Consumer complaint received 2022-10-26
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem lowering your monthly payments
Company: EdFinancial Services (LA)

Complaint:
RE : REFUND REQUEST According to studentaid.gov " You can get a refund for any payment ( including auto-debit payments ) you make during the payment pause ( beginning XX/XX/XXXX ). Contact your loan servicer to request that your payment be refunded. '' According to studentaid.gov " If you made payments during the payment pause and your current balance is higher than the amount of debt relief you receive, you wont get an automatic refund after you apply for debt relief. This is because the full amount of debt relief will be applied to your loan balance. If you still want to receive a refund for voluntary payments you made during the payment pause, contact your loan servicer. '' -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted my servicer EdFinancial via an online form for a refund request for all voluntary payments made during the COVID Debt Relief Payment Pause. After hitting submit, I thought it may be faster to speak to an agent, so I called. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted my servicer EdFinancial to process a refund request of all payments made during the payment pause. The agent I chatted with told me all refunds would be processed as part of the one-time student loan cancellation recently announced by President Biden. I explained that I am not interested in, nor eligible for the one-time student loan cancellation announced, but that I am interested in a refund of all voluntary payments made during the Covid Payment Pause. I was told there was no timeline that could be given for that refund. I left the call. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I did more research online, then followed up by using the chat service with another EdFinancial agent regarding getting a refund of all payments made during the COVID XXXX forbearance period and explained that I do not want to wait on the Biden Debt Forgiveness plan that was more recently announced. I was told a refund request was submitted and that any refund approved would be issued directly to me. I received no timeline for how long this would take and received no verification of my request. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email confirming a refund request was submitted. However, it was also followed by " Please note, that all refunds will be processed according to the U.S. Department of Education 's timeline for the discharge program. '' Which again is NOT the program I inquired about and is one I adamantly explained that I was not eligible to participate in when I spoke to the other two agents on XX/XX/XXXX. 

At this point I am not sure if they are processing my refund request for all payments made to them beginning XX/XX/XXXX to the present date or if they have essentially denied it by their assuming I'm eligible for the one time debt discharge that is currently paused in court despite my request for a refund and explaining that this is separate from the biden one time debt relief announcement.

This program is meant to provide RELIEF to people experiencing difficulties due to covid. I am currently unemployed and have {$0.00} income, so am in dire need of a rapid resolution. If EdFinancial has not indeed ignored my refund request, then there is also no reason I'd have to wait an estimated 6 months to 1 full year to see my refund which is absolutely unacceptable in this economy, especially when other loan servicers are processing these at a much faster rate. I believe this is a delaying tactic they are using to avoid refunding borrowers who have made voluntary payments during the relief period.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation