Consumer complaint received 2016-10-18
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Can't repay my loan — Can't decrease my monthly payments
Company: AES/PHEAA (IA)

My loan was bought or switched to AES last year without my knowledge or permission. I have made all payments since I was informed of their servicing my loan. When they first bought or began servicing my loan, they did n't inform me until I was 90 days late. My initial lender was still accepting my payments at the time. I was contacted via mail that I was being sent to collections by AES ( a company I knew nothing about ). I immediately called them, and the representative I spoke with assured me that XXXX XXXX customers had the same thing happen to them. I told her there was no way I could pay the outstanding 3 months balance at one time, as I had ALREADY paid it to XXXX. She stated it was n't a problem, and asked if I would be able to make 1/2 payments for 3 months until they could get it straightened out. I told her I was able to do that and made the payments that day. That was XX/XX/XXXX. I have made my full monthly payments since the first time I received a bill from this servicer. I am currently unemployed and will not be working in the immediate future due to illness/injury. I have no income at all. I called on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX to see if my payments could be reduced. This was on the day that my payment was 29 days past due, so I wanted to make sure I paid what I could so as not to have any 30 day late payments or anything on my credit. I have had student loans since XX/XX/XXXX, and have NEVER missed a payment. I 've been late, I 've had deferments and forbearances, but no matter my circumstances, I have always made sure to be current each month. I want to keep paying, but I can not afford $ XXXX/month, especially since it ca n't be put on a credit card, etc and I have {$900.00} in other student loans/month. When I made the call on XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX Employee # XXXX. He listened to my extenuating circumstances, went back and forth putting me on hold and speaking with his supervisor, and then came back and said that he did see what I was explaining, and that I was approved for 3 months reduced payments. He even told me the amount was XXXX/month. I agreed to pay that amount, although it will still be a hardship, because I WANT to keep current on this and pay this debt. However, after placing me on another hold, he told me that the system went down, and that I would have to have someone call me back to read the script that must be recorded for me to agree to the terms of the reduced payments. I clarified with him more than once before I hung up whether I was approved, he reassured me I was, just that " the system is down '' and I needed to have someone call me back. I even asked if it was ok to let it go to voicemail and return the call or should I answer and he said something along the lines of : oh no, you should answer, the person just has to go over the script so this can get processed. Pan to today XX/XX/XXXX I receive an incoming call from the call center from a girl ( I did n't get her name ) who 1 ) has no idea about my story and 2 ) told me " you do n't qualify for reduced payments '' obviously reading from a script. I then spoke with her supervisor XXXX # XXXX, who just repeated the same thing. I was infuriated and demanded that they go over the phone conversation I had with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I was then transferred to " supervisor '' XXXX # XXXX, who tried to ask me ALL the information again, and then started to read from the same script of " you do n't qualify because you have not made 12 payments .... '' I CAN NOT AFFORD THESE FULL PAYMENTS FOR THE NEXT 3 MONTHS. I AM WILLING TO PAY A REDUCED AMOUNT, BUT ONLY IF IT DOES N'T IMPACT MY CREDIT. It is absolutely unacceptable that these servicers are protected by all the Federal Student Loan regulations, but have to follow none of the same regulations. The Federal government understands that 1/2 a payment is better than none. I do n't understand why AES does n't.