Consumer complaint received 2025-11-18 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: Central Research Inc
State: OR

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint regarding loan servicer CRI 's mishandling of my federal student loan transfer from XXXX in XX/XX/year>. I was explicitly instructed by XXXX that my autopay would be automatically transferred and that no action was required on my part. I relied on these instructions. However, the autopay transfer did not go through, so my XXXX payment was blocked. Additionally, my loan was placed in involuntary administrative forbearance for 60 days. Subsequently, CRI 's accounting has been chaotic - the payment count on my statements fluctuated from XXXX to XXXX and back to XXXX over XXXX months. Most critically, despite making five payments to CRI from XXXX 2025, I have not been credited for any reduction in my payment count, and only {$0.00} of my {$1100.00} in payments went toward principal reduction. 

DETAILED TIMELINE XX/XX/year> : Received notice from XXXX that my loan would transfer to XXXX " on or about XX/XX/year>. '' This notice explicitly stated : " You recently used the automatic debit payment method to make your federal student loan payment. Automatic debit is when your servicer draws a payment from your bank account each month. There's no action for you to take. We'll pass the necessary information to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX when we transfer your loan account. Then XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX will continue to draw your monthly payment amount from your bank account. '' The notice further stated : " The last day we anticipate debiting a payment for your account is XX/XX/year>. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX will let you know the first day it will debit a payment for your account. '' I relied on these instructions and took no action, as directed. 

XX/XX/year> : Received XXXX statement showing : Current Balance : {$27000.00} Outstanding Principal : {$27000.00} Accrued Interest : {$52.00} Payments Remaining : XXXX Payment Due : XX/XX/year> ( {$220.00} ) Autopay enrolled XX/XX/year> : Loan transfer initiated to XXXX ; administrative forbearance began ( without my request or knowledge ) XX/XX/year> : Loan loaded into XXXX 's system XX/XX/year> : Scheduled autopay payment was NOT processed ( blocked due to forbearance and broken autopay transfer promise ). I was not notified that this payment would not be processed. 

XXXX 2025 : I attempted multiple times to set up autopay with XXXX but was told I could not do so until the transfer was complete. During this time, I had no ability to make payments even though I wanted to. 

XX/XX/year> : Received letter from XXXX stating forbearance would end XX/XX/year>. The letter stated : " Payments made after your forbearance ends will be applied to any unpaid interest that accrued before or during the forbearance and then to the outstanding principal balance. '' This language failed to adequately disclose the amount of interest that had accrued or the impact on my future payments. 

XX/XX/year> : Received first XXXX statement showing : Current Balance : {$28000.00} Outstanding Principal : {$27000.00} ( unchanged ) Accrued Interest : {$380.00} Payments Remaining : XXXX ( increased by XXXX from XXXX 's XXXX ) Principal Paid Through XX/XX/year> : {$0.00} Interest Paid Through XX/XX/year> : {$0.00} Interest accumulated during forbearance : {$330.00} ( {$380.00} - {$52.00} ) XX/XX/year> - Payment # XXXX : {$220.00} paid To Principal : {$0.00} To Interest : {$220.00} XX/XX/year> : Statement shows XXXX payments remaining XX/XX/year> - Payment # XXXX : {$220.00} paid To Principal : {$0.00} To Interest : {$220.00} XX/XX/year> : Statement shows XXXX payments remaining XX/XX/year> - Payment # XXXX : {$220.00} paid To Principal : {$0.00} To Interest : {$220.00} XX/XX/year> : Statement shows XXXX payments remaining XX/XX/year> - Payment # XXXX : {$220.00} paid To Principal : {$0.00} To Interest : {$220.00} XX/XX/year> : Statement shows XXXX payments remaining XX/XX/year> - Payment # XXXX : {$220.00} paid To Principal : {$0.00} ( first principal payment after transfer! ) To Interest : {$220.00} XX/XX/year> : Statement shows : Current Balance : {$27000.00} Outstanding Principal : {$27000.00} Payments Remaining : XXXX ( same as original XXXX XXXX ) Total Paid Since Transfer : {$1100.00} Total to Principal : {$0.00} Total to Interest : {$1100.00} SPECIFIC ISSUES Issue # XXXX : Lost Payment Progress I attempted to make XXXX payments from XXXX 2025, but only XXXX were processed. 

Attempted Payments : XXXX. XX/XX/year> - BLOCKED ( blocked due to forbearance and broken autopay transfer promise ) XXXX. XX/XX/year> - Processed ( {$220.00} ) XXXX. XX/XX/year> - Processed ( {$220.00} ) XXXX. XX/XX/year> - Processed ( {$220.00} ) XXXX. XX/XX/year> - Processed ( {$220.00} ) XXXX. XX/XX/year> - Processed ( {$220.00} ) Payments successfully processed by XXXX : XXXX ( XXXX 2025 ) I have received XXXX credit for XXXX months of payment progress. 

Issue # XXXX : Contradictory Payment Counts My payment count shows : Starting ( XXXX XX/XX/year> ) : XXXX payments remaining Current ( XXXX XX/XX/year> ) : XXXX payments remaining XXXX 's response to this CFPB complaint states XXXX terms remaining ( contradicts their own XX/XX/year> statement showing XXXX ) Should be : XXXX payments remaining ( XXXX - XXXX payments ) Issue # XXXX : Involuntary Administrative Forbearance Based on Broken Autopay Transfer Promise I did not request or consent to any forbearance. More critically, I was explicitly instructed by XXXX that autopay would be automatically transferred and that I needed to take no action. 

XXXX 's XX/XX/year>, notice stated : " You recently used the automatic debit payment method to make your federal student loan payment. Automatic debit is when your servicer draws a payment from your bank account each month. There's no action for you to take. We'll pass the necessary information to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX when we transfer your loan account. Then XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX will continue to draw your monthly payment amount from your bank account. '' I relied on these instructions and took no action, as explicitly directed by XXXX. 

However, the promised autopay transfer did not occur. Instead : The administrative forbearance was placed on my account automatically during the transfer process ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/year> - 60 days ) My scheduled XX/XX/XXXX autopay with XXXX was blocked without any notification to me XXXX did NOT continue my autopay as XXXX promised they would When I attempted multiple times to set up autopay with XXXX during the forbearance period, I was prevented from doing so and told I could not set up autopay until the transfer was complete I could not make voluntary payments even though I wanted to During this involuntary forbearance caused by the broken autopay transfer promise : Interest continued to accrue at {$5.00} per day I accumulated {$330.00} in additional interest that I would not have incurred if the autopay had been transferred as promised I was unable to take any action to prevent this harm because I was following XXXX 's explicit instructions and was subsequently blocked from setting up payments with XXXX The harm I suffered was a direct result of relying on XXXX 's instructions that proved to be false. 

Issue # XXXX : Inadequate XXXX XXXX XX/XX/year>, forbearance ending letter stated : " Payments made after your forbearance ends will be applied to any unpaid interest that accrued before or during the forbearance and then to the outstanding principal balance. '' This statement failed to adequately disclose : The specific amount of interest that would accrue ( {$330.00} ) That it would take approximately XXXX months of payments to pay down this interest That I would receive essentially XXXX principal reduction during those XXXX months The total financial impact of the forbearance on my loan As a result, I continued making payments from XXXX 2025 without understanding that they would have virtually no impact on reducing my loan balance. 

Issue # XXXX : Missing XXXX Payment Due to Broken Autopay Transfer Promise XXXX 's XX/XX/year> transfer notice explicitly promised : " There's no action for you to take. We'll pass the necessary information to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX when we transfer your loan account. Then XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX will continue to draw your monthly payment amount from your bank account. '' The notice also stated : " The last day we anticipate debiting a payment for your account is XX/XX/year>. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX will let you know the first day it will debit a payment for your account. '' Based on these explicit instructions, I took no action and expected my autopay to continue seamlessly. 

My XX/XX/year> XXXX statement showed a payment of {$220.00} due on XX/XX/year>, with autopay enrolled. However : This payment was not processed by either XXXX or XXXX I received no notification that the payment would not be processed I received no notification that the promised autopay transfer had failed XXXX 's records through XX/XX/year> show {$0.00} received XXXX 's records through XX/XX/year> show {$0.00} received When I discovered the autopay had not been transferred as promised, I attempted to set up autopay with XXXX. However, I was told I could not do so until the transfer was complete. This left me in a situation where : I had followed XXXX 's instructions to take no action The promised autopay transfer did not occur I was blocked from setting up new autopay with XXXX I had no ability to make the XXXX payment even though I wanted to I request accounting of what happened to the promised autopay transfer and why I was not notified it would not occur as promised. 

Issue # XXXX : Grossly Inadequate Principal Reduction From XXXX 2025, I paid XXXX a total of {$1100.00} across XXXX payments. Of this amount : To Principal : {$0.00} ( 0.06 % ) To Interest : {$1100.00} ( 99.94 % ) This occurred because all of my payments first went toward paying off the {$330.00} in interest that accumulated during the involuntary forbearance period. 

Under normal circumstances without forbearance, approximately $ XXXX of my payments would have reduced my principal balance during this six-month period. 

FINANCIAL HARM XXXX payment blocked : {$220.00} ( including ~ {$80.00} principal ) Lost principal reduction from XXXX processed payments : ~ {$400.00} Total lost principal reduction : ~ {$480.00} Lost payment count reduction : XXXX payments ( should be at XXXX, currently at XXXX ) Extended loan term : XXXX months Additional interest paid over life of loan due to forbearance : {$330.00} + ongoing interest on unpaid principal XXXX XXXX INADEQUATE RESPONSE XXXX responded to my initial complaint ( ID : XXXX ) by : XXXX. Confirming the administrative forbearance occurred XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/year> XXXX. Confirming interest accrued during forbearance XXXX. Confirming payments were applied to interest first, then principal XXXX. Stating I have " XXXX terms remaining '' ( contradicted by their own XXXX statement showing XXXX ) XXXX. Providing payment allocation data that confirms only {$0.00} of XXXX payments went to principal What XXXX 's response failed to address : Why my payment count increased from XXXX to XXXX and then fluctuated back to XXXX Why I have not been credited for XXXX months of payments ( XXXX XXXX instead of XXXX XXXX ) The contradiction between their stated " XXXX terms remaining '' and their XXXX statement showing " XXXX terms remaining '' The financial harm caused by the involuntary forbearance Any plan to correct the account XXXX acknowledged the problem but offered no remedy. 

REQUESTED RESOLUTION I am requesting the following corrective actions : XXXX. XXXX XXXX Correction : Adjust my payment count to XXXX payments remaining to properly reflect the XXXX payments I successfully made to XXXX from XXXX 2025 ( XXXX - XXXX = XXXX ). 
XXXX. Principal Balance Correction : Credit my account for approximately {$480.00} in lost principal reduction : ~ {$80.00} from blocked XXXX payment ~ {$400.00} from XXXX payments ( XXXX ) that went almost entirely to interest that accumulated during the involuntary forbearance XXXX. Accounting Explanation : Provide a detailed written explanation of : Why the payment count increased from XXXX to XXXX in XX/XX/year> How XXXX corrected from XXXX back to XXXX over XXXX months Why the correction did not account for the XXXX payments I actually made The contradiction between XXXX 's CFPB response stating " XXXX terms remaining '' and their XX/XX/year> statement showing " XXXX terms remaining '' XXXX. Autopay Transfer Failure Explanation : Provide a detailed written explanation of : Why the autopay transfer promised in XXXX 's XX/XX/year> notice did not occur Whether XXXX actually transferred the autopay information to XXXX as promised Why I was blocked from setting up autopay with XXXX during the forbearance period What steps have been taken to prevent this from happening to other borrowers XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX : Provide documentation showing what happened to my scheduled XX/XX/year>, autopay payment and why I was not notified it would not be processed. 
XXXX. Independent Review : Escalate this matter to the XXXX Department of Education XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for XXXX XXXX and verification that all corrections have been properly implemented. 
XXXX. Forbearance Impact Statement : Provide a detailed accounting showing : Total interest that accrued during the administrative forbearance ( {$330.00} ) How each of my XXXX payments was allocated The total financial impact of the forbearance on my loan term and total interest paid SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION I am providing the following documents to support this complaint : XXXX. XXXX transfer notice dated XX/XX/year> ( containing explicit promise that autopay would be automatically transferred with no action required from me ) XXXX. XXXX statement dated XX/XX/year> ( showing XXXX payments remaining and XX/XX/XXXX autopay scheduled ) XXXX. XXXX forbearance ending letter dated XX/XX/year> XXXX. XXXX monthly statements from XX/XX/year> through XX/XX/year> ( showing fluctuating payment counts from XXXX XXXX ) XXXX. XXXX loan summary dated XX/XX/year> XXXX. XXXX 's response to my initial complaint ( ID : XXXX ) These documents clearly demonstrate : XXXX explicitly XXXX automatic autopay transfer with no action required from me I relied on this promise and took no action as instructed The autopay transfer did not occur, causing me to miss payments and incur involuntary forbearance The NelNets ending payment count was XXXX XXXX 's XXXX count is inconsistent XXXX payments were made with only {$0.00} going to principal XXXX 's XXXX statements contradict each other and their CFPB response I am requesting immediate correction of my account to reflect the proper payment count ( XXXX ), proper principal reduction ( ~ {$480.00} ), and independent Department of Education XXXX XXXX ensure these corrections are accurately implemented.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation