Consumer complaint received 2025-06-03 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Company: Federated Student Loan Services
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
-- -- I am seeking immediate discharge of my federal student loan balance through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) program. I completed XXXX  months of qualifying employment in XX/XX/XXXX and thus am entitled to loan discharge ; however due to the SAVE injunction, I have been denied the ability to progress on my PSLF obligations, despite complying with the explicit instructions made by the Department of Education that would allow borrowers to do so, and therefore I have thus have been denied forgiveness in a timely manner to which I am entitled. 

-- -- My current qualifying payment count stands at XXXX as of XX/XX/XXXX per the Federal Student Aid ( FSA ) website. I should be above XXXX qualifying payments or credits if either my buyback request had been properly processed or my return to repayment remediation was properly acknowledged, neither of which has happened. 

-- -- On XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a buyback request # XXXX with relevant income tax documentation for the months of XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX ( with additional buyback eligible months to also include the time from then to present day XX/XX/XXXX ). I have been told repeatedly over the phone by FSA agents my request would be processed within XXXX business days. As of today, it has been more than XXXX business days without a review decision. Any number of combinations of these months would bring my total above XXXX. 

-- -- On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted an application to change income-driven repayment plans from SAVE to IBR, the other pathway promised as a way to continue PSLF progress. In short, that application has since been acknowledged by my loan-servicer XXXX, and I was provided a XXXX processing forbearance with PSLF credit that brought XXXX total from XXXX to XXXX. But it was not until late XX/XX/XXXX that I was finally provided notice of my IBR application approval with first payment due XX/XX/XXXX. As a result of the more than 8 month delay between application submission on XX/XX/XXXX to first payment due on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX placed a benefit " Return XXXX repayment remediation - XXXX '' onto my account on XX/XX/XXXX with the award effective XX/XX/XXXX ( see attached files " XXXX ... '' ) onward until my first XXXX payment due date of XX/XX/XXXX. Time spent with this benefit in this remediation forbearance period, I was told by XXXX in no uncertain terms, would count as XXXX credit. Those months would not need to be bought back. This is consistent with information publicly available on FSA webpages ( see attached file " Communications ... '' ) and supported by the inclusion of this Remediation of Servicing Issues forbearance type as PSLF credit eligible in the status report filed by the Department of Education on XX/XX/XXXX ( see attached file " Status Report ... '' pages XXXX, XXXX ). 

-- -- I submitted an employer certification form on XX/XX/XXXX. It was processed and was marked complete on XX/XX/XXXX ( see file " XXXX XXXX Update '' ). My PSLF tracker updated but it did not include the months of XX/XX/XXXX onward as counting toward XXXX credit as I currently continue to stand at XXXX out of XXXX despite the addition of the XXXX benefit. Instead, those months are marked as " Ineligible. '' Had those months counted, I would be above XXXX. I have submitted an FSA reconsideration request # XXXX regarding this and have not received a response. 

-- -- The above has been conveyed to FSA through their Feedback Center case # XXXX, with a request to have it forwarded to their ombudsman. Response to this feedback is also pending. 

-- -- I have made every reasonable attempt to continue making qualifying payments or receiving XXXX equivalent credit while working for a qualified employer, and yet I continue to be denied the ability to make progress and attain forgiveness eligibility. Meanwhile, I have been experiencing considerable, irreparable material harm by having my student loan balance persist and not forgiven, an exhaustive list of which would be too lengthy to detail here but would certainly be made available elsewhere if needed. 

-- -- I have been incredibly patient to allow these processes to enfold without significant protestation to this point. However I feel that I have been harmed and that harm continues to grow each day. I intend to continue to pursue fair resolution to this issue to minimize any further damage.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response