Consumer complaint received 2023-07-31 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: Maximus Federal Services, Inc.
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
My Federal loans were transferred to XXXX recently. During the process, my Public Loan Forgiveness payments got lost in the shuffle so i went about rectifying them them. Once I d collected the certifications, I called XXXX because it looked like 2 of 3 loans were ripe for discharge just leaving about 60 payments left on a loan that was never consolidated- the amount of that loan was around $ XXXX. During that call, the representative told me consolidating the $ XXXX loan into the others would be a back door and an extra boost towards PSLF. Please note the consolidation advice was in the call logs when I called back at a later date. 

Excited, I immediately consolidated the third loan into the other two. Somewhere along the line, I read or heard that consolidation would set the counter to zero. I absolutely panicked, called XXXX who confirmed the notes reflected they told me to do consolidate and after some backpedaling the XXXX rep said it would only temporarily set the PSLF payment to zero qualifying payments and then Id be pushed over the qualifying payment minimum ( XXXX ) to forgiveness. Nonetheless, between XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, I sent frantic emails asking studntaid.gov and to Aidvantahe to cancel the consolidation as I was in mortal fear Id lose a $ XXXX discharge. 

I received one responsive email on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX PM : XXXX XXXX, Please accept our heartfelt gratitude for all you do to protect our freedoms and know that your time, commitment, and service are truly appreciated. I called on Friday and left a message on your voicemail. We were able to pull this information from StudentAid.gov. We believe this may be what XXXX is suggesting. How does this work if I consolidate loans with different amounts of time in repayment? Assuming your repayment history overlaps for each loan, the consolidation loan will be credited with the longest amount of time in repayment of the loans that were consolidated. For example, say you had 50 months of time in repayment on one Subsidized Stafford Loan and 100 months of time in repayment on another Subsidized Stafford Loan. If you consolidated those loans, you would receive credit for 100 months of payments on the new Direct Consolidation Loan. If your repayment history does not overlap for each loan, the consolidation loan may be credited with more time in repayment than the loan with the longest amount of time in repayment. Using the same example above, if the loan with 50 months of time in repayment included XX/XX/XXXX in repayment status but the loan with 100 months did not, the resulting consolidation loan might be credited with 101 months of payments. This can occur where borrowers relied on different repayment, forbearance, or deferment options on different loans for the same period. We will start processing loans that are eligible for forgiveness later this year. If you have loans with different counts and one of those loans qualifies for forgiveness, you may benefit from consolidating in order to get all of your loans forgiven at the same time. If you do, you would receive forgiveness because the consolidation loan will be credited with the longest amount of time in repayment. Why do I have to apply to consolidate by the end of XXXX? The adjustment will be applied to most borrowers~~ accounts in XXXX. It will be applied only to Direct and FFEL Program loans held by ED. If you have commercially held FFEL or any Perkins or HEAL loans, you will need to consolidate them before the end of XXXX to benefit from the account adjustment. Keep in mind that you can locate a listing of military benefits at aidvantage.com/military-benefits. Visiting aidvantage.com will also help you to manage your education loans from anywhere, at any time. You are welcome to call our specialized XXXX XXXX team toll free at XXXX for your XXXX XXXX questions. Were here to help you Monday XXXX to XXXX, Tuesday & Wednesday XXXX to XXXX, Thursday & Friday XXXX to XXXX, XXXX. We truly thank you for your service to our country. Thank you, XXXX XXXX Military Benefits Phone : XXXX Email : XXXX I then logged in and saw a XXXX balance in studentaid.gov and XXXX. I emailed XXXX and they responded - that I am starting at XXXX and have to start all over again. I called this military benefits section again and was advised that they emailed me at XXXX pm on the day the cancellation of the consolidation was due ( XX/XX/XXXX ) at XXXX. The problem with that is twofold : the email i have a copy of says no such thing AND I submitted a complaint on this platform asking it be cancelled on XXXX. I emailed EVERYONE who would listen. Theres an official case stamp about it in here. This is not the intent of the administration- to saddle a borrower with $ XXXX that was paid off a week ago. When I originally called XXXX and they told me to consolidate CONSOLIDATION WASN'T EVER ON MY RADAR. I am distraught. Obviously, I did not put myself in a situation to pay XXXX more years on almost XXXX. I did so at the instruction of the representative. Further, I continue to get contradictory information from Studentaid.gov, anidvantage and Mohela about what is happening. Ineed this corrected, permanently. 

XXXX, aidvantge and studentaid should not be allowed to process any action that puts a borrower further from discharge than they were originally. Its predatory. Im asking that both my situation be personally remedied and that XXXX be on notice that this behavior will be sanctions. 

More screenshots and documents available on request.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation