Consumer complaint received 2016-03-23
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are handled
Company: Alorica Inc. (CA)

I defaulted on my student loans a few years ago after I got sick and had to drop out of school. I made so many mistakes but when I had to decide between paying my loan payment and paying rent I did n't know what else to do. 
The collection agency West Asset Management was assigned my debt and began calling my place of work, relatives and who knows where else. At this point the job I had was the only thing standing between me and not having a place to live and they would n't stop calling, even after many written requests, and they called all day long! I was reprimanded verbally and in writing for this at work but I did n't know what to do! The only way they stopped was when I made a payment plan, but they required me to pay an amount I told them I simply could not pay. I went ahead with it because I was desperate afraid of getting fired but of course I could n't pay it. 
The woman I spoke to led me to believe that my chances of going back to school and getting student aid were done if I did n't keep the payment plan which was heartbreaking. However, I found out a while ago that I could still rehabilitate my loan and go back to school so last XXXX I contacted West Asset Management and they said yes I could rehabilitate my loan in six months. It sounded easy enough to get a payment plan set up ; all they needed was pay stubs, statement of my expenses etc. but this is when the trouble started. I first tried sending pictures because the man I was working with said that would be fine. after three or four times sending different pictures of the same document it was clear this was n't going to be as easy as I thought. I tried faxes and scanned copies many, many times also but there was always one little thing wrong with whichever copy so they could n't accept them. I sent the documents at least 8 times via email and multiple times by fax as well and there was always some obscure reason his bosses said they would n't work. By now it had taken SIX MONTHS to set up the payment plan and it was hard just to get him on the phone. 
After struggling with them for six months it became clear that I would have to drop out of school again because I would not be eligible for financial aid. I made a complaint on their website to see if that would help and it did. When I called the next morning they transferred me to some manager who said I would be signed up for a payment plan in 24 hours. I sent the documents one more time and miraculously they were just fine this time. 
He of course tried to get me to pay it all at once ( which I would LOVE to do ) but I reminded him that I am poor. He said no problem and that it would just be XXXX a month. I explained to him that I only make {$750.00} a month and that would be 40 % of my monthly income. He told me that this was the best they could do and they were calculating it taking my income into account. This time around dealing with someone so sleazy I am a little older and wiser and had done better research. I kept calmly reminding him that this was NOT what the government says to do, reminding him of what the payments should be while he got more and more riled up. He tried being " patient '' with me to make me feel stupid but I was not backing down on this. He suddenly realized there he was looking at the wrong box on my pay stub and instead of {$300.00} a month it would be {$5.00} a month!! There is nothing on my pay stub that would cause my payments to change like this. He had my income plain as day sitting in front of him. 
This kind of dishonesty would have worked on my before though, in fact it did. Being poor is hard enough without being treated like garbage too. Anyone can become poor and those of us struggling to work their way out of poverty are entitled to as much dignity and respect as we demand for anyone else.