Consumer complaint received 2017-01-18
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Received bad information about my loan
Company: AES/PHEAA (TN)

Twenty years ago, I graduated from XXXX with {$63000.00} in student loans through PHEAA/AES with a vague understanding that I had 6 months to begin payments. I received no exit interview, no repayment schedules, no borrower rights statements and zero advice on how to navigate loan repayment options. After failing to make sufficient income for 2.5 years and not knowing what to do about it, I received a default letter. Working with PHEAA, I rehabilitated my defaulted loan ( albeit with 18 % surcharge ) and paid AES faithfully for 8 years. Unbeknownst to me, my regular payments were barely enough to offset the interest charged on the loans ; the {$91000.00} principal amount remained unchanged. I was not notified or contacted that my repayment amounts were insufficient. 
In XXXX, I returned to graduate school and the law school loan was in forbearance. Interest continued to accumulate. Upon graduation in XXXX, I added {$110000.00} in new loans, mostly through XXXX and Dept of Education. 
And then disaster struck. My annual pay was reduced by 2/3, I lost my house in a short-sale due limited financial means, and within 16 months, I was unemployed. I liquidated all of my assets, 401k, my life insurance policies, everything. I began borrowing from my parents in XX/XX/XXXX, to make rent each month. And the clock continued to run on those student loans. 
PHEAA/AES charged me another 18 % default charge, taking my principal owed from {$91000.00} to {$110000.00}, and then handing the once again defaulted law school loans off to XXXX who tacked on another {$30000.00} in collection fees. XXXX and Dept of Education were more understanding and, in XXXX, I was able to put some of the loans in forbearance. I was out of work for 15 months ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ). When I regained substantial employment, the garnishments began within months from XXXX and XXXX. Between the two, the garnishments exceeded 25 % of my monthly disposable income. 
*** I was desperate for a solution to combine payments into ONE payment based on my income and a guaranteed payoff schedule. *** At no time was I advised from XX/XX/XXXX until YESTERDAY ( XX/XX/XXXX ), after many calls to PHEAA/AES, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, calls to the Ombudsman, and hours of research on the Department of Education website, that I could in fact apply for a Direct Loan through the Department of Education which would do exactly that. 
My only options, as presented by XXXX and XXXX, were to 1 ) re-rehabilitate the defaulted loans by paying monthly amounts that exceeded 20 % of gross income ( not disposable income ) or 2 ) endure the garnishments. Defeated, I let the garnishments continue and paid as I could to NSLP. The result : I have paid nearly {$65000.00} in accumulated interest for the last 3 years and my principal amounts remain unchanged ~ {$280000.00}. My credit is ruined. And a new garnishment began last week - exceeding 25 % of gross income. 
A new round of calls ensued. And a helpful gentleman from XXXX gave me 2 website addresses that changed everything : XXXX where I found a summary of all my loans, 3 of which I was completely unaware of who the guarantor and servicer were. And www.studentloans.gov - which detailed the options for a Direct Loan. I submitted an application the same day. This gentleman went off-script to share the resources " he would use. '' It may have just saved me. 
My point is this : I searched everywhere for that information in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. No one shared it. I could n't find it on the internet. Nowhere a repository of my rights as a borrower. I was given false/deceptive information from both lenders and debt collectors as to how to address my worsening situation. This has been an ongoing practice regarding my student debt since XXXX. I have wasted 20 years relying on bogus information and dodgey collection practices. Where is the relief?