Consumer complaint received 2024-05-09 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Getting a loan — Confusing or misleading advertising
Company: AES/PHEAA
State: NE

Complaint narrative:
Hello CFPB, I attended The AI of Colorado, which recently came to a settlement of misleading students in the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( formally XXXX XXXX XXXX ) case. 

When I attended XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, I, among many other students, had been given false information about employment partnerships, salaries and placements. With those marketing tactics I was driven to obtain Federal loans to attend XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Tuition became so expensive that I ran out of Federal Funding and was required to obtain private student loans at a variable interest rate in order to complete my XXXX program. I was given the same XXXX grace period post-graduation to where my loans would not become in an active repayment status or adjust to XXXX. 

However, mid-way through my XXXX journey I became ill and was forced to take a XXXX medical leave. I was diagnosed with XXXX XXXX and had to have my left XXXX removed. During this time away from school my private loans were switched to an active repayment status and started to bill payments. As well as adjust to XXXX. During my recovery I was unable to work. When I was cleared to return to school I was ordered to only work part-time. 

Once I discovered that I was being billed for my private loans I reached out to my servicer, American Education Services, to discuss my situation. I offered to provide medical documents to prove my situation and to get AES to contact the lender to discuss reverting my private loans back to a no-payment status. This was unsuccessful. 

The original principal balance of this loan was approximately {$25000.00} set to a variable rate of 6.5 %, with an approximate margin of 2 % above XXXX. Since I was unable to make full payments, I continued to be placed into a forbearance period. These were the only options provided to me and were done without consultation or investigation to my situation. Over the years I eventually graduated and was unable to land any job in my field of study. In turn, jobs I could obtain were not anywhere near the income needed to support the payments of both private and federal loans ( totaling {$110000.00} ). 

As time moved on my private loan interest rate shot to 13 % and because of my hard work a dedication to repairing a diminished credit score ( due to missed payments from these loans ) I was finally able to refinance my private loan away from AES. This loan was finally refinanced at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX at a XXXX principal balance of {$54000.00}. My private loan was dragged through so many forbearance programs, capitalizing interest, and rate changes that my principal balance doubled the original borrowed amount. 

My complaint is it is absurd that any loan affiliated with The XXXX XXXX XXXX should be active. Private or not, the for-profit school took advantage of thousands of students by capitalizing off false claims. I am hoping to see that the route of private loans falls the same course of Federal Loans. 

I thank you for your time. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation