GREAT LAKES

2017-01-10

Madison, WI

Improper contact or sharing of info

Debt collection: Federal student loan

Talked to a third party about my debt
Complaint: I have been trying to qualify for a student loan rehabilitation program. I am being forced to do this through XXXX even though they NEVER sent the 30 day notice. I have found this out-of-state Texas corporation does not believe it needs to follow the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. I have, in the past, gotten multiple calls per day. It is not possible, most times, to get back to anyone. When directly asked, their representatives will not acknowledge the are subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They are rude, sarcastic, and hang up when I call even though they know that it is very difficult to get hold of anyone. I should never have had to work with XXXX in the first place and I mentioned this in a complaint filed yesterday. Today, I received XXXX calls, XXXX at XXXX XXXX and again at XXXX XXXX. The first call in the morning left an inappropriate message on a cell phone that is provided to me by an organization I do some volunteer work for and specifically identified the call as being from a debt collector. They do not have a right to harass me by leaving a message that says they are a debt collector on a phone that is not a personal phone ( and they would not have the right to leave that message on my personal phone either ). The phone message specifically says to call back and ask for " extension XXXX '' yet their phone system does not allow you to access extensions. I promplty called them back as soon as I could. At XXXX the " operator '' ( their system does not allow you to ask for an extension and this operator did not identify herself -- it was a woman ) would not allow me to talk to anyone about the Fair Debt Collections Act and what I know to be a violation. When I restated why I needed to talk to a supervisor because a phone message was left that is not in compliance with FDCP Act, this person said in an extremely sarcastic and rude tone of voice " OH REALLY! '' and then immediately hung up on me. When I called back at XXXX XXXX and expressed concerns that XXXX phone associates at XXXX were harassing me by ( 1 ). Leaving information to a third party about my debt ( 2 ). Being rude, insulting, sarcastic & hanging up on me and I was also not allowed to talk to anyone about unfair and illegal practices. I called back a third time at XXXX. This time, I did not engage the operator as I have learned Performant has no interest in being helpful and complying with FDCP. I directly asked for a supervisor and was transfered to a XXXX XXXX 's voice mail ( I did not hear the woma n't first name ). I left a message specifically saying that I believe XXXX is harassing me and is out of compliance with Federal Law. I left a phone number and am now waiting to hear back from them. But the point is this : 1. I did not contract for their services and, like many filing complaints here, XXXX never sent the mandated 30 day notice. 2. Despite this, I have tried to work with them to qualify for a student loan rehabilitation program. 3. None of the reps I have talked to have been able to consistently explain to me how this works, so I do not even know if the program they talk about exists. They refuse to provide me any information in writing about a program they are saying will resolve my student loan problem if I make a set number of regular payments. 4. It is virtually impossible to get hold of a collector to help you even though they give you extensions and imply this will connect you to someone that will help -- this is not true and XXXX know this. 5. The people I can get on the phone will not identify themselves by name and will not even acknowledge they are subject to FDCP Act. 6. Virtually all the people I do talk to are abusive, sarcastic, & unhelpful. They call me multiple times a day even after they leave messages on voicemail -- inappropriate messages that illegally disclose debt
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-10

NC

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: My balances keep increasing and I am on a IBR. I have yet to obtain employment in the field of study, and it is impossible for me to pay back those loans. They continue to raise my balance and it has affected my credit score severely! I am preparing to apply for another IBR, and I do not want my balances to continue increasing. I just can not afford it, I do n't know what to do. I can not afford to pay these loans.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-09

Saint Petersburg, FL

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-06

Center Grove, IA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-06

Virginia Bch, VA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-05

Alexandria, VA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-05

NM

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: Submission of my Income Based Repayment application was delayed with no current resolution. Temporary forbearance " solution '' caused my interest to be capitalized.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-05

Sacramento, CA

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: After Graduating from XXXX University on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call in early XX/XX/XXXX from Great Lakes Financial urgently urging me to transfer all of my Federal Loans over to them. Not quite understanding the need, In trust I follower their recommendation. In the XXXX years that I have been paying on these XXXX loans, I have only paid {$2000.00} in Principal. Starting balance was {$53000.00} to date balance is {$51000.00}. My complaint is that I feel as though I was taken advantage of and see no end to the repayment of these loans. Below are current and previous loan information from my Great Lakes account web site. Please advise how I can improve my situation. Consolidation Loans XXXX DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION XXXX XXXX ) Payment Reference Number : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION XXXX XXXX ) Payment Reference Number : XXXX Parent PLUS Loans XXXX DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION XXXX XXXX ) Payment Reference Number : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION XXXX XXXX ) Payment Reference Number : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION XXXX XXXX ) Payment Reference Number : XXXX
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-04

Carrollton, TX

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-03

Lionshead Lake, NJ

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't decrease my monthly payments
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-03

N Tarrytown, NY

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Received bad information about my loan
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-03

Itasca, IL

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: The company, which bought my federal student loans, is imposing hidden prepayment penalties on my extra monthly payments meant to pay off my student loans early. It is my understanding that prepayment penalties are illegal under the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act. The prepayment penalty has two parts to it. The first is that the date I 'm allowed to make an extra payment is in effect limited solely to my actual monthly payment due date. Specifically, if I make a regular monthly payment and then make an extra payment after the due date of my regular monthly payment, the company does not count my extra payment as " excess, '' but counts it as my next monthly payment despite the fact that I already have an automatically scheduled monthly payment for the next month. This is important because if it does not count as an " excess '' payment, then I 'm not allowed to direct the entire excess amount to my largest loan with the biggest interest, but rather the company gets to distribute the payment among all the loans ( like the smaller ones with less interest ). By doing so, the company charges me more interest in the long-run because I am not allowed to put the entire amount of my excess payment toward my largest loan with the largest interest and therefore end up paying it off longer and paying the company more interest than I otherwise would have. I have never received any written notice as to this limitation and only found out after numerous calls to the company connected to the fact that my extra monthly payments were not directed to my biggest loans with the most interest, but distributed ( contrary to my directions ) through all my student loans. To this day, I 'm still unable to find the clause explaining that this is how my extra payments should be treated and the company has not provided me with anything in writing as to this rule regardless of my inquiries. Further, the company employees have advised me that the only thing I can do, not to incur the extra interest for prepayment this way, is to make my extra payments on the same date as my regular monthly payment. This brings me to the second part of the prepayment penalty. Specifically, several times a year, my payment date falls on a weekend or holiday which is a non-working banking day. This means that even when I schedule my extra payment with my regular monthly payment, it does not get processed as an extra payment, but as the regular payment for the next month as it is considered as paid on the next working business day ( PS my automatic monthly payment gets processed on the non-working banking day retroactively, so the regular monthly payment is processed just fine ). Due to this practice, this also means that the company gets an extra day or two of interest out of me, which I otherwise would not have paid. In other words, on months where my payment date falls on a weekend or holiday, I am not allowed to make any extra monthly payments on my loans, otherwise I end up paying more interest as a penalty. The company has given me no answer so to this issue and advised me to continue making my monthly payments with my regular monthly payment and on no other days so the extra interest " penalty '' does not materialize. Finally, I would like to clarify that my extra monthly payments tend to be significantly larger than my regular monthly payments. Therefore, when I have made them prior to or after my scheduled monthly payment, they are counted as a " regular '' monthly payment and the company distributes them in a way that makes it collect more interest from me, despite my instructions to the contrary. Then when my lesser regular monthly payment is made, they treat that as an " extra '' payment, which they default to be distributed equally among all loans and not fully toward the biggest one with the biggest interest, so I still end up paying more interest than I otherwise would have.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2017-01-03

Wallington, NJ

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: I was shocked when I reviewed my credit report and found several late payments on my student loans with the dates below : XXXX days past due as of XX/XX/2015 I am not sure how this happened, I believe that I had made my payments to you when I received my statements. My only thought is that this was supposed to be in deferment and it did not get processed correctly or the payments I sent in were not registered.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-31

Chandler Hts, AZ

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-29

Northside, NC

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Received bad information about my loan
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-12-29

Ellenwood, GA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Don't agree with fees charged
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-28

Braintree, MA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Received bad information about my loan
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-28

Puyallup, WA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-12-28

WI

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: Great Lakes Higher Education is mishandling government funds from veterans benefits and the federal student loan repayment program. This is a annual problem and every year it is a big process to get GLHE to acknowledge payment was made and to actually apply the funds to my account.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-27

AZ

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: My daughter is still in school and does not have to make any payments on her student loan for 2 years. Since she had an awesome semester, I wanted to make a {$2000.00} principal only payment on her highest-interest loan balance. Great Lakes would not process this without first applying {$550.00} to her interest owed. This is not right at all. My daughter does not have to pay a single penny of principal or interest on this loan and Great Lakes should have a process to allow for principal-only payments just like any other type of loan. Student Loans should not have a 120 day limit on principal only pay backs. This is deceptive and misleading. I am not saying that she should n't pay the interest she owes, at the time it is due. But what I am saying is that I should be able to make occasional one-time principal only payments if I choose and that the lender should have a mechanism to processes these types of payments.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-12-21

Powder Spgs, GA

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't temporarily postpone payments
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-19

Ventnor Heights, NJ

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-13

Durham, NC

Disclosure verification of debt

Debt collection: Federal student loan

Not given enough info to verify debt
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-13

Harrisville, NH

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Keep getting calls about my loan
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-12-13

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response