Consumer complaint received 2025-05-12 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Account status incorrect
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX I applied for a student loan with XXXX XXXX Student Loans in which I was declined. Keep in mind I already have a loan with them for my sons XXXX year at XXXX XXXXXXXX. My application was for his XXXX year as well as my daughters XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. After being declined via the online application, I received an email with an attachment ( decline letter ). This was very surprising to me as my credit scores are very good and I have no derogatory marks or poor pay history on any of the bureaus ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ). When I opened the attachment the letter indicated that XXXX XXXX Student Loans was unable to approve my application for the following reasons. " Your records show that you have defaulted on a student loan ''. This reason immediately caused me to review my credit reports on XXXX XXXX where I search my American Education Services ( AES ) school loan to see if the status had changed. This is a school loan in which I share with my XXXX XXXX. We consolidated our college loans years ago. When reviewing the bureaus via XXXX XXXX, both XXXX XXXX XXXX showed the status as " In Good Standing - Payment Deferred ''. I then called XXXX  ( XX/XX/XXXX ) as they were the credit bureau XXXX XXXX XXXX used to review my letter. Per the decline letter, XXXX was listed as " The consumer reporting agency contacted that provide information that influenced our decision ''. When I spoke to a representative at XXXX advised that American Education Services ( AES ) was reporting a status that indicated they were unable to locate me. This was odd as I have not changed any of my information in years. She advised that I would need to reach out to AES to have them correct what they were reporting. After I hung up with the XXXX representative, I downloaded the XXXX  app on my phone and was able to view my credit report with them. At that point I noticed that my AES XXXX XXXX was reporting on XXXX - " Status - Creditor can not locate individual/Never Late. Deferred, payments begin XX/XX/XXXX ''. I looked more closely at my XXXX XXXX account under XXXX and it showed my AES loan reporting as " In Good Stating '' and " Comments- Customer unable to locate consumer ''. XXXX  was only reporting my AES loan as " In Good Standing '' " Remarks - Payment Deferred ''. On XX/XX/XXXX I called AES and reporting my findings. I asked that they make the necessary changes to how they were reporting me to the bureaus as it was preventing me from being approved for a new student loan. The AES representative indicated that they did not have updated contact information for me. I informed her that I had not moved in 12 years. I indicated that My XXXX XXXX had recently moved and asked if that could be causing the issue. She was not certain and at that point I provided her my address, phone number, and email address. She also suggested I create an online account which I did the same day XX/XX/XXXX. I requested that she have my credit bureaus corrected as at this point AES had my contact information, the account was in good standing/deferred, and the status was preventing me from getting a new loan. I asked to be transferred to the XXXX XXXX department however she advised that was not an option. She advised I must submit a credit dispute via the AES online dispute platform. Also on XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a credit dispute online and mailed in a comply of the dispute form along with copies of my credit bureaus highlighting the " Remarks '' that needed to be corrected/updated. I was informed on XX/XX/XXXX it could take up to 30 days to correct my bureaus removing the " Creditor can not locate individual and Customer Unable to Locate Consumer '' comments/status. On XX/XX/XXXX I checked XXXX XXXX to see if XXXX had been updated which it had. It now reported AES as follows : " In Good Standing '' " Remarks - Account previously in dispute - Now resolved by data furnisher ''. XXXX also reported my AES loan as " In Good Standing '' " Remarks - Dispute resolved reported by XXXX, Payment Deferred ''. When I checked the AES reporting in my XXXX account, my AES loan was reporting as follows : " Status - Creditor can not locate individual/Never late. Deferred, payments begin XX/XX/XXXX ''. In the XXXX comments it read " Comments - Account previously in dispute - investigation complete, reported by data furnisher ''. At that point I called XXXX and spoke to a representative ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I provided a summary of the situation and asked that XXXX removed the " Status - Creditor can not locate individual ''. I advised this had been resolved with AES through a credit dispute and referenced the " Comments '' in my XXXX XXXX under AES that showed they had submitted the dispute. The XXXX representative placed me on hold for approx. XXXX minutes and then returned to the call stating the " XXXX can not locate individual status '' would be removed in XXXX to XXXX hours. I then called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX as I was concerned that they would have to do another hard pull on my credit XXXX this was resolved. I spoke to a supervisor who advised I have XXXX days to have the XXXX  bureau correct in order for my " declined '' loan application to be reviewed again. At this point I asked the supervisor how they could be declining me for a reason of " Your records show that you have defaulted on a student loan '' when that was no accurate. He indicated that XXXX was providing them a specific status code when reviewing my application that resulted in the decline for defaulting on a student loan. I argued briefly that was incorrect however moved on as I was told by the XXXX representative that it would be corrected in up to XXXX hours. Today XX/XX/XXXX I reviewed my XXXX credit report and confirmed that my AES loan reporting had not changed. It still showed " XXXX - XXXX can not locate individual/Never late. Deferred, payments begin XX/XX/XXXX ''. I immediately contacted AES to confirm they had submitted the correction to all the bureaus due to my credit dispute. I spoke to a representative who again verified my contact information. I provided my address, phone number, and email address which had not changed from the call on XX/XX/XXXX. I then asked to be transferred to a supervisor who stated " I show your contact information as current and updated ''. He also confirmed that " we have not reported your loan to any of the bureaus that it is in a default status ''. He suggested that I call XXXX. I hung up with AES and called XXXX  where I spoke to representative that indicated it could take up to 30 days to correct my bureau. I informed him that under my AES XXXX XXXX on XXXX the comments read " Account previously in dispute - investigation complete, reported by data furnisher ''. I explained that I was concerned because the " XXXX - XXXX can not locate individual '' was not removed and the comments indicated the dispute investigation was completed. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor however there was not XXXX available and the agent advised one would call me back in XXXX to XXXX hours. At this point I am at a loss on what to do. I have provided AES all of my contact information twice on the phone and set up an online account. I have filed credit disputes with AES as well as all three credit reporting bureaus. I stated the process on XX/XX/XXXX and it is now XX/XX/XXXX and I am still waiting on XXXX to clear the " Creditor can not location individual '' status so I can apply for a student loan for both my kids. My credit scores for all three credit reporting agencies are currently over XXXX and I am being declined for what is inaccurate information. Please help me as I dont know what I will do if I am unable to get a school loan to help my kids pay for college.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief