Consumer complaint received 2025-01-18 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Company: Servicer under contract with Federal Student Aid
State: MA

Complaint narrative:
-I am in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) program. I have worked full-time, continuously at eligible non-profit organizations for XXXX years. 
XXXX achieved XXXX years / XXXX months of eligible employment in XX/XX/XXXX, therefore should have qualified for forgiveness. However, my payment count on the XXXX tracker on XXXX has been stuck at XXXX of XXXX payments. 
-The first XXXX months of my employment in XXXX were originally ineligible due to forbearance, so I applied for XXXX buyback in XX/XX/XXXX when I would be eligible for forgiveness to achieve XXXX payments. After applying for buyback, I did not receive any correspondence. 
-On XX/XX/XXXX, I also submitted for PSLF reconsideration and received an email from XXXX ( see below ). 
XXXX subsequently submitted multiple employment certification forms that were eventually processed and approved/ accepted, along with XXXX  reconsideration ( see attached ). 
XXXX reached back out to my servicer at XXXX to inquire about the status of my buyback application as I had waited XXXX days. I was told there was no record of my buyback submission, and it may have been due to the XXXX pause and I was instructed to resubmit my buyback application. Due to this, I submitted an ombudsman complaint to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX stating : " I applied for buyback in XXXX as that is when I would have worked for XXXX months at a qualifying employer ( since XX/XX/XXXX ) and I was looking to buyback the months of XXXX, XXXX and XXXX / XX/XX/XXXX as they were in forbearance / deferment. I reached out to someone in the chat feature a few weeks ago who told me to keep checking the website. I checked today and it said my XXXX counts were updated as of today XX/XX/XXXX but they had not. I started another chat today ( case # : XXXX ) and they said there was no record of my request for buyback in the system and that it may have been because that was during the pause and I should resubmit the request. '' -The above complaint was ultimately closed and I was told the buyback application could not be escalated due to this error. 
XXXX reached out to XXXX again in XXXX ( XXXX ) to inquire about the status of my buyback and was still told it was open and being reviewed. 
XXXX reached out to XXXX again in XX/XX/XXXX about my buyback application and was also told it is still in review and could not be escalated. I asked for any type of documentation or correspondence to show the buyback application was received and in review ; I was asked if it was in My Documents section online and I replied No, and I was not given any documentation -I have been enrolled in the XXXX plan, therefore, the past several months have not counted towards XXXX even though now I have XXXX XXXX months of qualifying payment, exceeding and meeting the qualifications. Studentaid.gov said I could try applying for another income based plan to have months going forward count, but that is also a long process. 
-I have exhausted every avenue to try and have my payment counts updated and achieve forgiveness and I have had no luck. I applied for buyback XXXX months ago with no progress. 
-Reconsideration email from XX/XX/XXXX : Dear XXXX XXXX XXXX Thank you for submitting a XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Your case number is # XXXX. 

Please retain this number for reference. 

Because of the number of requests, reconsideration reviews XXXX take some time. We will provide the status or results of your reconsideration request via email, and thank you for your patience. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Untimely response