Consumer complaint received 2025-02-11 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: EdFinancial Services
State: WI

Complaint narrative:
In XXXX, I had followed up with XXXX ( My previous LSP ) about correcting incorrect amounts reflected for my student loan balance ( including principal and interest ). I had made this request with XXXX and also filed a CFPB Complaint to help with XXXX ( since closed due to transfer ) and a congressional inquiry with my Senator ( XXXX XXXX ) who hand have XXXX XXXX on all my correspondence with EdFinancial and has had the case open prior to the loan balance being transferred. This issue has not been resolved and I am asking that my total loan amount be adjusted to reflect the total loan balance ( including principal and interest ) reflected on my XXXX account. 

I am reaching out because EdFinancial has been unable to address my issue despite continually following up. My loan balance of {$170000.00} on XXXX has inexplicitly increased to {$180000.00} today. No explanation or justification has been provided by EdFinancial for as to why my balance increased so significantly in such a short period of time. It is very frustrating that XXXX repeatedly appears to avoid addressing my complaint for almost 8 months now. I pray this can be addressed timely. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to EdFinancial because my loan balance still was not accurate. This is what I said in an email ( also attached ) : " I have outstanding inquiries with XXXX and Dept of Ed relating to checking my service account that remain unresolved and need to be addressed. Notably, I do not believe my monthly loan amount is correct because my total loan balance is not accurate. This number is about {$10000.00} more than the total loan amount plus interest balance reflected in my XXXX account. I have provided this information to XXXX and Department of Education and am still waiting for a response. '' On XX/XX/XXXX I got the following NON-response " Thank you for contacting Edfinancial Services. We hope this information finds you well. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, we recommend resubmitting your outstanding inquiries with Edfinancial so that we can ensure they are addressed. We look forward to assisting you to resolve these issues. 
XXXX Edfinancial Services '' On XX/XX/XXXX I again restated my issue in creater details providing specific information. In this correspondence I said, " Sent : Thu XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX ( Eastern Daylight Time ) To : XXXX Subject : Re : Billing Questions? WI XXXX or EdFinancial Services Customer Service, Today I received a letter Edfinancial Services dated XX/XX/XXXX for acct # XXXX Concerningly, the amounts indicated on this letter from EdFinancial are not accurate. These amounts directly contradict total loan balance including principal and interest with XXXX. As previously indicated, a raised concern with a sudden significant interest in my loan balance by XXXX, however this concern was not addressed with XXXX and ignored for months. My total XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX balance including principal and interest is {$170000.00}. The letter I received dated XX/XX/XXXX increases this total loan amount including principal and interest to the tune of over {$10000.00}! Please fix this error. 

Specifically, the correspondence dated XX/XX/XXXX from EdFinancial Services indicates that my loan Principal Balance is {$170000.00} and that my " unpaid interest to be capitalized is {$10000.00} and that my interest not capitalized is {$180000.00} I have provided a screenshot and printouts of my student loan account with XXXX from XXXX and correspondence with XXXX demonstrating that my total loan balance including principal and interest is {$170000.00}. 

Apologies for the delay. I am awaiting a response from Department of Education who has not provided the complete information necessary to meet your request or responded at all. Please see XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Request.pdf attached from XX/XX/XXXX which reflects the most recent communication on this request that remains outstanding. I have also provided notes following my last attempt to speak with my loan servicer to get my issue resolved, it's the word document attached with the XXXX title but reflects my follow up correspondence with the ombuds. I am awaiting my case details that i have requested received by their office on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Is it possible to make a request for you to do this for me? I have attempted to get this information together and made a request for necessary information from the Department of Education who has not responded to this request yet or even acknowledged that they had received this request made through the Office of Inspector General.

This has been incredibly frustrating and I haven't been able to get any answers or clarity on my outstanding issues. I want to make sure that everything that I have raised and that has been well documented is addressed fully and not missed. I do not believe I should be responsible for repeating myself. I can help provide some clarity and direction and some documents that may be helpful to you. I have attached these documents to this email. I have way too many documents to be able to attach here though due to size constraints, and some of the information I do not feel comfortable sharing over email. However, all of this information has been provided to Federal Student Aid and/or XXXX so you should be able to get it from them. If you need me to be the person making the request for that information, please let me know. I would appreciate assistance making that request. I look forward to a prompt resolution to this long outstanding issue. Sincerely, XXXX '' I spoke with a representative who indicated they are doing an account review and would get back to me. During this call the customer service representative indicated they would give me a call back. XXXX from Edfinancial Services replied : " Hello Xxxxx Thank you for contacting Edfinancial Services. I show, per the notes on your account, that you have spoken to a representative more recently than this e-mail on XX/XX/XXXX. As a friendly reminder, a request was sent to the appropriate department for further review. Please allow time for review and we will notify you if anything else is needed. Thank you, XXXX Edfinancial Services. 

I followed up on XX/XX/XXXX due to no response : " EdFinancial Services, A friendly reminder that I have been expecting a call back from a representative for over XXXX week, since XXXX. I feel that I am being ignored and that my inquiry is not being taken seriously. I am disappointed and frustrated that it does not appear you have attempted to follow up with me since this email. I pray you can do better than this. When can I expect a meaningful response? 
Sincerely, XXXX '' On XX/XX/XXXX I followed up because I have not received any response. In a phone conversation I was advised that a possible explanation for my balance having changed was incorrect. Ed Financial explained that they had noticed an error in my account balance because interest incorrectly was applied to my account. However, this still does not account for the nearly {$10000.00} unaccounted for discrepancy in my student loans balance. I explained that it was a mathmatical impossibility and went through the math with the representative on the phone. They indicated they still couldn't help me because their " calculator wasn't working '' on their computer so they referred me to their XXXX Department I followed up in an email at XXXX that day and Jahmelia XXXX XXXX ( presumably accounting ) followed up on XX/XX/XXXX : " From : Sent : Thu XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) To : XXXX XXXX : Re : Billing Questions? WI XXXX update on my loans, but still appears there is some work to be done. It was discovered about XXXX interest on my loans capitalized when it should not have and my balance has been adjusted. However, there still is discrepancy in my total loan balance that is not accounted for. The balance on my Edfinancial account for my student loans remains incorrect. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called to inquire on my student loans. I spoke with a customer service representative who informed me of a letter that noted that there was an error in my loans that resulted in capitalization of interest that should not have occurred. The balance was adjusted to a principal of XXXX and an interest of {$21000.00}. The letter also apparently says that if this doesnt resolve my issue that I would need to submit a new inquiry and provide additional information. 
I am grateful that a significant error was discovered with how my loans are being serviced, however this does not resolve my issue. There is no mathematical explanation for why my loan amount ( including principal and interest ) increased from {$170000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, to what it currently reflects ( including principal and interest ) {$180000.00}. 
We went through my case history and located the information I sent including the photos of my portal reflecting the total principal and interest amount of {$170000.00}. This file is able to be seen by EdFinancial, although at first they were unable to find it. Additionally, they were ale to see my concerns and case notes from when I spoke with Edfinancial, including Edfinancial customer service representative named XXXX back in about the early XXXX timeframe. 
The Edfinancial customer service representative ( XXXX ) advised me that my loan could have capitalized interest since then and that would account for the increase of almost {$13000.00}. XXXX further explained that interest could have capitalized from XXXX until XXXX of XXXX. However, I was on the XXXX plan and making payments. Furthermore, even if the interest fully accrued during this time on my principal balance, this explanation by Edfinancial is mathematically impossible. I was again told that this could be accrued interest and that the letter that was sent to me has resolved my concern. 
I explained that it doesnt resolve my concern and the reason I am being given is mathematically impossible. When I explained that to XXXX, I was told that they are unable to calculate this now because they do not have access to a calculator that can do this math equation. Only once I went through a simplified version of the math equation with XXXX that I learned to do in my XXXX grade required personal finance class they agreed to agree to send my concern to finance so they could do this calculation. 

While not my primary concern, it is alarming to me that I would be provided explanations that are mathematically impossible by customer service representatives to what appears be an attempt to justify what looks very likely to be an incomplete resolution to my issue. I am shocked that customer service representatives are unable to complete a high school level math equation because a software isn't working without escalation to their financial department. 
It has been over 6 months since I sent this information to EdFinancial and this issue remains unresolved. I expect to get a follow up call back from XXXX by XX/XX/XXXX with an update on the status of my concern. 
I look forward to a prompt resolution to this concern. Thank you for your time addressing these issues with my loan service. While significant errors appear to have been discovered and corrected, there still appears to be some serious things wrong with my loan balance that still need to be resolved. '' XXXX said : " XXXX XXXX, Thank you for contacting Edfinancial Services. After reviewing your account, it concluded that the interest on the account is correct. The daily interest accrual is XXXX per day. There was an interest cap on XX/XX/XXXX that did not include loans XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX, So when the interest cap was reversed on XX/XX/XXXX those loans were not included. In addition to that from XXXX, you were in repayment but were not making payments so it had some interest accrual the benefit did not cover. 
Thank you, XXXX XXXX '' I expected a call back from XXXX, who left a note and then I have followed up to EdFinancial with an email on XXXX : " Thank you for your response. I have been expecting to get a call back from XXXX who I spoke with and did not receive a call. It is unacceptable that I would need to resubmit my claim because of how you choose to mishandle this situation. It obviously is not an issue with the interest rate calculation. Please fix the balance on my student loans. It is incorrect! '' I also called on XXXX and spoke with a customer service representative who reviewed my loan notes and explained that they calculated my interest capitalization and reversal of an interest cap which resulted in a difference of about {$180.00} in error on my loans. Good progress, but there still is over {$10000.00} unaccounted for. The representative noted that interest accrual has been accounted for. 

An explanation XX/XX/XXXX an incorrect interest capitalization was incorrectly applied, but an interest capitalization for other loans were not accurate. This still does not address how my loan principal and balance increased so significantly. 

The Edfinancial supervisor level representative I spoke with was XXXX. I explained that I my issue remains unresolved and that my current student loan balance reported by EdFinancial appears to be incorrect. The total balance plus interest has not increased from XXXX on XXXX to {$180000.00} due to forbearance periods and interest accrual. It is mathematically impossible. My understanding is interest accrual only occurred for a few days in XXXX of XXXX. XXXX indicated that they would request a explanation to correct this. XXXX indicated they would return my call once they had an opportunity to speak with the accounting department so they could provide me an explanation over the phone but that it would " take a while '' and be " depending on work schedules. '' This explanation is preferred, but this issue has remained unresolved since XXXX of XXXX with Ed Financial. I have respectfully worked with EdFinancial to address my concern, but need help from CFPB to make sure I have timely and meaningful response to my issue so it can be resolved.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation