Consumer complaint received 2024-07-11 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: Maximus Federal Services, Inc.
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
I recently consolidated my student loans and applied for the XXXX plan which was granted. My monthly payment should be {$0.00} based upon my income and number of dependents. However, I received a bill from my servicer, Aidvantage, stating that I have a bill of {$320.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX. 

When I log into the servicer website, it shows that my account is currently in forbearance with a {$0.00} payment amount which I assume is the forbearance payment amount ( I don't know why I'm in forbearance but it says it ends XX/XX/XXXX ). 

I spoke to Aidvantage customer service via their chat functionality and asked that they recalculate my XXXX payment because I believe they miscalculated. The rep all but refused to do so, instead questioning why I thought it was incorrect. She then told me that the payment is calculated for {$0.00} and that my account is in forbearance to allow for the more recent provisions of XXXX to be implemented. 

However, my forbearance ends XX/XX/XXXX. The representative said the process of updating accounts ( the very reason she cites for the forbearance existing ) won't complete until XXXX. So it makes no sense that my account would be placed in forbearance for less time than it will take to complete the process that precipitated the forbearance. 

The representative insists that my XXXX payment will be {$0.00}. But the bill that is still active on my account shows {$320.00}. So I'm suspicious of the information she provided me and I got the impression that she was basically just blowing me off. I don't believe what she told me is accurate ( she repeatedly just copy/pasted info from the StudentAid.gov website about the payment recount ). 

Seeking official clarification / confirmation, I emailed Aidvantage through their website contact form ( a method of contact that I have little faith in given my past experience with student loan servicers ). 

I also directly emailed several contacts at Aidvantage. As an aside, it's quite clear that Aidvantage is purposefully trying to hide contact email addresses and prevent borrowers from easy and direct communication with their customer service reps. Despite this, I was able to identify several email addresses for customer service and some of their executives ( specifically, I emailed XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX ). I explained all of the above and requested that someone recalculate my payment correctly ( and/or forward my message to any executive customer service team that they may have ). Several days have now passed and I've received no response to any of my communications- neither the message sent via their online form nor the emails I sent to the above contacts. 

Aidvantage is miscalculating my XXXX plan payment, a common issue it seems if the number of complaints online is any indication ( it makes one suspicious that this may be intentional ). When I attempt to address the issue my concerns are dismissed or outright ignored.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation