Consumer complaint received 2025-05-12 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: Nelnet, Inc.
State: DC

Complaint narrative:
Between XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, I attempted to make regular student loan payments to Nelnet through my connected bank account ( XXXX XXXX ). Despite my account having sufficient funds and my routing/account details remaining accurate and unchanged, Nelnet silently rejected every payment I attempted to make from XXXX -- without notifying me directly. 

Each time I submitted a payment, I received a confirmation email from Nelnet saying " Thank you for your payment ''. No returned payment notice ever followed via email. Instead Nelnet buried these return notifications in their internal account inbox system, which only sends a generic message like " You have a new message '' with no indication that urgent action is required. Additionally, the history of payments tab on the Nelnet system website showed up as blank until after my phone call today, XX/XX/XXXX, at which point it reflects one payment made ( the most recent one ). 

At no point did Nelnet send an actual explanation, return reason, or follow-up confirming the rejection. I only learned about the issue after receiving alerts from my bank that a delinquency had been reported to credit agencies. The result is an adverse hit to my credit score, caused by a communication failure I had no reasonable way of preventing. 

When I called Nelnet for clarification on XX/XX/XXXX, a representative could not identify the exact return reasons and failed to provide written confirmation of the communicated information on the call, despite saying they would send a follow-up email. That message was never sent. During the phone call, the representative alleged that the reasons for the returns originate from my bank, XXXX XXXX. I have recorded my phone conversation with the representative from Nelnet taking place on XX/XX/XXXX, in which the representative acknowledges the issues specified in this complaint. I am prepared to provide this recording or a transcript upon request to support my complaint. As a resident of Washington, D.C. ( a one-party consent jurisdiction ), and given that Nelnet is incorporated in Nebraska ( also a one-party consent jurisdiction ), this recording was legally obtained under the laws of both jurisdictions. 

Absent evidence in official correspondence channels ( i.e., my email, phone number, physical mail ) that XXXX XXXX attempted to contact me to provide an opportunity to cure the issue, I navigated to my XXXX XXXX account inbox to check whether like Nelnet, they too had sent indications via their system inbox. In checking, I confirmed zero correspondences from XXXX XXXX that would have reasonably provided any opportunity for remedying the issue. The only indication within the XXXX XXXX platform that anything anomalous took place is from XXXX system inbox messages dating back to XX/XX/XXXX. There was no prior communication from XXXX about Nelnet payment processing from before XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX sent 11 inbox notifications saying " There's new potentially negative info on your credit report, '' ; and, on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX sent 4 inbox notifications with the same message ; on XX/XX/XXXX, there are 10 such inbox notifications ; on XX/XX/XXXX, there are 5 such inbox notifications. All XXXX correspondences within the inbox refer me to Nelnet for additional information, without providing any explanation using official communication channels ( i.e., my email, phone number, physical mail ). 

I believe this constitutes a failure in both transparency and fair reporting, especially given the serious credit impact.

I am requesting : ( 1 ) An investigation into Nelnet 's notification procedures for returned payments, ( 2 ) Removal of the derogatory credit mark based on misleading or incomplete notification, and, ( 3 ) A written breakdown of what occurred and which party is responsible for the return notices ( i.e., Nelnet, XXXX XXXX ).

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation