Consumer complaint received 2026-04-27 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: Nelnet, Inc.
State: NE

Complaint narrative:
Subject : Systemic Servicing Platform Failure Preventing Voluntary Auto-Debit Payments Servicer : Nelnet Servicing , LLC ; Borrower Name : XXXX XXXX XXXX I am filing this complaint against my federal student loan servicer, Nelnet, due to a systemic failure in their payment platform that actively prevents me from mitigating interest accrual on my loans. Due to ongoing litigation, my loans are currently in an administrative forbearance under the SAVE plan. Nelnet has notified me that my " amount due '' is {$0.00}, but that interest began accruing again on XX/XX/year>. XXXX correspondence explicitly advised me : " If you want to avoid interest accrual... you can log in to your online account to make interest-only payments each month. '' However, Nelnet 's system prevents me from automating this process. I have repeatedly attempted to set up a monthly Auto-Debit for {$500.00}. Because my officially billed amount is {$0.00}, Nelnets system automatically overrides my requested withdrawal amount, forces the Auto-Debit to {$0.00}, and disables the function. Standard customer service has refused to or is incapable of establishing a recurring payment instruction on the backend to bypass this web portal limitation. I am entirely willing and able to pay ( as evidenced by multiple {$500.00} manual payments successfully processed ). Due to Nelnet forcing me to rely on manual, memory-dependent payments rather than allowing standard financial automation, I have accrued {$3800.00} in unpaid interest. A servicers platform limitations should not legally or practically ever prevent a borrower from making voluntary recurring payments. Furthermore, I am acutely aware that my experience is not an isolated incident. Given Nelnet 's status as a primary federal loan servicer, this specific platform limitation ( tying the auto-debit capability strictly to a {$0.00} billed amount during the SAVE forbearance ) is undoubtedly affecting millions of borrowers nationwide. By systematically disabling the primary mechanism consumers use to responsibly automate and manage debt, Nelnet is actively trapping countless Americans in a cycle of avoidable interest accrual. The profound ramifications of this structural failure mean that the very forbearance designed to protect borrowers during ongoing litigation is, ironically, causing massive, unmitigated financial harm to the working public. This platform design effectively exploits human error and the friction of manual payments, representing a widespread, systemic failure of basic servicing duties. It demands immediate regulatory scrutiny to prevent further wealth extraction from millions of unknowingly affected families who believe their accounts are safely paused. I request that Nelnet 's XXXX XXXX team intervene to bypass their standard portal limitations and establish a recurring, monthly Auto-Debit of {$500.00} from my linked checking account. Alternatively, I ( and presumably millions of other borrowers ) request a permanent fix to the Nelnet online account ( s ) that allows voluntary overpayments via Auto-Debit to process successfully without defaulting to {$0.00}. Given the overt negligence demonstrated by Nelnet 's failure to maintain basic servicing infrastructure, it is fundamentally insufficient to merely correct my individual account. A servicer must not be permitted to reap financial windfalls from its own technological failures. Therefore, I urge the CFPB to initiate a formal supervisory audit and enforcement action regarding Nelnet 's auto-debit practices during the SAVE forbearance. I request that the CFPB mandate systemic restitution, specifically, the immediate, retroactive reversal and erasure of all interest wrongfully accrued on the accounts of every borrower who has been technically obstructed from making automated voluntary payments. Nelnet must be held accountable for the financial damages inflicted on potentially millions of consumers due to its negligent servicing practices. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX # XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation