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: AES/PHEAA (PA)

I graduated from XXXX XXXX University with the XXXX in XXXX. My student loan debt at that point, including the debt acquired as an undergraduate, was roughly {$90000.00}. 

I accepted an XXXX XXXX position ( tenure-track ), which was to start fall XXXX, at XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, and was encouraged by the lender to request forbearance for the student loans. This was supposed to give me some " breathing room '' to relocate from XXXX  to XXXX, before beginning repayment. 

Accruing interest was presumably " capitalized, '' increasing the loan 's principal. 

I began repayment in XXXX. Payments were geared so that I could afford them. On average, I paid something like {$800.00} a month. Interest nevertheless continued to be " capitalized. '' That amounts to something like {$60000.00}. 

In XXXX, my Congressman told me about a new loan forgiveness program -- Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) program. I was instructed to contact XXXX XXXX, have my loans " moved '' to XXXX XXXX, at which time they would now manage them, and pay 120 payments ( 10 years ). Given that these payments were all made while serving in the public sector ( I am a XXXX XXXX ), after that 10 year period the loan would be forgiven.

XXXX XXXX took over my loans. They claimed that I owed them : {$160000.00}. 

I'm not kidding. 

I had paid {$60000.00} against my debt since XXXX, and instead of making even the dinkiest of dents, my loan principal actually exploded! 

In XXXX or so, I was told that none of my payments would be counted toward the 120 needed for loan forgiveness, because they had been paid after the XXXX of the month. I had always been under the impression that payment was due by the XXXX, which is when I and my wife made the payments. I had never made a late payment. But, according to XXXX XXXX ( which became XXXX? ), I would need to request a change in due-date if I wished to continue paying on the XXXX and have those payments count. I did. 

It took 3 years for the system to finally make the change of due-date to the XXXX. 

In XXXX, I was told that none of my previous payments would count toward the 120 needed, because I had to submit an Employee Verification Form and had to be a participant in a special Income-Based Repayment plan. This was news to me. 

Keep in mind that I ( almost obsessively ) contacted XXXX since XXXX to make sure that I was doing everything required for the PSLF program. I was beginning to think that either XXXX representatives were incompetent, or, worse, actually working to place obstacles in my way. 

Now, since XXXX, I've paid XXXX on average {$800.00} a month, and so, I've paid XXXX about {$90000.00}. Added to what I paid before entering this program, I've paid about {$150000.00} against my student loans, and yet I still owe {$160000.00}. This is outrageous. 

I'm not asking for anything for free. I happily paid back student debt ( originally {$90000.00} ), and have paid about {$150000.00}. But according to XXXX, I still owe {$160000.00}. 

Most recently, XXXX says that they will count 39 payments against the 120 that I've made. That means that I still must pay another 7 years of payments! ( 81 payments )