ACS Education Services
Consumer Complaints
There are over 1220 complaints on file for ACS Education Services. Dated between 2019-12-03 and 2012-04-23.
Complaints Page 24
2016-10-14
Pryse, KY
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Having problems with customer service
Complaint: Hello, I 've had a student loan with ACS Education Services for approximately 13 years. I 've made monthly required payments since that time. I fell behind one month payment recently and I 've been trying to contact customer service to speak about forbearance. I checked my account today in fact- exactly 30 days late. I 've contacted ACS customer service 4 times in the past month, including twice today. Every time I call the representative says they are not " allowed '' to talk to me and route me to the voicemail of a paralegal named XXXX XXXX in the legal department. They will not even answer why they ca n't help me and I have to speak to this woman. It 's very bizarre. I can only assume this is because I 'm 30 days late, which is not very severe in my opinion. I 'm not in collections or anything because ACS is still billing me as usual. They just refuse to help me or speak to me. Because they refuse to help me or give me any customer service as they are legally obligated to do I have no choice but to report their actions. Its so sad that it takes this for me to try and get a simple question amswered about my student loan. The whole thing is truly bizarre. But the one thing I do know is that this company is not following policy in regards to providing help and access to their consumers. I 've never has a account somewhere where they just wo n't speak to you and give you no reason why. I 'm wondering if they are understaffed and and failing to invest in the trained individuals they are required to have on staff. I 'm hoping you can help me get a response from this company.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-14
Silver Spring, MD
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: I completed my XXXX XXXX at XXXX University XXXX and now work for the XXXX. My federal student loans are serviced by ACS. ACS is very difficult to work with - they have terrible customer service, their policies are not transparent, and their call center operators provide incomplete answers when I call. This year I received a student loan repayment benefit from the XXXX where I work. However, just two days after I received notice that the payment had been sent to ACS, I received a final offer for a new job. I called XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) to ask if they could stop payment because my agency will not waive the debt and I would have to pay it back to XXXX. XXXX said they had already cut the check and they could not stop payment. I have since called ACS on two different occasions to ask them to refuse payment. They say it is " their policy '' not to. Now I will have to pay back XXXX out of pocket. It is completely absurd that ACS would not refuse the payment. I am the borrower, current on my repayments, and regardless of whether or not the payment is coming from me or a third party, I should control when payments are made to my account. If I ask them to stop a payment, they should. Now, on the third day I have called ACS, the payment hit the account. I 'm sure I have no way of reversing this now. I am extremely concerned about having to pay my monthly student loan payment ( because ACS says I must continue my monthly payments as-is with no break even though they just receive a huge chunk of money from XXXX ) AND now I have an additional payment to XXXX to cover this debt. Plus I have all of my other bills to pay including housing, utilities, and child care. I have never missed a payment and ACS needs to honor my request to stop payment. I 've tried to work directly with ACS but to no avail.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-13
San Diego, CA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Don't agree with fees charged
Complaint: The loan company that I consolidated my federal loans with refuses to lower my interest rate by 2 % as was agreed upon despite years worth of on time payments. I consolidated my loans in XXXX. Under the agreement, I was to receive a 2 % drop in interest rate once I paid XXXX payments on time. I called them when it was time for the interest rate to drop and they stated XXXX payment was late. A mistake had occurred because of a federal holiday falling on the day that the payment should have gone through from my bank automatically. They cleared it up with the bank and stated they now counted the payment as on time. In order to further avoid this mistake, I backed up the payment date so that I paid early every month. They now state that because my payments came too early, they were not " on time '' and refuse to lower the interest rate. Then my employer paid lump sums and they sent me something saying I could count that as years worth of payments and was paid ahead, but again, because I did n't make XXXX payments within the time period, they state they do not have to lower the interest rate. Overall, the interest rate should have been lowered 2 % in XXXX and I should receive credit for the difference of interest I have paid since then. Please help!!!
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-10
Cloverly, MD
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Need information about my balance/terms
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-09
Detroit, MI
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: My wife and I did borrow to help pay for our XXXX sons ' college tuition. The collection of some of those loans have passed from XXXX to XXXX or XXXX servicing companies. One batch is now services by ACS ( a XXXX company ). We have paid {$210.00} monthly for several years. But I noticed on the last statement there is no cumulative accounting of what we have paid in principal and interest. I did notice that they say the outstanding principal balance is {$10000.00}. That seems very high. Particularly when I know we have nearly paid off in full another group of loans administered through XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX.
The account number on the ACS loan is XXXX.
I would welcome your suggestions as to how I should proceed. I am reluctant to go to ACS 's customer service folks until I do some research on their track record.
Also, I noticed this story from XX/XX/XXXX.
XXXX You can reach me at XXXXXXXXXXXX or XXXXXXXXXXXX Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX.
XXXX XXXX XXXX, MI XXXX XXXX
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-06
Aslo, MN
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't decrease my monthly payments
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-06
Dayton, OH
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Having problems with customer service
Complaint: My student loan was discharged due to VA XXXX. It was discharged XXXX 2015 and I 've called and emailed ACS/XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Dept. of Education and the IRS. I never received my XXXX Form and I kept getting the runaround, ACS said they do n't issue, call XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX gave me a letter with an amount, not the actual XXXX form. I called the IRS and they said that no one has issued a XXXX under my social security. XXXX XXXX said my lender should of given me the XXXX but ACS is the servicer for XXXX and said XXXX XXXX is the one to issue my XXXX form. My next issue was that my Credit Report ( XXXX ) was the only XXXX out the XXXX credit bureau 's to have under the comments section, Student Loan Assigned to Government ; Fixed Rate. I 've been disputing it and it 's still not fixed. ACS sent a letter saying that my loan was discharged but it did n't say VA XXXX and I do n't know if that has anything to do with why I did n't get my XXXX? If no-one filed a XXXX with the IRS, maybe that 's why I did n't get it. I do n't know the actual procedures of what happens when a student loan is discharge because of Veterans XXXX, but I just want to make sure that I 'm not on a 3 year monitoring period and maybe that 's why my loan on the credit report says Loan Assigned to Gov. Fixed rate. I get different answers every time I call or email.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-05
Bardstown, KY
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-05
Atlanta, GA
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: I have been a XXXX. I have a consolidated loan with ACS stemming from my XXXX years to my XXXX to a XXXX. Over the years, I have had an extremely tenuous relationship with ACS. Many times, they have overbilled my monthly payments from {$300.00} - {$2900.00}. Consistently I have given ACS information about my income paying what I can. I might get two or three payments underway and then all of a sudden, an exorbitant monthly payment increase ; of course, I would not be able to pay - essentially underpaying, and then as a result, penalties accrue. I contacted XXXX XXXX, the mother company of ACS, the latter part of XXXX, and had ACS work with me regarding a reasonable amount. This past several months has proved to be no different ; I applied for an IBR income sensitive application at the time XXXX XXXX, and I was paying every month {$72.00} every month since then including the last payment was XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Lo and behold, I log into ACS Sunday XXXX XXXX to make another payment and again, I was being billed {$2900.00}. The website would not allow me to make my monthly payment that I had been making throughout the year. I have no idea what is even my real principal balance at this point. There have been so many years of late accruals and I have gotten deferments, but it has been a vicious cycle to always not being able to pay my loans. Please, Please, Please I am begging you to help me ; I am so tired having to fight this exhausting battle. I have been in XXXX for so long and worked for XXXX for over 10 years. I have dedicated my life to XXXX and to give ; XXXX is my passion and gift. I feel like I am being penalized for this because ACS has denied my chance to have my loans forgiven previously.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-05
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Having problems with customer service
Complaint: Hello, I have a student loan from my university that is serviced with ACS and had been transferred to them from XXXX XXXX. I have been paying on this loan regularly for over six years and am in good standing with all of my loans through XXXX, XXXX and ACS. Since this particular loan was transferred from XXXX XXXX, I have run into numerous issues. I often can not get onto the website to pay due to technical issues and site outages. I 'm currently working abroad, so being able to pay online is important. When I phone ACS, the line disconnects or it goes to an answering service- I am never able to reach a human being. Last month, I reached out to ACS via email to let them know the issues I was having and requested assistance. My loans have been late a few times in the past year due to these technical issues on their site and once again, I was trying to pay a loan and the website would not let me log in. I then requested that ACS set me up for automated billing, as I can not continue to worry about whether or not the payment functionality on their end will work. Instead, ACS sent me a notice that I had applied for a Forbearance- I never once asked for a Forbearance. I emailed them again to let them know that I had asked to be enrolled in automated monthly debit and that I had not applied for Forbearance, and I requested that the matter be corrected. I have not heard from them on this. It also looks like my last payment has been processed two weeks after the fact.
My complaint is not about paying my loans- I pay regularly as I have for many years, despite my frustrations at never seeing my loan balance decrease, and am fortunate enough to be able to afford student loan payments at this time in my life. My complaint is that I am unable to work with this student loan company, ACS, because they : a ) do not have a working and functional website b ) do not answer the phone, c ) make errors in my requests and d ) are not reliable in responding to emails. As of now, I do not know where my loans stand with them since they are apparently processing a forbearance that I never asked for. What are my options here?
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-05
Thomson, GA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-04
El Cerrito, CA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-10-01
PA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Having problems with customer service
Complaint: I submitted a complaint [ Case number : XXXX ] about the fact that I have been enrolled in school for two years and the ACS refuses to acknowledge that, or provide an option so that I can prove I am enrolled. ( Every other lender is able to access the national database, and does not have this problem ). ACS responded by saying I had to contact them. So, I tried calling, and was on hold for over 30 minutes, and I emailed the website simply asking for an email or phone number or fax number where I could send the certificate from the national clearing house that I am enrolled. I called and sent the email on XXXX XXXX, with the only response an auto reply that I would get a response in 48 hours, but I did get a payment taken out of my account again today. ACS is the absolute worst.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-30
Panther Creek, TX
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-30
Wonder Lake, IL
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Having problems with customer service
Complaint: I am still a student, and have attempted to submit deferment papers to the company unsuccessfully several times. They repeatedly return my forms citing excuses such as " the date is in the incorrect format, we need mm/dd/yyyy and you gave us mm/dd/yy '', " your bill has not yet been paid so we can not accept your deferment '', and " your bill is not yet due so it is not necessary for you to submit a deferment until next period ''. It seems as though nothing will allow them to accept the form. After the most recent return in which they cited " your bill is not yet due so it is not necessary for you to submit a deferment '' which was for my bill due XXXX XXXX of this year, I resubmitted a form at the beginning of this month ( XXXX ) so that I would not be liable to pay for my XXXX bill since I am still a student and it should be in deferment. They have simply ignored this form and I imagine they will wait until after XXXX XXXX to reject my form and tell me to submit another XXXX.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-30
San Diego, CA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Received bad information about my loan
Complaint: My problems with ACS go beyond the fact that they are almost impossible to get a hold of and that their email function on the website is a scam - you email them and they send an automatic reply saying they 'll get back to you within 48 hours but that never happens! Other issues : So I got a loan of {$4000.00} from my graduate school and my school has a forgiveness program where ever year that you work in your field, a percentage of the loan is forgiven. Well I got most of the loan forgiven seeing as I 'm a XXXX XXXX and this job title falls under the forgiven positions. Unfortunately ACS declined my last year because I switched jobs and my title is no longer XXXX although I perform the duties of a XXXX and XXXX ( which also qualifies for forgiveness ) and probably more. So the reps ( who are usually nice but have no control over anything ) told me to simply word the letter differently which I did but am still waiting for it to " process ''. It 's literally been processing for several months and I call once a week and am on hold for about 20 minutes each time and get the same answer, " It 's processing ''. Even though on the website it shows my loan is " Past due '', the reps tell me not to worry and that that will disappear once it 's processed although the first time it was declined, this past due status did not disappear. I also was told that they reported to the credit bureau that I was not delinquent because the loan was " processing '', yet I have no proof of this happening. So I called my school and the person who answered told me they had updated my file about a week ago saying " Fax not received '' even though the rep had confirmed that the fax was received already and was " processing ''. Scam!
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-29
Ruskin, FL
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Received bad information about my loan
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-29
Watkins, CO
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Need information about my balance/terms
Complaint: I have been waiting for ACS Education ( " ACS '' ) to provide a certified payoff to my new lender for over 9 months. However, ACS is refusing to do so.
ACS currently services XXXX of my student loans. In approximately XXXX 2016, I submitted an application for a federal consolidation loan with XXXX XXXX. This was approved and all of my student loans were paid off with the exception of the loans serviced by ACS. XXXX XXXX informed me that it had requested an up-to-date certified payoff amount from ACS but was told that ACS could not provide this information due to an accounting issue.
At XXXX XXXX ' request, I called ACS to ask about how we could clear this issue up. I was informed that ACS needed to recalculate my principal, interest, and payments to ensure they were giving XXXX XXXX an accurate and certified payoff. I was informed that this process was completed by a separate ACS department and that they did not know how long it would take. I asked to speak with someone connected to that department and they refused. For over 9 months now, I have been waiting for ACS to complete this " adjustment '' calculation and provide the payoff to XXXX XXXX so that my federal consolidation can be completed. The only information I receive is from an ACS customer service manager on a semi-weekly basis. This manager simply informs me that, " this matter is still pending and I have no updates for you. '' In the meantime, interest is still accumulating on this account and ACS is still being paid to service it. Due to the types of loans, these accounts do not qualify for certain IBR plans which was the main reason for my consolidation into XXXX federal loan. This has placed an extreme hardship on me and my family and I am considering bringing a formal action in state or federal court against ACS.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-29
NY
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: I took out XXXX loans for my children 's educations. In XXXX I consolidated those loans with XXXX using the Federal Family Education Loan Program. The XXXX loans totaled {$43000.00} at that point. The loans were then taken over by XXXX and serviced by ACS, apparently XXXX separate institutions. In XX/XX/XXXX I kept calling XXXX to ask why the principal was still so high. They refused to provide any information despite my repeated requests. In protest I refused to make payments until they provided that information. This caused the loan to go into default, and XXXX XXXX then began servicing the loan.
XXXX attempted collections with the principal set at {$42000.00}. I have paid {$22000.00} on these loans from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX. The principal went down by less than {$1000.00} despite the payments. I understand the interest is paid first before the principal, and my repayment plan was for 15 years but this was wrong.
My son is an attorney and he helped me negotiate with XXXX, but they were unwilling to modify the principal and added over {$8000.00} in collection costs that we were told were also non-negotiable.
XXXX held a garnishment hearing where I sent in all the loan information ACS finally provided a week before the hearing. After almost two years of requesting the loan payment information they provided it in XX/XX/XXXX ( despite postmarking it in XX/XX/XXXX they never sent it until we made repeated phone calls all summer ).
Even after providing this information at the hearing and providing a thorough explanation of the situation, the hearing evaluator XXXX XXXX from XXXX still ruled against us. I 'm XXXX, now owe far more than I ever took out, made over {$20000.00} in payments, and I will have no spare income because I tried to do what was right.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-29
Succasunna, NJ
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Need information about my balance/terms
Complaint: My student loan company, ACS Education Services, has given me a choice : I can receive monthly statements about my account, or I can enroll in an auto-pay program that results in a 0.25 % interest rate reduction. Obviously I want to reduce my loans as much as possible, and auto-pay is a great way to avoid missing a payment. So I took that option.
However, without a monthly statement, I can not easily see how I am doing on this loan from month to month. For instance, I can not tell exactly how much I am paying in interest each month. There are " informational '' webpages I can access, which seem to provide a snapshot of the loan at that particular moment, but those webpages do not provide a monthly status report the way a statement does. Nor can I keep records of my ACS statements, as I do with my loans from another servicer.
My question is : Is it appropriate and legal for ACS to refuse to provide monthly statements to borrowers unless we agree to forego the lower interest rates and auto-pay? Should n't they be required to provide monthly statements to everyone? It does not seem fair to force borrowers to effectively pay more, and lose auto-pay, just to have a monthly statement.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-27
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-27
FL
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Don't agree with fees charged
Complaint: I took out a Federal Student Loan when I was in college ( XXXX ). The total amount of the loan was for {$16000.00}. Since XXXX, I have paid them {$9100.00}. My current outstanding balance is {$16000.00} and the " payoff '' balance is {$16000.00}. So after paying over {$9000.00}, I have only lowered the balance by about {$900.00}.
I could n't figure out how this was possible, until I did some research about this company. Apparently, they reduce the amount of your payment that goes towards principal based on what day of the month you pay ( if you pay on the XXXX, a higher percentage goes towards principal than if you pay on the XXXX ). I would have happily set up an auto-pay for the XXXX of every month, however this company does not give you an option for auto-pay. This was never explained to me, and apparently was n't explained to thousands of other students that have written complaints about this company online. Several lawsuits have been attempted towards this company, but they have been able to escape them due to their arbitration clause. This company has an F rating on the XXXX website and is not accredited ( XXXX ). This company is intentionally deceptive, does not explain that your payment 's principal/interest varies throughout the month, does not allow you to set up auto-pay, and intentionally delays pending payments to prevent you from paying off your principal, and has thousands of complaints.
It is extremely upsetting that the Federal Government would sell my loan to such an awful company. I would like to figure out how to either file an arbitration suit against this company, or have my outstanding balance reduced to the fair amount.
Please let me know if you can assist with this matter.
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-23
Fort Worth, TX
Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Debt collection: Non-federal student loan
Debt is not mine
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-23
Coronado, AZ
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Don't agree with fees charged
Company Response: Closed with explanation
2016-09-22
Carson, CA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Closed with explanation