Consumer complaint received 2025-03-20 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: Servicer under contract with Federal Student Aid
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
Summary of the Issue I am filing this complaint against the U.S. Department of Education ( DOE ) for its failure to address servicer misconduct by XXXX, refusal to provide a fair review of my case, and its obstruction of my right to seek loan discharge due to servicer failure. 

XXXX, under DOEs contract, engaged in financial misconduct by : Withdrawing {$1500.00} in unauthorized payments during a federally issued forbearance period ( Months of XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX of XXXX ) Refusing to refund my money for over a year, only returning it after I was forced to escalate the issue through my bank ( XXXX XXXX ) as a fraud dispute. If I had not made this dispute with XXXX XXXX, they would have never refunded this money to me. 
Providing misleading and contradictory information about my PSLF progress, delaying my ability to plan for forgiveness. 
Despite these violations, DOE has failed to take corrective action and continues to dismiss my request for full discharge of my remaining loan balance. 

How DOE Mishandled My Case 1 DOE Representatives Provided False Information I was told by a DOE representative on XX/XX/XXXX that XXXX is no longer my loan servicer and that DOE could not take action on my discharge request because my loans aren't serviced by XXXX anymore... which is certainly not grounds to dismiss my case if this servicer who was contracted under the authority of the DOE engaged in servicer misconduct and caused me REAL financial harm that continues now. 
A second DOE representative later contradicted this information and confirmed that XXXX is still my servicer. 
This proves that DOE is either deliberately misleading borrowers or failing to ensure its representatives provide accurate information. 
2 DOE Refused to Process My Servicer Misconduct Discharge Request I explicitly requested that my case be reviewed for full loan discharge due to servicer misconduct, not as a PSLF reconsideration. 
DOE representatives refused to acknowledge DOEs authority to discharge loans in cases of servicer misconduct. 
When I cited DOEs oversight power over contracted loan servicers, the representative abruptly ended the call instead of responding. I was hung up on. I never received any call backs from supervisors from either representative who said they were getting me to a supervisor. One DOE representative told me that the supervisor said they can't do anything about this since XXXX isn't my servicer and there's nothing to be done for my case. 
3 DOE Failed to Provide Any Written Justification for Refusing My Request I asked DOE to provide a written explanation for why it is refusing to discharge my loan balance despite documented servicer misconduct. 
DOE has never provided a response. 
4 DOEs Inaction Is Causing Immediate Financial Harm Due to XXXX errors and refund delays, my loan balance is artificially inflated, forcing me to remain in repayment for years longer than I should. 
If DOE does not act now, I could lose my opportunity for relief entirely if PSLF is dismantled or if DOE undergoes administrative changes as the current president of the United States is threatening. 
What I Am Requesting from CFPB An immediate review of my case for full loan discharge due to servicer misconduct. 
A written explanation from DOE on why it is refusing to take corrective action. 
A direct caseworker contact for my servicer misconduct discharge request. 
Accountability for DOE representatives providing false and misleading information. 
Why This Case Requires Immediate Action MOHELAs misconduct is well-documented, and DOE has the authority to discharge loans in cases of servicer failures. 
DOE is refusing to address my request and providing false information to avoid accountability. 
If DOE does not act now, I will be left with a $ XXXX loan balance due to servicer misconduct that was entirely out of my control. I have already paid XXXX qualifying PSLF payments on an original {$40000.00} loan which has and will continue to balloon out of control if PSLF is dissolved. 

Why I Am Requesting Full Loan Discharge I am requesting full discharge of my remaining loan balance due to servicer misconduct, financial harm, and DOEs failure to enforce its oversight authority over XXXX. 

XXXX, as a DOE-contracted servicer, violated federal loan servicing policies by : Withdrawing unauthorized payments during a federally issued forbearance period. 
Deliberately delaying my refund for over a year, forcing me to escalate through a fraud dispute with my bank. 
Providing misleading and inaccurate information about my PSLF progress, further delaying my access to forgiveness.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response