if I pay the amount of {$3000.00} to bring my account current. The monthly payment was averaging about {$130.00}. However, this is three times over how much I was supposed to pay since XX/XX/XXXX. This amount is almost about half of my gross up to date annual income. All for a mistake originated by Firstmark Services, which was not my fault. There are a couple of reasons why I did not send a check to Firstmark Services when I did not receive the billing statement : 1 ). I did not know how much to pay, since the monthly payment varied. 
2 ). When XXXX transferred my loan to Firstmark services, there was a gap in receiving monthly statement. I did not receive my monthly statement for a while. So I thought the loan was being reshuffled to another servicer. 

When I called Firstmark Services as to why my loan had been sent to a collection agency, I was told I had defaulted on my loan and that I had called sometime in XX/XX/XXXX to change my address, which I never did. In fact, I will like to get a record of this specific call. I will also like Firstmark Services to provide any evidence of any return mail or any form of communication they initiated with me. The truth is that Firstmark Services never sent me any billing statement in the mail after XX/XX/XXXX which was the last payment sent or even a second warning mail. I want Firstmark to be held accountable for its inefficiencies. I also will like to bring attention to the fact that sometimes, the billing statement was received well after the payment due date. 

Even if I was having problems making the minimum payment, I do have a deferment period for this loan. So why would I intentionally remain passive and allowed my loan to be defaulted when I had all this at my disposal. I took the loan and I am wholly responsible for it repayment. I will honor my part of the deal even if it takes me my entire life. But I can not let external circumstance XXXX me as to how I pay back the loan. 

Please, I would like your agency to fairly intervene. As this may negatively impact my ability to fund future educational goals. In fact, I have worked very hard to avoid payment inconsistencies as my other loan with Nelnet ( Federal Loan ) shows. Thank you very much in advance for your time.