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this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2024
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I mentioned this before, but if you're running into issues with your student loan servicer (in the USA), you should submit a complaint here: https://studentaid.gov/feedback-center/. At a minimum, my experience was that submitting the complaint was quick and easy.
Some of these student loan companies are lying to borrowers, screwing up basic financial transactions, delaying payment processing, and generally operating in bad faith and in adversarial fashion. Making complaints may not do much of anything in the immediate sense, but in theory when enough complaints get recorded, eventually it will reach a point where it can't be ignored (I know, you've got a bridge to sell me).
Plus, if it ever does come down to some kind of remedy being provided to affected borrowers, having an official complaint on file will probably help you with making a claim.
Having said that, it seems like the complaint system is overall pretty crumby. My complaint was sent directly over to the loan company's customer service folks to handle, it wasn't handled by anybody on the government side that I could tell. And no surprise, the loan company investigated itself and concluded that it had done nothing wrong. But don't let that discourage you, it's still worth it to report.
I wish I knew that three years ago. I had a Perkins loan with Heartland ECSI. At the beginning of COVID, they kept screwing up how much I owed them. I would log in a few days before payment should have been due, and it said I owed them $0. So I thought this loan was on the same thing my Stafford loans were on, where I owed no payment temporarily due to COVID.
I log in a few days later then it says I owe my normal payment + late fee and it says I am overdue. I call their customer service and I explain the situation. The lady seemed to not believe me. "No, it says you owe X amount. I would not have said 0." Given that I caught this fast enough, if I paid it now it wouldn't have affected my credit. I just paid the payment plus the small fee because I did not have the energy to fight due to dealing with the world's crisis and my own added problems at home.
The next month, I see that it says I owe nothing again. Well, maybe they finally got the student loan pause stuff figured out. Nope, same thing. Not knowing if I was just going nuts, and factoring in my intense burnout, I just paid off the whole thing. Fortunately it was not much, but enough that my savings for a down payment was wiped out. I really could have used that money but for a finance company to just screw up so badly on a simple thing I just did not want anything to do with them any more.
It's too late for that situation, but in the future take screenshots. They can serve as some proof of what you saw.
Gotta fight the system somehow. I just hope others see this, report issues, and share the link/info with others. Maybe next time you see a post or discussion about USA student loans, you'll share the link as well.
I'm fortunate enough that all the fucked up shit that my student loan servicer did wasn't going to break me, but plenty of others are in situations where it could have had significant negative impacts. Even 5 years ago, if they'd have pulled the same stunt it would have been tough to adapt. So, that's part of the reason why I like to share that link and encourage folks to use it.
Most definitely, will spread the word when appropriate. I want to hope it will do some good, but I have my doubts. I figure the worst that could happen making a report would just be a small waste of time so why not try.
You could also try the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.