Consumer complaint received 03/18/2018 about Student loan (Federal student loan servicing) with Equitable Acceptance Corporation (MN).
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint: i was contacted by someone in about XX/XX/XXXX ... telling me they worked with the department of education that they could relieve me of my student loan completely if i paid {$49.00} a month until I paid {$1300.00} and my loan would be completely forgiven. I was skeptical at first questioning how was I to know they weren't a scam? They told me it was under the new Obama Law and that I could look them up they were 100 % legit. I did some research ( apparently not enough ) and it seemed like it was okay. So I accepted their offer. Shortly after that I was getting emails from a company that called themselves Equitable Acceptance who stated they would be handling my loan. I paid about 15 payments consequetively in a total amount of {$740.00} i believe. I got a phone call from the department of education around the end of XX/XX/XXXX stating my loan was in default. I asked them why that was when I was told by this XXXX XXXX XXXX company they would be buying my loan and settling with them. They stated that they had gone into my account and put my loan into forbearance and they had not bought the loan and there was never a payment made. I was furious and by this point I felt I may have been scammed ... .I started looking up this XXXX XXXX XXXX and found all kinds of people who complained of the same thing happening to them. Upon further investigation I found major lawsuits against this company XXXX XXXX XXXX in the state of Florida stating they were misled and how they used the president Obama in representing them. The people of Florida won the law suits with all sorts of allegations some of which was the same types of things they told me. Apparently this company when bankrupt and " disappeared '' whether they have reappeared as Equitable Acceptance or sold the loan or what they did ... it's a scam. I was told the remainder of my loan would be FORGIVEN. There is no such thing possible. I have also found there are many pending cases from people in my same state of Minnesota. I stopped paying them after I called and they repeatedly hung up on me. Now they have called my references and sent me emails stating they are going to send me to collections and it would ruin my credit. The emails I now recieve are from yet another company called XXXX XXXX XXXX which when I search my email for the original emails from XXXX XXXX XXXX they link with this 3rd company XXXX XXXX XXXX ... .not even sure where they came from.. what happened to Equitable Acceptance now ?. I just fixed my credit and thought I was cleaning up the last of the debt I had and now I am being threatened they are going to send it to my credit. They can keep the {$750.00} ... they arent getting another dollar from me but to ruin my credit after all they totally LIED, MISREPRESENTED THEMSELVES ABOUT WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO. Had they told me they would put my loan into forbearance something I could easily have done myself for FREE and I KNEW THAT .... i would never even bothered with them. But they did not. As far as I am concerned they SCAMMED ME. AND THEY GOT ME. It took me a, long time to get my credit good after the housing market crashed and i lost my home and job. I finally filed bankruptcy and thought I was paying my student loans off ... who can i file a complaint with so they do not ruin my credit. DON'T FALL FOR THESE GUYS ... they prey on people who are in debt seeking HELP and they scam them. How are these people still in business??? i

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation