Consumer complaint received 2024-11-19 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, when I graduated from graduate school, I consolidated my XXXX  XXXX XXXX  with American Education Services ( AES ) and did a consolidation loan in the amount of {$68000.00} with loan payoff expected to be approximately 20 years. I remained in good standing until I became a single mother and had significant financial difficulty in XXXX, where I could no longer pay my loan on time or some months at all. 

There was no assistance offered by AES. They reported to a collection agency, and to keep from defaulting and going to court I entered into a credit recovery program with the collection agency. AES subsequently transferred my loan to XXXX  XXXX for the duration of the recovery program with the plan to transfer back to AES once the recovery program was completed. 

At that time in XXXX, my principle balance was {$64000.00} however XXXX  XXXX and AES added {$14000.00} to my principle balance, citing " penalties and fees '' which was completed without my knowledge or consent ( they verbally told me during a phone call it could be ~ {$9000.00} in fees ). This brought my new principle balance to {$77000.00}. Unbeknownst to me, not only was my principle balance increased over {$14000.00} but my repayment terms were extended out to the year XXXX. That's an additional 26 years without my knowledge or consent. That's problem number one. 

In doing this credit recovery program, I was told it would prevent my loans from defaulting however on my payment history it is reflected as " defaulted '' when AES transferred the loan to XXXX  XXXX. That's problem number two. 

In addition, when the loan was transferred to XXXX  XXXX, AES did not include the principle or interest I had paid to date at that time ( which was ~ {$200000.00} combined principle and interest ) and my loan repayment term was started over completely as if I had not paid anything at all for the prior 15 years. That's problem number three. 

After the completion of the recovery program, my loans were transferred back to AES and although AES is showing in my online account now/today that I have paid to date a principle balance of {$150000.00} and an interest balance of {$78000.00} ( for a combined principle/interest total of {$230000.00} ) on a {$68000.00} original loan, they are now saying my repayment term ends in XXXX of XXXX. Thus, at some point since XXXX, they have extended my repayment date out again to XXXX. They added an additional year when I have not missed payments, have not been delinquent etc. since exiting the recovery program. It's as if all of the payments I am making are not being put toward the principle or the interest. 

So if this fraudulent activity isn't halted, by the year XXXX, I will have been paying down a {$68000.00} student loan for 47 years because they seem to keep erasing the principle and interest paid. They certainly did erase it from XXXX to XXXX when they transferred my loans to XXXX XXXX. I called them numerous times to ask what is going on and they did not have an answer for me. They only said if I didn't pay I would be in default. 

Thus, I have had no recourse at all except to keep paying it. That is fraud and I know it's fraud because AES had to settle a class action lawsuit brought against them in XXXX for unlawfully extending client 's repayment terms without their consent. 

I was never informed by AES of this class action lawsuit or I would have participated in it because this unlawful repayment extension very clearly happened to me and I have the supporting documentation to prove it now. Not only did they extend my repayment terms without my consent, they are not including my payments in the repayment algorithm and I am apparently stuck in loop where I keep owing MORE and more than the original loan amount, every time I look at the loan payoff balance and the expected payoff date. 

I have been paying in good faith since that time without fail, not delinquent on payments. If AES is not held liable for this fraud, and my account is not corrected for all that I have paid so far, and if I am made to keep paying for XXXX years, I will have paid over {$370000.00} on a {$68000.00} loan. In fact if they are not held accountable for this grossly fraudulent action, I fear they will keep extending the loan repayment terms because they keep getting away with it. 

Please, help me I am at a complete loss for what to do about this. I don't know whether contacting the attorneys who brought the class action lawsuit against AES is advisable, since the lawsuit was settled. 

Thank you

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation