I just need to vent about my student loan servicing company - FedLoan Servicing. They recently took over a student loan of mine that was purchased by the Department of Education.
Since taking over my student loan, I must admit that they are absolutely horrible. I have another student loan with Sallie Mae, and the difference in customer service and usability is incredible.
Here's my drama with FedLoan Servicing, and why I feel like FedLoan Servicing is a scam (this is an opinion - they are a legit loan servicing company, but they have terrible customer service).
If you're not quite sure where to start or what to do, consider using a service like LoanBuddy. LoanBuddy is a service that will analyze your loans and tell you what the best repayment plan and forgiveness options are for you. You can then get help preparing the documents and more. Check out LoanBuddy here >>
Note: This article was originally published in August 2010, as part of my drama with student loan debt. It has been updated over the years, and continually receives a lot of comments and feedback regarding FedLoan and their practices. We love to hear your experiences, so please share them in the comments below.
What Is FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA)?
FedLoan Servicing is a student loan servicing company contracted by the Department of Education to handle their student loans. What this means is that they take care of all the servicing and customer service stuff for the loans - like processing payments, sending statements, handling questions and concerns, and more.
FedLoan is one of the largest student loan servicing companies, and they handle ALL Public Service Loan Forgiveness applications.
It's important to note, when dealing with them, you are most likely speaking to a low-wage call center worker that has no vested interest in your well being or your financial security. As such, you need to educate yourself on your student loans, know your options, and push the conversation in the direction you know is correct.
Check out our Ultimate Guide To Student Loan Debt for guidance.
Check Your Loans - FedLoan Login
A big part of keeping up with your student loans is making sure that you are following up and making sure everything is correct with your loans.
Check out your FedLoan Student Loans directly on their website for the most accurate information:
FedLoan Login: https://myfedloan.org/
The Start of My FedLoan Servicing Drama
FedLoan started off poorly in the fact that I had to re-sign-up for all of the direct debit and online statements that I already had setup with the Dept. of Education.
To make matters worse, there is a lag time of approximately two billing cycles before my direct debit would kick-in. Also, my student loan qualifies for an interest rate reduction if I sign-up for online statements. Well, I lost the reduction, and had to re-gain it after the transfer.
Taking advantage of these programs is the best way to pay off student loans faster. It's frustrating that they can't transfer these loans without losing these programs. It wasn't my fault the loans were transferred and I certainly didn't request it!
In fact, there is no way for a borrower to transfer their loans to a different servicer. Only in certain circumstances with your loans transfer.
FedLoan Servicing Delinquent Notice
Next, after FedLoan confirmed to me that my direct debit was processed and I have a confirmation letter stating this, their payment system does NOT process my payment.
I log-on to my account, and there are big notices saying "DELINQUENT!" I call FedLoan, and the clerk is completely ignorant and rude, and refuses to answer any of my questions. I call back, and speak to another clerk, who tells me that FedLoan has all kinds of problems with their payment systems, and that this happens all the time.
I finally have to get her manager on the phone, who basically admits this without actually admitting it, and fixes all my problems.
Let me just say that this was a stressful day. The last thing I wanted was for my student loan lender to mess up my credit report.
FedLoan Payment Processing and Direct Debit
Finally, I had a payment pending for 2 weeks before it was credited to my account. If FedLoan is a loan servicer, then why won't it process my payment! Furthermore, they have a pay-ahead program, which they call a safety net, but it really makes it difficult and confusing.
For example, if you have direct debit on your account, you would expect your payment to be withdrawn each month. Say it is $200. Well, if you make a stand-alone payment of $200, expecting to pay down more on your loan, your direct debit will not go through, since you already paid the minimum.
Therefore, you really didn't make an extra payment. You then have to manually make another student loan payment. How ridiculous. My mortgage debits my account the same each month. If I make an extra payment, it makes no difference!
Note: If you're trying to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, NEVER go into pay ahead status. Pay Ahead Status Can Prevent Loan Forgiveness.
Fedloan's business practices are shameful, and what makes them worse is that they are contracted by the United States Department of Education!
My Experience With FedLoan And Pay Ahead Status
I didn't realize that this "pay ahead" status existed when I first started making payments, but it does - and it's annoying.
My original loan amount was $13,700, at 6.55%, and had a 10 year standard repayment schedule. The original payment amount was $175.33. As with all my loans, I setup automatic payments to ensure that I always paid the minimum each month, and then I could pay additional as I had the money.
As I mentioned above, if you made an additional payment that was in excess of the minimum payment, the auto debit would not got through – thus causing double work. They had an option to opt out of this, and the auto-debit would go through each month no matter what, and I finally (after several calls and certified letters), was able to get them to do.
Well…it still is not happening, but now my payments really don't make sense.
Here is a breakdown of my last few payments:
- 8/5/10 – Extra $290 Payment
- 8/14/10 – No Automatic Debit
- 9/7/10 – Extra $465 Payment
- 9/14/10 – $175.33 Auto-Debit
- 10/11/10 – Extra $500 Payment
- 10/14/10 – $174.91 Auto-Debit
- 11/10/10 – Extra $1,000 Payment
- 11/14/10 – No Auto-Debit
So, not only is the auto-debit on going through sometimes, now my monthly payment has gone down to $174.91 due to this pay ahead status!
My loan is a straight amortization over 10 years, there should not be any changes to the monthly payment regardless of how much has been paid. Then, it only auto-debited 2 of the last 4 months, even though every month had an extra payment made.
The Bottom Line: If you want to make an extra payment on an individual loan at FedLoan, you need to go online to their website and do it manually. Check out this post on making an extra FedLoan payment.
Be Aware of Potential Credit Problems Due to FedLoan
Remember, FedLoan is a loan servicer, and so they WILL report any delinquencies or other issues on your account to the credit bureaus (Equifax, Transunion, Experian). That can seriously impact your credit score.
What's worse is that they could be reporting false information, because the error was FedLoan's and not yours. Realize that if FedLoan is telling you your loan is delinquent they may have also told the credit reporting agencies, and that will harm your credit score.
That's why I urge you to check your credit score! I recommend you use a free service like Credit Karma to simply check you score. They only give you one credit score, but that's enough to know if something is wrong. Plus, Credit Karma is truly free (you may have seen their commercials on TV).
The last thing you want is your credit score hurting your job prospects or even worse, get you fired!
Get Professional Help
If you’re struggling with FedLoan and are looking for professional help, there are a few options to get help with your student loans.
As annoying as it sounds, the first thing you should do is contact your loan servicer (FedLoan). While they may be difficult to deal with, they are paid by the government to help you with your student loan debt.
Remember, you can also do many things with your student loans by yourself at StudentLoans.gov. This includes consolidating your loans and applying for income-driven repayment plans.
Third, you can pay a third party company for help. Make sure you understand what you're getting when you do this.
If you're not quite sure where to start or what to do, consider hiring a CFA to help you with your student loans. We recommend The Student Loan Planner to help you put together a solid financial plan for your student loan debt. Check out The Student Loan Planner here.
Get Away From FedLoan
Finally, if you are able to, you should look at refinancing or consolidating student loans with a lender other than FedLoan Servicing. You can do this in a variety of ways, but I would recommend starting with Credible. Credible is a “Kayak for student loans,” meaning you fill out one simple form and receive offers from multiple lenders on a single dashboard. Credible only works with high quality private lenders, who will be a lot easier for you to work with than FedLoan.
Plus, College Investor readers will get up to a $750 bonus when they refinance with Credible!
Don't believe how easy it is? Just fill out this form in less than 2 minutes and see your options: Credible Refinancing.
Remember, though, to understand when it makes sense to refinance your student loans.
You can also check out our list of the 10 Best Places To Refinance Your Student Loans.
My Student Loan Refinancing Plan
My plan was simple – I could roll my student loan into a new refinanced student loan, which currently has a rate of anywhere from 0.9% to 2.9% (Note: interest rates are higher now, with the lowest we've seen being around 1.95% at First Republic). Why do this? First, I want to get away from FedLoan.
Second, it could save me a bit of money on the remaining balance on my loan.
To actually execute the plan, I used Credible to shop around for different loan rates and found this.:
FedLoan Student Loan
$10,000 at 6.55% for 68 months
Payment: $176.00/mo
Total Interest over Life of Loan: $1,997.33
Total Interest After Tax Deduction: $1,397.91
Option #1
$10,000 at 0.9% for 36 months
Payment: $281.65/mo
Total Interest over Life of Loan: $139.36
Option #2
$10,000 at 1.9% for 48 months
Payment: $216.52/mo
Total Interest over Life of Loan: $392.72
Option 3
$10,000 at 2.9% for 60 months
Payment: $179.24/mo
Total Interest over Life of Loan: $754.57
As you can see from the options, Option #1 is definitely the cheapest over time, but it requires the highest monthly payment. The interesting option is Option #3, which has a very similar payment to our current loan payment, but the interest over the life of the loan is so much less, and it is paid off sooner that the current student loan.
I would recommend starting with Credible. Credible is a “Kayak for student loans,” meaning you fill out one simple form and receive offers from multiple lenders on a single dashboard. Plus, College Investor readers get a $200 bonus for refinancing with them.
How to Contact FedLoan Customer Service
Phone number: (800) 699-2908
Hours of operation: 8-9. Mon-Fri (EST)
General mailing address:
FedLoan Servicing
P.O. Box 69184
Harrisburg, PA 17106-9184
Address for sending payments:
Department of Education
FedLoan Servicing
P.O. Box 790234
St. Louis, MO 63179-0234
Email/online contact form: Must sign in to your account before you can send an email to customer service.
File A Complaint About FedLoan
Based on sharing my story, a lot of readers have asked about how they can file a complaint to get their situations resolved.
First, you should always start by calling or sending a letter (or a secure message) to get started. But, if that's not resolving your issues, you might need to take things further.
FedLoan's parent company is the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), and they have an Office of Consumer Advocacy.
Their contact is here:
Phone Number: 1-800-213-9827
Address:
Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency
Office of Consumer Advocacy
1200 North 7th Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
If your issue goes unresolved, you can also make complaints about FedLoan to:
Make sure to keep records of conversations you have, including the day, time and customer service representative you spoke with. Keep copies of any letters, bills or emails about your account. We recommend sending letters certified mail with return receipt as proof your letter was delivered.
Final Thoughts
Dealing with your student loans can be stressful, challenging, and annoying. When dealing with any company, it's important that you follow up, document your conversations, and stay on top of your money.
If you're not organized financially, it can be hard to know what is happening with your loans. A good starting point is tracking all your bank accounts and loans with Personal Capital. This free tool allows you to monitor everything - for free!
Continue The Conversation
We recently launched our Student Loan Forums. Are you have trouble with FedLoan or another loan servicing company? Stop by and share your story and interact with other members of the community who may be going through the same thing.
Thanks for following along! If you're looking for issues with NelNet Student Loan Servicing, check out our post on NelNet Student Loan Servicing Problems.
Note: This post was edited to clarify the payment practices. There is a lot of misunderstanding surround this program.
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him here and here.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared towards anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Since posting this article, we have been receiving over 20 hits a day to check out this single post. The most common search is “Fedloan Servicing Scam”. I want to point out that Fedloan is a legitimate student loan servicer, but they have horrible business practices.
I also want to commend Fedloan’s customer service for reaching out to me regarding this post, but it really doesn’t change the fact that their practices are not fulfilling the spirit of the recently passed legislation surrounding student loans.
Here is Fedloan’s response to several of my points:
“Direct Debit and Online Statements
Robert, I mean you no disrespect, but there is nothing decent about there practices. The more research i do the more i find out how they are deciving people.
jeff
Might be time for a group action lawsuit. Any lawyers here know where to start?
I am on board with this idea. I have contacted a lawyer about just this idea. I don’t have the technological savvy but would be willing to create the drive to this aim. I feel as though their behavior borders on criminal and they don’t seem to fear there is anything any individual can do to stop their practices. Please contact me with any new developments.
I agree will your suggestion. I am going through a similar scenario from the original post and would like to join with others in making a formal complaint to see if the Dept. of Ed. would rethink their subcontractors and non-profits they fund through federal grants.
I completely agree with a lawsuit. I have just consolidated my student loans and was setup with FedLoans. The company that consolidated my loans didn’t even give me an option. They setup me up with the most expensive payment plan and when I called in asking to change to another plan the representative advised me to wait until I received a letter, a letter that should be received within 2 weeks of the call, in order to make a one time payment of $25. This $25 payment would need to be made in order to change the payment plan that I was on. This agent continued to tell me that I would be on an administrative forebearance so I would be considered late or delinquent. So I waited the 2 weeks and called back just to be told that I would need to wait until that letter was received which should be received within 2 weeks. Well, needless to say, I never received the letter. So every 2 weeks for a total of 6 months I called FedLoans religiously. I documented each persons name and agent number along with the date and time of each call. So after 6 months of calling, I spoke with a representative who told me that I would never receive and I quote “this so-called letter because you do not qualify to change your payment plan”. At this point I was furious and demanded to speak with a supervisor. After being on hold for about 10 minutes, a person claiming to be a supervisor answered. While I was on hold, I happened to check my credit report through Credit Karma (as we are in the process of looking to purchase a home). I found out that throughout the 6 months of waiting to receive this letter and having been told by a total of 24 separate agents with FedLoans to keep waiting for this letter to come in the mail before making any payments, that each month FedLoans hit my credit report as being DELINQUENT which in turn completely damaged my credit score. So back to the so-called supervisor that I was on the phone with. She also stated that I didn’t qualify to change me payment plan because I didn’t make any payments and needed to make at least 3 consecutive payments in order to change the payment plan. She continued to say that she wasn’t sure why all 24 agents didn’t tell me that I didn’t qualify. I also asked her what happened to my administrative forbearance and she said that she never saw one applied to my account. I asked her to have all the negative information taken off my credit report being as though it was their error as to why there was no payments received within those 6 months. Now they wouldn’t change anything that they had done, now I have to make 3 payments of over $300 in order to change the payment plan that I was on. So now 3 months later and after 3 consecutive payments being made on the scheduled due date or prior, I am now being told that I was not able to change payment plans again without making a $540 one time payment. When I asked what this was for, I was told that was the requirement to change plans. I asked when this started as just 3 months ago the supervisor told me differently. This representative told me that this is the process in order to change the payment plan, that you have to make a one time payment. So again even the supervisors have no clue what they are talking about. Apparently, I never had to make 3 payments all I had to do is process a one time payment. Now even more angry then prior to this call, I ask to speak with the Director. Can you believe that this rep told me that he didn’t have a Director and that he could only transfer me back to the same supervisor I spoke with 3 months ago that gave me wrong information. So I agreed to speak with the supervisor and surprise, surprise, she wasn’t available. So I demanded that I receive a phone call the very next day prior to 10am when I went to work. It is now 3 days later and still no phone call. I am not sending a letter to the head of FedLoans Servicing. And if there are any lawsuits out there I would be more then happy to file suit.
I have also contacted an attorney, Morgan & Morgan, in Tallahassee, FL. They are looking into the possibility of a Consumer Protection Class Action Suit against FedLoans.
Hey guys . I am in with the lawsuit . This incompetent company has lied to me and LOST MYdocumentation various times!!! So my interests accumulates everyday . I could’ve had my payments set at lower amongst but given that I had to file my IBr application 4 times in a span of 6 months and then miscalculating my monthly payments to state I make more than what I am contracted to make ? Finally that was arranged after I talked to supervisor but now my payments will be higher and I still have to fight for other matters that I a, too exhausted to discuss at this time . I was going to make a public announcement to the future generations from my graduate school to NOT chose Fed Loan or to opt out in case they are set up without a choice.
Please count me in . How can I get in contact with you all?
Like many others, I too have dealt with these individuals at Fed-Loan and I would agree that they are, well to put it bluntly liars who ruin client’s ability to move on past higher education. It’s bad enough that you are provided multiple stories each time you contact customer service; however, even more concerning is that I am one of those individuals who was provided documentation for all my transactions and once I caught them in a mistake they made all they were willing to do was apologized and place blame on the U.S. Department of Education. I attended a school who lost their accreditation, one of only a few in U.S. history; however because I graduated with now a worthless degree (none of my credits transferred because the lack of sustenance to the program) I requested my loans be consolidated and applied for an Income based repayment plan due to my inability to use my degree to locate a better position. None the less, the US government sets up the plan so that students can have a grace period, which is very helpful in most cases. However, if you are trying to pursue a mortgage letter most places require your student loans to be in some form of repayment. Thus, my traumatic experience began. I was told that I could apple for IBR, which took applying twice to actually be approved. I was told by a manager once the 3 month process was complete that if I filed a waiver with Fedloan servicing that regardless of my school status I could not be taken out of the IBR. Meaning if I took a class one semester and not the next…nothing would change. At that time, my current school had not updated the National database with my last fall course. I advised Fedloan serving on multiple occasions of this information and was told multiple times oh that’s alright it still won’t change anything. In the end even after being approved twice to purchase a home, I have lost the ability to do so because of the multiple changes they continue to make. One minute I am approved and then as soon as Walden updated the course I took, they put me right back into in-school status which not only dropped my credit score tremendously, but also kicked me out of the IBR program. Furthermore according the website it appeared that all my loans had been consolidated but after the change now only 2 are consolidated. It is a shame that a company such as this is repeatedly allowed to dictate my ability to attain something I have worked years on achieving. Even more so, they never take responsibility for their actions, or lack thereof, always passing the buck back to either the school or US Dept of Ed. If a lawsuit proceeds please keep me informed because I have taken the last two weeks and searched for a lawyer willing to take on a challenge, however I have yet to locate one. Most people choose not to pay their loans or try to evade them. It shouldn’t be this difficult for a non-traditional student who takes courses when they can afford them to simple pay their loans back even if they are in school, or can’t take classes every semester.
I too was unfortunately transferred to FedLoan Servicing because I applied for the Public Loan Service Forgiveness program. Before transferring I was requested by GreatLakes my original loan servicer to Submit my annual documents for the redetermination of eligibility for the IBR Program, and was approved by them. FedLoan tells me they have no record of my recertification and cannot honor or get documents from the other servicer because “All documents are transferred in the original submission to them” ….First, does this mean they misplaced my personal tax documents? Secondly, this means I must take the time to recertify which I already did! …Per the agent on the phone representing FedLoans, this kind of issue arises…ALL THE TIME!
That’s a bummer. Do you have a record of sending them to Great Lakes? If so, that should be proof enough for FedLoan. If not, get those docs into FedLoan ASAP.
Fedloan fraudulently forged my daughters online application. They have also violated her civil service relief act numerous times. looking for class action suit
Agreed. This is the 8th week I’ve been on the phone with them because they can’t seem to do their job. If I was this bad at my job, I would have been fired a long time ago. Instead, they’re able to mess up my financial situation with seemingly no consequences. I’m actually typing this while on the phone with them now, waiting for this guy to try figure and figure this mess out. My favorite line so far “No forbearance request as been by submitted.” Well that’s funny, considering the last 4 weeks the different people I’ve spoken to have told me it’s taken care. Good thing I write down everyone’s name and numbers, not that it’ll probably help.
Let me know if you do, I went with another loan provider and they are still harassing me for payments and reported me for delinquency on my credit report, on top of that they are threatening to garnish my wages. I started out with a 40,000 loan and when I left off with them I was at 66,000.
Did anyone follow through with the lawsuit? I am definitely on board for that. Turns out fedloan servicing has been lying to me and scamming me for years. They are totally incompetent and I get a different story every time I call. And they are incredibly unprofessional and RUDE on the phone. I can’t believe the hostility I receive from customer service when I have an issue with their mistakes and lies. Fedloan servicing is a scam to keep you paying off interest for the rest of your life if they can. Make sure you get their statements and agreements in writing through mail whenever changes are made over the phone. The website is nearly impossible to use or log into. I don’t even bother trying and now call them directly. Please please let me know if there a class action lawsuit pending or if there is possibility to be a part of suing this horrible organization.
I am interested in a lawsuit as well. Their less is more approach to communication and lack of website usability has led to my TEACH grants being converted to loans even though i have submitted certification for 6 consecutive years. They don’t count the first 2 because i was still in school and they claim they didn’t receive anything from me for the 14/15 school year.
Someone please help!! I was recently transferred to FedLoans from Great Lakes Borrowers because I am signing up for the Public Loan Forgiveness Program. In the process of my loans being transferred by loan due date was changed. I have talked to 3 representatives from FedLoans all saying I cannot change my loan due date, how is that possible?! They all say I have to wait until next year in August when I submit my annual documentation for my payment plan. This does not sounds right at all!! I should be able to change my loan due date. Someone help, what can I do??
I’m on board for a lawsuit as well. I was billed for ‘x’ and paid ‘x’ amount in March 2014. Everything appeared normal until I logged on to the website in December, 2015 to pay my December bill and saw a past due payment. I pay the exact amount that I am billed for each month before it is due. I called them, and apparently they did not bill me for enough in March of 2014, and discovered this on December 15, 2015 in which they removed the “paid ahead” status on my account. That point is confusing in itself – if I was behind, why did I have a paid ahead status? Nevertheless, they applied the amount that I am supposedly behind to my November 2015 bill on December 15, 2015. Which means that it was past due as soon as it was applied. Extremely unethical, and I question the legality of that?
Shoots Lets go. I’m on board with a class action suit. These people are pieces of S**TS. I just got off the phone with a very rude lady that works for them. My payments are suppose to be coming out of my bank account and they’re not. Now I owe $165 exactly which I shouldn’t owe since I signed up for them to take it out of my bank account once a month. They say my last payment was in febuary. I have proof they’re wrong and they refuse to accept it. It’s lawyer time for me. I’m done trying to reason with these idiots.
If anyone can get momentum behind this class action suit, I am definitely interested. I began reaching out to FedLoans in the end of August after they made a mistake and released too much loan money to me during my undergraduate career and it was discovered when I transferred for my second year of law school to a new school.. Here I am October 18th, three months later, without any loan money as a full time law student (yes, that means my tuition has not been paid, and I am living off maxing out credit cards and borrowing money from family and friends.) I am on hold for all aspects of school aside from physically attending class because they have sent forms I needed to sign to the wrong location, misplaced forms I sent them (with my social security, address, name, signature, etc. included), and every time I attempt to have something completed/fixed, there is a x amount of business days of processing, etc. When I call them after that period, they let me know that it has been “not been received” or misplaced. Ugh! What they are doing is definitely border-line criminal! My credit is in jeopardy, as well as my education, and quite frankly my mental health/sanity! Please get in touch with me if anyone gets traction behind a lawsuit.
when they transferred my loans they also stated that I was delinquent for 3 months straight, although I attempted to make payments the whole time during the consolidation. They also stated they didn’t receive my income based repayment plan recertification which I mailed to them in december. So they added on a bunch of capitalized interest to my loan which increased by about 1k, and my credit score was adversly affected because they reported 15 different small loans I have over the course of my bachelors as delinquent…Class action for negligence and lack of care.
Please contact me concerning Law Suit. I’m currently going through the same problems with them and don’t look like an end in sight. Pray I get it straight. They have really messed my credit up. I was in communication with them the whole time. Everyone telling you something different.
I have requested a count of my qualified payments, and I was told it would take a year. What kind of rubbish is this? I am all for a class action suit. I call them regularly and still do not know after three years how many qualified payments I have made. it is quite disgusting.
I’ve seen it take anywhere from a few weeks to 9 months. They don’t tell you when it’s done either – just keep checking your secure mailbox online.
I’m in!!
I am going through the recertification headache for Income Based Repayment.
They say they have no record of me yet I’ve been paying for years.
Over the summer they hounded me over $20.
They won’t let me log on, yet if this is not submitted by November 27th, they will increase my payment and add accrued interest over the years.
They lost my tax returns 2 months ago that I sent certified mail.
Sure it’s a scam!
How else can they afford their DREAM Act where people who come from other countries can get FREE college education?
Before you guy’s go through with a lawsuit be sure you are being reasonable. If you transferred from another loan servicer then don’t expect all the agreements went with the loan transfer ie. payment info or special discounts due to e-billing. I have been with them for years and not had issues that the rare phone call could not handle. I actually had more issues with another one of my school loans and wished it was with fed loan. Also I looked into loan consolidation and found out my interest payment was going to go up.
We did not transfer. The loans were transferred to them from the Dept of Education. Only one Credit Report has mine listed correctly. One has all loans duplicated and one has them listed as a collection account which they were not. These have been a nightmare. Even my consolidation company wrote to the credit reporting agencies saying the loans were never in collections. They were not even in a default status.
I would be onboard with this. I have been trying to change my payment plan with fedloans since 11/2016 and have been getting the run around. The representatives I speak with continue to give me different information, and when the plan is not changed, they still continue to place me on administrative forbearance, where they capitalize my interest. The plan has yet to be changed which means for this month again, they will likely capitalize my interest when I try to change the plan. This seems like a moneymaking scheme for the loan company and something should be done about this.
FedLoan Servicing is not just severely incompetent but maliciously corrupt in their practices. I have 2 student loan servicers and, like many honest, hardworking, responsible Americans, was impacted by our economic recession. My hours were cut, my benefits eliminated and then, after 4 months of unemployment in 2014, I found work at half my previous wage. I submitted and qualified for forbearance in 2015 and applied again, at the same wage, in 2016. Sallie Mae/Navient granted forbearance while FedLoan claimed not to have received the 6 forbearance requests and follow-up correspondence that I sent. They claimed I had not submitted paperwork and proceeded with wage garnishment of $350/month. I am forced to withdraw retirement saving, with tax penalties, in order to make ends meet. FedLoan will eventually be held accountable, but in the meantime, student loan holders are at the mercy of these criminal loan sharks. I am on board with joining forces to effect change – asap.
Count me in!!! I have had nothing with problems with this company and with they way it’s going I will never have these loans paid off. Someone please help!!!
Yyyyyyess!
The more I “pay ahead,” they apply it to INTEREST that has accrued from the last payment.
So I am being charged interest on my interest?
In 7 years only 10k of a 25k loan has been knocked off the principle. Seriously?! Most people would have had a $25k car paid off in 7 yrs.
Here’s a good breakdown on pay ahead status: https://www.thecollegeinvestor.com/19797/pay-ahead-status-loan-forgiveness/
I’m just looking up blogs/sites where I can review FedLoan. I want to put a negative review wherever possible! They have destroyed my life in the sense of my future plans & lifestyle. They are inconsistent, unprofessional, and disorganized to say the least. I swore that I was reaching a fraud number when every time I called people were telling me different things. It seemed very odd. I called every month and spoke with someone to try figure out how to get myself on a doable plan. I asked every time if anything was reported to credit and what steps I could take to ensure this doesn’t happen. I would clarify with them every time and write pages of notes AND question what was being noted in my account. Well wouldn’t you know someone didn’t put a forbearance through properly and I got delinquent letters and even called to ask why and someone told me oh ignore those they are automatic but he forbearance will cover when kicks in. Wouldn’t you know!!!!! The night before turning in lease to buy a new car I called yes the night before the woman told me nothing was reported to credit and my account was confusing and she needed call me back after reviewing with a supervisor!! If they are confused then how am I not??!?!? The next day return my lease go to buy new car BOOM finance guys says denied my student loan reported me delinquent on all loans one month prior!!!! My credit was triple A before they destroyed my life!! I can’t get a car I can’t rent an apt, my fiancée and I were planning use my good credit for a house!!! Destroyed me! And no remorse! Not a sorry and in fact I have to request dispute and waiting to see if they deny or accept my claim to take back negative credit claim! meantime even IF they take off my credit is f*******!!! For a long time now! Please if anyone has insight how to come at this jerks to get my credit back tell me
I understand your issues. They did something similar to me by removing me from my IBR plan and putting my loans back to in-school status even though I have not taken a course since Nov. of 2014. They just do as they please with no remorse and no one to hold their feet to the fire. Then when they do make a mistake they have a 100 reasons why they aren’t to blame. I have been calling lawyers in WV but no one willing to take on the Government. I plan to write congress and file a complaint with the US dept of Education.
I’d like to join you in that. Still in the process of consolidating, they were automatically selected for me by FSA when I started the process and I’m currently almost in tears because I needed this consolidation done by a certain time which was way beyond their processing times and now a lot f things that are dependent on this being done are suffering. Their customer service isn’t the best, half will help, half will blame you.
Hi Sharon
They did me the same way. Told me not to worry, they dont report for 90 days, forebearance would cover any late. I tried to increase the limit on my credit card and found they had put 3 60 days out there (because I was waiting to consolidate into one loan). I called and asked why they had lied and they told me to dispute, forebearence would cover and 6 months later discovered it was all a lie. They are inconsistent, they make it up as they go along and will lie to you. I put in a deferment back in JUne called today, oh we didnt recieve it. Back in Jan, only put a few on the deferment and not all. Dont believe anything they say, and double and triple check anything deferments etc.
Hi all,
I am a class action attorney in San Diego, California, and I am currently investigating FedLoan Servicing for potentially wrongful practices in the servicing of federal student loans. If anyone here is willing to share their experiences with me in order to aid in my investigation, please feel free to contact me at djh@classactionlaw.com.
Thanks,
David
I am a parent and had my loans with Direct Student Loans. For 8 years I had never 1 problem. They were amazing. Then things change. They got rid of Direct Student Loans in favor or FedLoan. Since, in my entire 60 years of life have I ever dealt with an organization as bad and unprofessional as this one. I even spoke to the ombudsman. Nobody can determine what the problems were, why they can’t consolidate my payments and even why my payments changed since leaving Direct Student. I am waiting out my 25 years and will be DONE with them. We ask why student loans are so messed up? Just 1 phone call with this organization and you can figure it out. Keep negatively reporting this company and let’s hope it changes at some point.
JUST AWFUL! A lawsuit is exactly what is needed!
I have had nothing but problems with FedLoan Servicing from the beginning. I got transferred over to FedLoans from Navient when I applied for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It took 2-3 weeks to get my loans transferred. During that time, I should have made a payment on my loans, but couldn’t because Navient had transferred my loans, but FedLoans knew nothing of my loans. When they finally transferred over, they told me that my loan was past due. How was I supposed to make a payment if they didn’t even have my loans!?! They wanted me to pay $241, Navient told me that my loan payment was supposed to be $90 on my new payment plan. Well FedLoans also knew nothing of this payment plan. So I had to reapply for a new repayment plan. Well its been over 2 months and after numerous phone calls and emails they decided to put me back on the plan that I changed from when I was with Navient. Also I had all direct debit when I transferred, I then had to reapply for direct debit 3 different times in order to get all my loans in direct debit. Now that I have that all straightened out, now I have to try to get them all on the same payment date. They keep telling me that I have to make payments on it first before they can change the due date (I would actually be changing my date from the 24th to the 6th, so I don’t see why this is such a big deal). All the representatives give me a run around when I call and give me a thousand reasons of why they can’t help me. Then to top it off, when I asked how many qualifying payments I have made on my loans for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (the whole reason I got switched to FedLoans), I was told none!! I have at least 30, if not more, qualifying payments that I have already made. I was told that they would submit a review which could take 90 days!
To top of this entire ordeal, I have been trying to purchase a home during these past couple months and because they won’t send me any of the documents that I need, they keep messing with my payments, and they don’t have any reason to do things in a timely manner, I cannot get approved for a mortgage! I am so frustrated with this entire company and their lack of care for their customers.
I agree 100%. They should be shut down!
Cynthia Mansito
I sent required documentation for recertification in May, 2018 along with NOTICE AND DEMAND TO VERIFY/VALIDATE their claim of debt. No response to any of my questions. I only received a photocopy of some promissory note. My U.S. congressman was of no help. Please count me in on a class action lawsuit.
If they sent you your promissory note, it sounds like they send you a response with the proof of your debt. Was there something incorrect on your promissory note?
Hello Bob what I received was a photocopy of a promissory note rubber stamp signature of someone. also asked 10 other questions for which they did not reply signed and certified under penalties of perjury.
Was it your promissory note? What questions did you ask that they didn’t answer?
This company lies and has shady practices. I had been paying my student loan through Fedloan every month by automatic payment for about three years with no problem when suddenly this month no payment came out of my bank account. When I tried to log on to my online account it claimed that I did not have one, and forced me to create a new account online. When I created it I found that nothing was due even though all my autopay information was there. I called them and they claimed that I was put in “automatic deferment” because I enrolled in a college class. (my employer pays for it, so no need for deferments). They claim they emailed me this fact two months ago, but they did not. And yes I check my junk mail. What a scam to try and prolong payments. They claim they will remove the deferment, but it will take two payment cycles! Really?? In the meantime I should make payments until it is processed. Plain and simple they never notified me and deferments should not be automatic. Just a way for them to get more interest. Wish I could pay them off to get rid of them!
Jeff,
Amen brother! The government screwed borrowers big time by allowing the crap these service companies do. Thanks for nothing Uncle Sam.
Pay your bills on tme and you will never be called by Fedloan Servicng.
Um, I did pay my bills on time and they marked me as delinquent and told me it was their error and that it would take 7-10 business days to remove.
Same thing happened to me. Where you able to correct it?
Justin, you are partially correct! “YOU WILL NEVER GET CALLED BY FEDLOAN SERVICING.” Fined, YES. Put in delinquency, YES. Move your payments around and lose them, YES. Apply your payments arbitrarily to multiple accounts, sometimes to interest, sometimes to principle, YES. Deny you access to payments made over 365 days ago, YES. Send you a hard copy of where your payments went that a team of MBAs can’t comprehend, YES. But call, oh NO, they don’t do that. And they hope you don’t call them either!
Haha true that brother!
you are absolutely correct, they will never call you! or e-mail or send a letter if they can get more money out of you for non-contact!
their less is more attitude about communication has cost me a small fortune and i may lose my home.
so yes they wont call you EVER!
Some people are just plain assholes. I would like to know how many years of paying your bills on time do you have to justify your statement and if you are not frustrated with FedLoans why would you even post on this blog. You fit in to this category. I was forced but wouldn’t you question why your payment changed 2 fold from one company to the next with all things remaining equal? Has nothing to do with paying bills on time. Has to do with incompetency of the people working at this organization and because they are backed by the government there is little one can do.
Yes they are they had duplicated my student loans. I owed 18900 and i checked my account the next month. Now I owe 37800. It’s been four months and they still have not resolved it. It also shows on my credit report. That I owe 37800. What can I do. Is there any legal action I can do.
I will say, I totally agree. FedLoan is a TERRIBLE service provider. I recently called to make an online payment, the automated payment service never asked me for my bank account information, then gave me a confirmation number like I had paid it already. What the heck?! What account is it coming out of? So I called to speak with customer service and they said they couldn’t tell me what account it came out of, but since it was after 4 pm, I had to email to cancel the payment and resubmit later.
Another reason I hate FedLoan, everything has to be done in writing, change your name because you got married… opt in to direct debit… opt out of direct debit. It all has to be mailed. SO FRUSTRATING because it takes them forever to do anything about your request. I have another provider, Great Lakes, and you can do virtually everything with them in your online account without even having to talk to a representative. I LOVE them!! But I HATE FedLoan. It is not very user friendly at all!
Same here Cyndi! They’re shady on almost everything. And just today I received a letter stating a so-called “total repay amount” of 107,026. They told me dozens of times I owed just 44,000!!! Which still says on the letter, only now labeled as “current principle”. I am not nearly as smart and money-savvy as half the commenters on this site. I really don’t even know anymore. I wish for sweet justice to be meted out. I really just need help.
I need help too! One of my grant was converted to student’s loan by an error and they don’t want to consider to change it back to grant. I had sent them faxes and called them several times but they don’t want to listen. If there is anything anyone can suggest me?
If you’re not getting a response from them, contact the Student Loan Ombudsman through the Department of Education. Make sure you send everything as a certified letter so you have proof they received it.
Oh yes, truly corrupt practices at myfedloan.org, however, it looks like they added a screen to their website, which lets you direct which loan you want to make a payment on, which is an improvement, since after I called them, and gave them a piece of my mind, which they didn’t like, so hung up on me! When I called them to make a payment on my son’s account, they reduced the newest loan! Now, why would they do that!!!?? And the rich keep on getting richer?! While us po folk get poorere?! Yes, exactly their idea! I told them that this doesn’t follow the rules that President Obama placed in effect for credit card payments, in that the payment should be applied to the oldest and highest interest rate loan, duh! They retorted back that it wasn’t a credit card, and I said what is the difference?! Hopefully, the future payments won’t be quite the hassle with their new screen! The next thing they need to improve on is the stating of the interest rate. Do you need to have a phd in physics to understand that?! No wonder students have difficult times paying off their student loans. They can’t get jobs that pay enought to pay-off their loans either, but that starts another subject!
Au Contraire my dear! You better be careful Mary, because while I do like that screen, and I have made several large payments on my highest interest loan. I found this evening some really shady sh**. They decided to lower my monthly payment from 227 to 185 without informing me that the 185 payment would not include that high interest loan. This way 4 months later (6 days ago) when I decided to make a large chunk payment on that loan again, I see that it practically got split 50/50 int and principle. They’ve been letting it accrue for 4 to 5 months so they could bam me on my target payments. They think they’re slick, but I will get to the bottom of this BS tomm. Now I’m going to make it a mission to make as many informational videos as possible to educate my friends and family on their “slick sly ways” and put my finance and accounting degrees to some good use :-)!
I hope your experience has been alright since your post 2 years ago!
This people think I’m a dumb 27 year old kid they can run over. At least that’s the impression they give. Complete jerks!
God bless their retarded little hearts!
I replied to a government communication to consolidate my loans in February, 2012 and FedLoan Servicing is now my wonderful servicer. Several of my loans from ACS transferred incorrectly in April, 2012 to the orginal loan amount instead of the amount I’d already paid down. After speaking with multiple customer service reps requesting this be researched and not getting anywhere, I mailed FedLoan my old servicers’ statements with the correct balances. By July, FedLoan eventually corrected my loan balances incorrectly. Then I noticed another 10k loan was added to my account! When I inquired with customer service as to where this loan came from, they told me Nelnet, a loan servicer that I did not have a 10K loan from. I called Nelnet who said this account never existed with them. After talking to one customer service rep who actually had some professionalism, she sent me fraud paperwork and put that account into forebearance. I filled that out along with a required police report, had it notarized and sent it in. After not receiving any communication from them after this I contacted my congresswoman. One of her staff became my caseworker and has worked with Federal Student Aid to get this resolved with FedLoan Servicing. It turned out that the 10k loan was not actually from Nelnet, so I wasted a bunch of time filling out fraud paperwork and filing a police report. As of today (over a year since I requested my loans be consolidated) my balances are finally getting resolved. I will have to pay all the capitalized interest on the loan that didn’t seem to be mine. I recommend if you have any trouble at all with this servicer, contact your congressperson as soon as possible!!! This company has caused me so much stress and wasted time and money. Any lawyers out there think this might be a class action lawsuit of some kind?
Melissa,
I think you should contact a few attorneys that here your case first before they charge. You know the type that only charge if you win. I think maybe a lawyer should take a look at all these comments. The only thing is most lawyers are scared to take a case that the government supports or is funding. Just like the school I went to Triangle Tech is funded by the government and then they turn you over to Fed Loans. You should take a look at the comments about the education they gave to all these students that was pretty much a joke if you ask me. I’m 42 and if I was paying $32,000 for my child to go to school there and know what I know now because I attended I woul be outraged. Also the point of my child wasting his or her time for 16 months. Then if I was the parent paying for and dealing with Fed Loans I would be even more upset. Just think when these students go out and look for a job. Their pararents just don’t know the big picture. They think since they paid that $32,000 dollar tuition that their chid will have no problem getting a job but that is not the case whatsoever. I put out over 200 hundred resumes and applications on the Internet and applie in person wherever I could and I was offered one Electrical job for starting at $8.00 an hour with my associate degree. What a joke. I can’t even pay my bills on that let alone my Fed Loans monthly payment. I don’t know how people are going to make it very soon. I would of been better of being an apprentice than going to school. Something should be done about a lot of things happening to us hard working people. I know how many people fileing for or on dissability that get around fine, can work and nothing is wrong with them and they are pratically living as good as you and I with no responsibilities. We should all stick together and do something about these things that are happening to us that we all know is wrong and not right when we think about it. We all know whats right from wrong . The way we are going it won’t take long that yoou will work just to eat and have shelter thats it. Its amusing how the government can go into such debt and has no credit limit. We though have credit limits and payments to pay on time or there is consecquences for us and none for them. We pay the consequences for their over spending and the same goes for Fed Loans mistakes it seems.
WE really need to do something about this!! can we call a local news station? this is such as scam! I’m so upset – they took over my Sallie Mae and Direct Loans and sent me an email to make a payment. i couldnt create an account online and after emails and phone calls, 2 months later I got someone on the phone who said “please make a payment, you are 552 days late” what!? you’ve had the loan for 2 months how can that be? “oops sorry, that’s actually not correct” he said, right before he almost took my payment! wow – I can not believe it. This is a complete outrage!
FedLoan is an absolute nightmare. I have been attempting to get them to answer a simple question, and no one is able to! I am trying to have my loans transferred back to Sallie Mae. I am contemplating filing a complaint with the BBB. I want to pay on my loans and they are making the process very difficult, I’m nervous I will be in a situation like Tashawna mentioned above. Does anyone know how to switch lenders?
I’m getting a personal loan in my name to pay off my husbands student loan at Fedloan, and they are offering a lower interest rate that the student loan.
I filed a complaint today on behalf of my husband. To anyone who just needs to pay off their student loan and Fedloan actually has the “correct” amount, I highly recommend getting a loan from Lighstream.com or Earnest.com.
I started the process today. I can’t continue to sit back and watch my husband get swindled out of his hard earned money. At this rate he will never pay of the loan.
Pay off the loan and get away from these creeps. They lie, give false information and are super unethical. By the time they charge you all the interest fees you would have saved the time, the hassle and money with getting a loan from just a regular bank. If you have the means to do this (I do), which I know some people don’t (my husband being one of them) I highly recommend it.
Honestly I’ve heard the least amount of complaints by paying manually each month to any student loan company. I know it sucks but if its the only way to pay extra on a loan do it. It may help you out in the long run.
Also keep in mind FedLoan acquired one of my accounts that I did not wish to transfer to. In the process they have somehow managed to ‘miscalculate’ my interest rate and of course the already complained Direct Debit issues. I have opened a ticket with the BBB to express my complaints.
The rate it transfer at: 2.39%
The rate they show: 2.350%
The rate it should be: 2.14%
They are shady and out to get extra cash flow. Watch things carefully.
I have been using Fedloan services now for 4 years. I have always paid on time and never had a reason to call them until August 2014. I was getting ready to pay my loan when I noticed my TEACH Grants were activated. So I called them and they said they were converted because I missed the deadline to prove I was a teacher still. I never received any letters in the mail to up date my status. Of course they say they were mailed but at this point we all know that’s a lie.
Long story short I jumped through all their hoops even wrote a lie that said “I” missed up just to see if I could get a sympathy review. Finally after being ran around with false hope I was finally told by employee # 21917 that there was nothing I could do or could have done to reverse the outcome. A deadline is a deadline. By the way my “deadline” to not pay those loans just happened to be this year if I would have made the certification deadline last summer.
I completely agree that this company needs to be looked at through legal channels. If I can be of assistance please contact me. With that being said does anyone know where I can go to consolidate away from FEDLoan Services?
My teach grant was recently activated as well. They sent me several notices in my inbox. I think it is an unfair I practice to send to the inbox on the account only. I should have been notified by mail or email that I needed to recertify to continue my teach grant.
Yes, there have been several issues with TEACH Grants in the past. Here’s more info about it: https://www.thecollegeinvestor.com/13735/prevent-teach-grants-becoming-loans/
The same thing this is currently happening to me. They are being very rude and they are not willing to work with me. Would you able to solve this issue and can you suggest me what to do? Thanks
I would reach out to the Dept of Education or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and ask for their support.
Robert… fir some unknown reason u seem to feel that fedloan is reputable. I wonder if you ever had dealings with ANY student loans???? I think not. They r a f——- collection agency. That’s all!! From Sallie Mae to Chase to Navient, formerly SALLIE MAE who by the way found themselves in a law suit because of their $$$$ making scams. I just received a notice stating that I m delinquent yet I spoke to a rep at fedlianstating that I was fine. So where do I go now Robert??? Who knows? Do I call one of their efficient reps or CFPB who by the way is another GOVERNMENT agency who we all know are civil servants who get a pay check. Hey here’s another brain teaser. There is no way you can figure this out because $$$$ is the main interest with NO f——— oversight. Go take a loan out and then deal with this or better yet, don’t respond because u have no idea what the hell you say.
Hi Bob,
Thanks for reading my article (which you clearly didn’t). This article is about my struggle dealing with FedLoan because of MY student loans that were assigned to them. The fact that you insult me, while you anger should be (and is to an extent) directed towards them, is rude and disrespectful.
You don’t deserve an answer from me for your half-hearted question, and I’m only posting this so that others in this world can see that “Bob” is a rude, disrespectful individual, who channels anger towards advocates helping others as no cost to them.
Good luck Bob.
I agree, and am EXTREMELY disappointed in this program that I began paperwork to get in April 2015, and was just informed today (after I questioned only a $20 difference from what I paid under a different program). Rep said I was already set up in the program since 2009, so no other adjustments would occur on my account (I did not know that). I feel PUNKED!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for posting your FedLoan situation. I have a similar experience. I looked at my credit at Credit Karma today because I’m trying to get a car, it showed Fedloans has “closed” my account.
Direct loans processed and qualified me for the IBR plan for all my student loans with U.S. department of Education. I got approved to pay 0% for my IBR due to my low income. U.S. Department of education’s Directloans program gave my loans to Fedloans to manage the IBR. Once FedLoans became the one managing my loans, they claimed I owed them $80.00 a month. I called Fedloans to fix their error. Fedloans told me they have no paper work from Directloans, that I need to call Directloans and get the paper to show my IBR was approved at 0.00 %. I Called Directloans they told me the problem is Fedloans, they should have my information about me being qualified not to pay anything in my IBR plan. I told Fedloans this information, based on my income, it made sense to this supervisor I spoke to so I thought the problem got fixed.
Apparently for about a year Fedloans has been reporting me delinquent on my credit, and ignored Direct Loans decision that $0.00 is the amount I need to be paying. I have no idea what FedLoans means in my credit report that my account is closed. Fedloans closed my account at the end of July 2015.
I started searching on the internet Fedloans and this article on “fedloan Servicing” came up at this “the college investor” website, this is my first time seeing this website or hearing about Robert Farrington. Where do I start to solve this issue? Does this mean I do not have a consolidated IBR plan anymore? Where are my student loans right now ? Before IBR plan I had my loans with 5 different lenders, will it go back to them ? What could be happening between July 2015 and August 22 2015 ?
Go to StudentLoans.gov and login to your account. It will show you all your loans and where to find them. It will also show you what repayment plan you’re on.
Next, check your credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com for free, and see what’s listed on there. You can dispute any item on your credit report that’s incorrect – so if the payment amount was wrong, dispute it and they have to prove it.
This service is not worth it. Period. When they first called me they failed to mention that they were actually making money, so I asked them what the difference between a current monthly payment with and without them would be. They calculated my estimated monthly payment wrong, and added about $22 a month. They wanted me to pay them $50/month. After I said no thank you to that service, I went straight through my loan provider where my current loan repayment amount is $0. Also, all they wanted was the same information I needed to provide directly to my provider. There was no added benefit. They do not provide anything useful, and add thousands of dollars to your loan repayment. Also, they are recruiting very aggressively. Don’t use them.
I, too, have had serious problems with FedLoan Servicing after my loans were transferred to them for servicing from Great Lakes Borrowing in December 2015.
Not only did they incorrectly apply a forbearance but they have started to charge me interest on a subsidized loan that is enrolled in the IBR (Income-Based Repayment) program. This loan should never have any unpaid interest since the difference between my payment amount as determined by the IBR application and the interest payment due is paid by the government per the terms of the IBR program.
I have spent over 5 hours on the phone with FedLoan trying to get someone to actually take the time to review my loan details but it is impossible to get them to respond with anything other than a form letter that doesn’t actually address the questions I am asking, nor do any of their phone representatives seem to understand what is going on.
I will be filing a formal complaint with the Department of Education and would be willing to join a class action lawsuit against FedLoans alleging fraud and inappropriate billing practices.
I also have been having tons of issues with Fedloan. Thanks to them I have a huge payment that I can’t afford and no one will help me fix it. This has been going on for the past 3 years. I just found out that none of my payments counted towards federal loan forgiveness. I’m going broke just because I needed to take loans out to attend college. Maybe I should have just stuck with my minimum wage job. I would also like to seek legal action. Can anyone help?
Sounds like you may have been going for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Read this and ensure you take the steps needed to qualify: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/22857/public-service-loan-forgiveness/
I was misinformed by FedLoan when I transferred my loans to them. I tried to get help from the AG as well as Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth Warren’s office requested information, which I sent, and never heard back from them. The AG Maura Healy had a volunteer researching and although she did communicate with me, I did not get anywhere. She said there was a class action lawsuit against FedLoan. When I asked if I could be part of it, she said if I was effected, I would be contacted. Below I have included my story.
The first, involves the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program that I had transferred some of the student loans to. I have been working as a nurse at a nonprofit inner-city hospital since 2005 and heard from colleagues of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. I completed a lengthy application and sent it to them. As part of the conditions set forth for this type of loan forgiveness, a person must make a certain number of “qualifying payments” towards the loans. I asked questions about if the qualifying payments start after the transfer to their agency, if my parent plus loans would be qualifying loans, among others. I was informed that the number of payments start from the time you initially start paying on the loans, not from the time the loans are transferred to the Federal Loan Servicing agency. I was also informed that my loans would be transferred to their agency and I would make one monthly payment to them. (I had been paying multiple different loans).
Based on the information I was given, I thought I would have my loans forgiven after making about a year’s worth of more payments. I agreed to transfer my loans and have been paying one monthly payment to their agency since 2016. However, I have now contacted them multiple times to request information on how many more payments need to be made, and was informed that my loans would need to have 5 more years of payments and therefore would be paid in full by the time they qualify for the forgiveness.
I contacted them and have requested the print out of all my payments so that I could confirm this information. I was assured that they would send a copy but it would take 3 months for it to be sent to me. I waited the 3 months, and never received it so I called again. They requested confirmation of my correct home address and I provided it to them. Again, I was told that they would send a copy, that it would take 2 weeks, I never received it. I do have documentation of payments made since the transfer to the Federal Loan Servicing agency and have included them. I called again. I was then informed that even though I have been making one monthly payment to the Federal Loan Servicing Agency, my loans were never consolidated and therefore they would not qualify until they are consolidated, that the number of “qualifying payments” would start after the consolidation, and that the parent plus loans do not qualify.
I stated to the agent that I was told my loans would qualify, I explained all that I was initially led to believe, and that it would not even make sense for me to transfer my loans to their agency in the first place if I had thought I would be still making the same payment, and not qualify for any loan forgiveness. I am getting the feeling that I have been taken advantage of. I spoke with someone who stated they were the supervisor and explained all of this to them as well. I am still making my monthly payments but feel that I have been taken advantage of for their company to gain financially. Names of the agents I spoke with in April (I believe the 26th) of 2017 were Iris and her supervisor John.
The second, involves my daughter,xxxxx loans for when she attended school for Interior Architectural Design at the New England Institute of Art in Brookline Massachusetts. I recently heard that due to a lawsuit against the school, (I believe sometime in 2015), some of the loans that the school arranged were forgiven due to improper practices that the school used to arrange the loans for new students. Student loans at this school have been known to be referred to as “predatory loans”. xxx has outstanding loans that are significant, almost $90,000, which, as other’s have suggested “trap a borrower under an unmanageable debt load that he/she has no realistic hope of repaying”. Additionally, some have also suggested that this qualifies as an “unfair practice” under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.
There’s a lot to your story, but it sounds like you need to figure out your own loan situation and not rely so much on a FedLoan call center.
Check out this guide: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/22857/public-service-loan-forgiveness/
First, PSLF has three requirements:
1. Direct Loans (do they qualify)?
2. Correct Repayment Plan (IBR, PAYE, RePAYE, ICR) – I saw you had a Parent PLUS Loan. Did you accidentally consolidate that into your loan? If so, the only eligible repayment plan is ICR…
3. Qualifying and certified employment (you have to get your employment certified at least annually; maybe more often)
Also, your employment must be W2 – are you an employee or contractor. I know that some nurses are contractors so make sure you double check.
Now, with that said, you need to hit that magic number 120. That’s 10 years. Based on your 2005 start date, you should be there employment-wise… but, the PSLF program didn’t start until 2007. And most qualifying repayment plans didn’t start until 2011 (and you would have had to switch over if you were on something different). Finally, most loans prior to 2007 were FFEL, not Direct Loans… so you could have a problem with your loan type…
FedLoan typically will send a response via the secure mailbox on their website. Check that often – you won’t get notifications that there is a message.
Basically, dig into your loans and see what’s going on. You can contest things, but you need to have the data that you’re correct. It’s not about what a call center rep told you – it’s clearly spelled out in the law, and many site (including this one) break it down for you. Nobody will care more about your money than you – so take action.
Let us know what you find out.
Fed loan is an unbelievably horrible company. They have no clue as to what they are doing. Everyone has a different answer for the same question. I have no clue why direct loans sent my loans to Fed loan. It takes over 2 months to get anything done and when they do complete something …..it’s wrong. I asked them to fax or email me my approval that took 68 days to get. I was told it will take 7-10 days for a fax or e-mail. Wow. Unacceptable!
FedLoan has lost $8,669 worth of payments I made out of my checking account. Poof, vanished, they have no record. Watch your account balances, people!!!!! I have every bank statement from 201j4 proving the withdrawals from my checking account. Waiting for someone to get back to me!
I have a huge problem with FedLoans properly crediting my payments. The service person I talked to was making weird noises to his co worker while I tried to explain the issue to him. He told me it was resolved. That was three days ago. I logged into to day to find that my monthly payment has increased from $788 a month to $1094 a month and have a past due balance. Friggin ridiculous.
If you can prove your payment history, I’d file a complaint with the CFPB and Department of Education.
I had the same issue!!! They told me I had made 48 qualifying payments toward my loan forgiveness based on their “auto tally”, and when the representative manually counted up all of my qualifying payments, it totaled 58.
This is very concerning to me.
The representative put in a “review of my account” and I have not heard anything. I have called to follow up twice!
I have several phone calls that show how incompetent they are. AES and FedLoan are both owned by the parent group PHEAA. All are scum in my opinion. I have asked for a copy of the promossary note several times and have received three that are differ in many of the fields. Matter of fact I am sure that they don’t have a true promassary not. The copies that I have show that they populate fields onto a PDF form. In most courts without original documents the case is not valid except for dealing with these companies. They seem to not have to keep the same records as the rest of business and American people. The government wonders why the economy is failing but when you have agencies like this makeing slaves of the American people without allowing any recourse if wronged that is a shame. I still am the type that believes we the people own the government and any quasi government agencies because we pay with our tax dollars. All these agencies have to do is say that you owe them and have it in their system and you are guilty. Seems like most attornies don’t want to take on this challenge and politicians will only change the laws when they are in fear of loosing their position. Good luck and if anyone has an answer that works let me know.
I have Fed Loan Servicing and they are fantastic. I am on the Public School Loan Forgiveness, IBR and they also consolidated my loans. They have been terrific in giving me the lowest payment. Their customer service has been great. I think everyone’s loan situation is different. When I was looking at financial armageddon as a teacher, I found out about PSLF. I called Fed Loan Servicing and they put me on a forbearance and did the following three things: consolidated my loans, put me on PSLF and then did IBR. It has saved me, literally.
You really have to research and know what all of these things mean. In addition, if you are a teacher in a low pay state and you have dependents there is a good chance some years you will pay nothing and those non payments count toward your loan forgiveness. Stay informed. I don’t do auto payments. I just log in every month to make a payment.
Are you able to switch servicers? I wish I never consolidated with Fed Loan – absolute nightmare and scam
No, your Federal loans are assigned a servicer by the Department of Education.
I’m glad it’s not just me who has had issues with this company. I signed up for the loan forgiveness program and had no choice but to go with this POS company. Only to find out that my monthly bill would increase by $100 to qualify for loan repayment, which I cannot afford. Also, since switching over last year, my account is never at a zero balance because my last payments from Great Lakes (my former student loan company that was great-dumb me) was never updated on my account. Only on the days I call is there a zero balance and “nothing to worry about.” 2 weeks later my email gets bombarded with overdue notices. They are absolutely the worst company to deal with. I’m happy to see a lawsuit will be filed against them.
Hi am sick of them myself, I constantly have to call them regarding payment and if job situation changes to see what I can do so I want go into default or get behind. I hate dealing with them, some people are help some lie and say they did this or that, call back and its not done. I own a home and 2 cars, parts of me want to say screw them let the rain hit and the dust settle it. Also they will take your payment up when they feel like it with no warning. I hate dealing with this..
Well, my consolidation loans were just transferred to FedLoan last month after I submitted my public service loan forgiveness forms and I’m already having major issues with them. First, because of the timing of the transfer occurring around a due date, they decided to put my loans in forbearance without telling me, so there’s one payment of my 120 that’s wasted. The bigger issue is that they also claimed to have not received my income recertification info from Navient (old servicer) even though I had submitted that weeks before the transfer. Therefore, they claimed that my loan went into standard repayment and that all of my interest – all $27,000 of it!!! – was going to be capitalized. I called them multiple times and sent a letter stating that I recertified with the previous servicer and that my interest should not be capitalized. Two customer service reps had the gall to tell me that “it wouldn’t matter” if I did PSLF but that they would look into it. I made it very clear that I would give them hell if they capitalized the interest, and what do I see when I log into my account today? It’s been capitalized. I will call them first thing Monday morning demanding to speak to a supervisor, but I am just baffled that they could do shit like this. I’m hoping for the best but I have a feeling this will not be easy to undo. If anyone is still considering taking legal action via a class action lawsuit, I will definitely join you. Also, has this happened to anyone else??
Fedloan servicing is the absolutely the most horrible company I have ever worked with!!! Completely impossible to get anything done. I reached to PHEAA the office of consumer advocacy for help. Not sure yet if they will be able to help me. They own FEDLOAN servicing. As soon as my home loan goes through I am refinancing my Student loans just to not have to deal with FEDLOAN any longer!!!
Thank you for posting this!! Fed Loan makes me want to pull my hair out! I must vent: I did a simple one year forberance and was planning on starting an income based repayment plan at the end of the one year. So when the time came I did the income based application and sent in my proof if incomes. Months go by and I get a call from a debt collector who does a three way phone call with Fed Loan who hadnt even processed my app!!! They said I had to send another. So I send the same application with proof of income again. Still nothing happens after another month. So I said F it, ill just do another forberance if its this much trouble. I send in a forberance form, three months go by and I hadnt heard anything until today I get am email saying my application had expired because I had two applications in and they some how cancel each other out. So here I am for the 4th time faxing another forberance form!!! I asked why I never got a phone call about any of this instead of unknowingly letting this application expire and her response was “we don’t call”
Im in TEARS writing this!!! they have ruined my credit that i have been working on for several years diligently. I am disabled with no income. when I originally signed up it was a different tune, and all the sudden they lost certain documents that would set me up on income based. after about 4 months of back and forth with them it went through, i was dumbfounded about them losing it as i was on the phone with a rep WALKING ME THROUGH IT STEP BY STEP TILL IT WAS SUBMITTED. I feel that was a game plan to gain additional interest on me. I SHOULDVE NEVER CONSOLIDATED AT ALL…but now that i did. I check my credit today and saw a delinquecy of over 11000 on my account, funny how they chose to switch me to the highest repayment option to get the highest amount back from me, thats more than my income YEARLY… with 2 kids, I dont know what to do. I called, the guy said i had to REDO every 9 months. SOMETHING IM 101% sure was not mentioned to me before, ( I have a brain injury, so i make a habit of putting things like this as a reminder in my phone and i was on the phone with them when i signed up if she said anything needed to be done in 9 months there wouldve been a reminder sent) so when i received the bills…during which time I had a baby, then was in the hospital for 2 months, then care taker for my father, then he passed away…all the while they sent ONLY ONE inbox to say there is an important doc, and only on the same month it was due…during the hardest times of my life. This is not only poor customer service, but misrepresentation on their behalf. ALL I WAS TOLD was that i would be required to notify them when i start work or go back to school, of which ive done neither…I was also under the impression that they receive your tax doc when you file…having NO taxable income since ive been disabled….i hadnt filed…and now. IM STUCK with NEGATIVE INFO ON MY CREDIT FILE DUE TO THEIR GROSS NEGLIGENCE. I cant even explain the hardship caused by this, let alone the stress. im nauseated to tears. If there is any chance of a class action or even just a group…count me in. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH…and get this, i accumulate $794 a month in interest every single month till it is paid…WTH??? Im disabled…and not able to…otherwise i would pay what i can. by the time i can work again God willing….I will be so far in debt I could possibly manage payment. ITS ONE BIG SCAM OF A SYSTEM> and at 6.250 from 3.4. PLEASE PLEASE let me know if there are any lawyers willing to take me as a client….this is a GRAND injustice. I will borrow to pay a lawyer…we need action.
I cannot believe I got stuck with the worse student loan servicing company! I had no idea when my loans were changed. Now, I think it may be too late to change. I am 70 yrs old this year and I had hoped to retire in 2 years or so. Not likely with FedLoanServicing. I am a teacher in the Watts area of Los Angeles, one of the most problem ridden educational areas in the country. It is a very high stress job and I have to drive 3 hours every day to and from work. My income went up one year ago because the school was short of teachers and I had to teach an extra class. I did not realize that I should have said NO. Now FedLoanServicing is trying to charge me as much as my house note for repayment and refuse to take my explanation of the situation – my income is NOT that high this year, I had no idea working like that would cause a problem. I was just trying to get ahead of bills so I can retire! I am in an income based repayment – but I guess I did not realize what would happen with working the additional time. Now, I will have to retire immediately to stop the strangle hold they are putting on me. I do not want to loose my home or I will end up like many older Americans in this area, homeless. (I don’t have family to move in with.) What can I do? They have already reported me to the credit bureaus, so I will not be able to at least refinance and maybe get my mortgage lower! I am a veteran, but I do not get retirement from the military. I will only get my CalSTRS and some Social Security – which California will cut as soon as I receive CalSTRS (something called double dipping, although Congress does that all the time!) What can I do?? Please tell me what can I do?
You can re-certify your income using your current paychecks to get a lower payment based on your current income. You just need to send in the form.
I have officially put on my running shoes, ready to join the cause of integrity force correction of FedLoan. I feel ive been & being victimized, 1st by a military connect comapany called CCC, whom i was referred 2 by my va case worker. CCC set me up with a $5 a month payment plan through a direct deposit mode. After a year or so without warning I get a letter from FedLoan telling me my 1st payment is dude and it was 90+ and my new monthly payment. I called the to see who they were, and what it was they were telling me. Thats when i was informed, that know that i had met my financial responsibility with CCC, they have assumed my loan. I told the representative that i never authorize this, and I for sure was not going to pay them that amount. I informed if they refuse to give me the same scenario I had agreed with CCC, I didnt want their services. I made sure the rep said she was terminating my service, specifically to record her for my records. A few days go by and another rep calls, and began talking business as usual, like i never spoke with anyone, i explained to her that i terminated the services, she said ok, and of course i recorded that interaction as well. Then a week or so later I recieve another bill, by this time i realize what was happening, so i called them again to speak with manager. I did my typical spas out when the manager claim their were no notes to confirm my claims of termination, she had the audacity to offer me a slight discount, as if she was doing me a favor. I told her if its not thesame amount as what i authorized with the company that pimped me out to them, that i wasn’t interested, and yes, i recorded this interaction as well. I am a Desert Storm Disabled Veteran, so there’s 2 things that is true, 1. I know deception when i see and hear it, and 2. Im always up for a fight, if that’s what the opposition chooses. I called today and asked to speak with a manager and laura 7465, which i assume is fake, she tells me that their policy is, that they cant transfer to manager unless i tell her 1st why. Then predictably sho says ok i will get a manager. Then i get adam who tells me he is a supervisor, i told him i asked fir a manager, he said there us no manager, my exact words were, “really, is that what were doing”, so i asked him for his id#, and he said he didnt have an work id#, i was not buying that either, then he hung up on me. It’s definitely deception going on, so now I’m ready 2 fight, please instruct me on what i need to do on your team.
Thanks
I took out a college loan in 1991. After college, I made payments for several years. My health took a decline and I was no longer able to pay. After some time, the loan went into default. In 2015 I was awarded total Disability. In 2016, I got with Conserv to get the loan out of default. I made payments to them for over half a year, then transferred the loan to FedLoan. I applied for a Disability Discharge. FedLoan sent me a packet including an application for discharge. I filled it out in October 2015, got the necessary information from my case worker and mailed it back to FedLoan, because that’s what they told me to do. In September 2017, I received a letter from FedLoan that states that my loan was in a disability suspension, awaiting review which put it in a 120 deferment status. In January 2018, I got a letter from Nelnet (not FedLoan) stating that my account was about to be delinquent and that they had not received my application for discharge. I called FedLoan yesterday to find out what’s going on. First, my account was about to be delinquent because I had not made the January payment. Mind you, they had not sent me any notification that a payment was to be made, and I was under the impression that my loan was under review. FedLoan let me know yesterday that the 120 period had passed, that my account was near deliqent and that they don’t handle Disability discharge- NelNet does. i authorized FedLoan to pull funds from my bank account (which they claimed they didn’t have that information despite the fact that previous to September 2017, I had authorized them to do automatic withdrawals monthly from my bank account) then got off the phone with them. I hurriedly created an online account for Discharge with NelNet. I then printed their 8 page application, and all I needed to be able to fax the application in was the award letter from Social Security Administration stating the onset of my disability and other info. Their office had closed by the time I got off the phone with FedLoan. I called FedLoan back and was told that my account was nearing delinquency and that they wouldn’t be able to give me my SSA information so easily. In fact, FedLoan claimed they did not have any record of my application for Discharge and there were no notes in my file stating that I had also kept close phone contact with them, and they did not have my banking information to do automatic withdrawal from my bank account. I was on the phone for another hour only to be told by a supervisor that I was transferred to that he would file a complaint for the situation. My question is to who? To FeDLoan? I then called the US Department of Education to be told that I needed to contact their OMBUDSMAN. I called the Ombudsman and the first woman listened, then asked me what did I want the ombudsman to do. This was after giving her my contact information as well. She must’ve accidentally hung up on me. I called back after 20 minutes and spoke to another ombudsman representative and told her everything again. She told me to go on with my application with NelNet and just start the process again with NelNet since they truly are the ones who handle disability discharges. So I’m doing this today, and my payment is still not showing on my account with FedLoan, even though I have a confirmation number of
I am preparing to go over to Social Security Administration this morning and will get the information again. In short that’s not the problem. The problem is FedLoan lied to me for over half a year and especially the last 4 1/2 months. They allowed my account with them to nearly go into delinquency without notifying me and now I’m not even sure if they have or will truly process this January payment. The only thing they could tell me yesterday is that they were very sorry for any inconvenience, and please try to have a good week. None of this makes sense.
I’m very sorry this happened to you. Do you have documented copies for everything? If you mailed it, do you have certified tracking to prove they received everything on time?
If not, it’s hard to prove anything. I would suggest going forward and getting this handled with NelNet ASAP. I also recommend doing everything in writing, with proof of mailing, so that you have documented records of all interactions.
You can also go online to DisabilityDischarge.com and see everything about TPD.
If you do have proof, and in fact have been mislead, you might consider speaking to an attorney and see if there’s anything worth pursuing.
I had a feeling that this company was either a scam or they have horrible business ethics. i thank God for your posts about this issue because i was searching for some verifiable proof that this company was bogus. The reason why, is that i just signed up for Law firm to research items on my credit which recently just took a mysterious nose dive. They showed me where i had over 20 delinquent items and half of them came from Fed Loan Servicing. this as we discussed was ridiculous because they are treating the same account as though its several and this business practice should be illegal because medical bill financial services, credit card debt, not even Sallie Mae or us department of Education themselves can break the law by treating the same loan account and reporting it to the credit bureaus as though each month is a separate itemized account for the same borrower. this is illegal and i know this company needs to be seized for ruining peoples credit like that. My credit was great this past summer, and i was doing great sitting back watching it get better and i had plans, like helping my family with fixing the house. also i talked to this company about deferment because i planned on going back to school so usually with Sallie Mae when you plan to go back to school they work with you and get your deferment process underway. now i have to back track and work with this the company to get my credit back in order. oh and yes i made several payments in the beginning with Fed Loan to start the process they said was part of the Loan Forgiveness program through what President Obama enacted before he left office. so after several initial payments you were supposed to be on a simple $34/mo plan for a while until a certain period at which point 90 % of your loans would be forgiven. thank you sir for telling the truth a proving my suspicions about this sorry company, im grateful that i have validity to prove my case and get these “scam artist” off of my credit report. God bless and continue to tell people to stay away from Fed Loan Servicing.
FedLoan has effectively destroyed my credit and put me $1,200 bucks in the hole with them WITHOUT my knowledge. They were calling the wrong number and admitted it. Whoever did my paperwork took down half my phone number and half my social to finish my phone number. There response so far has been to tell me, essentially, oh well.
I just found out yesterday, with the help of my financial advisor (I asked her to call with me because my head was spinning whenever I would call FedLoan myself as they weren’t being straight with me, saying things that did not make sense) and found out that the pay it ahead status is definitely misleading because although I paid ahead over $3600, since October to now I owe $1,000 more in interest despite that I’ve paid more then the minimum due for a few years. It’s so disturbing. Please let me know if I can join you in a group lawsuit. I realize your article was posted 4 years ago but not sure where it stands now with the lawsuit. Thank you for sharing your story!
Pay Ahead Status is terrible. If you want to make extra payments, you would need to login into their website and specifically select it. Read this article: https://www.thecollegeinvestor.com/19797/pay-ahead-status-loan-forgiveness/
I agree! I just spoke with them regarding a negative impact on my credit due to a 10.00 increase that happen in 2016 (it’s now 2019!) Fedloan informed me to complete a dispute because they did not inform me of anything. I would call in periodically after the year of 2016 and never was informed of a past due balance. I was in good standing with Fedloans until recently. They just changed my credit to reflect over 180 days late overnight and impacted my credit! I am extremely upset. Especially since I communicate with them and this never came up during any conversations I’ve had with them!
I am a military service member and have brought my credit score fro the low 500’s to the mid 700’s. Even with the civil relief act my interest sits around 6%. I literally have had the hardest time just trying to make s payment I can afford. After months of my login not working and phone calls in the double digits I finally got payment plan setup. I can call them and have them set a plan up, hang up and call right back, and they tell me that they have no record of me calling. They said they are automatically taking my payments and I call back and they say, no we are not taking your money automatically. They are really hurting my hard earned credit score. WHAT SHOULD I DO? They told me on the phone that they do not report to the credit bureau and now my score keeps dropping by no fault of mine.
I would do everything via certified mail with return receipt. You can find the payment plans at StudentLoans.gov, and you can do all the paperwork easily at home. Mail it with a return receipt so you have proof of delivery. This is the best way to handle your loan servicer.
Count me in on a lawsuit. FedLoans has been a nightmare for me. Not processing payments on time. Claiming I’m delinquent when I’m not. When I recertified my income driven repayment plan they claimed I hadn’t and tried to bill me over $500 a month. Then when I got them on the phone they said it was my fault for not turning in the recertification on time when I did and had proof in an email that I did. After numerous calls and endless fighting I got it straight, but it was just a horrible process. I’ve been struggling with them for far too long!
Count me in on the lawsuit. The accrued interest on the IBR, PSLF is ridiculous. I will have retired before it is paid off. Let me know
I’m glad to find I wasn’t the only one having issues.
My situation is a little different because I’m not seeking public loan forgiveness and (luckily) do not have financial problems.
Their system switched me to a longer graduated repayment plan (more interest for them) automatically instead of the standard plan, and last minute. Everyone is supposed to start the standard plan unless they take action to apply or request something different. I made no such request. So they had put my account on admin forbearance in the meantime while they fixed it even though I wouldn’t have had a problem paying. Then, when the plan finally got setup correctly they put me back in forbearance with no reasoning (this just racks up more interest and then capitalization when it’s released). So I made the correct payment the day before it capped and some still capped from accruing overnight even though you have to pay the day before. They also manually took my account off forbearance (per my request), but made it as of my due date which made me immediately 2 weeks “late”.
I’ve made 6 requests over 5 or so months and it’s still not fixed. The tickets get closed without making any adjustments to my account or explanation or were adjusted very incorrectly. It shows such incompetence when the requests are crystal clear. There’s no communication between those involved or with me.
And if they’re running an AUTOmatic payment system, they should be able to pull money on Saturdays. I understand banks are closed on holidays, but not every weekend. It shouldn’t have to be processed several days late because its AUTOmatic (not manual). It’s costing me extra money in interest and HOURS of productivity when I have to sit on the phone with customer service. I’d like to pursue some sort of claim, if applicable.
Robert,
After reading this and the article, a. I agree with you and everyone here, and b. Sounds like we could start a class action lawsuit. Anyone know where we could start and how we could get set up for better communication? I’ve had fedloan for 5 years. It has been absolute disaster since day one. None of the promises were honored and as everyone has mentioned the business practices and communication are god awful. I’m on board 100%.
Jared
i am so glad someone posted their comment! they are the worst people i have dealt with! out of the blue they cannot with drawl money out of my account and had me for 2 hours thinking it was my fault and had me calling the bank several times and just giving me the run around, they have really messed me up big time! i have to shut down because of the stress and until they get it together i have no other option but to postpone my payments-they were rude! it is hard enough for me to make the payments and to have them cause me stress is not happening, they claim they can’t take it out of my account but didn’t have a problem with it the month before. And my payments were raised, which weren’t suppose to be raised and were suppose to take off the interest which was never done.
that is true. What worse problem, I have been dealing with them for year an half before they charge me before I graduated my college
not really the worst in my experience. theyve braught me current about 4 times without paying yet, i understand the crankiness with having student loans screw you over by transition though, tis poop
This is a scam for sure. I don’t think the Dept. of Education did their research about this company at all. I just got off the phone with FedLoan and I am just as upset as I was prior to the phone call with them. I have been making monthly payments but their website shows a payment date of 8/18/2010 everytime whether the payment was made in Aug., Sept, Oct. or Nov. it doesn’t matter it still displays 8/18/2010. Interest is calculated on the original loan amount (64 cents a day in my case) and the monthly payments that I have made are applied to the principal but interest is accruing based on the original loan amount with no regard to payments being made. A clear indication of this is that the Unpaid Interest was at over $50 when I knew that couldn’t be since for the last 4 months payments had been made. So, this company is a TRUE rip-off. This year has been a MAJOR MESS thanks to the mandated changes of who can administer student/parent loans. The loans were sent off to multiple companies and you have to question are these legitimate companies that say they now service my loan and I had no input as to who I am dealing with. Due to the inaccurate information provided on their online web page concerning our loans and the I would think illegal calculation of interest and ignoring payments being made, I am using a loan from another avenue to pay off this loan with FedLoan just so I can get rid of them and not have to deal with such a BAD company. Dept. of Education I HOPE you get your act together and research the companies you are farming out these loans to because so far this company really makes the Dept. of Education look very bad.
This company is practicing illegal and unethical practices by just charging me 164.32 for the interest without letting me know. I live below the poverty line and am disabled and I am upset about this. Heck, they give free tuitions to illegal immigrants yet harass me with financial abuse. There letter and their website is not credited by the Better Business Bureau, nor do they have disclosures on their letter heads.
The government contracts with these junk companies to lower your score and to make you delinquent so they can garnish your wages.
Just got a statement from them saying I am two months delinquent, yet, my loan consolidator sends me a statement two months ago saying that all lenders have been paid off and I am good with the new consolidated loan. What IS it? Did the consolidator screw up or did NelNet? I have to sort all this crap out tomorrow and it’s really ticking me off.
I meant, FedLoan, not Nelnet. But they suck, too. Had a couple of student loans sold to them as well.
Glad to hear that it just isn’t us! I have paid it twice to no avail! I’m worried about turning it into a direct debit as I wonder if it’d actually work or not.
Did the manager say how they fixed it? Or do they just like people to call again and again until they’re annoyed and irate with the lowly first rep you get?
Thanks for the post.
No, the manager could not say how they fixed it…and it’s not really even fixed. I had to call so many times, and it wasn’t until I posted it here on my site that it really got their attention!
TOTALLY AGREE. I have had nothing but problems with them since they bought my loan. The customer service people are rude (and just keep repeating the same stock phrases over and over, rather than having a conversation). I have had to re-defer every 6 months, and each time they come up with some reason to deny it a couple of times (thereby making it delinquent and charging me interest) before they allow it go through. There’s always some magic missing piece of data. They are a scam, through and through. The Dept of Education should be ashamed of themselves for working with such an disreputable company. Good post.
I just started paying my Fedloan students loans and noticed this:
59% of my monthly payment is going to interest, 41% is going to principal. (That’s worse than the worst credit card.)
For my (many other) student loans from other companies, my monthly payments always pay at least 75% to principal, and never more than 25% to interest.
So I’ve emailed Fedloan to see if there is some mistake. If there’s no mistake, I will quickly throw all the extra money I can at the principal on my Fedloan student loans, and ensure that Fedloan gets as little interest out of me as possible.
Horrible…I doubt its a mistake. They just rip off their borrowers!
Received a notice on 1/3 stating the Dept of Ed loans were transferred to FedLoans. Same day received a bill for the payment due 4 days later and was $70 more than it should have been. Called but could not get an answer as to why it was increased (the amounts and interest rates were all the same as with the Dept of Ed). Now, one week later I get a notice stating my payments are now almost $1000/month (December was $180 and January was $250). They changed the length of the loan from a 20 year graduated to a 10 year standard so that I know am supposed to pay it off in the next 2 years. When I called, I was offered to change to a different graduated plan that would be for the next 25 years. The idiot couldn’t understand why I did not want to extend the payments for another 12 years beyond what I had, not to mention paying the interest for all that time too. Told it was a “computer glitch” and he would put in a request for it to be corrected. I am not holding my breath considering they website also states the payment I made on the 5th online (for a 7th due date) has not been made and is delinquent.
I need some help. I have been paying off my loan these past two months with nelnet but fedloan is saying I am 24 days past due on a payment and now have two payments due soon. Is this a mixup on fedloans end? Please help!
You should call both FedLoan and NelNet. Chances are, FedLoan bought the loan, but NelNet never reported the payment. Make sure that you have your proof (i.e. canceled checks, bank statements showing the direct ACH, etc.). And good luck! Ask to speak to a supervisor, and maybe even record the phone call (easy with an iPhone). They may make you make your request in writing. Forward them all of your proof, and make sure you get it certified with a return receipt (it will cost you about $5.00, but that is worth not ruining your credit).
Finally, contact the Dept. of Education and file a complaint if you are still not getting a resolution.
Whenever the government gets included shit like this always happens. I read all your posts, and sincerely, I am completely freaked out. Why did my loans even went to that company, or even better yet, why did the department of education bought it in the first place? My loan was supposed to be with a Bank to start with!
As far as I know, If THE ORIGINAL “wet ink signature” promissory note cannot be produced in court, the loan is not collectable.
Facsimiles, xerox copies, etc., are not acceptable. As far as I know there are court rulings to this effect.
Digital signatures are perfectly legal. While it hasn’t gone to the Supreme court, it has been challenged at multiple state supreme courts and the appellate level and been upheld. The laws allowing it have been on the books for over a decade. Here’s a good example with GEICO: https://www.silanis.com/blog/geico-case-upholds-the-law-e-signatures-are-legally-binding/
Wow, I just got an email that my student loans got sold to these guys.
Wonderful. Absolutely Wonderful. >_<
Update regarding post #15. Originally talked to them on 1/10 regarding what they called a computer glitch. Talked to another rep on 1/18 and was told they are still working on fixing the payment issue. Just talked to a supervisor today (1/27) and was told that the payments were adjusted, but since it went through on their system on 1/25 and the February bill was printed on 1/18, there is nothing they can do for February. Here were my choices: either pay almost $1000 for February (the new correct payment is just under $200) or put in for a forbearance, which requires either payment of over $700 in accrued interest (based on their incorrect calculations) or capitalize that interest and pay interest on that amount for the next 12 years. Yet again, they still don’t understand why I am so upset. Further, I don’t know what I can even do about it other than bend over as I pay them $700 they should not be charging me.
HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE.
This is a nightmare for me. I can’t wait to pay this one off
Add me to this list. They cash your check and then digitally harass you with payment late/credit rating threats. But since my recent auto loan rejections, fedloan recorded conversations with reps since 11/24/10, a clear digital trail, bank records, loan statements and most of all a conference call between the previous lender and fedloan confirming the account balance and payments, we’ll be meeting in court. Should be fun. Pro se will never be so easy.
I could not agree more about how rude and unorganized this Fedloan Servicing company is. I was never informed that they were servicing my loan. They sent me a letter stating that I was delinquent on my account. I have not missed a student loan payment in years! I have proof from my bank that they cashed the check I sent them. The guy I talked to said even with proof it could take up to 90 days to resolve so in the mean time I would have to make my payment again to avoid messing up my credit. What a joke, they were so rude I just hung up the phone in tears. How can they legally do this?
Thanks for sharing your story. You do have to continue making payments, but you don’t have to pay any extra interest or penalties until the investigation is complete. You should also call back and speak to a supervisor. All calls are recorded, and they can hopefully help you get this resolved. It is also important to document everything in writing and send it certified mail with return receipt (so you have your proof it arrived). It does cost a few dollars, but it is worth it to not ruin your credit.
I thought by law anyone recording your conversations has to tell you, I have never heard them say this when I call?
It’s usually an automated message almost right away when you call.
My boyfriend is experiencing problems with this company as well. His loans went into repayment, and he paid the first payment online using his checking account with no problem. He has paid January payment 2-3 times and it keeps rejecting it. They have blamed his routing number, the bank, and basically made up a new excuse every time he has called. Whenever he makes the payment, he gets the confirmation number. He calls back a couple of days later and is told the payment has gone through. Then a week later, he gets a letter in the mail saying he is still delinquent. I know this is going to end up affecting his credit and it is ridiculous. He just got off the phone with customer service again and they have told them that some banks are now requiring a separate routing number for online payments. His bank is Wells Fargo, as is mine. I have never had an issue with online payments using the Wells Fargo routing number, so I don’t believe this story. Has anyone else had this problem?
ALL of my loans have been sold to FedLoan. What a nightmare! I only received notice that my Dept. of Ed loans were being serviced by FedLoan. They have screwed up every payment I have made to them; either leaving the payment hanging in limbo for 6 weeks and sending me delinquent notices, or crediting my payments to the wrong loans, and….you guessed it, telling me I’m delinquent. Did I mention that every time I call them they tell me my loan payment is a different amount? Or that they keep forgetting to sent payment notices? Or that they don’t have the 1098 Tax information for interest paid on my loans for 2010. I’m supposed to get that information from the previous loan server who tells me to get it from FedLoan.
My kids have loans with SallieMae and they are every bit as bad, if not worse.
Are there any college loan servicers out there that are doing a decent job?
Fedloan bought half of my student loans from another institution. Shorly after the buyout we sold our house but where required to pay off the student loans directly at the time of sale. By mistake, the entire amount of student loan payoff was sent to fedloan who was more than happy to cash the check eventhough it was for twice the payoff that was owed to them. Since the payoff in Nov, I have spoken to several different people at fedloan who all acknowledge that they received and cashed the additional amount but can’t figure out how to cut a check to ME for MY money. Todays’ date is Mar. 8th and the last person I talked to, yesterday told me that the matter has to be referred to their “financial investigation dept.” which typically takes 30 to 60 days to investigate. I failed to mention that 3 wks ago, a representative lied to me by telling me a refund check was being mailed to me… didn’t happen!!! In the meanwhile the other lending institution that was to be paid off, in Nov., is patiently waiting for me to send the money that I can’t pry from the incompetent hands of fedloan. I am now requesting my 3rd forbarence from the other insitution so that I may protect my credit. AMAZING!!!! Today I am contacting a lawyer.
My son is going through an absolute nightmare with these people. They claim he didn’t pay the full amount, but of course, he did and made him run around finding our from his bank that FED LOAN made the error!! Now they tell him it is with their FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION DEPT and to just pay the “extra” and late fees and ONCE they fix THEIR ERROR, they will refund the money. YEAH<RIGHT
MY Question–Is there anyone out there who wants to file a class action suit against this horrible company?
My story is also very lengthy about fedloan. I may be interested in being part of a class action suit. I am contacting an attorney today to find out my rights. Please keep me in the loop if you know of a class action suit starting.
Let me know what happens with the suit. I want to also need a lawyer.
It would take me forever to share my full horror story with FedLoan, but I wanted to answer to the poster above-I would for sure be a part of a class action suit against them. Their practices are unacceptable. I actually came across this page while googling to find out if anyone had sued them before. It needs to be done!!!
My son is completing his 1st year of college. In this second semester he took about $5k in stafford sub and unsbusidzed loans. He anticiaptes taking more during his next 3 years of school. Two days after the school submitted for the loans, fedloan sent my son a letter advising they control they loans. I was hoping it was just a scam after reading all these negative posts. He’s got years to go before repayment. Can I hope that between now and then fedloan will get its act together? Sounds like online payments are the problem. Do they accept monthly checks sent by mail? How can these people be allowed to conduct business if they are so BAD?
I just got an email today notifying me that the government has put FedLoan in charge of my student loan that I just took out for going back to school this fall. I, too, thought it was a scam so I Googled them and found this post. I called the Department of Education to make sure it was legit and see if I could request a different loan servicing agency. The answer was basically “tough shit, you can’t change, and it’s no longer our concern.”
Oh, and this was after the Dept. of Ed. had no record of me. The CSR told me it was likely because my loan was already being serviced by FedLoan. So, once they send off your account to FedLoan, they not only take no responsibility, but also purge your account from their system. That tells me they know it’s a bad company and they want no responsibility whatsoever when things go to hell.
I feel your son’ pain, and can only cross my fingers that he and I both don’t get screwed like all these other people.
I’m having trouble with my servicer! They’ve grouped them together… is this legal? Its not quite consolidation but still.. they say they can’t separate them and the department of education made them that way. Does any one have any opinion on this? Anyone have any argument I could throw at them? I really need them separated like they were when I accepted them. I start the grace period in may. Serviecer is my great lakes
When you say they have grouped them together, are you saying that you have multiple loans, and Great Lakes wants one payment to pay them all?
Yes, My Great Lakes holds a total of five loans. Some of them are subsidised and some are unsubsidised. They’ve grouped them by year accepted it seems, so the two earliest ones are in one account and the later three are in a seperate account. I did not authorize any type of consolidation. I’m not yet in the repayment phase but when the loans come due it is set up for two payments to them, one for each account. (so one payment for three loans, and one payment for two loans)
That is common practice – because your Master Promissory Note is for the year, and so the two loans are considered one loan with two distributions. They also group the subsidized and unsubsidized together since they are different loans. It is not consolidation. Student loan consolidation would be where you get a new single loan, and you pay off the 5 individual loans with it. Then, you have one single payment.
Why do you want 5 payments instead of 2? Why do you need them separate?
I’m not sure I’m being clear. Let me try again. I have two loans for 2009, two loans for 2010, and one loan for 2012. One of the 2009 loans is subsidised, the other is unsubsidised. One of the 2010 ones is unsubsidised as well, the rest are subsidised. If I understand what you said correctly, they should treat the 2009 loans as one loan, the 2010 as one loan and the 2012 as one loan. Which is not how they’re handling it. They have the 2012 loan with the 2010 loans, and the 2009 loans by themselves. While this is close to what you described its not exactly, and they have unsub with sub (which may be common? But their interest rates and details are different) In addition I cannot direct which loan my money goes to directly.
The main reason I wish them to be seperate is so that I can pay the interest plus the principle on one loan and wipe it out. The way they have set it up inhibits this now and in the future. The payment can only go towards interest of all loans in the account and then to the principle, essentially making it harder to reduce the principle earlier.
You can still make direct principal payments, but you must call or send them a letter stating you want additional payments to go to principal directly. It is annoying, but if you do that, you will get your principal paid off.
When they are talking about the payment going to interest first, I’m sure they are talking about accrued interest (which accrued while you were in school). You should consider this principal and not future interest on the loan.
Thanks for your help! I had called and bugged them enough so that they separated them the way I wanted. I now have an individual account for each of my loans and will have an individual payment due for each of them. This is the way I had prepaired for, and the way that my peers usually have dealt with theirs.
Thank you
I began grad school in the fall, luckily before the announcement that there would be no more Stafford loans for it, and received notification that FedLoan was going to be my servicer. I googled the name of the company, and then I hoped it was a joke. The first hit was this site.
Since then I got very luckily and got a job that remits nearly the equivalent of my loan amount, so I canceled my student loan for the remainder of the school year. Several people in the financial aid office at my institution told me I would still be on the hook for the loan fees on the disbursed amount and any interest on those fees. This was in December. I never heard a peep from FedLoan about the status of my student loan.
I finally, two months later, went and checked, and it says my loans are paid in full. But how can this be possible? I must owe the loan fee–and I must owe interest on the disbursed unsubsidized loan principle and the loan fee. And more to the point, why the hell didn’t FedLoan contact me to let me know my loans had been canceled? What if I hadn’t been the one to cancel them? I would’ve been royally screwed come my tuition payment in January. What a loser of a company.
My loan is through the US Department of Education. I can’t even begin to tell you the nightmare I am having with them. This all sounds so familiar!!! I have spoken with a few customer service reps and two supervisors. I have had it!! They all give me different stories. I starting making my payments. First payment was in October, that was credited to my account properly. Made my second payment in November and that was credited to may account properly. Made my December payment which I mailed a check Dec. 16, 2011, the US Dept of Education cashed it (electronically) on Dec. 19, 2011 and it cleared my bank account (Wells Fargo) on Dec. 20, 2011. It has yet to be posted to my account. Here I am two months later…still not applied! I have been told numerous stories. “Some checks have to be entered manually, that they are back logged”, “they have a new system”, blah, blah, blah! These are all excuses! They admitted to having my money but won’t apply my December 2011 payment. In my opinion….I believe they posted it to another account and can’t find the mess up or as mentioned above….the US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION is out to SABOTAGE your credit! One customer service representative even tried to talk my into “forbearance”. Are you kidding me??? This is not my problem….it is their problem!! I will not stop here. I have excellent credit and have worked very hard for it….I will not let the US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ruin it!
Question – Has anyone filed a class action law suit against this company??? As mentioned above, I too, would like to file a suit againt them!
Hey, so I just got my first loan and got two emails from that company. Do I have to give my social security info on the sign in right now? I mean, I just started using the loan, do I have to activate an acct with them online now or can I wait till later? Sucks to hear how crappy of a company they are!
You don’t need to sign in immediately, but it could be helpful. You will have to give your social security number to verify your account.
I just got an email from them too, saying they were now servicing my loan. I was concerned about sharing my SS number as well. Glad to know I’m not being paranoid, or alone.
FEDLOAN NEEDS TO DEVELOP A BETTER SYSTEM OF DEALING WITH STUDENTS TRYING TO RESOLVE ISSUES, MAKING PAYMENTS AND SECURING DOCUMENTS. I AM FED UP WITH FEDLOANS. THEY TEND TO LOOSE TRANSACTIONS AND REQUIRE DUPLICATE OR TRIPLICATE DOCUMENTATION. THEN WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE FINALLY DONE EXACTLY AS REQUESTED, THE REQUIREMENTS KEEP CHANGING FROM ONE CORRESPONDENCE TO THE NEXT. I AM READY TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITH AN ATTORNEY NAVIGATING THE REST OF THE PROCESS WITH FEDLOAN. INCONVENIENCE AND CONFUSION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME THERE.
For More Information or to File a Complaint
To learn about federal student loans, write the U.S. Department of Education at:
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid Information Center
P.O. Box 84
Washington, DC 20044-0084
800-4-FED-AID (TTY: 800-730-8913)
http://www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov
For questions about a particular lender, contact the federal agency with jurisdiction over that lender:
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Regulates banks with “national” in the name or “N.A.” after the name:
Office of the Ombudsman
Customer Assistance Group
1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3450
Houston, TX 77010
800-613-6743 toll-free
http://www.occ.treas.gov
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Regulates state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies, and branches of foreign banks:
Federal Reserve Consumer Help PO Box 1200
Minneapolis, MN 55480
888-851-1920 (TTY: 877-766-8533) toll-free
ConsumerHelp@FederalReserve.gov
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Regulates state-chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System:
Division of Supervision & Consumer Protection
550 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20429
877-ASK-FDIC (275-3342) toll-free
http://www.fdic.gov
National Credit Union Administration
Regulates federally chartered credit unions:
Office of Public and Congressional Affairs
1775 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-3428
703-518-6330
http://www.ncua.gov
Office of Thrift Supervision
Regulates federal savings and loan associations and federal savings banks:
Consumer Programs
1700 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20552
800-842-6929 toll-free
http://www.ots.treas.gov
Federal Trade Commission
Regulates non-bank lenders:
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
877-FTC-HELP (382-4357) toll-free
http://www.ftc.gov
The FTC works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint or get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. Watch a video, How to File a Complaint, at ftc.gov/video to learn more. The FTC enters consumer complaints into the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database and investigative tool used by hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, administers the federal student financial aid — grants, loans, and work-study programs — available for education beyond high school. Federal Student Aid interacts with postsecondary schools, financial institutions and other participants in the student aid programs to deliver services that help students and families plan and pay for college.
To learn more about Federal Student Aid and how to pay for college, visit http://www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov or call call 1-800-4-FED-AID.
The Federal Student Aid Ombudsman is available to individuals with specific complaints.
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Fed Loans is unethical. It’s unbelievable. I’ve been paying about $450 monthly through their Kwikpay service with minimal problems. However, due to a system glich, Kwikpay has scheduled a $3700 draft from my account for February 2012. When I called the the customer service center, they said that its too late to change the autodebit, but I can file for a refund which will take approximately 30-60 days. Per customer service, a system change caused this widespread problem due for loans with multiple due dates. (Instead of breaking down into 52 remaining monthly payments, the system broke the balance into 6 monthly payments) According to customer service, they had no procedures to notify borrowers using Kwikpay when they became aware of this problem. Thank goodness I checked online before the draft and I can move funds, but I can only imagine the havoc it can cause to someone not aware of this issue. Has this happened to anyone else?
jackie, i would not do any on line payments with fed loan servicing at all. When you go to their website that they advise you to do please read their disclamer statement. This clearly states that if you use this service you give up your rights to your original promissary contract and give fed loan servicing ” the right to change and alter your loan conditions and payments at any time with out notifing you.” this is only one of their scams as i am finding out.
I posted to pay off the rest of my loan using money from my tax return. It got posted to same day that my automated monthy payment is normally taken out. They charged my bank account for the payment in full and then proceeded to also charge me the normal monthly payment. Now, since it has been paid off the website will no longer show me my payment details. It does show the extra charge in parenthesis on the account overview page. I e-mailed them about this. Their reply:
Thank you for contacting FedLoan Servicing. Approximately 45 days after your final payment was received in our office, a request will be submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department to refund the credit balance. A letter stating your loans are paid in full will be mailed to you 30 days after the loan reflects a zero balance.
I am not happy.
Same problem with the routing number nonsense. Told them I made the first payment online last month with the same routing number with no problem, but now it’s telling me the routing number is wrong. Their response, “As a courtesy, we accept the first payment with the wrong number, then you have to get the right one.” My response, “That makes absolutely no sense! How did it go through perfectly the first time if the routing number was wrong?!?” My bank even said there is no alternate routing number. I should also note that my payments for my other loan provider go through what appears to be the exact same payment system and there have never been any problems (even with the payment I made to them mere minutes before attempting to make one to FedLoan). Do they think we are stupid? I spoke to what was supposed to be a supervisor (though it was probably the regular rep who sits in the next cubicle…or the janitor…) and was told they would have the financial department look into it and get back with me. I won’t hold my breath.
So glad to see all these other comments. I HAAAAAAAAAAAATE THIS COMPANY!!! They are absolutely the WORST. I was just speaking with some little prissy pants who decided to be a total b*** to me even though THEY screwed up. Literally, took money out of my direct deposit TWICE this month (of unequal amounts which doesn’t even make any sense) and then on top of it tells me they can’t refund it…well, they could but it’ll take 30-60 days. WTF?!!! I now have $8 left in my checking account for the rest of the month is it’s only the 22nd. They are so incredibly rude, make mistakes, and don’t fix their own problems. If at all possible STAY AWAY from using these scam artists. I HATE this company.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I paid my first payment online before the due date. I paid the second payment using the phone service, also before the due date. FedLoan Servicing company keeps contacting me saying the payment is overdue. They are also sending me emails asking me to refinance the rest of my loans with them. MOHELA holds the rest of my loans, which I’ve been paying off since last year. I was searching to see if anyone else thought the Dept of Education refinance offer was a good offer. Even if it is a good offer, I think I might pass it up only because MOHELA holds the biggest portion of my loans. I’ve so far had a decent experience with MOHELA. I think I will stay away from FedLoan Servicing.
I was just wondering — there are so many problems with this company, and a lot of it seems to revolve around faulty debits from checking accounts. Just curious: why are people opting for auto payments from their accounts? Is this a “requirement” (which would not be legal to mandate). My loan just got transferred to these knuckleheads, and I am extremely apprehensive of the issues that will be forthcoming. But, one thing for sure — they will never get auto access to any account of mine, and I will gladly file a lawsuit if it is required.
It’s not just automatic payments, but regular payments as well sometimes. The best advice is to be very vigilant in your dealing with them.
pam, i also will never give these knuckleheads my checking info. Especially after i read their disclamer on their web site which they directed me to. It clearly states that if you use this service you give up your rights to your promisary contract and give them the right to ” change and alter your loan in any way that they want with out notifing you “. That was one of the first red flags.
jeff
Has anyone run into an issue with having to send FedLoan.org an Unemployment Deferment Form?
It was a PDF & allowed me to enter info, but then it made me “upload” it to EchoSign, which wanted either an email addy (which is not available — even via “contact us”) or a Fax number WITH COUNTRY CODE.
My attempt to send it with the country code of “1” (which I googled) failed.
I called FedLoan customer support and the woman said to “get out of that” and that she had “never heard of that.” She said I should be given the option to print, then sign, and manually fax.
I clicked on the link they (FedLoan.org) sent me in my paperless inbox on their site.
WTF?
When I went to deferment forms and found the list with all the forms, I clicked on “file online” or something like that, not the other link beside it. It prompted me to sign in again. When I signed in AGAIN, it took me right back to my account summary page.
So, I tried again, and just went in the same loop I’d just been in. I did it 3 times just to be sure it wasn’t me, then called the woman who didn’t help me and had never heard of “EchoSign.” I’m just going to print & sign, then manually fax.
But still, my info (ssn, name, address) are somewhere in a database for EchoSign, and FedLoan employees have no idea WTF is going on with that company.
What a freakin’ joke!
I have to add: I have never had rude service from the people at Federal Loan Servicing. They have always been nice and helped me. I spoke with 2 females today, and the first is the one to tell me I could file the Unemployment Deferment Form online. I think she’s the one to send the link for the form to my paperless inbox.
The second was nice, but ignorant to what might be a new way of signing and sending forms online. (Maybe that one form is an experiment? The other forms I clicked on have the option to print that she spoke of and that I’m familiar with.)
However, if all their employees are not aware of a certain service or contract with another company, then it makes the company look bad. And it certainly makes the experience of the end-user unpleasant – to say the least!
What a nightmare. Thank you everyone for the warning about these. Figured it had to be a scam after they sent me 573957039570235 emails disguised as something from the Department of Education.
I had the same issue with the company. I had a good tracking record in paying my bills until my loan was transferred to FedLoan Servicing. This is the only negative in my credit. The process of direct payment to them took a long time. It was a horrible experience.
My loans were just transferred to Fedloan servicing and I am already having the same problems as everyone else. Is there any way to to have it transferred to another company?
No, you can’t control where the loans go once you get them – it’s just luck of the draw. The best thing you can do at this point is just pay them off as fast as possible.
I think this is what bothers me the most. I just recently went back to school and have past direct loans with Direct Loan Servicing. Some how, some way because I had a new direct loan for my education it was sent off to FedLoan Serving and there is NO WAY to get it back to Direct Loan Serving with my other loans. Why doesn’t this make any sense!?!?!? I should be able to choose or move the one straggler loan to be with the others and everyone just simply tells me there are no options and I have to wait until I finish school to consolidate. Really, wait… annoying.
When I read this article, I felt like I was the one who wrote it. The article reflects my exact situation. FedLoan Servicing is so terrible. Never in my life have I ever had to deal with such an incompetent company. Yet, I continue to throw them money, as they continue to claim I’m late or that they have not received my payment. Although my bank account shows the cash being debited from my account. Losing my MIND!
Ok…I’ll chime in here! I’ve been with them for a little over a year since my loans where transferred. I pay on-line, always have, but like ALL my other accounts I do not set them up for auto-debit as I don’t want ANYONE having permission to dip into my checking account. I’m in enterprise software and bugs happen! So no way.
Anyway, as I said, been with them awhile now and I have had ZERO issues. None. When I call they have been helpful. Knock on the LCD!
Just reading this all and thought I’d be the outlier I guess!
I feel my situation is consistent with every other person in this blog. Is there any way to contact DOE and have something done with these fools. Worst service ever. I can understand if they were having to pay out money but this is a company that is suppose to accept money…. Just saying…
Thank you everyone for warning me about this site. I was close to signing up, but I had a feeling that something was wrong. Thankfully paranoia saved me from having to suffer bad customer service and problems paying for my loans.
Well, all 5 of my student loans (excluding my private student loans through Chase) have been purchased by FedLoan Servicing recently. So far everyone I’ve talked to has been super nice and helpful. They even offered to put a forbearance on several of my loans that were in danger of becoming delinquent due to a long unemployment period, without having to file any paperwork at all. This was a huge relief for me. I’m employed now and am able to make payments, but I could in no way bring them up to date. I can also easily go online and specify how much money goes to each of my 5 loans, and apply more than the minimum payment to pay off the loan of my choosing faster so I can roll that payment over into the next smallest loan until they’re all paid off.
I will say there was a confusing issue where they acquired a new loan of mine from a different lender right after I made a payment to them for the loans they already have. Those loans were in forbearance and weren’t due until the 11th, but I wanted to make the payment while I had it. Then they acquired the new loan. They applied the payment I made to the new loan which was severely past due and sent me TONS of emails and letters saying I owed the remainder of the past due amount for that loan. I was never even notified that they were taking it over, so that was a shock. I called and she offered to put the new loan in forbearance also, but that first payment which was supposed to take care of my payment due on the 11th is now rolled into the new loan. I was upset at first, but then she offered to push ALL the loans into forbearance for another 3 months so zero payments will be due, and I have time to catch up on some unpaid interest. Every issue I’ve had with them has been quickly resolved with a pleasant customer service experience. I don’t use the auto-draft service, though. I pay by card online each month, so *shrug*.
All that being said, I had already applied for a loan consolidation when I thought all my loans were under 5 different vendors, so all of that is irrelevant anyway. I just wanted to let others know that not *every* experience with them is terrible, even if I’m the only one, lol.
My student loans were bought by FedLoan Servicing in July. After not being notified until September, they were more than happy to put them into forbearance and wipe out any late fees. So far I have not run into any problems with customer service or anything. They were also very helpful being that I am now enlisted in the Navy and are putting forbearance for bootcamp. I can’t complain about FedLoan so far but, as with anything you do, I’ll probably run into problems but I hope that’s not the case.
Making stand alone payments to pay down your principal? Not the case!!! Fedloan’s system takes your extra payments and allocate them as “payments ahead” so nothing will change in your principal balance between two statements. This is simply not right. Basic math tells you that if your principal goes down, then your interest payments will also go down since they are calculated based on the principal!!! It is bad business trying to fool their customers.
This is exactly the scam they have pulled with my account. In 2012, I “returned” my extra excess loan money by repaying it towards my highest loan amount. Since that $5000 payment in 2012, my principal amount on that loan has not adjusted and I have only been paying ridiculous amounts of interest towards that loan. Over the past year, I’ve tried to resolve this issue with them and they still have not fixed anything!
One question for Robert (and/or others):
So many of the comments in this thread advise people to pay off their loans as quickly as possible with FedLoan Servicing. However, I would rather initiate a switch to another provider. Is that advised? Has anyone successfully transferred their loans from FedLoan to another? Are there any red flags I should be aware of before I initiate this process? Thank you!
You can’t switch your Federal loans to another servicing company – they are assigned to the company by the Department of Education.
If you’re considering refinancing your loans, read this article: Why You Shouldn’t Refinance Your Federal Loans.
This is by far the worst servicer I have ever known. I have 12 different loans and they have managed to mess everyone of my last 10 payments up over the last 3 months since I unfortunately got stuck with them. I have had to call 4-6 times/month only to have the “customer service” people on the other end of the line tell me varying details about my loans. Not to mention they put you on hold for at least 10 minutes at a time for the simplest of questions. What is the name of you company? “Let me put you on hold while I check in to that”. I have other things to do rather than spend time on the phone with Fed Loan Servicing’s incompetent staff.
Fedloan Servicing – A government contractor whose contract should be rescinded by the Department of Education. One other horror story.
As a parent with a Federal Direct Student loan, I found to my horror that irrespective of how much I paid on the loan I got for my son, it always showed up on the credit reports as having used up 100% of my credit. Since I have no other outstanding credit except for my mortgage, that report trashed my credit score. So I paid off the loan. But getting Fedloan Servicing to report it to the credit reporting agencies must wait weeks to get that information processed or submitted.
This organization is stuck on rigid procedures and, irrespective of the calls and emails I sent, they still create obstacles to my requests to submit my fully paid loan confirmation to the credit bureaus.
So it will be weeks, upon weeks before my credit information is updated by this firm. These guys are rigid and have little appreciation for the concept of “Customer Service” If they can kiss off someone who paid off the loan in full, I feel for those who need accommodation to make payments or experience problems in need of true customer service.
This organization should be booted out from any further contracts servicing student loans. The pain and frustration they must be causing across the nation may be incalculable.
you forgot to add that 9 times out of 10 you cannot even access your account online!!!!!!!!
Online site is constantly NOT working. I hate Fed Loan servicing.
Fed Loan Servicing is hideous. Their internal procedures do nothing at all. The customer service reps can do no more for you than confirm for you that your account information is wrong. Well, if it is wrong now, it will be wrong tomorrow and the day after that. They won’t and can’t help you resolve your issues.
If you deal with them, your expectation should be that nothing will ever, ever, ever get resolved. Pay off your loan, if you can get them to process your money correctly, and be done with them.
I just recently consolidated my federal loans and was sent an email that sallie mae will no longer be handling them and that FedLoan will be my new servicer. I don’t think I can decline them as my servicer and see now that I am headed for a world of trouble. Any advice for a newcomer?
Just pay off your student loans as quickly as possible so you can get free.
Best wishes. Pay it off fast 🙂
Fedloan Servicing is obviously a high volume call center with low paid employees. DOE is getting what they’re paying for and we in return are getting the worst service for thousands of dollars we’re expected to repay. It’s awful. The people are rude and the supervisors either think we’re stupid or think if they tell us bs with a smile it’ll fly. To make matters worse the site is trash. Contact Ombudsman with your problems. DOE needs to see that they need to end the contract with this company. Direct Loans is much better to work with.
It isn’t low pay at all actually…it’s 15.63 per hour.
I had a similar problem with Fedloanservicing. I am very punctual with my two online payments every month. One time though, my payment for the loan due on the 28th was applied to the one due on the 14th of the following month or so I was told. I have no idea why this happened because I did what I normally do online. According to my bank account, the money was taken out; however, this was not reflected on my fedloan account. When I spoke to a customer service representative, she said she would apply the loan payment to the correct loan. A few weeks passed again and I still had the same message saying that I was past due. After several months of this going on (and I was still being punctual with my payments during this time), I spoke to another rep who said they would put a forbearance on my loan and change my due dates so that both payments are due on the same day. Well, that forbearance fell through without me knowing, perhaps because she didn’t complete the correct procedure in giving me the forbearance in the first place (i.e. reciting the rights and regulations). A few more weeks passed and I spoke to a rep who informed me that his work colleague ‘forgot to follow through with the forbearance.’ Why should I have to file for a forbearance to correct their mistakes in the first place? The employees were friendly and fine with me but are ignorant of their company and the company’s procedures. What can we do about this? I feel that being vigilant with them is not working.
I dont know exactly what direct loans managers are doing but why dont they teach their workers to actually know what they are doing. Every question requires the employees to run to “mom” or “dad” to find an answer. I have had 4 student loan servicers and this is by far the worst. Why can’t they figure out how to process direct debit without requiring calls to confirm it was done correctly. All I know is that I want out and I am going to scrounge every dime for the next year to make sure that this is done.
Just had my loan transferred to FedLoan from Direct Loan, after sending in my first documentation for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. I had not one problem with Direct Loan, and was dreading the transfer after reading this site. Of course, my fears were confirmed. After I got my notice of the pending transfer from Direct Loan around 2-3 weeks ago, I was a bit paranoid from the posts here, so I compulsively checked the FedLoan website every day to see if the loan had made finally it over to them. At around 6:00 pm a few days ago, I get an email from them saying that they’ve received my information and that they’re in the process of completing the transfer. Curious, I check their website, only to find out that I have a payment due THAT VERY DAY. Keep in mind, it was 6:00 pm, and this was the very first time my loan info ever appeared on the website. No billing statement or any communication from them telling me that I had a payment due soon, let alone in a matter of hours. Fortunately, I had set aside the monthly payment amount, so I entered my bank info and made the payment by 6:30. I got the confirmation info, and the payment showed as pending on the website. Also note that this is the middle of the week, and their website explicitly says that payments just have to be made by midnight on the due date. Sure enough, the next day when I log in, my account is now delinquent. Three days later, it still shows delinquent, and they still haven’t deducted the payment from my bank account, even though the money is sitting there and the payment shows as pending on their site since the due date. I pay nearly all of my bills online, and I have never seen anything like this. If you make a payment by the due date (assuming you don’t miss a time cutoff or anything), then a payment qualifies as made, regardless of when the lender gets around to crediting it. Indeed, this is what FedLoan themselves say on their website. I’m hoping they will fix this, but I’m worried that they will report this “delinquency” on my credit history, which is flawless. If they do, they’ll be inviting a lawsuit. I also find it hard to believe that it was just a coincidence that my loan suddenly transferred to them on 6:00 pm on the due date (and, again, no notice of payment due if I wasn’t being vigilant). Sounds like an absolute scam to me. To anyone who’s gone through similar problems, I’d encourage you to contact not only the Student Loan Ombudsman, but also the US Department of Justice, and the office of your state’s attorney general. You might also think about contacting the US Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General, since FedLoan is receiving funding from that agency. Give them hell on all fronts and they’ll either clean up their act or become the subject of some devastating investigations.
My loan was transferred from Direct Loans to Fedloan Servicing last year. While with Direct Loans, there was some confusion about my payment plan for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Eventually, the issue was resolved, and Direct Loans sent me a letter indicating that I had 20 potentially qualifying payments, which I could see online. After the transfer to Fedloan Servicing, I was informed that not all of my 20 payments will count because, and I quote, “Direct Loans didn’t know what they were doing and were giving people bad information.” I have since contacted the Dept. of Education’s Oms Budsman, with little response. I left the Oms Budsman agent a voicemail stating that after I reach my 120 payments, I’m out. I will no longer pay Fedloan Servicing a dime. If they try to come after me, I will get an attorney. Explain to me how they can transfer a loan and suddenly take away payments that qualify??? That’s like telling people their mortgage payments won’t count after their note is sold to another bank. Totally illegal! Thankfully, I have something in writing from Direct Loans. Oh, and get this, when I contacted Direct Loans to get their response, they told me that the payments should still count. WTH????
Fed loan servicing is by far the most inefficient organization i have ever dealt with. I would advise anyone that can borrow money somewhere else and pay them off would be wise. Thats what I plan on doing. I clearly qualified for the teacher loan forgiveness program, the us dept. of education had some dates screwed up which made me ineligible. It took two years, and fifty phone calls and letters from attorney general to fix. Well now they say I owe them all the interest that has accrued on these loans. I think I will send them a bill for all the time it has took me to straighten this mess up, which will be more than what I owe them.
Fed Loan Servicing is the worst agency I have ever delt with. Every time I call the customer service department, I basically have to explain to them how their repayment plans work. My loans go into repaymnt next month and because this so called loan servicing company can’t figure out how to process a repayment plan, I don’t even know what I owe them yet. My guess is that they’ll finally get around to processing my information the day before the payment is due and then expect me to pay them whatever amount they come up with. And the best thing is, nobody cares! I am not looking forward to my years of repayment with this company, but there’s basically nothing I can do about it.
Horrible organization and poorly designed site and billing process. We’ve been making semi-monthly payments while my wife’s student loan was in grace. The “payment date” on the site always showed the date of loan origination, not the actual payment date and I had to complain twice about that before they fixed it. This month the loan came out of grace and we’ve made TWO payments before the due date, both for roughly double the amount due and both prior to the due date. The loan status now shows “delinquent” and a big past due alert shows on the landing page. The comical part is that right below the alert, there’s a payment summary with a line with the current due date and amount due, then a line with the last payment date and amount paid. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the account isn’t delinquent.
Fedloans is quite simply the absolute worst company I’ve ever had to deal with. And what makes it even worse is they have control of my money! The web site only allows you to go back 12 months of transactions. That is absurd. How long could a Credit Card company or bank get away with that beofore going out of business? Not long.
– They are missing $850 in payments that I have made.
– They say I have made 47 payments, but I’ve only made 34 payments.
– None of the paymenst they show me are the same dollar amounts that I’ve paid.
– Over 90% of the dates shown for payment are incorrect.
Plus they don’t know how to answer questions in an email. This company must be ran by governement employees (probalby Union) who don’t really have a horse in the race. They don’t give a rats behind about quality. Hey, its all other peoples money their dealing with, not theirs. I’m getting out of using them as quick as I can. Many banks have stopped providing Student Loans, including my bank. Good old Fed I think has ran another industry out of business. $&%$##@!!!!!
sooo can anyone give me advice on what to do when fedloan says that because my birthday isn’t the same as what they have? they tell me I’m suppose to send them ID with the correct birth date so they can start talking to me about the loan. this all said they have all the other info right.
Make sure you contact your congressman and senators so this can be addressed. My loan just got transferred to this companies and can’t just wait to get a lawyer and sue the pants off these clowns. Too bad you can’t choose who services your loan, perhaps we can get that changed.
I found this valuable information
to have the exact status of your loan and lender , please follow this link : https://www.nslds.ed.gov/
once you enter your information, you will see the amount of loan and grant.
then you can click on “Download My student data”. this is a valuable file that give you almost all the information about your student loan, lender , amount, date of repayment, etc… you can save this information as a text or pdf file for future reference.
Thanks for this! I forgot all about this site since I’ve been in the repayment mode for a while now. Just downloaded my copy of my info just in case I need some proof of what I still owe if FedLoan Servicing screws up the transfer…
I actually today went to Fedloans to talk to them about if I could make my payment from the bank with my routing number and I don’t know how but I was gonna talk to bank when I get there. I stumbled on this webscite when I googled in Fedloans. I am pretty much very unhappy with Fedloans myself. I got ready to make my payments and asked them about sending a check monthly? They replied we don’t do that. I really didn’t want to pay on line due to Hackers so I went with the over the telephone way which by doing this I have to use a checking debit card from a bank which I got pretty much just for them. Well someone has gotton a hold of my checking debit card and you can pretty much guess what happened with them getting it. I have that problem now so pretty much stayed calm through matter and because now I am having the real deal of financial difficulty I went on their scite and filled out a form to hold up my payment for a few days but it looked like to me if this form is granted it will only be for 60 days. This is the only thing I could think of to get back on track then and start making my payments again as normal. They sent me an email and said they will have a decsion in something like 10-15 business days. I’m thinking ok here I am trying to resolve this issue and let them know whats going on since as of now my account is deliquent which I don’t think really anybody wants. Well the next day I recieved another e-mail from them we still need you to make payments while your your decsion is pending. I am thinking now maybe they really know what finacial difficulty is because that is why I got with them to resolve this problem to file for that because I am having finacial difficulty If I had the money I wouldn’t being contacting them for a 60 or 90 day day postponement. Now I am worried if I do not make a payment withinin those 10 to 15 busness days they won’t award me this. Reading the comments posted just gets me thinking about this Country and why we are in such a mess. I was on Unemployment at the age of almost 39 and was seeing all these commerials for Triangle Tech and on the radio all the time so I said people can’t find a job as it is, I’m on Unemployment at the time and I can’t find anything at the time so I decided to go to Triangle Tech which is government funded also. Before this last ression they had small class sizes and I’ m talking 6- 12 tops. I was told small class sizes when I signed part of my life away. Go ther the first day I am in a class of 14. I thought that wasn’t small. There was another Electrical class of 14 maybe 15. Now get this within the first week they fired my teacher and the other classes teacher. We have no teachers , the one Administrator and some of the Carprentry teachers were teaching are classes. Well basically they talked us into giving it a shot and they were gonna get us some good teachers. Everyerybody cmoplained about these teachers is why they were let go. Come to find out the one was a regular basic electrian who never taughty school before and the other was a man who never taught before and was on Unemployment . This school is tied to FedLoans whuich between Triangle Tech and Fedloans which are really tied together. After I seen these comments about Fedloans and the experience with Triangle Tech which got really bad it just seems kto me now the big picture clearly now The government is scamming right along with these other two scammers. Its all tied together as one. I thought it was an unbelievable learning experience at Triangle Tech. I really don’t wonder anymore why this country has been for a long while going down the tubes, still is but everything and I mean everything has a breaking point in this world we live in.
Fedloans under the Department of Education is a typical example of a government ran business. It shows poor efficiency, a lack of expertise, and no accountability. Fedloans is doing whatever Fedloans wants because they have no competition. This administration has seen to that. Have you been to your bank lately to try to get a school loan? Most no longer deal with it since it is impossible to compete with the government (taxpayer-backed) loans.
Also, like no other company I’ve every dealt with, Fedloans charges a premium if you make payments to them thorugh your own bank! They try to force you to make your payments through thier online tool and call it a “discount” if you do. So, I end up paying 17 of my bils through my bank but have to go to their site to pay one stupid bill. So much for customer service.
Fed loan servicing’s web site is ALWAYS down! Like right now! And it always seems to be on a Sunday when they are not open. All I want is a simple and convenient way to pay my loans. Fed Loan servicing does not meet these needs.
Joseph and everyone else, a special division within the Department of Education was set up early this year. Its purpose s to investigate some scrupulous behaviors, deficiencies, and irregularities by some of the Federal student loan servicers. Fedloan appears to be top on the list of the target servicers. This year Fedloan is receiving significant Federal paper worth hundreds to service. Unknown to them, some of the the loans are directly monitored by the DOE for the unending complaints mentioned above. The big Part of the problem is that the key stakeholders in this company are a powerful influence the DOE’s decision making process. Quite a lot is going to change in the next few months.
Jeffrey thanks for stopping by and sharing that insight! I also saw that the CFPB is starting to look into student loan servicers as well, so hopefully some relief will come from that front as well.
Jeffrey thanks for the info. Where can I get more information regarding what you mentioned? My loan has just been transferred to FedLoan, and we are talking about 50 K. All I have read concerns me greatly. I’m not worried…I’m hell scared…
Hi Jeff,
I would be very interested in the name of this special division within the Department of Education that investigates unscrupulous behavior by such companies such as FedLoan. I received an email on 10 June 2013 advising me that my student loan had been transferred from Direct Loan Services to FedLoan.org – my original instinct is that this transfer does not bode well and I would like to have the ability to contact the Department of Education directly should I have the experiences many of the posters have had. Thanks!
I stopped making payments to FedLoans until I can be sure they are giving me credits for each dollar. As stated before, their records are missing several hundreds of dollars in payments that I made. Three times (so far) I have asked them for reports to show my payments and they have failed to do that simple task. I am afraid that I’ll just be throwing away money if I keep paying them and they’re not properly recording it. If anyone can hlep me with this company, please let me know. I don’t know what to do anymore. Simply put, FedLoans scares me.
I challenge everyone on this blog, if you haven’t done so already, to request a report from FedLoans showing all of your payments and where they were applied. To say you are in for a major shock is an understatement!
I’ve been paying my loans to FedLoan Servicing for a year now and I have not had any problems. The only think that I noticed is that their customer service people are not that knowledgeable about repayment plans whereas the customer service agents at Sallie Mae were. I’m getting ready to enroll in direct debit to reduce my interest rate, but these posts are making me nervous.
DON’T DO IT! You’ll have so many problems. Notice how they make it easy to sign up via their website but very difficult to cancel…you have to send them written notice which I’m sure they’ll just claim they lost or didn’t receive it and continue to take your payment out whether you can afford it or not. Use bill payer instead that way YOU have control over the payment and aren’t subject to extortion.
DON’T FALL FOR THE INTEREST RATE REDUCTION SCAM! It’s obviously a blatant attempt to obtain your bank account information and once they have your bank account info you’re doomed. That’s like a big chunk of freshly mined diamond to them. They’re not givin’ it up worth anything! They’ll just extort you and continue to take your payment out whether you request forbearance or a cancellation of your direct debit. They’ll try to take it out even if they know it’s going to bounce. They don’t care. That’s their intent. Their excuse? Get a higher paying job you bum!
Pft! Chyeah right.
Oh. Why didn’t I think of that?
OMFG!! I’m such an idiot!
Thanks for helping me see the light FedLoan!
They’re hellbent on making your life miserable. This is obviously a very troubled institution and I’m becoming a very violent, angry person because of it. I nearly tore apart the house the other day in a fit of rage when I saw that my payment amount mysteriously increased for no reason at all from a payment I would have been able to make to one that I will not be able to afford. They did that on purpose. Next time I think I’ll save myself the hassle of the clean up and just tear apart their nice, big, expensive-looking glass office building instead. It would probably be worth every penny of the vandalism charges on my record, going to jail and never being able to secure another job again! Lol. Take that FedLoan! Now you’ll never get another payment from me again! Bastards.
I worked at a financial institution and many of our members had the same problems with FedLoan and now I’m having similar issues with them. They just do whatever they want regardless of your request and then make up some excuse to cover for it or tell the front line staff to relay lies and deceit. It would be more respectable if they would give you an upfront answer and tell you that they can’t approve your request and your payment will still go through no matter what and this is what it will be. Says right on their website to call them if you’re having trouble making payments. Pft! That’s a damn joke! They ain’t gonna do a damn thing about it other than increase your payment and tell you to get a higher paying job as if it were just that easy! That normally is what people who sit at desks all day with nothing to do, have no experience and make $60,000 a year say.
WOW!! Look at you up there!
I’m so proud of you!
It’s just too bad I’m waaaaaaaay down here (in your mind anyway). Oh whale.
It’s the supervisors and upper level managers making the decisions about your account then telling the lower level employees the lies that everything is taken care of. The lower level employee then relays to you but, unbeknownst to the lower level employee, everything is NOT taken care of and then they have to put up with your crap the next time you call in bitching about something they apparently screwed up on purpose.
The system is designed to be deceptive and confusing so you don’t know what hit you and they can just blame it on a glitch in the system. In reality, they DO know what they’re doing. This is intentional. These people are criminals. It won’t be taken care of until someone takes out the *bleeping* disgusting garbage within.
I have had many of the same negative experience with FedLoan Servicing. I was fed up long ago and attempted to change loan servicing compnaies. The request was denied by The Dept of Ed. I have been attempting to get an answer to a burning question, but have gotten nowhere with either FedLoan Servicing (Big shock there) or The Dept. of Ed. Does anyone know how FedLoan Servicing is compensated by by the Federal Government? Is it possible that they are compensated based upon the balance of the loans that they are servcing at any given time? Is it possible that they have a financial incentive to keep the recorded balances on loans higher? I guess I always assumed that they were compensated based upon the loans that they collected, but that makes too much sense. If anyone can answer this question, please respond to me directly. Thanks in advance.
It’s actually by loan status – from most compensation to least is:
– loans current and in repayment
– loans on deferment or forbearance
– loans that are delinquent (past due)
– loans in default
Oh my, I was reduced to tears speaking with them yesterday and am incredibly frustrated. I’ve requested a record of all our correspondence to take to the Ombudsman with no response. I’m trying to revert both my consolidated loans into repayment so I can begin paying. They will only revert the subsidized loan and not the unsubsidized! Saying they never received the form requesting the unsubsidized enter repayment – it’s the same form for both – just one form!! I have faxed and mailed it multiple times. I’ve been attempting this since April. While my loan just sits there collecting interest. How do we all come together to file one huge complaint and who is their regulating board? These practices are beyond unethical.
I believe fedload is involved in fraud possibly. When you repay a loan normally part is allocated to principal and part to interest and as the loan is paid more is allocated to principal and less to interest. Over the last 10 months or so since i started repaying there is no regularity in what is applied to principal and interest. Payment #4 for example had about $300 applied to interest and $1600 to interest. The next payment i paid more and only about a $100 was applied to principal and the rest to interest. The following payment i paid more than the regular payment again and about $300 was applied to principal and the rest to interest. I feel like no matter how much more i pay it only goes to interest not principal. I feel like im throwing money away and fedloan servicing is not allowing me to pay down my loan. This seems criminal to me. What can i do?
You click on pay this loan and then click in another button that says pay this Specific loan
I agree, it is very confusing. I can pay the same amount for months in a row, yet the money will be applied differently every time, with no explanation.
FedLoan SUCKS! I sent in a request for IBR, but they’re taking forever to process it. So far, two reps put in the app for forbearance. Today, I called because I got a past due notice and was told the forbearance is there and approved, but it has to be manually applied to my account. I asked when and the rude rep ignored my question. They are no help….I plan an aggressive course of action with a heavy paper trail, complaints to every entity possible. I will be relentless until they fix my account. Everyone needs to do this because they are taking us all for a ride at our expense.
My loans just got transferred to fed loan servicing and they admitted to the following:
1. Not sending me a bill
2. Placing my account under forbearance because I am on auto pay and they didn’t have enough time to apply my payment.
3. Sending me a letter that said I have to do nothing and my auto pay will be applied.
It seems like this is something I am going to have to get used to or pay off the balance asap.
Every time I deal with fedloan I get an upset stomach. Is there a lawyer out there that can help us? PLEASE SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE!!!!
What are you doing where you have to deal with them? We’ve found that doing everything online/via mail is the easiest way to avoid issues and talking to them.
Just wanted to add to the chorus of voices denouncing FedLoan Servicing. Even their website is useless, I get errors and crashed pages half the time I’m navigating their site… I just want to repay my loans, darnit, why make that so difficult?
I haven’t had an issue with fedloans. Sure their website takes days to show your payment and their customer service reps are clueless, but what do you expect for minimum wage pay? They have always credited my account for the day that I paid, as far as interest goes. Just do everything you can to pay your loans off asap so you can be free of them. I started at 36K in May of this year and will be down to 20K in December. Will be free by Oct. of next year. Just continue to live like a college student and move in with parents/roommate/bf/gf whatever to help. We can do this!!! Keep plugging away, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
It isn’t minimum wage at all actually…I see critical thinking instead of
assuming was not taught to you throughout your education. I work there
in Customer Service and make 15.63 per hour. Not the best, but also not
bad for a 23 year old student with an easy job while getting tuition
reimbursement for my BA. The reps aren’t clueless, the borrowers most of
the time are. Some people don’t know what they’re talking about though,
as in any company. Oh well, it’s life.
And you are making that off of people’s debt and misery. GO YOU.
LOL stop playing little miss victim, you’re the one who took out student loans, YOU signed up for debt. When you sign up for student loans and don’t research the college, research the degree, finish the degree, or ensure yourself well placement then that is your own fault! But you’re right, GO ME because I planned things out the right way and first obtained a job which would pay for my schooling. So yes, go me for planning, and shame on you for playing a victim when you threw yourself into debt. Get it together.
FedLoan is the ABSOLUTE WORST loan servicer in the history of student loan servicers!!! My loan was transferred there from Direct Loan Servicing back in May. I am one who always likes to stay on top of everything so as to not have a negative mark on my credit report. So I called about a month ahead of my next payment due date just to make sure that my direct debit transferred over and I didn’t need to worry about re-signing up and whether it would be in enough time to make the payment, as was stated in the communications I had received from Direct Loans and from FedLoans. After calling and waiting on hold for twenty minutes, I was informed that the information did not transfer over and that I would, in fact need to re-sign up for direct debit and that it would not be in enough time for the monthly payment so I would need to make it manually. That was fine, I was just simply annoyed that I was given conflicting information between the correspondence and FedLoan Customer service. So going along, my payment is made automatically without issue, until I started attending school and then a month in, transferred schools. I never was not in school, just simply transferred. Well they wasted no time switching me from deferment to repayment status, however it seems updating my enrollment takes QUITE a bit longer even though I was never NOT enrolled or attending classes. So again…called, waited on hold forever to be told that I needed to send my enrollment verification to them and it would be updated within 7-10 business days. Well a few days later, the enrollment wasn’t even showing as received so I sent it again and again told I needed to wait another 7-10 days for processing. After those 10 days, I emailed asking why my enrollment status still had not been updated, I’m enrolled, taking, attending classes…everything I need to be doing. The next response I get tells me that processing actually takes 15-20 days and if I have further questions to contact customer service. So I respond saying how interesting it is that not only am I being told different days that the enrollment status was received but also that the timeline keeps changing and why should I continue to call “customer service” if they obviously cannot give me accurate information. The response says, the reason I received varied responses was because they received two different enrollment verifications. Notice again the change in story…I thought they never received the first one. So long story short, they received my enrollment verification on September 17. As of today October 16…I am still showing in repayment. Meanwhile, loans that are being serviced by other providers, have switched back to deferment without any delay or problems and without debiting money from my account. I have no problems paying my loans at all…but it is the simple fact that it’s one less thing I should have to worry about while I’m in graduate school. Anyways, sorry for the long post, I just DESPISE these people and wish that my loans could be transferred to a company that actually does know what is going on and has knowledgeable customer service reps. that are courteous and are not too lazy to obtain correct information.
Fed Loans looks like it’s going to be a nightmare to deal with. I am paying my loans with an Americorps Education Award. I have to request payments about 15 days before they’re due because Americorps takes a while to process the payments. I made the September payment, and Fedloans says it’s delinquent! even thought they are telling me that they received the payment from Americorps on the 9th of October but it takes 15 days to process and post on my account. WTH! If you have my payment, then post it already! To make matters worse, I requested the October payment already, and they’ve already received it. They say it will now take 20 to 30 days to post ans reflect on my account. That means that my payment will be late for October. What is wrong with these people?
I too have had these maddening issues. They tell me since the Segal Award is a government payment and not personal they take over a month, sometimes 2 for me, to even process and cash the check because they say those take a while to process. They’ve also not credited 5 months worth of payments to my account which then forced me to do a check trace with Americorps to prove their mistake. Then per their suggestion sent a letter and over 30 pages of proof of their mistake and the issue is still not resolved, hence me needing to call them every two weeks to check up on them to make sure my credit score doesn’t suffer because of their constant mistakes. I’ve filed complaints with supervisors but never Department of Education, and still nothing changes.
I’ve only had one problem with them and that is a large payment I made with direct loans and then was transferred to them I never seen a dent in my payments that does piss me off. Also there is a tricky thing they do and that is it says pay this loan but then you have to click on again pay this specific loan. Otherwise you will be allocating all your loans to mostly interest. Once you figure out all the misleading tricks you’ll know how to play the game. Anyway .org always means non profit they shouldn’t be making a profit. Well direct loans screw you for selling me to this shitty company and makir lose 500 dollars.
You need to send them a written letter explaining it, and then also file a complaint with the Department of Education. It sucks and will take work, but hopefully it will get resolved for you.
I am so glad I found your article. I am currently shaking with anger and frustration at Fed Loan right now. This happens to me every month. I provide the correct check information, make my payment and voila, I’m delinquent! The customer serviced providers never answer my questions, are completely incompetent and rude, and actually hung up on me. Now mind you, I used a calm voice the entire time with both service reps, never cursed, and asked legitimate questions because quite frankly they were not making any sense at all. They actually hung up on me. I was told by another idiot associate long ago that they do not accept debit transactions. So annoying because I do not use checks. But I found my check book, submitted electronic routing number and my account number and it never goes through. They always try to blame my bank but my bank confirmed that all of my information is correct. Nor do I have any issues with anyone else. They blamed me. I verified my information. Then they said that they have no guarantee that their system won’t run my account numbers incorrectly. And that I need to check back with them after five days to make sure it went through. Who has time for that!? They informed me that they do take debit (so other service providers lied or were ignorant) and I had to beg them to take it over get phone over going back into my account and refilling out the information. They said they sent me an email yesterday that I had a delinquent account for 42 days. I never received an email (other than my next monthly statement due in February) and that didn’t provide any info of a delinquent account, now mind you I had made two payments, one of which was on the phone two weeks ago with another idiot rep and neither went through. Though they couldn’t explain why because everything on my end and my banks end is perfect. They said this will more than likely happen monthly. But this affects my credit and late payment fees. They justified it that it didn’t this time. Well, that makes me feel better!
I hope you take action and report them to the Department of Education. Also, make sure you check your credit report to make sure they haven’t screwed that up.
So the story continues…..I tripled my payment yesterday with my debit card, this amount was immediately taken out if my checking account. Received notices today that I am delinquent with my payment. I called to make sure it wasn’t an automatic response sent on accident. The rep said they have no record of my payment and that I am over 40 days delinquent. I told him my story and that I had to make a payment with my debit card by phone. He said they do not accept debit or credit transactions. And yet I have $400 taken out of my account. He then found the transaction after much searching. He was baffled about the debit card transaction. I asked when this would update in their system so that my credit does not get hit. He said it might take several weeks. Again, the money is taken immediately out of my account. He said the only thing I could do was to apply for forbearance. So that my credit doesn’t get hit over the next several weeks until they “process” my payment. He assured me that this would not increase my interest or affect my credit so I agreed. Of course I immediately regret the decision because that is meant for when I need help and cannot make my payments. Plus why did I trust this guy, who didn’t even know they accept debit transactions? This could be affecting my credit and interest rate. He gave me no other option. I told him that other reps told me it was probably an error on fed loans end to begin with. He laughed at that and blamed my bank. He went on a spiel about how local banks don’t know how to give the correct electronic routing number. I told him I never went through my local bank, and that the electronic routing number was not only given to me by my national bank but verified by fedloan servicing.
This is a scam. They are doing this to force delinquent payments on my end even though I pay monthly so that they can increase my interest rate.
Robert, How do I go about fighting this and reporting them to The Department of a Education?
One final thought, this rep urged me to switch my payments to pay.gov. He said they then receive the payments through them. I asked him to walk me through it and he tried, but with no success. Apparently they are not or no longer apart of pay.gov. Though why have a middle man? This is such a nightmare. I need to refinance my loan with a credit union.
Contact the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman. Also, consumerfinance.gov. These stories scare me. My loans were sold to FedLoan also. I’m doing IBR,and my payments are $0, but I’m always checking because it’s been such a pain just to get on the IBR. My IBR application was accepted, but they extended my forbearance for another month for some reason. Now five months after sending in my TEACH Grant certification, I got a letter saying that my certification wasn’t accepted. I was told it was accepted a few months ago, and their website says my recertification isn’t due again until 11/2014. I don’t know what else they want me to do to prove that I have been working as a special ed teacher in a low income school since 10/2012. My form was certified by the administration in my district, and I followed all the directions on the form. I don’t understand why it has to be such a pain!
Wow! I can’t believe what I’m reading. Most of these horrible things have happened to me. If I could get them to pay me for the number of times I’ve been told something different, faxed and mailed in things that some say they received and others say they didn’t see it, I’d be rich! I even spoke with someone who said they were a supervisor several times. It has been horrible, and has lasted for almost a year trying to go through them.
Check out “FedLoan Servicing Scammed” on facebook. I started this to try and pool others who have been wronged.
I too have had a number of problems with this company. I once had this company and then consolidated my loans and thankfully my loans went to another company. I filled out forms to be on the ICR and was off running making some payments. Then a few months in, loan gets transferred right back to FedLoan, but the ICR was still good to go. Problems really started with a nonpayment issue, I tried to change my last name since I had gotten married (really more trouble than its worth). I sent all kinds of required methods of validation, both through fax and mail to only get a letter in my inbox online to say, not legible, invalid form, lost the paperwork etc. Tried about four times to no avail. Then comes time to submit follow up paperwork for the ICR since it had been one year. Okay no problem, submitted all the paperwork and processed with no problems whatsoever. Wonder why this was? Probably because they approved me for $0 payments, since I didn’t make much, and interest would accrue so they would make more money. Not bad for short term though – since interest is tax deductible later. I then got a job, since my husband was the primary earner and we resubmitted paperwork since our income had changed. Had to submit twice before it got processed and it took about a month before they accepted and revised my payments. Now I need to start making so payments, hahah here we go. Tried to send a payment through my banks auto bill pay – bill pay always worked 100%. My bank has a relationship with FedLoan so it will be electronic and no problem right?? Well the payment never gets credited to my account last month in January. I called them and they tell me they never received the payment and they were ever so gladly able to put my account in forbearance so they wouldn’t report me missing a payment. Like hell they didn’t receive it, I sent them the proof from a statement and also even had my bill pay people send there paperwork showing the payment at least made it to FedLoan. As of today, they say it is still being looked at. Simultaneously, I had sent paperwork to begin taking advantage of the direct debit since it would help a little with the interest as well. I called about a week after I sent it and the guy told me it was early enough in the billing cycle that it would take affect and my payment would be taken out for Feb. Only to log into today to see Delinquent and 2 days past do. Okay, maybe it was because my payment was taken out on Friday and today was a Holiday. Called and nope direct debit wasn’t started and he tried to tell me the paperwork was lost and they never processed it. Oh wait wait, nevermind he says about 5 min later with me fuming, i found it, but its being processed. You’ll have to make a payment manually.
So far the gist of my experience is when the situation will benefit FedLoan they have very quick turnaround time when it comes to processing paperwork (ie, forbearance which is processed in a matter of 5 sec on the phone, ICR which is processed in maybe about 2-3 days since overall your payments would be reduced which means longer term to payoff your loan. Then they are very slow when it comes to either accepting or processing a payment (ie, proof of payment process when you show you really paid and they say you didn’t, signing up for direct debit to take advantage of the little minute savings on the interest rate (still a savings), etc etc) Very frustrated when I can’t even pay anything to my loan. HELLO, I’m the one that is responsible to pay and I’m trying to take care of my responsibilities, but this company basically won’t allow me to.
Wow. I’m glad I am not the only one who has been sent into an anger blackout by FedLoan. But I’m also really sad that I’m not the only one, because it’s downright criminal that they are screwing over people on such a massive scale. They are by far the worst company I have ever had to deal with on the phone. And I’ve had to deal with Geico. Seriously, Geico, whose representatives tried to gaslight me into thinking that it was actually I who moved my car sideways into the bumper of the woman who backed into my passenger side door. FedLoan is worse. Their customer service is worse. And their website is definitely worse. I made a $3000 electronic payment to FedLoan almost four months ago. My bank sure thinks the money is with FedLoan, but FedLoan disagrees. I’ve called them and faxed them and faxed them and called them with all of my bank info. I usually have to sit through someone explain, at excruciating length, concepts such as “interest” and “what to do if I can’t afford to make a payment,” all of which are both ridiculously basic and COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT TO THE FACT THAT THEY LOST MY $3000. After jerking me around for almost four months, they finally told me that I would need to sort it out with my bank and get back to them. I am just dumbfounded.
And this is only one of the many things they have done to piss me off.
THIS IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE!!!!! I AM IN TEARS OVER WHAT THIS COMPANY IS DOING TO MY BOYFRIEND!!!! I just wish I would have researched this place before he even went and signed up with them….from what Ive been reading it seems he picked the worst company to use that seems like nothing but a SCAM and FRAUD!!!
HE JUST KEEPS GETTING THE RUN AROUND, JUST TOLD HIM HIS LOANS WERNT EVEN DONE THROUGH THEM, BUT ANOTHER COMPANY BUT THEY KNOW NOTHING OF IT. HIS INITIAL CONTRACT PAPERWORK HES HOLDING IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THAN THE DOCTORED ONES THEY SENT WHEN HE STRUGGLED TO GET THEM TO EVEN SEND.
WHO DOES HE GO TO FOR HELP NOW??? HES GETTING NO WHERE WITH ANY OF THEM…..
PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!
Can everyone put their interest rate on their loans? Mine is 6.5% fixed.
I am also having a horrible time with Fedloan Servicing. Last summer, my loans were automatically transferred to them along with my Teach Grant. I sent my Teach Grant certification to the address on the form I received which I found out was the wrong place AFTER I received it back by USPS Return Mail. I immediately called Fedloan to find out what happened and they told me not to worry, I had an additional 30 days to get the information to them. I faxed everything to them the following day including the envelope everything came back in so they could see the postmark date, but they converted my grant to a loan anyway! I have been calling regularly for almost 6 months and a manager in the Teach Grant section keeps telling me that my case is under review and they had many cases like this so I just have to wait. Now they are billing me and want me to begin payments on the grant plus interest. I am at wit’s end with this company!!!! Is there anything we can do collectively??
I am having the same problem as WV Teacher. I just filed a complaint with the BBB. I had to do something to make me feel like I had some say. I forgot to fill in the address of the school where I am completing my teaching obligation. I received the letter stating I had 30 days to fix it. 9 days later it was converted to a loan. That was in December. It is now May and no one can tell me anything except that it is under review. Today it was actually in “the final stages of review.” Hmmm…Look at the dates, verify the information, and make a decision. That takes 6 months????? Seriously?
tworst company i have ever dealt with, hands down
I agree. They bought out my loans in 2009 and now say that they lost track of my previous payments and paperwork. I am a federal employee and am trying to get loan forgiveness for my federal loans under the public service loan forgiveness program. So now I have about 5 years more than I should have to to pay. Additionally the just changed my payment plans, I am not qualified for IBR now so instead put me on ICR, but have me set up to pay the loans off in 10 years instead of the maximum 25. Now my payments are double what I am used to. I have contacted them twice and nothing has been resolved. I contacted the department of education and it sounds like you can file a formal complaint with them, I have worked with them on various issues that have not been resolved for the last few years. Every time you call it’s just the run around – or yeah – we will fix that and nothing gets done. Something has to change.
I had different though equally frustrating problems with Fedloan Servicing.: Intentionally misleading correspondence, rude and unhelpful agents, and a total lack of concern toward my multiple requests for a straight answer about my TEACH grant. I’m glad I found your article, but angry that so many people have had poor experiences with this company. I could tell you all about what they did to me, but that would take pages and pages. I filed a complaint with the BBB, but I doubt that will help; Fedloan Servicing is not BBB accredited, so they are under no obligation to give two Shakespeares.
I have had the worst possible experience with Fed Loan Servicing. I have also been in tears from the frustration of talking to the representatives who seems to have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Even their supervisors cannot seem to get it right!! I seem to get different information every single time I make a call. I have called over 7 times in the last week and have spoken to 2 different supervisors and and they are still unable to get things straight. I have sent a complaint to the BBB and have made a call to the ombudsman. I have been in public service for the last 4 years but will not be able to even apply my payments towards loan forgiveness since the rep spoke with when my loans got transferred to Fed Loan Servicing indicated that I was on a plan that was not eligible for PSLF and changed my plan to a different plan, which in the end was NOT an eligible plan. I don’t even know what to do anymore and cannot trust anything these people say.
All you need to do is document your payments, 120 required, not consecutive, that corresponds to your public service position…month for month. match your paystubs/proof of public service employment, to the proof of payment…and match that to the payment level you are supposed to be in at that time (Adjusted for AGI/ Income Based Repayment or ICR). I have been specifically told by FedLoan that I could be in a zero payment level, with an AGI of < 150% of poverty level, working a Federal job, and still accumulate qualifying months of PSLF. If that is not true, then I am screwed, too. I think a complaint against the servicer is the next step, but that complaint needs to go to Congress and the US Dept of Education. This program has been all smoke and mirrors since I last tried to qualify for it in 2009!!!
Add me to the group of frustrated fed loan servicer customers. I have direct debit on my account, am enrolled in the income based repayment AND public service forgiveness programs, and have faithfully made on time payments since 2009. I started a Ph.D. program in 2013, at which time I decided to waive my in school deferment to continue applying payments toward my forgiveness. This year, my payment increased significantly even though my income did not, and I realized that if I could apply that money to higher interest debt for now, I could be debt free except for these student loans by the time I finish graduate school. So, I called them and requested to have my waiver removed. I had to fill out and fax a form, which I did. Nothing changed. I ended up calling twice and speaking with 3 reps before the deferment was placed back on my account. The last rep I spoke with said that the request to have deferment placed back on the account could take up to 30 days, so she put my account in temporary forbearance. I budgeted the next month (I get paid monthly) accordingly and applied my normal payment toward an extra car payment. I budgeted so that I would have $100 a week to pay for food and gas in my car for the rest of the month, and everything was great – until I logged into my bank account and discovered that fedloan servicing auto debited my account for the full payment. I called again, and was told that it was their mistake and that I would be issued a refund that would take 30-60 days to process. Given my experience with their information, I called today (30 days after this) and was told that THE REFUND REQUEST WAS NEVER SUBMITTED. OMG what the hell is wrong with these people? I expressed, very politely, my frustration with the constant misinformation that I am being given and got a flat, non emotional response of “do you want to speak with my manager?” I replied that I did not think that was necessary; I just wanted correct information and was not interested in complaining – just fix it, please! She told me she put in the request and it will take 30-60 days to process.
So, here I am, still waiting. On another note, I have submitted my public loan forgiveness employment information every year, and yet half of my payments are not showing up on my account. At this point, I think it would be better to just submit documentation once I hit my 120 payments, so I only have to deal with these people once. That is, if they are still in business!
I am glad to hear I am not alone and feel you guys on your suffering…. I have had so many problems and it just makes me more angry to talk about it.
Is there any way to get loans served by a different company? has anyone ever personally moved their loans to a new servicer? I don’t think this company deserves any part of my money, time or effort.
Thanks!
I just had a horrible experience with FedLoan. I must say that I never had these issues with SallieMae, which serviced my undergraduate studnet loans. Then the feds allowed FedLoan to service my graduate loans. Anyway, I scheduled a payment on 09/30 in mid-August. Then on 08/27 I logged back on and changed the due date/payment date for the scheduled payment to the current day–08/27. They processed the payment. They took the money out of my account. Then on 08/02 they processed a second payment against my checking account overdrafting my checking account as my student loan payments are huge. When I called them they said to ask my bank to stop payment. I tired but Bank of America said once it was “processing” they couldn’t do anything about it. So I called FedLoan back. I got this rude woman who apparently took offense as to what I was suggesting. Long story short I had two checks bounce and one automatic draft be returned without payment. And I had two other online payments be returned without payment because FedLoan said the refund to my account would take up to 30 days. I of course filed a complaint with the Federal Loan Ombudsman. And I filed a complaint with my bank. But so what? Look at the damage done.
Are you paid by FedLoan? Sounds like you are a little advocate for their PR representation
Since FedLoan became my servicer, I just passed my yearly IBR “income verification” period but did not receive an email warning me that my payment was going to triple if it wasn’t received. Admittedly, it’s my fault for not remembering my “anniversary” date but I suspect FedLoan is incentivized to not remind people in time since it means more money being payed back.
So I had to agree to a 3-month forebearance to give them time to process my paperwork showing my income has not changed. So instead of $350/month, now they get nothing so that I don’t have to pay $850/month while we all get on the same page. Seems counterproductive to me.
Will try setting up “paperless” only communication so they don’t split up important messages between snail mail and email. Conversely, after reading these comments, I’m considering going back to sending checks in the mail instead of direct debit so they can’t reach in and take what they want.
Update to my last about IBR income verification: Turns out FedLoan servicing forgot to suspend my direct debit when I went into forebearance to give them time to process paperwork so they debited $850 and are now trying to get me a refund. Meanwhile, they suspended my forebearance without consulting me because the paperwork went through.
Ok fine, sort of, except they forgot to reinstate direct debit so my next payment on 11/28 would have been delinquent if I hadn’t called to make sure.
More to the point, are folks here aware that FedLoan Servicing moves your interest rate up and down during periods of forebearance? Because you get a 0.25% reduction for being on direct debit and when you are on forebearance, you are not having funds debited, they jack up the rate (for me) to 6.875% then back down to 6.625% when forebearance ends.
Since interest is calculated daily, this means that FedLoan Servicing is potentially making lots of $$ on little mistakes like mine above where I had direct debit suspended for longer than was required.
I applied for an income-contingent plan for the PSLF back in August. It took two months for them to even acknowledge that they got the paperwork. Once they processed it? My payments were more than my rent, and planned out for 10 years. Guess what? The PSLF requires 10 years of payments, so I would get nothing forgiven. They also used my gross yearly income to base their calculations on, insisting that “nobody” adjusts for taxes taken out, which is garbage. Any time you report income from a tax form, you’re not reporting the total gross, because there have been pre-tax deductions by the government.
I then pointed out to the incompetent fool on the phone that the salary they were using was for a job I only started in the middle of the year, so I would be earning less than half of the gross. The woman on the phone’s brilliant response, “Oh. Yeah. I guess so. Well there’s nothing we can do about that.”
This company is the worst. They keep moving the start of my repayment back a month without telling me, while interest keeps accumulating, by adjusting my repayment plans and putting me into a forbearance, which I have never asked for. And their website is useless. I wish I could file a complaint with the DoE to get my loans handled by someone competent! If such a company exists.
Another interesting fact: Fedloan Servicing took over my loan from my prior servicer in June 2013. That year, they only sent me a 1098-E tax form reporting the interest I paid for the 6 months I was with FedLoan Servicing. The $1000+ I paid to the other servicer was never reported. (mind you, they had not problem recovering my routing number from the old servicer)
This means that my Adjusted Gross Income for the year was incorrect (because the student loan interest deduction lowers AGI).
This also means that my IBR payment calculations were wrong for the year because IBR payment amount is calculated partly on how much you make (i.e., your AGI).
Also seems like a way FedLoan Servicing could be making a lot of extra $$ since I’m sure I’m not the only one this happened to.
So today I checked mu credit score and it appears that not one,but two loans where taking out in my name…Using my maiden name which I have not used in 8 years plus my bday and social…I’m furious.How does that work?Do they not get background info or confirm people are who they say they are?I’m just so upset right now. Seriously how do you get a loan without proof of person,do they not ask for ID~ How is the money disbursed?Is it in check form,direct deposit?OR WHAT? I just do not see how someone can fraudulently take out a loan without showing some sort of proof of person.They have been informed of this and a fraud package is being sent to me,but it seems the security of loans should be higher.
Has anyone else had an issue like this??? I’m 7 months into this and nothing has been resolved yet!!!
I contacted Fed Loan because my payment jumped from my IBR of $28.65 to $299 in December with no notice. I contacted Fed Loan and the rep told me I had not completed my annual reapplication for my IBR. I had looked at my payment history and my IBR appeared to have started in May and was supposed to be good for 12 months. The rep told me that I had applied back in December and that my full December payment had been spread out over 4 months once my IBR request had been approved. I received no notice: no phone call, no email, no message in my account inbox. When I asked about reapplying and asked if I needed to put my loan on deferment until the application was processed, the rep said I didn’t because they would take my application into account and adjust my amount past due accordingly. Well, you can probably guess what happened. I got approved for IBR again (somehow, despite making the same income as last year, it went from $28.65 to $218.00!!!) but my past due amount did not get adjusted. Now, I am nearly $600 past due and making catch up payments.
Sorry to hear about your horrible experiences — hope you can get out from under the loan as soon as possible.
Good afternoon all,
I am (yet another) victim of FedLoan Servicing.
My story: I started paying back my loans a couple months early and have continuously overpaid my loans by a couple hundred dollars to make my principle minimized. However, FedLoan Servicing pushed my loans into a “Delinquent” status. How can my loans be delinquent if I have been paying on time and at a higher amount? Because I did exactly what they told me: I paid the “Current Payment Due” amount. Thus, allowing FedLoan Servicing to “mistarget” my payments. Not to mention I have tried to set up Direct Debit several times, but FedLoan Servicing has never set it up.
I am sick of this company and want to get away from them. How can they get away with taking so much money, and causing so many problems?
I am paying back my loans in a timely manner and am even giving more then requested. Yet, they put my loans as Delinquent and work to ruin my credit score.
Any advice from anyone?
I need as much help as possible, as I have not had any contact back from FedLoan servicing since they changed my loans to Delinquent.
Thank you all for your time.
After making 10 qualifying payments to have my loans forgiven I switched jobs, I no longer qualify to be in the loan forgiveness program and they wanted to up my payments to $500 a month. I went into forbearance because I was unable to make the payments and had called them to say so. Once my forbearance of 2 months was over I started making more reasonable payments. However I would get a letter stating the amount that would come of direct debit every month and a week or so after that letter I would receive a letter stating that I was delinquent in my payments. How could I be delinquent when they direct debit from my account? After 6 months of calling and getting the well its taken care of I finally contacted my congressman and was able to get a supervisor at Fedloan. They had been allocating payments on the wrong months and only paying interest. Their error had me in tears many times. Now I am looking to purchase a new home and am terrified that they have ruined my credit score as I had perfect credit before this fiasco!
Is there an advocacy group that oversee all of these complaints? After dealing with with the Sallie Mae for over 10 years and now Fed Loan to get loan forgiveness and been paying for over 2 years, they told me that NONE of my payments qualify. These are crooks and need to dealt with!
I agree!! Fedloan is the worst loan ever!!! I reset my password like 6 times!! I wrote down my password on a piece of paper six times and when I try to log in right away each time. The stupid ass website says it is the wrong password!! I hate this website. I sign up for student loan forgiveness so I don’t have to deal with them anymore! I stop paying them cuz their service suck and their online help suck even more!! All I can say is that I can’t wait to get rid of them.
Can you get out of FEDLOANS if you already have them? Can I go with a different company?
I have been trying to do income contingent and they base it on my husbands salary. If they based it on my per deim subbing then I would have a $50 a month payment.
Any help??
Thank you
No, you can’t. They have to base it on the total family income – since you’re married, both of your income’s count. Your’s is per diem, so it is lower than your husbands and they combine the two.
According to FedLoan Service, it is based on your previous income tax filing. So if you are married but file separately, you should be able to only use your own income. This is what the rep told me today. My loan repayment starts in December . . . after reading this page I am dreading this. I am going on an IBR, but it seems like the way it is set up they make you not be able to be on IBR until after the initial payment, as it takes 1 to 2 (means 2 or more) billing cycles to process an IBR. That means you have to pay your first payments in full or go into forbearance it seems.
You can use your most recent paystubs if your income varies differently from your prior year’s tax return. You just have to ask when you file. Also, you make payments under the standard plan until your IBR payment is approved.
FedLoan recently approved my IBR request submitted by the third party I’ve dealt with from the git-go and surprisingly, my current monthly payment is $0, which means my loan status is now on forbearance and my interest will continue to accrue. To be frank, I wish to continue with my monthly payments instead of having an increasing amount of interest that I will have to pay later. Anyhow, after reading all your individual complaints, it simply made me develop mixed emotions about this company. I’ve had issues with them before with respect to loan consolidation, well actually with the thrid party that assisted me throughout the consolidation process. As a matter of fact, I was convinced that if I were to consolidate my loans, all my previous payments made towards the loans when they were under Sallie Mallie will still count as the 120 payments I must make in order to be eligible for forgiveness. Apparently, I found out later on from FedLoan after making a few payments towards them that all the previous payments I made towards Sallie Mae are no longer included within the 120 payments. I’m starting from scratch is what they told me smh. So I’m a bit anxious now to find out if there’s a way we can get out of this mess, FedLoan in particular because I honestly want to make payments in an equitable manner.
I recently consolidated my loans and like all of you I was not given a choice on vendors. I am very unhappy with their services…I’m nervous they are going to mess something up. It takes a very long time for them to process anything and their mail seems to be very delayed. I made an online payment three days before the due date and two days after the due date it said it was still waiting for my payment. I was not penalized or anything, but this does not seem to be a reliable company. I would like to be able to trust a company that is handling such a an important part of my finances.
There isn’t much that’s consistent at FedUp Servicing but I have to admit there are at least two things they do consistently: They consistently say one thing then do another and they consistently don’t follow their own rules. I commend FedUp Servicing for being consistent in two of their efforts.
FedLoan might as well be scammers. They are already liars and rude as hell.
Here’s a problem I had with them at least twice. I go online make a payment on their crappy website. A few days later I get a phone call from someone at Fedloan reminding me I’ve yet to make a payment. I tell them I made a payment and provide the payment verification number. The lady on the phone says that payment isn’t showing up on her records. She urges me to make a payment over the phone and I do. A few days later BOTH payments hit my bank account! I call FedLoan and ask WTH happened. They don’t have any answers except subtly implying their computer systems suck. I speak to a manager who tells me refunds take up to 90 days!!
Great now I’m broke for a month.
Here’s the most recent one.
I set up automatic payments through their website. I’m told the payments won’t start until next month so I still need to make this month’s payment manually. I make the manual payment because my due date was in about 2 days. About a week later I get a phonecall saying I’m late on payment. I give the person my confirmation number and it doesn’t show up in her system. I’m urged to make a payment over the phone to rectify the issue. I make the payment.
Three days later 3 equal transactions hit my bank account. The original payment I made, the stupid auto payment that wasn’t supposed to start till the end of the next month, as well as the new payment they “forced” me to make because I was supposedly late.
I swear before god almighty I didn’t exagerate this one bit.
They received a payoff check from us on Monday. It cleared today. There is no payment posted in the account. Daily email inquiries go unanswered. You get an auto reply telling you that someone will get back to you but nobody does. I’ve had loan with Great Lakes and Granite State and received excellent service. This is inexcusable. Especially since or has been going on for so long judging by the long history of service complaints.
This is what happens when we let the government run our lives. They build up the outstanding student loan debt and sub out the managing to one of their cronies to pocket loads of money for subbing it out to someone else to do all the work and rake in the interest payments to load up their pockets. No doubt a friend of someone in the administration… Big government needs to be dissolved. They are only stealing our hard earned money.
These crooks just withdrew $1000 from my checking account and I don’t owe any student loans. I called my bank and put a stop payment on the payment and then called FedLoan Servicing and they can’t even find me in their system. I’m so frustrated right now!!
Wow I cannot believe how many people have commented on Myfedloans.org because I’m starting to have issues with them too now. I wrote almost two pages of problems on Microsoft Word and copied it to an email last Monday and I still have not heard from them. When I email most businesses they always respond to you within two business days, but I’m still waiting for FedLoans to email me back. I have about $30,000 in debt with them and this is my only debt and it is very frustrating because I pay roughly $100 every two weeks to them towards the interest on specific loans that I owe interest on but it the interest just keeps going up, while the principle is only going down slightly. Before when I made payments it would have taken it out of the interest and I never changed the way I paid for interest, but now it just won’t even touch my interest, and I don’t even have to start making payments until February and my interest is already over $500 when it should only be less than $25.
I don’t like to that they don’t have accurate payment dates or what loans they went to. On my homepage it says my last payment was in January and on my payment history it says my last payment was in March, so where is my payments in detail since March. Also, when I make payments anywhere else they always get taken out of my account within 3 days, but not with this lender, so while my payment is on hold my interest will just keep going up. The confirmation emails for payments is confusing to because they always say the balance went directly to your principle, but yet sometimes it does and other times it goes to the interest. I’m also scared to death to setup a direct deposit thing with them too because the last time I did that I got almost $200 taken out when I shouldn’t have gotten any money taken out and I didn’t even get the money back until about two weeks later and that $200 had to last me for two weeks. I just hope I’m not going to have worse off issues like some of the people who have commented on here already.
Did anyone ever have any successful results with this lender in the end? Also, does anyone recommend a good service I can go to after I graduate in August to get a better financing?
We are having serious problems with fedloan around them not giving credit for teach grants that have been fulfilled with the 5 years of teaching in the appropriate schools – they claim we did not respond in a 30 day period (which we did) and that because of that they have nullified the grants and converted them to loans despite 5 long years of teaching service fullfilled (with certificates sent in) as requested by the dept of eduation several years back when they were really looking for qualified science teachers…!!!!! UNCONSCIONABLE!!!
Anybody have any suggestions on next steps?
This is the worst organization I have dealt with. The customer service reps are unqualified and give inaccurate information. I have been trying for 3 months to get a loan of 152.89 paif in full. They keep applying my payments to interest. Help, I need to get out from under them.
Hello,
Just looking for some advice on where I make a complaint about Fedloan Servicing. My student loans were sold to them last year without my consent. Same story as most people, I got a letter in the mail informing me of the change after it was already processed. Since then I have been trying to pay off my loans in full. The closer I get to paying them off, I notice that Fedloan Servicing tries to do everything to prevent that from happening. First, they cut my automatic loan payment each month. Thats fine, I just pay an additional payment. Then when I wanted to pay off with a 0% credit card, I was told that they don’t take credit card payments at this time. The other day I tried to make my additional payment on a weekend and I was prevented from making payments on the weekends. I sent an email using their comment section asking why they don’t take payments over the weekends and I asked them to confirm that they don’t collect interest on weekends if they can’t accept payments on weekends. I got a quick response with links for people that are having issues paying their loans. I’m almost paid in full, this makes no sense and doesn’t answer my questions. I wanted to complain to the site for Federal Student Loan complaints but Fedloan Servicing is not one of the options as a servicer. Does anyone have any idea where my complain can be heard? At this point, I’m almost paid, but this is not fair to people that still have a long pay until they pay in full.
The Department of Education and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau are your best bets. However, realize that:
1. You can’t pay a loan with a credit card
2. No financial institution takes payments on the weekends. Even if they accept them, they don’t post until the next business day.
3. You get no say in your loan servicer. It’s decided by the Department of Education.
Hi all – OMG, I share your grief.
I just got a letter from FedLoan saying my interest rate was going up by .5% , this is after making additional payments of almost 50K over the last 2 years because we want to kill the loan. The cust service person had no idea if what I was telling her and the supervisor said that they apparently made a computer error when calculation my interesrt rate and the new rate would be applied from a year back. That’s adding 4-5K to my loan – these people are crooks.
Please let me know if anyone has filed a law suit and I would be happy to join them.
I have a problem with this company. My bill shows that I am due to pay about $40. When I look at each of my loans I need to pay about $251 including unpaid interest. I don’t understand why there isn’t a detailed bill and why my due amount isn’t the same the amount shown when I open up each account individually.
How does fedloan apply the .25% rate reduction? I was originally at 6.75% with a $1400 monthly payment. Over a year now on autopay, they say I’m at 6.5%, but my monthly payments have never changed, and neither has my number of payments. Where is the reduction? I will pay the same out of pocket. Doesn’t make sense. Also good luck trying to get a full schedule of payments on your account.
This company is an absolute nightmare. I have a list of complaints. The customer service is terrible. Depends on which rep. you get that day. You will have 5 different answers to every question. You have to call at least 5-7 times to have your inquiries resolved. I’m in on any class action lawsuit. I can’t believe this company is in existence.
Ummm…I have my consolidation loan through FedLoan Servicing. Never had any issues with them.
Oh man I have had all sorts of issues with my loans. But a few good examples of their lackluster customer service.
I had a hard time consolidating everything (well they had a hard time) I was calling them on a near daily basis. They did multiple reviews, on time I called and the rep said oh it looks like the review showed you actually have a lower interest rate (the loans were different rates and they seemed incapable of finding the right one once consolidated). The rep was happy and trying to point out it was a good thing. I was thinking, seriously that is not good. I mean sure lower interest is great, but it means you got it wrong the first time! If I hadn’t requested a review the interest rate would have been higher and would have cost me thousands of dollars. It wasn’t lowered cause they liked me, it was lowered because it was wrong.
Another time a sent an email requesting help with some questions. They kind of answered one but not really and just ignored the rest. I responded and said I have no reply and they kind of answered another one but still left some. One of my questions was in regards to when I could request a change in the income based payment because my child was being born. I thought Ohh I should probably do it about when he is born. They never answered that question but when I went to do my annual certification the dept of ed website specifically noted that a change in family says applies for the whole year. So even if the kid was born in Dec I could have requested a change earlier (which makes sense because that is how the IRS handles births). If I would have applied earlier I could have saved more money. They sure didn’t care to even address my question.
I have also had horror issues with FedLoan, which were finally solved (fingers crossed) by contacting their ombudsman at 717-720-7605, I highly recommend taking your issues directly to them. If that does not work, I recommend contacting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (consumerfinance.gov) and the Department of Education’s ombudsman at 1 (877) 557-2575 or https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/disputes/prepare/contact-ombudsman?nointercept/1
they ripped me off ! I paid a high interest balance and went back on the site only to see almost $300 back on the account only to be lied to and told that was unseen interest!!! How could $300 of interest show up within days?
I’m starting to see the issues as well… I’ve been on their “Pay as you earn” plan for a year, and didn’t really get a heads up to renew until I checked my account online and saw a balance that, well, I would have had to pour my entire check to and it STILL wouldn’t be enough. Anyways, I scramble to re-new, and wait, and soon enough it’s approved but my bill is still there. Alright, fine, but I still can’t pay it.
So I first sent an email to see about getting the debt cut in half at least. Only got some automated email with information I already knew. Few more days pass and I finally work up the nerve to call, and the woman I talked to said that it was now inactive and that my new bill will be $0 in September. Great!
I check later and see that it still shows my bill and that it is now past due. I just sent another email a couple days ago only to still just get automated messages. Today it says that it is 11 days past due, and that my payment statuses are now delinquent. Might I also add that, even though I haven’t paid the WHOLE bill, I have at least paid $40 to show that I’m at least trying. Starting to wonder if that the “inactive bill” thing I was told wasn’t true to be honest. I’m gonna have to call again soon obviously.
Also… has anyone who has emailed them before ACTUALLY gotten a legitimate response? If so please teach me your ways because apparently the “Contact Us” link and their email is just for show.
I have had nothing but trouble…the list is way to long to type. I am interested in taking legal action.
Please look into the Fedloan scam called the TEACH Grant. They are fraudulently converting teacher’s grants to loans for any reason they can find. I was just hit with a bill for 16k. I wonder how I am going to pay that on an Idaho teacher’s salary!? There are many others that have been hurt by the same scam.
TEACH Grant conversions have been a problem for others as well. We wrote about it here: Prevent TEACH Grants From Becoming Loans.
These people are total idiots (and that is being nice). I’m trying to buy a house and am currently in grad school. Because my loans are deferred they show a $0 repayment. My mortgage company is estimating at 2% of the loan balance and destroying my Debt-to-income ratio. I need them to estimate my IBR payment. They have my “un deferring” my loans, starting repayment, applying for IBR, and this can only be done on existing loans, not any from my current semester (adding another $200 on my IBR payment). I’m guessing 1-2 months for this process….
Their customer service has no power to do anything. They have to mail the un deferment forms to me. Seriously, you can’t email me the forms or put them on your website? I probably won’t be able to close on time because of these idiots…. Literally, I have to contact the FSA Ombudsmen to get anything done with these people. They take months to process IBR, lose or do not receive forms, the list goes on and on. Is it too much to ask for a decent loan servicer?
I am with everyone on this issue!!! FedLoan servicing is horrible and I so mad for ever consolidating with them! They never told me I would have an interest rate of 374.00 a month on top of the 223.00 I pay monthly which I agreed too!!!! Not only am I not making payments toward my school loans but the balance is increasing monthly with interest. I don’t understand how this is fair and allowed?!!! This company needs to be investigated and shut down ASAP!!! They have ruined my life and I don’t know what to do at this point. I refused to give them any more of my money until I get down to the bottom of this shadiness!!!!
Yes, FedLoan Servicing is the worse! Their customer service is the worse! They all lie and not do shit when we call for assistance. They say “I will note this on your account and someone will review and get back with you…” Bullshit! No one ever does!
Also my student loan payment is deducted automatically every month. I am making on time payments, yet NONE of my payments went towards the “on time payments” under the Public Loan forgiveness Program! On top of that my student loan balance increases every month! What the hell happened to the payments I made? Poof! Wala! They just keep taking our money and the Department of Education is just in it with these student loan servicers!!!
FedLoan Servicing is NOT even accredited by the Better Business Bureau!!!!
Darn. I thought my issues were just because I’m abroad.
I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer, which is a federally recognized qualification for economic hardship deferment. I am serving in rural Tanzania, in a village without fax machines or printers (or electricity grid to run them) or post office. I have gone to town and sent at least 4 deferment requests, which have all been rejected. The most fun rejection was the first where I sent in a form the day I left the country (as is the norm, since that’s when we’re given the confirmation documents), Feb 8th asking that the deferment start then. Got a rejection letter dated Feb 26th saying my requested start date was “too far in the future”. Then deferment couldn’t start while I’m in grace period… The last 3 times it’s been that there’s something wrong with my supporting document. It’s the standard Peace Corps form.
I’ve sent them several “contact us” forms asking for clarification, but have NEVER gotten a response through that form. 1-800 numbers aren’t free from here and I don’t make enough (hence the promised economic hardship deferment) to pay to deal with their customer service… So now I’m several months overdue.
My Perkins handler took the deferment without a hitch.
Screw fedloan.
I am starting repayment with this company and my first payment is due soon. I was looking a my options of repayment and was considering the auto payments to save some interest but after reading some of these i am a little nervous. My payment is a huge amount of money. I always make my payments on time so i am very worried about payments since i have read all of these comments. I was looking into ways to lower my monthly payment but now i don’t know what to do? Are there still problems because a lot of comments seem to be 2012? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I am also having some issues with Fedloan Servicing. I was set up with them when my student loans were consolidated last year. I originally tried to apply for the Income Based Repayment Plan which would give me a very low and affordable payment each month. One of my student loans was a Parent Plus Loan that I took out for $10,000 for my son. A Parent Plus Loan does not qualify for IBR Payment so I had planned to keep it separate. However, one of the representatives from FedLoan Servicing advised me to consolidate it with my other loans and then they would split it for me after the application process. He seemed to know what he was talking about so I followed his instruction. Come to find out after the consolidation that what he told me was a lie and because he advised me wrong I could not qualify for the IBR Payment Plan. I went from a payment of 115. per month to a payment of 400. per month which I cannot afford due to the representative giving me incorrect information and they refuse to do anything to make this easier for me to pay off. I would love to get away from this company.
I have never had an issue with fedloan servicing. I am auto-draft from my checking account. It always posts within 2-3 business days, as the website states. Also, like the original poster, I make an additional payment each month. However, my auto-draft still occurs and is not altered by my additional payment.
Fedloan servicing has been easy to work with and has never missed a single thing on my account.
You are the first one to post something positive. So far has been terrible for me. I paid 8 days ago and the payment that was showing like “processing” is not there anymore. Call after call and finally got a “supervisor” whom hopefully ask me 48 hours and it will show in my account (fingers crossed) I had the Direct Debit set up starting Sep 3 but cancelling over all this horrible posts here.
Horrible, horrible, horrible. After having my monthly payment amount recalculated, they kept my previous direct debit amount (which I could not afford and was much more than what I actually owed each month). After already paying for December, they went AGAIN in December and tried to direct debit another $210 (which I did not have). Received a $25 bank fee for this. I called to deal with things, was assured that my direct debits would all be suspended but that same day another $210 was direct debited from my account (which I, again, did not have) and I accrued a SECOND $25 fee from my bank. There is no one you can call to talk to that can actually fix this for you. I’m fairly confident that $210 is going to continue to try and be pulled from my account everyday, unsuccessfully, and I will accrue a $25 fee from my bank each day. I cannot recommend this company to ANYONE.
I cannot enter my account on the Fedloan servicing webpage, that is MyFedLoan.org. Does anyone know how I can contact their customer service online?
They do not have good enough transparency in their statements and their “pay ahead” policy which in effect says you are paid ahead on future payments for paying extra and yet your statement does not say this. The amount due each month should be your full payment, always, no matter how much I paid the month before. If it is not, it should clearly be stated that it is a 10 cents less because I over paid by 10 cents last month. Then they say your payment was not a PSLF qualifying payment! I think they can be taken to task for their shady practices that have lead to millions of qualifying payments – even though these people are not only paying, but had apparently paid ahead. In addition, one could argue that if I am paid ahead for future payments that my payment was still paid in full and should qualify. YOu can not have it both ways. This is clearly a class action suit waiting to happen. I would gladly work with others to see it in action. This is wrong. I may have lost a full years work due to a few cents difference each month because of an overpayment right before my payment amount changed. I made the mistake of looking at my amount due and paying that amount. Never was I told I was paid ahead or that my statement was not in fact a true reflection of what I owe. It is clearly a non-transparent practice that is used to disqualify payments and get more money.
Damaged my credit due to their error and will not REMOVE negative reporting! Customer service is horrible and no resolution in sight. They are robots named Laquisha and Tawanda with no knowledge of resolving issue but to delay process to speak to someone that still won’t resolve but at least knows what the deal is.
Fed Loan has a bunch of dipshits working there. My husband has two loans and both were sold to Fed Loan. He called today to pay off one of the loans and they didn’t know how to take a payment to pay off just one of the loans. My husband was told that they would take the payment (10K) and he needed to keep checking his account. Once he seen the payment had posted to his account then he needed to call them back and tell them that he wanted the payment applied to just the one loan. This makes no sense, and after much thought we decided to cancel the pending payment and wait until we have the entire loan amount so we could make one payment to pay off both loans. We were concerned that the payment would not be applied to the principal of the loan, and they would apply it toward the interest since no one we spoke with could tell us how they would be applying the payment. My student loans were through Nelnet and they were great to work with. When I called to pay my loans off, they were very helpful and knew exactly what to do to make sure my payment was applied to the right loans.
I had a bad experience with FedLoan as well. I applied for a deferment on my student loan. I was told I would not have to make any payments, and also that the government would pay the interest during that period. I was told that everything was taken care of…that it would last for as long as I was considered to have low income family status and whenever they needed more information from me I would get a letter in the mail and a phone call. Well, I never heard anything from them for a year. Then suddenly I see a deduction on my checkstub that turned out to be a garnishment! They charged it off to the Department of Education and put me in default. When I called them I got the run around. They told me they couldn’t answer any questions…that only the DOE could discuss it with me. And of course when I called the DOE they said the exact same thing, that only FedLoan could talk to me about it. After days of this finally I get someone from FedLoan to actually look into my account. The woman told me that their system showed that my deferment was supposed to be renewed after 6 months. I told her I had not received ANYTHING from them stating this, and that they could pull the last call and hear that they never told me that. I received NOTHING. She said it showed in the computer that they had tried to contact me once, by email, and that was it. And somehow they had my email address wrong in their computer. Then I was informed that they had in fact screwed up my whole account, and that they did not put my deferment in correctly to begin with. I told them I wanted it pulled out of default because they admitted it was all their fault. Then I went through several days of back and forth between them and the DOE again. Finally I was told by the DOE that there was no way to get it out of default because suddenly FedLoan’s system was reporting that they contacted me by phone and mail on a regular basis for months without an answer. And also, none of my interest was taken care of like I was told it would be. Then FedLoan told me that I had to make payments on top of my garnishment to try to get it out of default. Then I was told that I had to make 10 consecutive payments before I could have it pulled out of default. At this point, my loan was already almost paid off. I had like $300 or so left out of $1200. I told them I wasn’t making payments on top of my garnishment because that program would take 10 months and it wouldn’t do me any good….my loan would be paid off in like 6 weeks. Then they started sending me letters every other day saying I was behind on my payments so I had to call them again. Then this lady says I could have had my loan pulled out of default after 3 payments?! She said she had no idea why I was told 10 monthly payments because they have to read straight from a script. I told her screw it, just let the DOE take the rest from my paycheck and leave me alone! Thank God it’s finally done with!
FedLoan Servicing is a terrible monster. I was lucky enough to never consolidate my loans so I am able to pay more toward indiviual loans. So for months now i have been paying an extra 47.27 on one specific loan. It turns out that they are not taking this money off of that loan. (even tho it says my min payment is 0) Its been since september and and I have been taking screen shots as well as pics on my mobile phone of my payment confirmations. I have compared them to what fed loans services posts on their payment history page and these numbers never match. I in fact have physical proof that they are screwing me and probably everyone. I will continue to track this and update everyone later. JKF
I call FedLoan 3x to see if I get the same answer to my question. I always get the name and badge number of the representative. If their information is incorrect – as it usually is – I ask to speak with a supervisor and file a complaint against the representative. I received incorrect information from 3 representatives in the last week.
They are incompetent people that can mess up your financial life.
Holy Mackerel! I just stumbled across this blog and so grateful I did! I have had issues with Fedloan Serv myself. I was under the impression that I had no choice in who I was set up with when I took out my loans. Is this true. It seemed as if I was assigned to them automatically. I didn’t receive correspondence from anyone else. The emails looked “official” and hinted that they were my only option. Is it possible to switch to someone else? Thanks everyone, Cyndy
You have no choice who assigns your loans. You can refinance your loans into a private lender, but that doesn’t always make sense.
I thought that Fedloan servicing is a gov loan program? That’s what I have right now. 🙁
They are a government loan servicing agency – basically a contractor for the Department of Education.
i am super happy i found this blog. I also applied online and thought that it was just an application. I was suddenly assigned to them and automatically a customer. I didn’t even send them a signature or any of the requested documentation because i changed my mind. How is this legal? Anyone could have gone and used my identity to do this so how is it legal that a simple application with no wet signature makes me responsible. they are saying i owe them this insane payment that is more than it was when i was with Nelnet!?!?!
The Department of Education assigns your loans to a servicing company like FedLoan. It’s scary how easy it is to get a student loan and it doesn’t require a “wet” signature, only a digital signature on an online form.
I don’t know your situation, but here are some options to help:
1. If you want customized assistance for your situation, join our online coaching program. It comes with a 100% money back guarantee: https://www.thecollegeinvestor.com/dysl-sales-page
2. Check out our Student Loan Debt Forum. It won’t be personalized help, but maybe your question has already been answered: https://forums.thecollegeinvestor.com/
3. Read all the free resources we have on student loans. Your question has likely been answered, but you’ll have to sort through it yourself: https://www.thecollegeinvestor.com/student-loan-debt/
I have $200+ in principal in a consolidated federal loan on an IBR program. FedLoan tells me that I cannot apply any of my payments to the principal balance of the loan–my payments only are applied to future payments which essentially only pay off a small portion of interest of my loan.
Does anyone know if FedLoan is scamming me or if this is how the IBR program works on a federal level? I feel like I’m a slave to the government.
The IBR program will set your payments at a 15% of your discretionary income level. That’s why you re-certify your income every year. It doesn’t matter what the payment goes to (principle or interest) because of this set payment amount and the loan forgiveness you get at the end. Remember, after 20 or 25 years, your remaining balance will be forgiven.
Since you’re on IBR, it’s also assumed that you can’t make extra payments because you can’t afford it. So additional principle payments are not really allowed.
I have to admit, reading this has made me queasy, nauseous, and certainly very anxious. I just ended my in-school deferment, since I am working full time while I finish school, and just wanted to get started on paying my loans since I am doing the PSFL program.
Right now, I have been fighting a war of attrition with FedLoan just to apply for income-based repayment! I now worry that even that is going to get messed up! I have been told so many different things by so many representatives that I have literally been calling them every other day for the past three weeks to make sure everything is the same as what they told me before, that they do not need further information from me, and that my information is ready to be processed for IBR payment option.
UGH!!!
Seriously, I am glad to know that I am not alone! I have had several different loan servicing companies for over 10 yrs, and this is first time i have experienced so many problems. I have been trying to apply for ICR repayment plan since Nov 2015. I have had to use 3 forbearance just to keep my loan out of collections. With this many complaints, does anyone know who or where we can put in a complaint? Something has to be done about this company as they are the only company that services Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
The IBR program is a total scam, my first year with the program my payment was really low $40.00. Now I had to re certify and my payment will jump to over $300.00. Can I get out of this program if I go to Sallie Mae or another lender and have them consolidate everything.
Hi Philip,
The IBR program is awesome, and not a scam. It calculates your monthly payment to always be 15% of your discretionary income, which is why you have to recertify each year. Your payment went up because your income went up. However, your payment will never exceed your original Standard 10-year payment amount. So, if you do start making really good money, you’ll never pay more than you originally were supposed to. It’s win-win.
Sallie Mae is just a loan servicing company for private student loans. FedLoan was assigned to you by the Department of Education, and can’t be changed.
My student loans transferred from Mohela to FedLoanServicing in February/March of 2016. Mohela informs me that all of my information transferred to FedLoan Servicing, including payment information and records, as well as ALL of the Income Driven Repayment Program information. This is relevant because I qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and I have been making qualifying payments to Mohela since 2012.
FedLoan Servicing tells me that according to their records, I was never on an income driven repayment program, and FedLoan Servicing asked me to sign a document to that effect, which I obviously declined. This issue has been ongoing for 3 months without resolution.
I have spoken with the escalated contacts at both Mohela and at FedLoan Servicing about this. The escalated contact at Mohela says that FedLoan Servicing is lying to me, and that I should not allow myself to be bullied into signing that document by FedLoanServicing.
Now I have reported FedLoanServicing to the US Dept. of Education Ombudsman, and I have made an appointment with an attorney in Nevada for consultation. I am also going to contact my State Senator, Harry Reid, for assistance in this matter.
It was comforting to find this web site, and to find that I am not alone in my problems with FedLoanServicing.
Sorry to hear about this with FedLoan. You’re on the right track with the Dept. Of Education Ombudsman. You should also contact the CFPB, and I’d even share your story with Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office, as she is a champion behind reforming these companies.
Thanks Robert, I will head to Senator Warren’s web site right now sir. Thanks for that response!!
Brian — I just started going through this nightmare myself. I called FedLoan Servicing last week on what I thought was a technical issue related to their website.
The horrible rep I spoke with drove me to tears by telling me that it wasn’t a technical issue. According to her records, I only have four months worth of qualifying PSFL payments to my credit. By my estimation, I’m into my seventh YEAR of payments.
When I ask for an explanation — as I know very well that the money has been coming out of my account consistently — she claims that I have somehow been in forbearance most of these past, so many of those payments “do not count.”
I am at an utter failure to understand how I could be making assigned payments according to my IBR plan (which I have renewed faithfully every year with appropriate paperwork) and still somehow being simultaneously “in forbearance.”
I am sorry to hear about the trouble you have had, but I also am sadly comforted that I am far from alone.
If you’re having trouble getting them to certify your payments, show your payment history via statements, your certification from your employer, and send it certified mail. If they still don’t count them, send the same information to the Student Loan Ombudsman at the Department of Education.
I too am having an issue with Fedloan Servicing. I just recently paid off a student loan with them, and now the school has sent my account to collections saying that i owe them the amount that my student loan was for. I am unable to get anyone at the Fedloan to speak to me along with the school, that i’m completely lost and have no idea what to do. This is keeping me from moving forward with my college education.
I am in the IBR repayment plan under FedLoan Servicing. My loan was transferred several times prior to landing my current job. I started working with the Federal Government in May of 2010. (I was previously with DirectLoan). For some reason, during the transfer, although while still making payments, I lost 6 or 7 months worth of payment credits because I was not in the correct “repayment plan.” I had no clue what repayment plan I was in because my loan was being transferred from one company to another. I qualify for forgiveness and clearly every payment counts. Is there any way to go back and receive credit for those payments – I can easily provide dates of my employment with the government (paystubs) for the lost months. I hate FedLoan Servicing and PLF – it is a total scam, at the interest rate they charge and the inability to do anything based on the PLF requirements – I will end up paying the loan in full by the end of it all. 7.4% interest on a student loan is INSANE!
Sorry to hear that some of your payments didn’t qualify for PSLF. You must be under the standard or income based repayment plan to qualify. There is no way to go back and get credit.
The good thing is, though, that the payments don’t have to be sequential. Meaning you just need 120 months under PSLF, so hopefully you can certify enough there.
Learn more about PSLF with out PSLF training.
Fedloan Servicing can be very difficult to work with. I have some advice to those who have loans serviced by them.
1. If you have something important that you need clarification on, always ask for a supervisor. I can’t tell you how many times the low-level call reps will tell you different things.
2. Record your phone calls: Depending on your state laws, if you are in a state where only one party has to approve of the recording, then record away. I know that it’s better to do things in writing, but Fedloan Servicing is terrible with written responses, and they take days to respond to the most simply queries and often don’t answer the question. If you need to eventually get a lawyer, this can be invaluable.
3. When all else fails, get the Ombudsman involved.
4. Never use direct debit: they screw this up too, and it’s a hassle to get out of it.
5. Check EVERYTHING! If you put in a forbearance, check it. If you make a payment, check that it gets posted. Don’t assume anything with Fedloan Servicing, even when they tell you everything is okay.
Granted, even if you do all these steps they can still screw things up royally. For example, I once added loans to a consolidation, and they added the wrong loans to the consolidation, and this happened after telling them in writing which loans to add, and calling the day before to verify that they had the right information. It took them nearly a full year to straighten out the mess which they admitted was a clerical fault on their end. Even so, I requested that they backtrack the interest on these loans because they prevented me from making targeted payments on them while they were stuck in the consolidation, and they refused…It would have cost me more to get an attorney than to just move on. So, even being proactive won’t solve your cases 100%.
Also, if you are doing PSLF, send in your certification forms regularly and check their work. They often miss counting payments made with other previous loan servicing companies, and if you work at a qualifying place when you make the payment, but are not employed when the due date rolls around, they won’t count it, when by law they should. The ombudsman had to help correct this one, so I wonder how widespread it is….
I have been trying to change my payment plan since April! They kicked me off of income based and went to a standard 10 year payment plan. That is 657.00 a month! This is insane. I asked to changed to the 25 year plan because according to them I cannot complete the public service forgiveness plan. This is an ongoing attempt to change and like all of you I get a complete and total run around each time I call. Sign me up for the lawsuit and let me know what you need from me.
Hi Jennifer, You only lose IBR if you don’t certify your income, or if your income rises back to where the standard repayment plan would be lower than 15% of your income. Did you not certify?
I am trying to change my payment plan as well. Since I got married last year and have 2 incomes, they want to bump up my payments to over $600, which we can’t afford. I paid about half that last month, since they said it wouldn’t be a problem, but just got a letter from Fedloan about them declaring me in default!!! Can they do this even though I’m making some payments??? I just called a few days ago and was told they would put me in forbearance for the month until this is figured out, but today I got an email saying I owe them $800 in a week!!! I have been doing what they told me, sending me and my husband’s paystubs to get a lower plan, and they are still threatening to default me!!!! Is this legal??? I’ve only been with Fedloan for a year and have had nothing but problems. I also can’t access my info online. I’m going to call them again tomorrow but will probably be told the same bs. What should I do?????? Please advise :(.
Depending on your repayment plan, your student loan payment is based on your AGI. And now that you’re married, it includes both your incomes in your AGI, so you payment would have risen dramatically. Here’s something to consider: Married Filing Separately For IBR Or PAYE.
Well, I wish I had read this blog or webpage before I signed for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. I don’t know why I thought that FEDLoan was the department of Education and I didn’t realize fully that they were a servicer. I thought FEDLoan was a department in department of Education that handled public student loan forgiveness via your loan servicer which was Navient. I thought Navient was bad but FEDloan servicing is much worse. I joined the REPAYE program with Navient and they transferred my information over. FEDLOan did not transfer it correctly and so put me in two months of forbearance until there computer system could figure it out. They agreed in July 2016 to let April and May count toward my loan forgiveness if I paid two payments of 474 dollars. THey contacted me by telephone on July 12tha and demanded payment by July 27th never putting anything in writing. I finally received a written letter that I failed to meet the payment deadline and they therefore were not going to give me the credit. Additionally, they are not counting my march payment that I made with Navient as they say it was 10.00 less then the payment they want from me. Navient had sent me a bill and I paid it. So now I have to go digging through and try to prove that I did indeed pay what I was told to pay. Because the last phone conversation with FEDloan servicing wasn’t pretty I asked them to not call me anymore and keep everything in writing. Additionally, I feel that if a promise or agreements are made it needs to be in writing not over the phone. The first claim of any loan servicer, credit card company, etc., is that nothing was ever promised and it didn’t happen. Fed loan servicing has told me over the phone and in a letter that they have the right to call me per the education act of 1965. So now I am 3 months less toward my 10 year loan forgiveness. I can only wonder what road blocks are coming in the next 10 years. I don’t believe the department of Education is sincere about loan forgiveness and really wonder if I should be paying and just put the loan in forbearance. I had come to a point emotionally and financially to pay the 474 dollars a month and it seems I keep getting pushed around. I would still be interested in some kind of class action against the FEDloan, the department of Education and the student loan obudsman office or any one of those. Quite frankly I am tired of being bullied and treated as if I am owned by FEDloan.
I am fed up with Fedloan for the fact that we are in the 21st century and they wont accept payments for my loans in the form of a debit card/ credit card. I wanted to see what others thought about the company and if this limited payment method was something others shared also. They used to take debit/credit card payments on the website about 4-6 months ago. I have record of receipts for paying them with a credit card on the direct website. when they got rid of this method, i was annoyed and called to ask what happened and learned this is not going to be available again. I don’t have a checking account so i was frustrated. I paid with money orders made out from my post office and mailed them in. I finally called tonight and expressed my frustration and the manager listened kindly and she granted me a one time payment by my credit card over the phone. the whole conversation took about 10 minutes. They only accept “select people” to make their payments by debit/credit cards. They consider if they have previously paid this method in the past and the standing of the account, if its delinquent. They are clearly trying to work on getting the payment method added but I have no hope from her tone that it would happen within the near future. I paid tonight over the phone which put me at ease but i will be looking at selling my debt to a different creditor loan provider so i can make payments at my method convenience.
Oh boy, I just found this article. ALL of my loans, both undergraduate and graduate, are through Fedloan (almost 60k)! Is there any way to change service providers or am I stuck with them? I am entering repayment soon.
No, you cannot change your loan servicer.
You can’t change where your loans are through?
You can’t directly change your loan servicer. In some cases, your loans as reassigned.
You could also look at refinancing your student loans, but that comes with risks. Here’s when it makes sense to refinance Federal student loans.
I just found this by searching Google for help in dealing with FedLoan Servicing. I am a co-borrower on my ex-husbands loan and they CONSTANTLY send me threatening letters saying they’ll garnish my wages or my tax returns. I’ve called SEVERAL times and have also sent all the information they request via return-receipt but when I call to follow-up they say “they never got my paperwork.” I’m so frustrated with them and to make matters worse, they don’t realize that I’m limited in my ability to work now so I will never be able to even make their minimum payment. They continue to ding my credit & it’s now abysmal. I am all for a class action lawsuit!! They say I have no rights as a co-borrower but yet I am still responsible for the repayment of my ex-husband’s loan. They are rude when I call, always lose my information, and harass me non-stop – something needs to be done about these “people”!!
Oh yeah, and when I asked to do an Income-Driven Repayment Plan, they say I’m not eligible because I’m a co-borrower. My own personal student loans are through a different servicer for which I am on an IDRP and it works great because I’m on a fixed-income…just thought I’d add this to my previous comment in case anyone else is in the same boat with FedLoan Servicing.
Theresa…
I feel you on this. This company is sick. Do not allow them to threaten or continue this behavior.
Like I told them, I don’t have the money. I only borrowed 170, 000 total for my grad school education and now owe over 222,000. This is sick due to continue interest accruing on the loan. They are not trying to help us. All these student loan companies are out to drain you.
Right now, I am waiting to hear back from them on my IBR . I sent this info in early Sept. They always wait to the last minute and then tell me it was approved or not. The loan will go into repayment and I will not have time make adjustments. It should be against the law what they are doing
Yes you are right Donna, what they are doing is nothing short of criminal behavior in the way they conveniently avoid doing their job until it is too late for the borrower to make any kind of an adjustment. In my mind they are criminals who think we’re all just a bunch of deadbeats trying to avoid paying our loans – which is of course not true – but I tire of their “loan snobbery” and blatant disrespect for the efforts of the “working but can’t make it” majority of us.
I have submitted the same paperwork over and over! They have put my accounts in deferment for no reason even after I’ve submitted paperwork for them not to!! They are a complete scam and concur with a lawsuit!!
Thank you so much for posting this! It is great that you are informing millennials about the horrors of Fed Loan Servicing. Through personal experience, I learned that the direct debit payment system is mismanaged and inefficient, and that it consistently has delays which caused my loans to enter delinquency although I had the money in the bank and I have never had any issues with bill payment and I have a great credit rating. It is so wonderful to know that I am not alone and that there are others who have to endure the lowest level of ignorance imaginable through the Fed Loans customer service phone system.
Well, I’ve had nothing but wonderful experiences with FedLoan. Go figure.
It’s unbelievable what I am currently going through with Nelnet with regard to my student loan repayment. My experience with their women advisors is beyond word. They are deliberately obnoxious during phone conversations and do not seem to care. I have been paying interests on my loans without interruption for the past four years. But, to my surprise, I received a letter following a consolidation with an increase of the principal of the loan instead. I was simply taken aback. Their explanation changes from one counselor to another.
I feel like someone needs to do something – just yesterday I got yet another nasty letter from them urging me to contact them for payment options – but when I call I’m told that since I’m a co-borrower on my ex-husbands loan (and since they no longer allow co-borrowers on loans) I have no options…this does not sound right or even legal to me!! I’m not sure what to do next and am worried it will prevent me from continuing my education and/or result in loss of my tax refund because they refuse to help me – I’m very worried and I think they know that. Does anyone know if there is a pending lawsuit or how to bring about one against them? I’m seriously thinking of exposing them via YouTube and showing all of my signed correspondence (return receipts sent to them and signed by someone at their office), all of my written requests for help, all of the phone calls made to them (via my cell phone bill) – anything to try and justify my aggravation and attempts at trying to remedy the delinquency of my ex-husband’s student loans. Does anyone have any suggestions or think this is a good/bad idea? I’m at my wits end, I really am, and it sounds like a lot of others on this site are, too!! What can we do to try and have our complaints heard? (Other than post on this site?) All suggestions are welcome, and thank you!
Thank you so much for all the information you just shared. I have had Fedloan for several years back when the Sallie Mae was forcing people to consolidate. At the time I had no, zero, money to repay my loans so I kept pushing them off. First mistake. Every time I got behind Fedloan would call to do a forbearance. O.k. They spewed out all the legal disclaimer so fast I could hear what they’d say. All I heard was I didn’t have to make the payments. So I’d say yes “on the recorded line” what a joke. However, it wasn’t until the last time I did a forbearance that I actually paid attention to the disclaimer they spew out and not once does it say “this balance will be tacked onto your principal immediately at the end of your forbearance” which is exactly what was happening. I went from $24k in student loans to $40k in the span of 6 years!!!!!! How do I fight that? SMH. My husband just pulled out $13k from his 401K and paid off 5 of my smaller loans with them. I have two huge ones left but it makes paying them off a little easier. Oh, and regarding those 2 larger ones left, they joined the accounts. So I can’t make an individual payment to one or the other. In other words I can’t attack just one of the 2 loans. Every payment gets split between the 2. STUPID! So I call them to find out why they merged them and their response is “that’s how they came and that’s required by the Department of Education.” I don’t know if that’s accurate or not. I’m almost 99.99% positive they transferred over as individual loans and at some point Fedloan Merged them (I remember getting the letter that they had merged them and I remember seeing it and thinking I can’t pay it right now anyway so I’m not gonna fight with them about it). So now, using my Mint app I was offered the idea of refinancing. I’m thinking, can I do that. Then I see your post. Thank you Jesus!!!!!
I don’t even have to describe every little thing Fedloan Servicing has done as far as losing track of my money more customer service etc. because everyone else has already went into detail about how horrible they are. Worse part is I am only two months into paying my loan and already can see how ridiculous they are. They should be reported to the better business bureau if they haven’t already.
It took 9 months, countless phone calls, thinly veiled threats of legal action and constant vigilance to switch from IBR to REPAYE (The forms I filled out at the start of that 9 month period should have been enough). They tried hard to keep me from doing so but persistence prevailed.
Oh yes, and still the saga continues. I paid off a student loan for my daughter. It was substantial. I as of today have had that amount pulled out of my account 3 times. I was told by the Fed Loan people they can’t do anything about it – that it would take about 60 days to resolve it…….I will stop pay on it – but here again, it is my time for their mistake – plus I am not sure how much $$ in late fees will occur…..
Hello,
I am being marked delinquent every month on the 3 credit bureaus eventhough I am in the ibr program. Are they suppose to do that?
If you’re on time with your payments (for the full amount you’re supposed to pay), then no, they shouldn’t do that.
However, I would share that I’ve seen this happen too many times before. You were on IBR, failed to re-certify your income on time, so your payment jumps to the Standard plan amount. You keep paying the old IBR amount. That would make you delinquent because you’re not paying your full payment on time.
I would call them or go online to StudentLoans.gov and ensure that you’re paying the proper payment each month. If you are, and they are still marking you delinquent, then file a complaint with FedLoan, the CFPB, and the credit bureaus.
what a bunch of duckfumbs ! Is FedLoad run by Putin?
I am so glad I found all of your responses on this website before I consolidated to FedLoan for the purpose of PSLF. My heart goes out to all.
I guess they do such rancid activities to keep people from signing up for and being successful with the 10 yrs required to complete a PSLF program.
I’ll continue to troop on with my Great Lakes and Salle Mae accounts.
While Fedloan can be a pain to work with, it’s typically worth the effort to get your loans forgiven via PSLF. Check out our PSLF training video to see how to do it the right way: PSLF training.
I just got off the phone with them and I have to say, they certainly have the worlds most horrible customer service. Everything everyone is saying is certainly true! I am in the student loan forgiveness program and of course they wanted to explain to me whats on the US Department of Education website about how I’d have to certify my employment each year because a person could have a government job and quit the next day. Wonderful thing to say to a customer right? True statement or not they have a lot to learn, and however way they calculate interest is the worst. 20 bucks a day? No payment I make would stab at the balance which is why I am in the program itself. Someone please supply me with a company that handles loans better…or put me in that lawsuit, seriously I just think they are taking my money.
I consolidated my loans through Fedloan back in 2011. Every year I fill out the IBR application to keep my payment low. In 2016, my application kept getting denied and I was put on forbearance time and time again so that I didn’t have to make the $600 payments. Well, we’re now in 2017 and I’m still trying to get my app process and they continue to deny it. Every time it’s something different. I’m so fed up. I keep asking them for help and they refuse to help me fill out the app over the phone. I need help because I got denied again and this time their saying it’s because I submitted conflicting information. All I want to do is get on a payment plan to pay my loan and not one person from their will help. I even spoke to a Supervisor who assured me she would keep track of my application. I’m so upset and I don’t know what to do.
I have been haven a problem with Fed Loan since 2013, tryen to get a balance for a loan off the record because it has been paid in full. I was making payments with a next company, then is switch to Fed Loan. And my payments from the company before, which they said all information would be transferred over never was. I many numerous phone calls and sent the paperwork of my payments and to this year 2017. No reply no answers, they are all saying the information should be there. And it’s obvious it’s not and no one can tell me why and this is affecting my credit score as well.
after reading all the comments i honestly think i made a mistake by using FEDLOAN, I just finalize everything and now i want out. how do i cancel?
You cannot change your Federal Loan servicer. You can refinance into a private loan (not recommended), but that’s it.
Wait. I thought you advocated using another lender to service student loans? You’ve even got links on here for refinancing? Your statement here is completely contrary.
Not contradictory – I refinanced and it makes sense for my situation. It doesn’t make sense for many borrowers. I have another entire article dedicated to when it makes sense and when it doesn’t. Read it here: https://www.thecollegeinvestor.com/17113/refinance-federal-loans-private-loans/
FedLoan is HORRIBLE! They have messed up my payment schedule as well as charged me twice because their app for paying my loan, was not ‘fully functioning,’ per the rep who took my call. This place needs to go out of business and be replaced with a servicing center who knows what they are doing and will hire qualified individuals to provide strong customer service!
Exact same thing is happening to me right now. I am trying to sort it out with them but am getting a little concerned. If I reach out to the other number you provided for a different loan company, will I still be able to get loan forgiveness?
It’s important to remember that you can’t choose a different company – your Federal loans are assigned by the Department of Education. However, the resources we provided can help you navigate working with them.
Just got off the phone with them. Let see my child is paying the payments even thought the are in my name. They paid what they could ( not whole Payment) . Fed loan held no to money until receiving full payment. ( which could have take a couple of months ) Paid on nothing. So I am 120 days over due on 5 loans . Which adds up to 25 payments. Went to get tax papers. Need to get tempary passcode. Which did not work . Locked me out of system. Got new temp. Code today . Still did not work. So they had to sent them over e-mail. hopefully I will get them. We have try outside lenders and banks .Husband and I make too much. My self alone and child alone make too little.
I have been calling their customer service number trying to reach an actual human, but all I end up doing is playing the button game that continuously leads me back to the “main menu” and I never am given the option to speak to anyone. Is there a trick to reaching a human being, or is this scam of a company run by a bunch of robots?
My monthly payments went from 180/mo. to 778/mo without so much as a phone call. They changed my monthly terms based on a random account audit, saying the policy from the previous company they bought my loan from is not supported by their company. If I COULD pay this, my loan evaporates within a year and a half. My loans mature in 2028.
F@#king criminals. I have no idea how they get away with this kind of disregard for other people’s financial situations.
I’m seeking legal counsel. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Re-apply for income-driven repayment yourself on StudentLoans.gov.
Have you made any headway with this? This is exactly what happened to my wife and I. Our payments went from 147/mo to 822.
Heaven forbid you ever have your identity stolen and try to get the loan discharged. Even with the very best of proof I have been fighting them for over a year and still no resolution. Their so called evidence that it was you taking the loan out would not even get arraigned over to a grand jury in a criminal case. I am having to hire an attorney to get a judge to order that my identity was stolen in order to get the loan discharged.
I’ve had Fedloan for years! I HATE THEM! They are rude, they are deceptive and they still require everything in writing. I can’t even change off of them. I’ve tried several times, but they do something to block it each time. STAY AWAY FROM THEM AT ALL COSTS!
THIS IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH IN MY WHOLE LIFE. HANDS DOWN!!!!
I am trying to take this company down. Stand by for info
Any news yet?
count me in on trying to take them down!
Hi Cynthia,
Count me in as well. I have Fed loan and they are horrible. Please keep me posted. Thanks
I can’t stand FedLoan!
I’ve been with them for several years but haven’t had much of an issue until last July.
I applied for the Federal Service Loan Forgiveness program and have had to make a call to them at least twice a month since then.
From July to October, there was always something missing on my form and so it was denied. Every time I called, they found the supposedly missing item right away.
Several of the people couldn’t explain why the other department kept making the mistake. Turns out, I was missing a 0, but I’d need to resubmit the form since manually entering it over the phone wasn’t an option.
I resubmitted the form and was back to the missing info. By the end of September, the person over the phone entered the 0 over the phone and it was done.
In October I realized I needed to change my payment plan since the payments were too high. I was directed to another website to fill out the form and it would submit electronically to them.
Problem was that my spouse has a tax pin and it wouldn’t auto load her info, which eventually led to us being able to automatically submit the form. The day after we printed it out to mail in, I received an email saying that the application had expired and I would have to start over. I submitted the form anyway. They took it.
Late October, I received a call and we agreed to an amount in order to switch to the new plan, but don’t pay it until I see that agreed upon amount or the letter.
To this day, I’ve still haven’t received the letter. Until January, they kept sending emails saying I was late and didn’t know about agreed amount I was waiting for.
I paid the amount in January and thought it was settled. By the end of January, I checked my messages on their website and I saw I suddenly had two bills for the first time. These two bills were due within 3 days of each other for double the new payment plan amount.
I called late January to ask about the new bills and the person on the phone just blew it off and asked if I wanted a forbearance. I tried several times to get her to explain or assist, but no luck.
I emailed my concerns through their website, only to receive an auto response the next day about applying for a forbearance.
I finally got ahold of someone in early February, but couldn’t explain why I had two payments in one month, but that my new payment plan started in March. So for February I’d have to pay more.
I couldn’t afford it (my spouse just lost her job that month), and so we set up the forbearance for February.
I received an email mid-February saying I was late on my payments. I was told that he put the forbearance for January, but would I like another one?
Spoke to the supervisor, he said he’d put in for an administrative forbearance for February but it’d be two tickets to remove the January one.
He didn’t recommend submitting the two tickets at the same time since they’d go to two separate people, who didn’t look at the file, but only that one issue. Which could mess up my account. So I have to call back to remove the one they added by mistake.
So yes, they’re unable to look at the whole file at once to figure out what’s going on, but they sure like to suggest a forbearance right away. My spouse has her loan payments through another company and at least they work with reducing her payment amount. Me? I’m still trying.
I can’t stand FedLoan Servicing! I have been trying to recertify for over a year. They have lost my paperwork numerous times. They asked me to write a letter with specific wording to document my self-employment income. Then, they said that the letter they asked for was insufficient.
Twice, I’ve gotten a letter saying that I was approved for the IBR. Twice, I’ve paid the fee to go onto the plan, and twice, I’ve gotten a rejection letter after paying the fee stating that I am no longer accepted to the plan and that I have to start all over again. It’s a nice little racket they have going to collect what could be millions in fees that way.
Meanwhile, they keep kicking me into deferment and simultaneously saying that my loans are past due while in deferment. I have written my senator about this, but I haven’t gotten a response.
The US Department of Education should really be held accountable here because these are ‘federal’ loans being serviced by a ‘private’ company. Also, the US government should not be making 6.625% interest off these loans. Period. How much of that does Fedloan get? How much did Great Lakes get and why aren’t they doing it any longer? There are lots of questions, but the biggest is how/why this Fedloan mafia is not being further investigated for fraud and for their unscrupulous manner in doing business?
I also put SoFi in this same category, as they’re no better. In fact, they’re worse with their bait-and-switch advertising and cryptic screening methods.
To that end, I am definitely looking for a refinance option, but are they all the same? (I have a 780 FICO and the ‘best’ that SoFi could offer me was still over 5%, which is no ‘savings’ to speak of and not at all worth doing. Fedloan erroneously reported me 2x for ‘late payments,’ but both times were because they were supposedly doing my IB payment plan- at their own insistence. Of course, magically, no statements were sent during that time, but the interest continued to rack up DAILY. I have asked repeatedly to have this removed from my report, to no avail. If it wasn’t for that, my FICO would easily be over 800.
I am all for class-action, obviously.
We recommend Credible as it’s a refinancing comparison tool. The great thing about them is you can compare your options in about 2 minutes without a hard credit check – so that’s nice. You don’t have to move forward if you don’t like what you see. Check them out here: Credible.
They are horrible and inept. Every time I call, which has been about 7 times this month alone, someone tells me something different or something contradictory. I really wish I could go back to Great Lakes. They were so much better. I have to call fedloan tomorrow, because they say my application is missing info when the day before I was on the phone with an employee and made sure the application was complete. Morons
Absolutely terrible customer service. They also “lose” payments and then mark my account delinquent. I also wish I could go back to Great Lakes — they were excellent. What is the status of a class action lawsuit?
I think I just burst a blood vessel in my head taking to these lying ass people. I have been lied to big time. I have been told that my loan is being transferred to loan default resolutions for lower payments. Then I was told that takes 30day, then I was told it takes 60 days, then I was told it could take up to 5-6 months. Speaking to the location that my loan was suppose to be transferred to , they said they have never had my loan or heard of my loan # and they had alot of people complaining. I was then told by Fed loan that it was rejected and my loan can only be transferred if it 120 days late, and that I had not reached that yet. I said yall have mailed me something saying I was 2 yrs late. These people are MORONS to the fullest. I have had a different every time I call. I cant believe IT. I was told their was no other person higher to speak to. lastly I was told my loan will not be transferred and to deal with it and to make the payments to them again Fed Loan, with no contract no exact amount. Just mail these idiots my money. I have contacted the BBB. I have cried about this because its never the same story when call its always some new fake BS that they make up. I had to ask one Rep was she sitting at home in her ratty robe scathing her ass laughing at people like me. This company really seems like a scam, how can they legally do this. Helllllppppp. I want sue them due to the stress and anxiety this causes me.
Thank you for posting this article and validating my thoughts that FedLoan is a completely incompetent and corrupt organization that does not deserve my business. They create obstacles at every step of the way instead of making the process of repayment easy and fast, which would benefit all parties involved. I will definitely be looking into trying to move my student loans to another company as it is impossible that any could be worse than Fedloan. I would love any suggestions if any one has had positive experiences elsewhere.
WOW!!! I , too, have been dealing with student loan B.S. and all your posts are validating…and make me ANGRY!!!! My most recent issue is with fedloan servicing who consolidated my student loans (I did not choose them, apparently they were chosen for me…but at first I was relieved because ACS was FINALLY off my back after more than 2 years of me being in repayment with another loan servicer ?Student LoanAid? that I was very skeptical about until my ACS loan issues finally cleared…Only to be replaced with a new set of shady issues with fedloan servicing! I received statements stating that action was required and that I was delinquent; yet Wells Fargo Bank verified that autodrafts were being taken and paid to “BOFI-Federal Bank Fedloan servicing” which seems legit (however, there is a claim to investigate)Meanwhile, the folks at fedloan tell me over the phone that they have received nothing, that the banks info is NOT them! that they supposedly received a check from me a few weeks go??? Well, I have no record of sending them a check via mail or phone and neither does my bank!!! The amount they are asking for is different from the direct drafts from my bank AND the date they claim my check was written for doesn’t jive with the time of the month that I pay my bills, via check or autodrafts!!! At this point, I am waiting to hear back from WFBank fraud dept investigation. The more I look at the fedloan paperwork, the more paranoid I feel… Venting is good but if anyone out there is doing a class action law-suit or anything that holds these folks accountable and can do justice for us, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO JOIN YOU in bringing these folks to justice!!!
Submit a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)! This is exactly the kind of stuff they handle. The complaint can be submitted at: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/. The CFPB enforces the laws on student loan companies and contractors to ensure they are treating borrowers fairly and according to the law. Submit a complaint and answer back to let everyone know how it went.
Any companies that charges you to consolidate or to enroll in repayment plans are the real scams. At least FedLoan Servicing is legit. I get 3-5 calls a day from fraudelent companies trying to charge me to do what I can do for myself for FREE!
I also agree with the pages of comments about this company. I definitely think they need to be held accountable for their shady business practices. Every single time I speak with a representative, I’m told something different. I honestly believe that there is no one there who has a clue about their policies and procedures. I’m currently enrolled in the PSLF program, and my greatest fear is that after going through all of the headache and paperwork for ten years, that they will find some “excuse” not to forgive the balance of my loans!!! I think that a lawsuit against their company is a great idea!!!
I don’t know if reading all of these comments makes me feel better or worse. I had the fortune of being transferred to FedLoan from Navient when they went bankrupt as a result of class action. Based on my initial interactions in getting my account and payment plan set up, FedLoan seemed like a breath of fresh air in comparison. Since then, not so much. I’m also on PSLF, and I too fear that they will find some excuse to deny me forgiveness once I suffer my 10 years of indentured servitude. I’ve submitted 6 certification forms in the last 2 years, only half of which they claim to have “received”. Of the 3 forms received, all have been denied under the auspice of “missing information”–I did put the wrong FEIN on the first form submitted, which they rightly denied, but although it’s been correct on all subsequent forms, yet they just kept denying. One was denied because supposedly the end date was marked out and rewritten without an initial–according to customer service, they called my employer and asked to verify it, yet the only message that I or my employer were ever aware of was the message they left asking to verify the FEIN (which we did). Another form was denied summarily without even being processed, saying I had the wrong FEIN when I did not. After numerous calls to customer service requesting them to reprocess this form, I finally got a competent individual on the phone who openly admitted that there was no reason for the denial and that she’d make sure my form got processed correctly–it took 7 months (and still only approves about half of the time I’ve held qualifying employment)! The struggle continues.
There’s a lot of ditto in my story. Poor customer service. Changes to payment plan without any indication (specifically to a plan not covered by PSLF). Repeated phone calls with conflicting information and years-long attempts to find simple answers. The government does usually contract to the lowest bidder, which makes me worry for NASA, but seriously? There’s going to be a s*#t show come October, 2017 when PLSF comes into effect….
I couldn’t disagree with you more. I have had my loans serviced by FedLoan for the past 10 years and prior to that (yep…still that old and still paying off student loan debt…I’m a public school teacher…) my loans were sold and serviced by a multitude of providers who were all tricky in ways you have described. I have only had positive experiences with FedLoan, nothing has changed without my approval/knowledge, and their customer service has been exceptional. Specifically, when dealing with recertification for Teach Grant obligations…every year I have had to talk to them to deal with some nuance related to the documentation and they have always been accurate and helpful.
However, if anyone wants to put their energy towards lowering the cost of an undergraduate education at universities (private especially) so that we don’t have outrageous debt to begin with….(like do we really need that student center, endless plastic junk with logos, and better landscaping than most undergrads would care to appreciate?) let me know because I’m all in.
Fed Loan Servicing is a complete and utter joke.
I recently had a baby and a couple of months later realized I probably could be paying less on my monthly loan payments now that my family size has changed. So I go through StudentLoans.gov, fill out a new IBR request to be processed immediately (not on my annual recertification date, which is also an option) and I get a confirmation from both Fed Loan Servicing and AES on the same day stating they’ve received and are processing my IBR request.
Fast forward about 7 business days, AES sends me a message that they’ve processed by IBR and my payments have decreased by $25/month. Well, yay! And I pay triple to Fed Loan Servicing, so I know I should be getting at least that much or more shaved off my monthly payments to them as well.
Days pass, nothing. I wonder if maybe I deleted my e-mail alert accidentally, so I sign in to see if there are any secure messages on my account–nada. But hey! My monthly payment amount is on there, and it’s the exact same amount as last month. Hmm. No bueno.
So I wait a few more days just to be safe, nothing changes. Today I call Fed Loan Servicing and politely inform the rep that I’m just trying to see how much longer it will be before my updated IBR request is processed. She tells me they’re running behind, normally it’s 7-10 business days, but right now they’re operating at about 1 full billing cycle. Well, how convenient for them! I get to pay my ridiculously large monthly payment one more time.
She checks to make sure they received my IBR request so that she can give me a more accurate timeframe and, low and behold, there it is! Sitting there, waiting. She tells me “Oh! Well it’s being held up because you put down that your spouse has student loans, so that means a rep has to physically check to see how much he pays in student loans before we can process it.” I reply that no, I did not check off that my spouse has student loans. My spouse did not go to college. She, in a very snippy tone, tells me that yes, I did check that. I, just as snippy now, inform her that I filled out ONE IBR request on StudentLoans.gov, and I did NOT indicate my spouse had student loans, and AES managed to get their job done in a timely fashion without any such delays, so if there is something stating my spouse has loans, it’s because Fed Loan Servicing screwed up.
Surprise, surprise. No witty retort from her. “Should be processed by the end of the month. Is there anything else I can help you with?” No dear, I wouldn’t want you to strain your headset wire. Useless, horrible company. I hope my kid decides to go to trade school!
I got a call ,and the agent scary me with questions ,we are the goverment,”no you can’t reaply for another programm bla bla bla. No maners ,no profetionalism
I hate this company so much. I work as a librarian at a non-profit and was super excited at the prospect of having my loan forgiven after making 120 payment. My loan was originally with the US Departmetn of Educaiton and then transferred to Edfinancial, which I never had a problem with. In order to be part of the public service loan forgiveness program, however, I had to change from Edfinancial to FedLoan Servicing. FedLoan claims to have tracked my account starting in July 2007 (they only track back 10 years, since the say your loan will be forgiven in 120 payments or 10 years) (fyi, I’ve been paying on my student loan since around 2002). For 4 year of that time, I was in forbearance and those 48 payments don’t count, rightful so. Which would leave approximately 72 payments that should qualify. However, out of the 10 years they were willing to research and the 72 payments I made, they claimed that only 41 of my payments qualified because in some cases I paid exactly what my balance due was as opposed to what was listed as my minimum principle balance (some months I would pay way more, which decreased the monthly balanced due during the next month). NO ONE, NOR THE PAPERWORK mentioned this!!!! I only found out when after signing up with FedLoan Servicing for over 6 months, they still hadn’t calculated and listed my qualified payments online, despite them saying they would do so in 90 days (3 months). After calling them repeatedly, I finally got someone to tell me that only 41 out of 72 payments qualified. They didn’t accept 31 payments despite me paying the minimum balance due based on my bill. Fast forward to today, and now my online account is only listing 25 qualify payments despite the fact that I was supposed to 41 plus the 15 payments I’ve made to FedLoan since signing up with them. This should bring my total “qualified’ payments to 56 (but really to 87 payments), however there’s a catch. FedLoan doesn’t include in the count the payment I made post-July 2016 when my company completed the paperwork I sent to FedLoan. As opposed to updating your account online to reflect the number of payments FedLoan is WILLING to accept including the payments made directly to them, they expect you to just magically know how many payments you made, despite their online account information being incorrect. This is straight bullsh*t. At this point, I pay what my principal minimum payment is as opposed to what FedLoan states is my minimum payment (which is less than my principal minimum balance). At this point I will pay off my loan years before I would even qualify for the forgiveness program. Had I known all of this, I would have never changed my loan from Edfinancial. This is literally the worst student loan experience I have ever had and if we had a real Education Secretary, they would make sure that these student loan organizations ended their deceptive practices.
Hi Everyone – I’ve just started a Facebook group called “FEDLOAN CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT”. Like many of you I have had very bad experiences with attempting to file for the Loan Forgiveness Program as well as payments marked as late, losing benefits from the switch to FedLoan. I have NO EXPERIENCE YET of starting a Class Action, but at least we can organize. Please look for the group on Facebook and I’ll make you a member. Maybe we can put our heads together and organize.
I just filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau as well! I am over trying to interact with this company because they have no idea what they are doing.
I just recently had to reach out to the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group and even that has been a mess. As a result, I now have had an interest capitalization added to my loan amount and they have stopped my automatic bill pay, even though they have made it clear in documentation that I need to still pay my bill this month. Their reasoning? Because my repayment amount was recalculated. This is so wrong because I am in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and my payment is recalculated each year based off my taxes or salary change. They have never done this before. Then to make matters worse, they have not been keeping track of how many payments I have made within my loan forgiveness program. I logged on after dealing with another issue, and they had it recorded as 10 qualified payments, which is ridiculous if I have been making payments for the last two years in automatic bill pay and even before that I would log into their account twice a month to make payments. This was my breaking point and I contacted the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group. I think they are delaying my payments and adding money to my loans as a way of getting back at me for having them investigated.
It there any 24/7 chat customer support for fedloan, if then please give us the link
I have had absolutely nothing but problems with them. I have been in forbearance for the last 6 mos.. That’s 6 MONTHS of payments towards my public loan forgiveness that I’ve missed because they messed up my consolidation. Than I went one by one with my loans, and consolidated them for an hr on the phone with a guy there, and finally they got consolidated properly, but when I put in for my income driven repayment plan, it wouldn’t go through, because the consolidation was still processing. ALL this time I had been paying for a year, and 3 of my loans weren’t consolidated and no one told me, so those loans don’t count toward my forgiveness! That is what started a new consolidation in the first place.. Then my loans finally finished processing, and now I called and they said my application for a repayment plan has expired and that’s why my plan hasn’t been approved.. No one said a word to me! I’ve spent a total of like 10 hrs on the phone with them in the past 6 mos, and it always ends with them saying “Don’t worry, just get a forbearance for this month and by next mo it should be ironed out.” Then I log on and I owe a $700 payment! Which is supposed to be about $200. So I have to call and get another forbearance and have a new rep look at it all over again, and spend another 2 hrs on the phone figuring out what the problem is now.. Meanwhile, I’ve missed a whole 1/2 yr worth of qualifying payments towards my ten yrs for public loan forgiveness because I have to keep getting forbearances because I don’t have $700! It’s ridiculous.. Today the woman told me my application for a repayment plan is expired but I don’t have to do a new one, because it’s not that old, so she’s going to “expedite” it, and it should be “done by next month.” Same old song.. This is absolutely awful.. The only thing I can think to do is make a complete spectacle of myself on the phone with them so they remember me every time I call, so I don’t have to explain who I am and what the problem is all over again, or maybe it’ll inspire them to correctly process my loan so I’ll stop “pestering” them! FedLoan, there are higher rates of depression and suicide in the public service community that you specifically service, so maybe stop making people want to smack themselves in the head with a hammer!
I am in total agreement with ALL of these posts of frustration. Fedloan is a total scam. I have called numerous times about the interest on my loan that actually goes up after i make payments. Its like this loan never goes away. I have paid so much in interest; tgere is no way its only 6.8%, which is still criminal for a country who values education so much. I will continue to look for a lawyer too because this crime has to stop. I am empathetic to all of you for your aggravation.
I had a feeling that this company was either a scam or they have horrible business ethics. i thank God for your posts about this issue because i was searching for some verifiable proof that this company was bogus. The reason why, is that i just signed up for Law firm to research items on my credit which recently just took a mysterious nose dive. they showed me where i had over 20 delinquent items and half of them came from Fed Loan Servicing. this as we discussed was ridiculous because they are treating the same account as though its several and this business practice should be illegal because medical bill financial services, credit card debt, not even Sallie Mae or us department of Education themselves can break the law by treating the same loan account and reporting it to the credit bureaus as though each month is a separate itemized account for the same borrower. this is illegal and i know this company needs to be seized for ruining peoples credit like that. My credit was great this past summer, and i was doing great sitting back watching it get better and i had plans, like helping my family with fixing the house. also i talked to this company about deferment because i planned on going back to school so usually with Sallie Mae when you plan to go back to school they work with you and get your deferment process underway. now i have to back track and work with this the company to get my credit back in order. oh and yes i made several payments in the beginning with Fed Loan to start the process they said was part of the Loan Forgiveness program through what President Obama enacted before he left office. so after several initial payments you were supposed to be on a simple $34/mo plan for a while until a certain period at which point 90 % of your loans would be forgiven. thank you sir for telling the truth a proving my suspicions about this sorry company
I am beyond frustrated with this company. I requested further review of my account regarding the amount of lost time spent awaiting the processing of my application to switch to the REPAYE plan. I originally submitted my application the evening of December 17th, 2015 and 80 days had past until misled action on my part reset the entire process. While only desiring to provide my family’s updated AGI (following completion of taxes) as it was drastically different from the previous year’s (first child born and lost income due to maternity leave and new job), this apparently trumped my original application to REPAYE and wiped it all away. There was no warning or guidance during that process that suggested this would occur. I called and spoke to a FedLoan rep thereafter and resubmitted my application for REPAYE and an expedited request was allegedly made. 107 days later on June 28th, my first payment reflecting the REPAYE plan was due. Everything I had read regarding the REPAYE application process suggested that the process can take 45 days. Had it been a week or two longer in either instance, I wouldn’t have said anything. However, given the fact that my wife applied the very same evening and was approved by February, in addition to the exorbitant amount of time that was spent processing my application, this is unacceptable. We are both educators and have a young family to care for. On top of the accrued interest, we have lost a great deal of potentially applicable months towards PSLF. While I find it incredibly unfortunate that the accrued interest cannot be addressed, I firmly believe that an exception should be made regarding the months that could have counted towards my PSLF. I have never missed a payment, been late, nor did I even opt to pay nothing during the (“extended”) forbearance periods that were inexplicably a part of the REPAYE application processes. All documentation requested of me has been submitted in a timely fashion, and yet my young family and I have been and will continue to be impacted by the amount of time lost awaiting for my REPAYE application(s) to go through. I then requested an exception be granted regarding the amount of potential PSLF months lost during the time period between December 17th, 2015 and June 28th, 2016. After working with 2 Consumer Relationship Analysts, I received a letter last week, over 2 years since the problem originated, indicating that nothing can or will be done to resolve. Not even a hint of a compromise.
A class action needs to happen, and it needs to happen ASAP.
I had two loan accounts with fed loan servicing. PO BOX 69184, HARRISBURG P.A. One Loan for $9,027.93 and the other for $12,265.39. Interest rates each loan is 5.875%.
6 years later my balances are $7,121.37 and $11,252.60. Total interest paid $5,508.12 and total principle paid $4,062.07.
I have paid more in interest than my principal balance. If you do the math that’s a 57.55% interest rate not 5.875%. Over the course of their entire repayment plan that they suck you into you pay back $13,405.31 just in interest!!!! Out of a loan that was for $21,293.32, how is that even legal?
This is fraud. It is not 5.875% interest rates. They wont let you make any additional payments, they wont let you change it to the way you want. It is designed for one thing, to make the COMPANY rich of interest that they prey on you.
If the interest was actually 5.875% then over the course of repayment it would be $2,736.93 and make the total repayment at $23,293.32.
Please, this company is committing illegal acts on these loans.
They have the worst customer service there is! They are what make it difficult for people to get anything accomplished and resolved. I have almost half of the amount of my loan in just interest. ITS INSANE! Worst company ever! Hoping to switch soon.
They are the worst company I have ever dealt with! They literally lie and never know what’s going on. They cannot give a payment guatory for payments that are mailed in which is absolutely stupid! I wish I knew how to report them and who to report them to.
Just found this forum. You can write your congressman since they are a contractor for the department of education. That is what i am going to do.
Fed Loan is the WORST. I have never been able to afford ANY of the payment plans that they offer! In their words, you either do the forbearance, hardship, etc ( I have done all of these) or you make the payment plans that THEY set. I really want to pay my student loans, but I have to be able to pay what I can afford. I am not going to go broke or not pay my rent making a student loan payment each month!! Ridiculous, something needs to be done about this. If they would work with me on a payment plan that i can afford, I would be ecstatic but that is never the case. The last payment plan that they set me up for was $303 month. No can do, so unfortunate. My interest just continues to accrue but oh well, I have no choice but to be in forbearance right now.
Apparently you can never pay off your student loans with this bank…i’ve authorized them to withdraw the payoff amount, and they did, but somehow I still have an outstanding balance…which can never be paid off as they refuse to return any emails or answer their phones at the so-called customer service area. They suck….so hard…..
I was switched to Fedloan because I applied for the loan forgiveness. I was given credit for only half the time I paid (I understand the guidelines if was allows for a payment to be excepted). I some how now owe 10k more which sent my credit down 11 points. WTH?! How is it that I’m paying every month and my student loan keeps going higher and higher. The customer service are a joke. The keep making errors and not fixing after I’ve called. This is the worst cluster mess. This is my student loan and credit that they are fumbling around with. I’ve only been with them maybe 4 months. How do I now owe 10 k more on my loan? My monthly payment also went up 40 dollars when I was told it would remain the same.
If you’re on an income-driven repayment plan (which you must be for PSLF), your payments likely do not cover the interest and principal fully. As such, your loan balance with continue to grow while you make payments. It honestly doesn’t matter though, because you’re going to get loan forgiveness in the end.
As for your qualifying payments to count, if FedLoan is missing qualifying payments that you’ve certified, you can ask for an appeal. You might have to provide more documentation (like copies of your employment certification), but you can usually get those payments to count if it really was an issue.
I’m looking to apply for this – but I am only in my 5th year of employment… So I know I need to get 5 more years in… Would it be better off for me to keep with my current servicer (Great Lakes) and then apply for this when I am close to the end of the 10th year to avoid all of these problems? I know that I will qualify since I am on Income Based Payment Already and I am a public school teacher. Just trying to wade through these murky waters!
I would send in my certifications now and every year (as well as keep a copy for myself). All lenders have their issues, but if you have a PSLF specific question, FedLoan is the best to answer it and so it’s better to be there than not be there.
We have been racked over the coals they area a fraud in default now and they transferred a parent plus loan without authorization. I need guidance on how to contact someone, they took over 1,000.00 from our accounts. Please help!! Do I need a lawyer??
If you believe there to be some type of fraud or major error you can’t get resolved, a lawyer can definitely help. Here’s a good resource: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/19516/lawyer-for-your-student-loan-debt/
I owe close to $400,000 in student loan debt which is a combination of my loans and my kids’ parent plus loans. On 7/30/18, I contacted Fedloan regarding my bill of $1400. The representative claimed to be knowledgeable of Consolidation and told me I could consolidate all of my loans, including the parent plus ones, into REPAYE and pay $744/mo. I thought this was great! Some time later I received correspondence that my new amount was over $1,800/mo. I contacted fedloan and was told the parent plus loans made me ineligible for REPAYE and my only option was the 20% income based, which is 20% of mine and my husband’s salary! Fedloan refuses to accept any accountability for the misinformation given by their employee. In different phone calls to them, I have been lied to and told my spouse’s monthly bill of $262 could be refinanced into mine. I was told by one rep that they could reverse the consolidation and then by another and even a supervisor that they could not reverse it. SO we are expected to pay over 2000/mo. I was even lied to at one point and told my loan would go in for “special review” because of my husband’s loan, and it would be expedited. I called over 2 weeks after not hearing anything. They still expect me to pay this amount. The advice they offered was deferment which equates to accruing $2000 mo in interest charges. They also recommended I change my tax filing to separate and they wont take 20% of both our incomes. Not even sure what to do at this point.
Once you consolidate a PLUS loan into the mix, you are in-eligible for RePAYE (as you found out). The only income-driven repayment plan available is ICR – which is 20% of your income. You can read about this here: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/21662/student-loan-consolidation/
If you were actually told this by a representative, it could be worthwhile to speak to a lawyer. You might just start with the ombudsman, and see what you can DIY yourself to unwind the consolidation, but it’s unlikely to happen.
Here’s what you need to know about speaking to a student loan lawyer here: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/19516/lawyer-for-your-student-loan-debt/
I just got called at 6 in the morning by this awful company. I made a 400 dollar payment and they say they cannot find it. As I read the comments here I realize the way I feel is not uncommon. They are incompetent and rude. The way they talk to you is awful. I have paid back the amount I borrowed 4 times over thru out the last 30 years. I have dealt with a number of companies. I am down to just returning the rudeness and hanging up. WHAT CAN I DO???????
I have not “officially” done anything with FEDLOAN. I started the process and dropped the ball, so never started making any payments yet. Should I just avoid this company and try to find another lender to do my repayments to? Or do I have to stay with fedloan? Any advice would help.
You don’t have a choice on who is assigned your Federal loans. You need to start making payments as you’ll end up in default (and see garnishments and more) if you don’t start making payments on your loan.
Be careful how you make your FINAL payment on your loan, make sure you click the dang ” pay off loan” even if you pay automatic and what not or manual on your total due, IT WILL STILL ACCRUE INTEREST. I called and no one can help me they dodged giving me instructions and just kept telling me ” regardless you still owe 90.25″ when interests were being accrued and the numbers doesnt make sense. THEY DO NOT tell you to pay a specific way online to FINALIZE AND CLOSE YOUR DEBT.
It’s crazy – right? We actually had to put together a guide because of this issue: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/15575/the-process-of-making-your-final-student-loan-payment/
when i learned that if you’re a government employee and after 120 payments your loan is forgiven, i submitted my application and i found out that my loans were taken over by Fed Loan servicing which they do have horrible customer service and if you already had a direct debit setup from your previous loan servicer like how mine was, FedLoan will takeover the bank info from them and start taking money from your account. My student loans were being serviced by Sallie Mae then taken over by Navient which Fed Loan took over and i applied for the reason that after making 120 payments, your loan is forgiven, but it really doesn’t work that way. You start over with Fed Loan with your 120 payments. No matter how many payments you’ve already made, the 120 starts from the time you start making payment so Fed Loan. Their interest rate and monthly payments ridiculous, i stopped making payments and now am trying to search for a company which can give me a lower monthly payment and consolidate all my loans.
If you’re going for PSLF, FedLoan is the only loan servicer that handles it per the Department of Education.
However, your 120 payment count doesn’t start over. FedLoan just processes it. If you have prior payments that qualified (at a previous loan servicer), once you provide employment certification forms, your payments will be counted.
Check this guide: Ultimate Guide to PSLF.
My issue is worse! They bill me 687.00 a month! I called was told send my finances. Did that was told by customer service I in fact am basically so poor I can do student forgiveness…. Yet nope… A year no help . basically gave up and am watching my credit disappear . it’s sad.
Hello,
I am glad I came across this post. I thought FedLoan would be a good way for me to consolidate my student loan debt. I paid a fee to get started with them. It was income based so my payments were $0. I asked a million questions in the beginning. I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t negatively impact my credit score or interfere with me buying a house in a few years. They told me it should help when I buy a house and that it wouldn’t impact my credit score. It does impact my score. Some of my other loans were 10 years old so when FedLoan took them over my history of accounts changed on my score. It wasn’t a big impact but, I was kind of upset about being mislead. I found it was very difficult to contact people through FedLoan. All the emails I got I couldn’t directly respond to and there was no phone number. After a year with them they started calling me to say I had to redo all of the paperwork I did the previous year. I told them that my income hadn’t changed but, they still needed proof. That was annoying but, not a huge deal. Then, they told me I had to pay the fee again, and would have to pay it every year. I told them I couldn’t afford it. They offered to knock $50 off the price. I thanked them but, still couldn’t afford it. I am a single mom on government assistance. I don’t have an extra $300 laying around. I was really upset that they initially never told me I would have to pay this fee every year. I think that is the only reason they offered to knock off $50 and then to offer me payment plan for the fee. I still haven’t been able to afford it. I also was still in school so I asked why my loans wouldn’t be deferred. They wanted me to sign a paper saying I refused the deferment but, I didn’t want to. Now, I have a negative mark on my credit score saying that I am more than 90 days late paying them. My payments would still be $0 and I am still in school so, how am I late? Because I wasn’t told about and didn’t have the money to pay this yearly fee? I am really disappointed in my service with them and wish I would have just left my student loans alone. I already was paying $0 because of being low-income.
I’m so glad I found this site, as I thought my girlfriend and I were the only ones whose finances were in danger from MyFedLoan’s shoddy practices. I am almost done with my second degree, and in August I took out a loan. In October, that loan was marked as paid in full, all of my payments were re-allocated to my lowest rate loan, and then the loan was re-dispursed in full (originally I didn’t want to take out a loan for both semesters, as my employer reimburses me for Spring but not the fall). So now instead of 6.6% on ~$4k I’m paying 6.6% on $20k, and the principle on my 5% loan was halved. I wanted those payments to go towards the higher interest rate loans. Further, I’m paying interest on $10k of loans I didn’t want that also didn’t disburse until this semester, so I’ve had to pay interest on it starting in October 2018. That loan was applied to my account balance at Drexel, even though I paid for the employee reimbursement plan, so I won’t be able to pay down that amount until June 2019.
In addition to my troubles, my girlfriend uses the same provider and her loans magically came out of deferment that same month. She was in school at the time. We both called MyFedLoan separately, and she was able to get her loans back into deferment after much back and forth, however I’ve had no luck in getting my issues resolved despite repeated attempts with multiple people.
I’ll just throw my harrowing experience with FedLoan Servicing in the mix and hopefully I can help someone else out with the same problem as the knowledge and the real education on how to deal with them I gained from this fiasco doesn’t benefit me one iota.
I have been the victim of FedLoan Servicing now for almost 10 years. Right after graduation I was in a car accident, and I was put on a deferment. I have all the paperwork that shows this, they have sent me their files that agree to this deferment and for all intents and purposes we both agree that I was on deferment. Now fast forward a few years and I am applying for a car loan, and I get a really bad loan offer. For all those years between my deferment and when I went to apply for a car loan, FedLoan Servicing had been reporting that I was 120 days late for six months during 2012. I immediately called them and was told that there was nothing they could do to help me, that they were bound to report only data as it was accurate at the time, and furthermore since the loan was paid off, they wouldn’t even be able to provide me documentation that proves I was late.
The CFPB is useless in situations like this because they do not go after lenders in government backed student loans. They are adamant about not revising their payment histories even when you can clearly show it is an error. If my loans had been over 270 days late, by law they would have had to send me to default. Even this factoid does not move them. And contesting it with the bureaus is pointless, because it will come back verified as accurate every time.
Thankfully my nightmare with them is almost over as it will be 7 years since those payments were erroneously reported as late, and they will be dropping off my report soon. The credit simulators estimate that my FICO will jump 70-80 points! So be sure that you ALWAYS check your credit report on a regular basis and that you absolutely DO NOT PAY OFF THE LOAN until you can be sure it is reported 100% accurately.
I have been on on a PSLF plan for years working toward my 120 payments. I have been working for non-profit organization for 15 years. After realizing my payments were no longer being credited towards my 120 payments I called. I was told that my employer is no longer a nonprofit. So in checking with my employer they said nothing has changed and the organization is nonprofit. I am close to 120 payments and near retirement age and still fighting with FedLoan. I would love to hear more about a class action suit.
Before you do that, make sure you appeal to both Fedloan’s obsmudman and the Department of Education’s ombudsman. Get a copy of your employer’s 501(c)(3) certification and send it in with your appeal.
I too would like to be in on the class action suit. My story is the same as everyones, my loans were switched to fed loan in 2011, I changed a due date on one of my loans to split the two up in 2017, I am now paying interest all over again. have called fedloan about a half dozen times to no avail, just blew smoke up my butt after being on phone for 2 or more hours, went from paying 60 to 70 dollars towards interest to now nothing goes towards my principal
Except for my home mortgage, they (Fedloan) own the largest loan I have ever had. I currently have about eight other loans (house, cars, credit cars, etc.) and have probably had thirty such loans in the past ten years. Fedloan is the ONLY “financial institution” that does not offer and actually REFUSES to provide to me a monthly statement! Is that really too much to ask?? They try to make you feel stupid for even asking for such a thing. Amazing! Every bank, credit union, credit card, stockbroker, and ALL OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS in this world that does even $1 worth of business in a month, provides a monthly statement!!! Just another incompetent, lazy, government service. But this one is worse than all the others because it is handling my second largest loan ever! You would never see a private institution not providing a monthly statement when they’re handling your money. It clearly shows the difference between free-market competition, and a government-backed monopoly take-over.
My loans were bought out and consolidated from Navient to FEDLoans and it was supposed to be part of a full or partial loan forgiveness program through FSAID and someone there said “the defense against repayment was already submitted and was being processed but was put on hold since the entire school was in the process closing down for good, so they would have to wait until that happened first” when I called back a few months after the school closed it seemed no one knew anything about it and the person I talked to then had no clue about any possibility in my situation and only about the more common forgiveness programs. I had to look through all my old emails to find the original paperwork. But Fedloan sent me to call FSAID and those guys sent me back to call FEDLOAN again both saying it is the other agency that can handle that… 🙁
Hopefully you have copies of all the documents you’ve submitted thus far. If so, take that to Fedloan’s Ombudsman and the Department of Education’s Ombudsman and hold them accountable.
Remember – send everything in writing. Always send it certified mail with return receipt.
FedLoan screwed up my recertification (annual paperwork to verify your income and set your payment amount; VERY important for income-driven plans, including those paired with Public Service Loan Forgiveness).
First, they never alerted me to any upcoming recertification deadline. When pressed on this, they argued that they sent something to my “virtual inbox” (something you only notice when you log on, which you don’t have to do if you set up automatic payments) and don’t directly contact you due to “privacy” matters. That’s funny. They send emails with subject lines like “Your student loan is delinquent!” and body content including your past due amount or how much interest you paid last year. So much for privacy.
Then they miscalculated my payment amount, in a typical display of incompetence (just taking gross income instead of AGI, even though the deductions were clear as day on the documentation). They later argued that they processed things correctly the year before because I provided “additional calculations” and they didn’t have that data this year. Those “calculations” were just me highlighting 401(k) and HSA deductions, then attaching an extra sheet with basic math: gross, minus X, minus Y = “AGI.” Hey, it’s a good idea considering the incompetence of FedLoan’s staff, but it’s really NOT the borrower’s job to do the math for the servicer.
Then, the kicker, they ignored 11 different written letters about these issues over a 10-month span. Oh, they kept sending automated letters like “you’re delinquent” and “avoid default.” One even said I had “ignored [their] repeated attempts to resolve the delinquency.” KAFKAESQUE!
Today I wasted my last breath with them. I had an hour-long conversation that went nowhere. They had no response to their failure to respond to written correspondence, and wouldn’t budge an inch on anything. At the end, knowing I might just have to play the conversation for a jury at some point, I just made them an offer: I’m still disputing X, and Y, and Z. But I’ll pay what you say I owe, and we can set aside those disputes (I’ll take them up with the Department of Education’s Ombudsman, or go to court if I have to), and I’ll pay up, but you have to provide a letter stating the amount due, acknowledging that I still dispute it, and assuring me that you will consider my payment as timely.
Think they’re willing to do that? Nah. Lawsuit here I come.
When you sent the letters, did you send it certified mail with return receipt (if not, start doing that – it not only gets attention but you have proof of delivery that you can use).
Second, for your payment amount, what documentation are you using – a pay stub? If so, they are obligated to use your gross income, not net income. They will only use your AGI if you submit a tax return. The reason is that until the end of the year they can’t know if you simply maxed your 401k or HSA on that individual paycheck to lower your net pay. You could then bump it back to normal the next paycheck. So, when submitted alternative income documentation, the gross amount is always used. That’s why it’s not “as good” of an approach than using your tax return unless you need an immediate change to your repayment plan payment amount.
Finally, what specific things are you disputing?
Robert, I agree that everything should be done in writing with these clowns. The problem is they never answer. They’re like a cable company or cell phone provider. They want you to have to call in, wait, maybe give up, and have very little to back yourself up should things not get resolved. The telephone rep can make whatever assurances they want (and I’ve spoken with some who I think genuinely believed they would be able to resolve the issue once they put in a “request for review” or something), but you have next to nothing to rely on unless it’s in writing. FedLoan simply won’t provide that.
Certified mail with return receipt. You normally don’t need to do anything beyond the government forms, so what are you sending them?
Sadly, I find solace in each of these horror stories simply because it makes me feel I’m not alone. I have been in PSLF for 6 years. I had no problems with FedLoan during the first 6 years only because I never contacted them. Additionally, it certainly helped that I worked at the same place for that entire time, was paying under the right plan (I know, hard to believe), and was making my payments on time. BUT, all good things come to an end. I left my job last year for a better opportunity and higher salary, but still a qualifying government agency. I knew my payments would increase, but didn’t know I would need to switch plans. So I called well in advance of my re-certification to find out what my options are. I certainly didn’t expect FedLoan to give me incorrect advice when re-certifying. I was told I no longer qualified for IBR and need to switch to another plan. The customer service rep went through each qualifying plan with me, and I chose the plan with the lowest monthly payments, naturally. A month later I receive an email indicating my application for the new plan has been denied. No other explanation. I immediately call FedLoan because how could this be? I only did what was told to me by THEM. Evidently, the rep I spoke with gave me the wrong information. So I then request to change into REPAYE that FedLoan again suggested, and will qualify under PSLF. A month later, another denial notice is in my email. I call again. Same story. I was given the wrong information and had to again apply for a different payment plan. After this lengthy call, it was determined that in fact REPAYE was the best plan, but it could not be explained to me why I hadn’t been switched yet. This time I asked for something in writing so that our conversation could be memorialized so that if this happens a THIRD time, I could have some sort of proof to show I was not at fault for choosing a payment plan that does not qualify. Their response? NO. I was told they cannot send me an email outlining what our conversation was about and what I was advised. But they will put it in the “notes” section of my account. Fantastic…can I see what you write?? Nope. Now, this whole process took 7 months. SEVEN months of switching from plan to plan because process time is endless for them, and due to their screw up, they have to unwind all the tangles. Of course each time I spoke with FedLoan I asked, “will these payments I’m making while this switching process takes place, count towards the 120?” Nope. They won’t because of the “opt-out” process, because my loan “falling to Permanent Standard Repayment”, then switched to “Regular Standard Repayment” and then the “exit payment” which was followed by another switch to “Regular Standard.” I was also told I was in forbearance and had a reduced payment that I never asked for. Forbearance concerned me since that word isn’t kind in the credit world.
And as I suspected, my credit got dinged and my credit score went down because of FedLoan. I have never paid a bill late in my entire life and have always had a high credit score until now. No one could explain to me why this happened. My last call was on 4/3/3019 because I just received my April bill which indicated a significantly lower amount than what I was told just two weeks earlier. I apologized in advance to the customer service rep, because she was about to deal with an irate customer. It was insane to me that I still wasn’t on REPAYE after requesting to pay under that plan 5 months earlier. After an hour of me literally yelling and swearing, I was told FedLoan could “expedite” my application to get onto REPAYE. Realizing “expedite” to FedLoan probably means months if not years, I had no faith this would be done quickly. Much to my surprise, less than 24 hours later, I was magically put into REPAYE. I want to know how on earth my paperwork could have been processed that quickly when every other time I’ve put in a request to switch, it’s taken at least two to three months, AND they have to undo the mistake they made before before I see any kind of movement from FedLoan. My guess is they either realized they screwed up, and since the court ruling just came out in Feb 2019, they are trying to avoid more lawsuits, or they just didn’t want to resort to wearing hearing aides after dealing with me. Now my issue is to fight to get the 5 months of payments that didn’t count during this process, to qualify under PSLF. I’ve filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and my next step will be to hire an attorney if I am not given credit for these payments. I honestly believe they are pulling these stunts to increase the time it takes to pay. Everything points to that. Additionally, the customer service reps they hire clearly know nothing. I have never received the same information from one rep to another. Wait..I lied. ONE time I received the same information from two different calls; I called so many times over 5 months, I actually got the same customer service person twice!
Absolutely the worst company in modern history. FOR SHAME!!!! CSR’s do not even know how student loans work and cannot answer basic questions about their services. LIES or TERRIBLE ADVICE, either way they have cost me time and money already, and I have only been with them for 3 months! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS UNTIL THEY STOP THIS BORDERLINE ILLEGAL MADNESS and require higher standards on loan servicing companies!!!!!
FedLoans is about one of the worst financial companies I’ve ever dealt with and they have ruined my credit score to make my life miserable. First they lied and put me on a wrong plan when I re-summited my Pay as you go plan, from $0 pay to deferment, then started hiking up my interest charges. then they falsely put a missed payment acrossed all 10 of my loans April of last year crashing my credit score over 100 points, now its dropped another 40 cause they still arnt report my payments to the credit bureaus, and with the wrongfull months of interest charges now jacking my balance over what I original borrowed! Fedloan lies, deceives, is rude, feels like an overseas scam company, and will just outright keep you on hold for hours than hang up(repeatedly). Avoid this company with all costs, I’m still trying to figure out how to fix my life with all their wrongful credit reporting!
Am so glad I found this site as my experience with Fedloan has been appalling and I cannot get anywhere, as they are so inept that nobody knows what the other one is telling you. The lies continue on phone calls, emails and mail that the company sends out. There needs to be a SOLUTION to this madness as it sounds like many people have problems with them and get no resolution. I contacted the Ombudsman for Pennsylvania Higher Ed and they must have lied to them too and the Ombudsman’s office was of no help…………they got a nasty email from me too!
The only option seems to be to transfer your loans but then you miss out on the program benefit that I was qualified for, and depended on for loan forgiveness, not to mention the extra interest that has accrued since my loan was transferred to them! There has to be a way to stop this nonsense!
Thanks,
Lisa
What are they lying to you about? Please share so others can be aware.
I have no faith in Fedloan Servicing at all, and no faith that I will ever be able to reduce my payments through the PSLF program. I have been paying regularly on my two loans a higher amount than required by the income driven plan since 2011, but supposedly only 10 payments count towards forgiveness. Based on a recent letter I received from them, I will need to pay for another 8 years to qualify before which one of my loans will already be paid off, and the other will only have a couple hundred dollars left. I have called and spoken to staff multiple times only to receive different information each time. Supposedly they say I have only worked at a qualifying employer for the past year, yet I have been in the same district (a qualifying public school system) for the past 14 years. If anyone has any ideas, PLEASE let me know!
Hi there,
Why have you been paying higher? Which of the three criteria don’t you meet for credit:
1. Correct repayment plan?
2. Correct loan type?
3. Correct employment?
If you do satisfy all three criteria for the missing payments, you can appeal. I’m concerned you haven’t always been in the right repayment plan because in 2011, IBR just started.
I spoke with them today. I was in a standard repayment plan which under their website can still qualify though I was told otherwise. I did appeal their current ruling, and they are now expediting my review which was started almost 2 years ago. Hopefully something positive will turn out.
Hi! I have been working for a nonprofit hospital for over 4 years and have been paying on grad school loans for over 3 years with an IBR plan. My goal is to continue paying on these loans, which is the bulk of my student loan debt, until I reach 120 payments under the IBR. I’ve never consolidated my loans, all 3 of my grad loans are direct loans in the REPAYE plan, and everything is on auto-debit and I’ve never missed a payment. I’m fairly certain I qualify for PSLF after digging into all the requirements last year. I decided I’d send in the PSLF employment certification form after hearing about all the issues people had last year when they thought they had made all the necessary payments, but when I was looking for the form I noticed that the website said they might switch my loan servicer. I found this website when I saw that my loans would go to fedloan, and now I’m not sure if I should risk sending in the employment cert form!
Which is the greater risk:
-Not sending in the certification form to confirm I’m working for an eligible employer for PSLF and then ultimately be denied at payment 120 because of some bull**** reason stemming from not sending in the form, or
-potentially getting moved to fedloan and start having all these issues like everyone has been commenting about??
First, you can read our full guide to PSLF here: Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Second, it’s 1000x better to certify your employment early and move to Fedloan because issues do arise, and you can work to correct them early on, versus when it’s too late. Fedloan is a big company – it employs 1000s of workers. Even a 99.999% accuracy rate will still result in issues as seen in the comments here. Don’t worry about them, just do your own due diligence and the rest is easy.
Thank you!
Has anyone had them change your loan amount without any explanation? My husbands doubled. We’re paying on time every month. We now have to pay double. No warning- nothing. Signed legal repayment agreements apparently do not matter to this organization.
Sounds like you may have been on an income-driven repayment plan and failed to re-certify your income on time? If you don’t submit the form annually, you default back into the standard 10-year plan (which is typically the most expensive monthly payment plan). Could that be the case?
I’m glad to find I wasn’t the only one having issues.
My situation is a little different because I’m not seeking public loan forgiveness and (luckily) do not have financial problems.
Their system switched me to a longer graduated repayment plan (more interest for them) automatically instead of the standard plan, and last minute. Everyone is supposed to start the standard plan unless they take action to apply or request something different. I made no such request. So they had put my account on admin forbearance in the meantime while they fixed it even though I wouldn’t have had a problem paying. Then, when the plan finally got setup correctly they put me back in forbearance with no reasoning (this just racks up more interest and then capitalization when it’s released). So I made the correct payment the day before it capped and some still capped from accruing overnight even though you have to pay the day before. They also manually took my account off forbearance (per my request), but made it as of my due date which made me immediately 2 weeks “late”.
I’ve made 6 requests over 5 or so months and it’s still not fixed. The tickets get closed without making any adjustments to my account or explanation or were adjusted very incorrectly. It shows such incompetence when the requests are crystal clear. There’s no communication between those involved or with me.
And if they’re running an AUTOmatic payment system, they should be able to pull money on Saturdays. I understand banks are closed on holidays, but not every weekend. It shouldn’t have to be processed several days late because its AUTOmatic (not manual). It’s costing me extra money in interest and HOURS of productivity when I have to sit on the phone with customer service. I’d like to pursue some sort of claim, if applicable.
I’d like to be part of any class action lawsuit against Fedloan Servicing.
I was with Greatlakes prior and my student loans were transferred to Fedloan Servicing when I applied for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). The majority of comments I’ve read on this site are true and mirror my own personal experience with this company. This was one of the worst decision of my life. I’m sending several written complaints to the U.S. Department of Education. Where is the oversight?
I also called Attorney Morgan & Morgan, in Tallahassee, FL (850) 329-6895 – they were listed on one of the earlier POST. I provided my information and I’m waiting to hear back from them. Are there any other lawsuits out there that have gained any traction? This is SHAMEFUL!
I have had so many problems with Federal Loan Servicing in regards to receiving contradictory information from then while trying to change my payment plan and forbearance. I’ve gone around and around with them. Is there a way to file a class action lawsuit against them? I’m fed-up!
I will apologize in advance for how rambly this is. It is nice to hear that I am not the only one who is having a rough time with Fedloan Servicing. I graduated with my master’s degree last August, and I have been fighting with Fedloan Servicing for over 6 months now. I have loans with both Navient and Fedloan Servicing. Navient handles my paperwork properly and communicates in a timely manner. Fedloan Servicing does not. It took 4 months for me to even get my IDR set up involving multiple phone calls and emails, which I prefer due to hearing difficulties. My loans were in administrative forbearance after I requested it during the last month. It was later that I realized something was going on, and I requested an itemized bill showing exactly which amounts on their site are optional interest, and what was required (because their site just shows a single number). I had been told that I had been approved for $0 payments with a $5 starting payment (which I actually had to make twice), so I didn’t think that there should have been anything further required. I also asked them to make sure that my $5 was applied to my bill as opposed to the interest. Alas, I poked around and discovered that my two oldest loans (with them) were left on the standard repayment plan. Additionally, the $5 was put randomly on my interest. It got to the point long ago where I would refinance my loans and have them sent elsewhere, but I am looking for better jobs that would qualify me for PSLF although I worry that their inability to do paperwork and communicate with me will cost me future jobs. If I could pay them the standard amount on my loans, I would just to make things easier, but I cannot afford that much right now.
I read over several of your comments and I can relate. I started out with great lakes loan. I was making my low monthly pyms no problem. Things got very difficult once my loans were transferred to FedLoan. From 2016-2018, they were the most stressful times. I have a long story to share but for now I just want to say I hope we all find a way to fix this chaos.
For 2 years I’ve been with Fedloan, I haven’t had a payment with them due to the fact that they keep messing my papers up and putting me to different IBR programs. I was with Navient before and I made monthly payments until I got to FedLoan Servicing. Its been frustrating talking to someone who does not even know what they’re doing and don’t know where your paper works have gone to. I sent papers over their app and on the fax, even on the regular online website, yet still the same problem. For a year I’ve been sending in my IBR applications and documents, but still messing me us and have to put me on forbearance while waiting for an approval for my applications. I never have this problem with Navient and if I did, they fixed it right away. I am qualify for PSLF but somehow my papers got lost or maybe lying somewhere in their office while my they’re collecting my interests to pay for their employees. I am in for a class action lawsuit now
The worst company ever! Has there been any momentum on any sort of resolution? If so I’m in, please contact me, someone has to do something about this company? Anyone know how to get out of this company and if there are better options? Let’s get a group message going? jaredbodaryatsbcglobal.net, email me let’s get this going.
FYI, Fedloan requires a “wet signature” on the employment certification for PSLF. I submitted a form with a digital signature (along with employer completed information on page 2) and they denied it. I only found out after I didn’t hear back and emailed them twice (over the course of 3 weeks) to inquire about the status. This is the 21st century and people use digital signatures on pdfs. This process requires people to (1) print out the form, (2) send to HR to complete and email back, (3) print out, (4) sign, (5) scan, and (6) upload (also, not everyone has easy access to printers and scanners). It seems to me that the DeVoss crew and these loan servicers are trying to throw up a lot of tedious roadblocks like these to decrease the likelihood that people maintain eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Keep on them.
I agree with the above. I have had so many problems…..Most recently I decided to return to school to pursue my paralegal certificate, in part. I requested a in school deferment. I have phoned FedLoan sent via fax certified mail and certified mail w/ return card ( sending the certified in school verification, original with embossed seal )and sent a hardship request. It has been nearly 3 1/2 months. FedLoan continue to tell me that the verification is not acceptable and the school must send verification via this National data base, that is not always accurate. My school informs me that that is not exactly protocol as they send random listing to the National database and ensures me that the certified in school verification will suffice. I am inclined to take it a step further if I am being prejudiced by a company that can not keep their records straight and possibly damage my CREDIT.
Has anyone heard of the previous mention of a potential class action in progress or in the works? your comments are kindly appreciated.
I have to agree with most of what is written here about FedLoan.org, they are incompetent, and make themselves near impossible to get in touch with by phone….
I have a repayment plan I have been on since graduation, and needed to be recertified for this year, so I attempted to do so using the extremely confusing directions they provided, and was confirmed as approved at first, and then about 2 weeks later I get an Email saying they were unable to complete my recertification. How can they approve me, and then change their mind a couple of weeks later??
Who knows this, but I tried to find out by calling their phone contact number, which was OF COURSE a recording, but I managed to get connected to a human agent after about a 5 minute hold, who informed me that she was not able to answer my questions, and put me on hold to talk to a specialist. Upon starting this new hold wait, I get a recording saying that they are, OF COURSE, experiencing high call volumes, and my estimated wait time is more than 20 minutes.
I finally had to give up on them, and wait for a reply to my Emails, which seems to be the ONLY possible way to get any information from these people.
I agree, STAY AWAY from these idiots!!
I am shocked learning about all the negative experiences from Fedloan. I have had only positive experiences from them. When money was short they always worked with me and never gave reported a late payment to my credit, although I was several weeks late multiple times. Deferment was easily obtainable and shows up appropriately on my credit report each money. Customer service was always excellent and easy to work with. Interest rate carried over the same. I feel sad learning that so many people had issues with them. I started with the account/company right after college starting in 2016.
I received an e-mail that my recertification request for Income-Driven Repayment plan was denied.
They said a letter would be sent detailing the reasons and next steps to take. Well it’s been 2 weeks and i haven’t received anything. I checked my account and inbox. Right now I’ve been waiting 42 min on the phone to talk to someone. This is unacceptable! This people are a JOKE!! I want to be part of any lawsuit!
Did you do it online or mail it in?
I did notice that the customer service at Sallie Mae was much better than Mohela’s, and their computer programs were capable of a lot more. I haven’t noticed terrible customer service at FedLoan Servicing in the six years I have been with them, however.
People do not give up hope. I was as frustrated as anyone can get dealing with FedLoan. I was constantly searching for answers as to why my payments were not being credited to my account although I could see them all there as received in my account on the website. I could never get answers to why payments I made were not credited to me, I was given forbearances I never asked for, I was told I was not billed for certain months I made payments so did not receive credit although I had the bills from FedLoan in my hands as I talked with them on the phone, etc. And though in the end my payoff date kept getting pushed back further and further due to me not getting credit for payments I made, my student loan was finally forgiven under the PSLF Program (even though it was pushed back for approximately two additional years for reasons for which I was never given answers). What is even more amazing is when the DOEducation actually tallied up all my payments, I had more than the required 120 which I had known all along but I had been told repeatedly that I didnt, and although they did not give me credit for approximately 24 payments I made over the required 120, they actually refunded a few payments to me when they forgave my loans. So, I know it is extremely frustrating dealing with all this but keep making the payments and document everything again and again and again, and dont give up hope on getting your loans forgiven because believe me it can and does happen. I am proof. And I am a borrower from way back when student loan interest rates were fixed at 8.25 percent so you can only imagine how big my loan interest alone had accumulated. I just wanted to put the word out there that someone has been successful with having their loans forgiven under the PSLF program with FedLoan as their servicer. Good luck everyone.
Thank you for your story. I am very frustrated with FedLoan. I know I have more than the required payments but they say I need 13 more. I will endure.