Consumer complaint received 2015-05-29
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Keep getting calls about my loan
Company: DISCOVER BANK (PA)

I went to school at XXXX University in XXXX XXXX 's, PA. I have held private student loans with Discover Student Loans for 3 years ( I have actually be paying on the loans longer but they were originally all owned by XXXX-my private loans are now split between XXXX and Discover Student Loans ). I have paid my loans monthly since I have finished school ( on-time for the most part but at times a couple days late ). In late XXXX I became unemployed and am currently looking for a job. I paid my XXXX and XXXX payments but can not afford to make those payments anymore until I find a job. My loan payment due date is the XXXX of every month. Today, the XXXX of the month, I got a phone call from my father ( who co-signed my loan ) stating that discover called him today reporting I was delinquent on my loan XXXX by one day for XXXX payment ). When he asked if they called me the women did not give a clear answer. I did not receive a phone call from them. I then called them today to ask for help and after much struggle ( and attempts to tell me I should be asking family members for loans to help me pay, etc ) and talking to XXXX different people I was finally granted a two month forbearance ( I have never taken a forbearance on these loans in the past ). I was told that my monthly payment would then go up in the two months but they could not tell me by how much and that I would get a letter in the mail with my new monthly payment amount ( please note that between my XXXX private loans and federal loans it is difficult enough for me to make these payment but thanks to government loans offering pay income options I am at least able to pay my loans and still survive ). I agreed as I do n't have an other options at the moment. I also was asked by the representative if they were allowed to contact me via cell phone or text message in the furture. I declined saying that I wanted only to be contacted in writing ( email or letter format ). I did this because in the past when I have had to be a few days late and called them to notify them I was told that even though my account was noted I would continue to get " collection calls '' from their automated dialer. The problem with this is that the automated dialer can call you multiple times ( XXXX to XXXX a day ). When I explained that this was in part why i no longer wanted to be contacted via phone from them the representative XXXX XXXX XXXX continue to pressure for several minutes to " give my consent to contact me via phone '' and noted that they only call people who do n't ' pay on time multiple times a day in an effort to reach them ( this is not true because if you call them to notify them you are going to be late they still lump you in the " delinquent '' category ). I did not give in and refused to give consent. He finally accepted my " no '' but was rude. I have several issues with what happened today : ( XXXX ) why are they contacting my co-signer before they contact me?, ( XXXX ) why are they calling my co-signer 1 day after my payment was due when I have a long standing history of paying on-time/monthly with this company?, ( XXXX ) why is it so difficult to get help with payment arrangements during periods of unemployment ( and made to feel almost like a criminal or delinquent for asking )? and ( XXXX ) unlike XXXX who granted my two month forbearance on the part of the loans I have with them, is Discover now going to increase my monthly payments because I am unable to pay for two months? I understand that interest will continue to accrue on XXXX those loans but when someone has been out of work for several months to then tell them that there payment will increase when financial struggles have been endured while looking for a new job is ridiculous. XXXX is not increasing my monthly payment. I do n't understand. Any help you can offer with this problem I would appreciate.