Consumer complaint received 2017-07-13
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Company: AES/PHEAA (IL)

I moved to IL in XX/XX/XXXX struggling to overcome addition to XXXX. If you did n't know, only 4 % of people that get on XXXX can get off of it without going to XXXX XXXX XXXX. I am among that 4 % because I moved to XXXX to change my life and be a mother to my then XXXX year old daughter. I obtained an entry level position with the XXXX XXXX XXXX that was part time. But that was not enough to support myself much the less a child so I started doing everything that I could to get on full time and promote up. In order for me to move up I had to get a higher education. At this point in time, because I had my daughter when I was XXXX, I only had a XXXX for an education and I was familiar with the internet but I would not say that I was skilled with it. I did n't know the true depth of scams on the internet ; all I was looking for was a way to get a degree in the least amount of time possible because I needed to make more money as soon as possible. I had to live with my mom for several years because I did n't make enough money and that just had to stop. I wanted to support myself. So I saw the ads on TV for University of XXXX and decided to look them up online and try to get more information. The online environment was perfect for me because I could work during the day and still be home to take care of my daughter in the evenings and do my class stuff. I no more than clicked on the link for their home page and entered my email and phone # and a recruiter from XXXX called me within a few minutes. I can still remember to this day that he told me everything in his playbook to make me believe that XXXX was the only place that I would be able to attend with my kind of schedule. He also vehemently encouraged me to sign up for the XXXX program instead of the XXXX 's program because the " the XXXX will pay for itself within 1 year of obtaining the XXXX because of the imminent wage increase and promotion '' he wanted me to believe I would get just for having this " accredited degree. '' He told me if I did n't like the online environment that my credits would be transferrable to anywhere in IL if it did n't work out. He told me that this degree would elevate me to a " XXXX figure income '' within 2 years of receiving my degree. <P/>Let me tell you a little bit about XXXX XXXX employment that I know now but did n't have a clue when I started XXXX. XXXX is heavily ridden with political bias and mishandled government functions. It is commonly referred to as the most politically corrupt state in the US and I believe that to be true. However, political corruption does n't accurately describe my situation as an IL citizen. Getting hired or promoted in XXXX XXXX positions is done via testing at XXXX. While they do consider your education when factoring in who they hire for certain positions, for the most part, a person has to have a XXXX administered test and " A '' grade to get or bid on any job in the state. That test does not in any way consider college education nor is a person given credit toward their grade for having an education beyond a high school diploma. If a person has an A grade and bids they are considered for the job and hired so long as there is no one else with seniority that also has a grade for that position. So needless to say, when I was told that this degree would propel me towards a higher salary, a six figure salary at that, it was a blatant lie and misrepresentation of what this higher education would do for me. <P/>I bet you 're wondering if I finished ... ..yes, as a matter of fact I did. With flying colors even, and on the dean 's list. All of that has played no part in my career because XXXX does not recognize XXXX as harboring an accredited degree program and I believe that the recruiter I spoke with that day, knew that. And he still wooed me with all the glitter and glam of having this degree that would " make me rich. '' All I really wanted out of this degree was mostly to set a good example for my daughter and to earn a salary that I could live comfortably off of. Six years later I did get that degree. I had already obtained full time employment on my own and promoted XXXX titles up from where I had started with no degree in hand. This was great for me, but it was no thanks to the useless, non-accredited degree I had. Now to add some salt to the wound that was created when I realized that I obtained a useless degree that I now owe a lot of money for .... <P/>Now that I need to start repaying the loans, my debt is now over {$50000.00} - All student loans. I never paid XXXX a penny to take the classes, absolutely everything was added to student loans. At this point I do n't even know that I should have been given student loans because I had only a XXXX to begin with and I am XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - I was only asked if I had XXXX convictions, nothing else ). I was never given an opportunity to take tests to apply real life experience as credits ; they had me hook, line and sinker and they knew it. Most of the time I never even knew how much each class was costing me. XXXX did everything for me when it came to signing up for loans and disbursing them. I never even got an invoice. XXXX was in fact, having so much fun racking up debt on my accounts that they lured me into starting my Masters program by " granting a {$10000.00} scholarship to be applied to the cost of the XXXX degree '' in lieu of beginning to pay on the loans. But by the time I started those classes, my debt had now grown to {$70000.00}. I do n't think the $ XXXX scholarship was applied to anything because I stopped taking classes as soon as I realized how much I really owed. I knew I would never be able to afford to pay those back and had to stop adding to that debt in an attempt to push repaying out to a date when I had a better income. Not with the XXXX  infrastructure on a downward slide and realizing they did n't even recognize the degree I had. What was the point? I now owed as much for my student loans as I owed on the house I live in. Which I have 30 year mortgage on. <P/>Once the forbearances ran out I had to start paying something so I contacted a loan servicer ( Fed Loans I believe was one of them ) to consolidate and start making payments. They wanted payment amounts higher than my mortgage payments. How am I supposed to afford that? Now lets add insult to injury ... .. <P/>I have worked with at least 3 different student loan " servicers '' - they have all been fake so far. They charged me up front fees to process paperwork and tacked on another couple thousand dollars in interest each consolidation so the debt is over {$79000.00} now. I now owe more than what I owe for my house and car combined and I still only make {$65000.00} a year and it seems to be very promising that my income will not change any time in the near future due to the possible credit downgrade to Junk Bond status that XXXX is about to get. There is more than a good possibility that I could be completely laid off. The loan servicers want payments as high as my mortgage. I ca n't afford that especially at my current income with the possibility of a layoff. The first year the payment stayed semi-affordable at {$180.00} a month but the second year the payment more than doubled to {$450.00}. I ca n't afford payments that high because I am paying for a house and car and taking care of my daughter and IL has the highest property taxes in the nation. <P/>What am I supposed to do? Sell my house so I can pay XXXX for the junk degree I have that will never provide me with the kind of career or income they promised? I was never offered job placement or any other opportunity to find employment that fell under my degree program so I am now 5 months behind on payments because I ca n't afford the amounts they want. I am harassed daily by calls to collect and scammers trying to swindle me into a payment program that charges me just to submit paperwork. I ca n't file bankruptcy on student loans and the debt is so high I will never pay it off with affordable payments. I got signed up for the PSA forgiveness program that lets you pay for 10 years then the rest is forgiven and that is great, but the payments are only affordable the first year. I ca n't afford now or in the future, $ 400+ monthly payments. <P/>I was defrauded by the University XXXX XXXX and they need to be shut down. They have already proven just how dirty and deceitful they truly are with the XXXX recruiting practices that landed them in court for their military recruiting practices. XXXX should not be allowed to continue to do this to people because they do n't know any better. They should not be allowed to continue to profit off of their students naivety. <P/>I could not even begin to tell you how frustrating it is to see that some states have started class action law suits and are advertising on FB and other social media sites that they can get XXXX debt forgiven but " sorry, we do n't practice in IL. '' And seriously, who would want to practice in IL? The most corrupt state in the XXXX - this entire situation is a joke. If the IL Governor gets his way, I will be destitute with nothing but XXXX debt to show for all of my hard work trying to clean up my life and be a positive influence on my daughter. Just for the record - my daughter is terrified to go to college now because she does not want the debt it will cost her to attend and the risk she will have to take of being defrauded like I have been. <P/>If there is a class action law suit against them - I should be given the opportunity to join it regardless of where I live because I took classes online and my instructors were in all different states so my place of residence should not be a factor in participating in a class action law suit