GREAT LAKES

2016-04-06

Phila, PA

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

2016-04-05

San Diego, CA

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

2016-04-05

Bohemia, NY

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't get flexible payment options
Complaint: Please read the following response that I sent you in response to your initial email & then explain to me how you expect me to pay back the loan??? " Dear Government : Thank you for your kind email. I would have gladly paid back this loan earlier was it not for the following facts : 1 ) : The course taught or was supposed to teach me XXXX. When I completed the course a year later XXXX was being taught & being used which meant that my studies in XXXX was a waste of time, money & effort. Furthermore it meant that I would have to spend yet another year learning XXXX, & who is going to pay for that??? 2 ) : When I graduated from university in XXXX I learned very quickly that it mattered not so much what I studied but where I studied it. I live near XXXX ( XXXX ) major hospitals : 1 ) : XXXX XXXX Hospital ; 2 ) : XXXX XXXX Hospital XXXX XXXX ; 3 ) : XXXX XXXX Hospital ; 4 ) : XXXX XXXX Hospital ; 5 ) : XXXX XXXX XXXX Hospital. Not one of the aforementioned hospitals have ever heard of the XXXX XXXX, the institution that talked me into taking the course!!! 3 ) : Since I am currently XXXX with XXXX XXXX I have to see an endless stream of doctors. As a matter of fact they are about the ONLY people I see these days!!! I have noticed that when they draft a script or notes, the computer automatically assigns XXXX & XXXX codes which means that someone is n't sitting in the backroom assigning codes from reference books. 4 ) : I always thought that a placement service served to place their candidates in jobs. I discovered that The XXXX XXXX did not & does not provide such a service. Their idea of such a service was to simply list them as a reference. 5 ) : Upon graduation I learned that voice recognition was being used in coding meaning that the system would assign codes in accordance with vocal statements of diagnoses. 6 ) : I registered for the course in the expectation of finding suitable employment upon course completion. The XXXX XXXX told me that there was a great demand for coders & that finding suitable employment would not be a problem for me. I later discovered that every job listing answered REQUIRED a 2-3 experience. How am I going to get the experience when no one is going to hire me because I do not have the required experience??? 7 ) : I completed the course in XXXX. It is now XXXX. Five years later! I have not profited in any manner whatsoever from my studies nor do I expect to as I have forgotten everything that I studied given the passage of time. I wrote to the U S Justice Department about this matter as I strongly feel that I was sold a bad bill of goods meaning fraud which, unless I am mistaken, is a felony, but they could not be bothered. Instead they sent me information on where to find a place to live, information that in no way whatsoever addressed my problem. Currently I am living on XXXX & XXXX. You would be correct in assuming that I have a chip on my shoulder, but who would n't given what I have described above? Having had to declare Chapter XXXX bankruptcy last XXXX that was partially fueled by not finding a job in XXXX XXXX & XXXX my credit is already destroyed. I dont think that you can destroy my credit more than it has already been. The other part of the Chapter XXXX was caused by debts incurred from XXXX XXXX when my late wife was diagnosed & operated for what later became on Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX hours XXXX XXXX XXXX. I was unable to work during that time as I did what I thought every husband was supposed to do by remaining home to care for her given that she required XXXX three weeks of every month. A death certificate will be submitted upon request as proof. I am sorry if I am rambling & sound like a XXXX boar, but I just wanted to give you the entire picture of the reason. ''
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-04-05

Lk Buena Vis, FL

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Received bad information about my loan
Complaint: I attended XXXX University XXXX through XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX Ca in XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX. I started out going for my XXXX degree and was told that I would be able to do that with no problems. I asked many questions during my interview just to find out that I was lied too throughout the whole conversation. First off I was told that If I did not take the stipend check then the money would be returned and I would not have to pay it back, Wrong. I have to still pay it back. I was told that after I graduated I would receive assistance in finding a job, wrong. In XXXX XXXX my son was hit by a truck, he spent 3 1/2 weeks in XXXX, 6 weeks in XXXX and another 6 months in a XXXX, I was there every minute with him but I STILL DID MY WORK. I never left my classes or anything, but the school said that I dropped out for that semester and charged me over & XXXX that I had to repay. I never dropped out I still did my work and everything. I feel that they took advantage of me. I did let them know what was going on in my life at that time, so if I missed any class then they would know why. After 2 years of schooling I get a phone call that tells me, " You do not have enough points to continue with a XXXX degree, I guess you get XXXX % and I am at XXXX % so I would have to start paying everything out of pocket. '' Well I am a single mom of XXXX so there was no way I could do that. I asked if I could drop it down to an XXXX Degree and finish, they said yes. So I finished that semester and graduated in XXXX XXXX. I had my heart set on a XXXX degree not an XXXX. The big kicker is they did n't change the payment. I am repaying on a XXXX degree loan and only received an XXXX. Now where is that right? I feel that they misled me and took advantage of my situation. Even after I graduated they did n't help me find a job or anything. My question is, WHY? Can I get any help with this?
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-04-04

Seattle, WA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: I have been paying off this loan for ~ 12 years and I owe almost what I did when I took out the loan. The original amount was XXXX {$42000.00} and I still owe XXXX {$42000.00}, despite consistently paying every month for about 12 years.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-04-03

Sierra Madre, CA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Need information about my balance/terms
Complaint: Hello, I have a student loan with Great Lakes. During XX/XX/XXXX I was a graduate student, at least half time. I submitted to Great Lakes the information required by them to update my status as student and defer interest payment on my loan. I have been a student at least half time since XXXX XXXX, all through XX/XX/XXXX. The statements I receive form them and the account detail listed on the website does not provide sufficient information to follow the payments how are applied to interest and to principal. However, my XXXX reflects {$220.00} received in interest payments for XX/XX/XXXX from me. This is not correct, it should be XXXX. Great Lakes had all the information they required form me to stop the interest charge.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-04-01

Sioux Falls, SD

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't get flexible payment options
Complaint: My loans are being serviced by Great Lakes and they are the worst servicer I have dealt with, They are not offering any financial hardship assistance to me whatsoever and I do not want to continue to work with this agency. I spoke with XXXX in the wage garnishment department who was rude, misinformed, avoiding to answer questions, refused to give her last name, refused to get a manager on the phone when requested and not helpful at all. I then had to hangup on her because she offered no assistance and called back and spoke with a lady who claimed she was a supervisor who the other representative claimed their were none available and I spoke to XXXX XXXX, who was not very helpful either and spoke down to me and my representative and would not offer me an affordable payment arrangement after I had given her my income information. I told her that I could not afford that and she insisted on that amount to be paid in order to stop my garnishment. I offered to pay an amount that was more affordable and was turned down to do that. This lady works off commission and gets paid if she get money from me and I just want to resolve my loans with reasonable payments so that I can feed my XXXX children and still pay my rent. This is deplorable and I want this agency to be removed from servicing my loans and allow me to consolidate since that is the only reasonable solution for me at this point.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-31

NY

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: We have decided after paying off my husbands student loans to make extra payments on mine to pay them off quickly with less interest. We went on the mygreatlakes.org website to pay a {$400.00} extra payment. My husband noticed pretty quickly that the website was not set up in a way to find " important '' repayment information. He tried to find out what my different loan interest rates were and I said, " no it is just XXXX loan ''. He has had more experience with these matters and informed me that there were actually several loans which would have different interest rates. He could not find them so he used the search function entering " my interest rate '' ... which did not lead to the interest rate. Now he was irritated and motivated to find them, which he did finally find them under a tab that was titled " Student Loan obligation Statement ''. With that completed we went on to make our extra payment on the highest interest rate loan. After going through the entire online payment process he realized it did not allude to nor give an option to pay the loans separately nor identify any of the interest rates. Frustrated he called them and asked how he would go about paying on XXXX loan? We were informed that you can not do it online ; we have been in other online websites for student loans which all show interest rates and give the option to apply your extra payment as you see fit. To apply the payment to a specific loan we had to call in and ask them to do such. Then he asked for email confirmation that this conversation had taken place and they were going to apply the money as requested. She said no we ca n't give you any confirmation you will have to call back in a couple of days to find out if it was done ... unreal. Another item to think about is that if you make any payment, although their website states how it is applies, there is no way to confirm or verify what was done with your money. There is no history or tracking of monies applied only monies paid ; talk about a lack of accountability to the customer. I am afraid that mistakes happen and errors can be made ... we, the account holders, should have full disclosure of all MONIES paid and how they are applied rather than a payment. My husband has the knowledge to see these things, but most I would say, including myself, do not. It would be nothing for this company to take advantage of us since there is literally no way to see or dispute anything they do. At best this is poor design, management, and oversight ... at worst this could be criminal. We have pics of the sight to show our claims if needed.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-30

Valrico, FL

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

2016-03-30

Wonder Lake, IL

False statements or representation

Debt collection: Federal student loan

Attempted to collect wrong amount
Complaint: I have been trying to get XXXX to work with me to help me repay a loan which I believed was still with my original lender, Great Lakes, on deferment but to no avail. Finally, the head of the call center, XXXX XXXX, agreed to set me up on a payment plan of {$5.00} per month if I would send a signed letter to them confirming I have XXXX people living in my household. I let him know I would not be filing taxes for the XXXX person as a dependent, but he assured me my signed letter would be enough, and I would have no further issues with a payment plan. I went to make a payment of {$50.00} like I have been the last few months and was informed my minimum payment was {$83.00} a month because I have XXXX people living at my house. I was already assured by XXXX I was approved for {$5.00} per month. Now I am being told otherwise. I keep trying to reach XXXX to fix it, but he seems to be avoiding my calls. I am afraid they will start threatening me with litigation or wage garnishment even though I did everything they asked. Please help.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-25

Fairhope, OH

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

2016-03-24

Nappanee, IN

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: Great Lakes Student Loans has been servicing my federal loans for several years now. I have been making large, timely monthly payments for the past two years. At the beginning of XXXX, with enough money saved up, I decided to pay off my smallest federal student loan. I called Great Lakes customer service and woman explained to me that I would have to make an online payment, but that she would make a " note '' in my file for how the payment should be allocated to the smallest loan to pay off the balance. She told me this would take XXXX5 business days. I checked one week later and my payment had been allocated equally among my XXXX federal loans. I called the Great Lakes customer service department again where a woman explained that sometimes it can take up to 10 business days for this to be allocated correctly, but that it would be allocated to the correct account going back to XXXX XXXX. I checked this morning and saw that while Great Lakes had allocated my payment to the correct loan, they had taken out my monthly payment from the large loan payment made on XXXX XXXX, despite the fact that my monthly payment was not due until the middle of the month. I called the Great Lakes customer service department AGAIN, when a customer service rep tells me that we ALWAYS have to make the monthly payment PRIOR to making ANOTHER payment to pay off a loan. Not only had this not been communicated to me EITHER time I called, Great Lakes informed me that this " monthly payment requirement '' is counted by the MONTH and NOT the billing cycle. So, even though I had made a $ 500 monthly payment in the middle of XXXX, since I wanted to pay off my loan on XXXX XXXX, I would have had to make ANOTHER {$500.00} payment in XXXX in addition to the {$4000.00} payment I had planned to make to pay off my loan. This is high way robbery of students who are working hard to pay of their loans ON TIME and AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. It is n't enough to not " communicate '' these necessary pieces of information. In order to FULLY pay off the loan, I was forced to pay ANOTHER {$360.00} TODAY. I expected so much more of a company that is servicing federal student loans. This is absolute XXXX that I have to call a company FOUR times to properly apply MY payment to the appropriate loan. Meanwhile, making hundreds of dollars of interest in the " confusion. '' Great Lakes MUST change this. Students should be allowed to pay off the balance of ANY loan at ANY time and not jump through rings of fire to do so. They need to change their website so that students can select which loan they want to pay-off and give them the capabilities to do so. Great Lakes needs to apparently TRAIN its customer service representatives so that they know " key '' pieces of information like the calendar month payment requirement. It truly is unbelievable how difficult this process was and all I was trying to do was pay-off the balance of XXXX of my loans. Great Lakes should be be ashamed.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-24

TN

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: In XXXX XXXX some of my loans went into repayment and I began making payments to Great Lakes XXXX. Between XXXX XXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXX, XXXX I made {$1900.00} in payment. According to my XXXX XXXX billing statement my payment history showed {$770.00} in principal payments and {$1400.00} in interest payments. I entered XXXX school in XXXX XXXX. However, in my XXXX XXXX billing statement, my payment history now showed only {$460.00} in principal payments and {$1700.00}, a shift of {$300.00} from principal to interest payments. The payment history on their site also now longer matches the information from the billing statements during that time. All the payments prior to XXXX/XXXX/XXXX are now all showing interest only payments. I noticed the issue after making my XXXX payment and contacted Great Lakes on or about XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. I was advised that someone would be researching the issue and getting back to me in XXXX3 business days. Three weeks went by and no update and the account is still showing incorrectly. I contacted them again today and they had no answers, despite having my call escalated to XXXX different supervisors XXXX and they advised that me it will take at least XXXX2 more business days to research the issue. When I asked for the detailed payment history for each disbursement ( token ) for the loan, I was first advised it would take XXXX6 weeks. However, once I spoke with a supervisor I was told it would now only take XXXX2 business days. I would like to make another payment, but I am waiting for them to correct this issue so that this payment is also not misapplied. I need both the detailed token payment history and the payment application error corrected. Further, I would like to have a detailed token payment history sent to me monthly so I can continue to monitor their compliance.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-24

Boyd, IA

Disclosure verification of debt

Debt collection: Federal student loan

Not given enough info to verify debt
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-21

Glyndon, MD

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Need information about my balance/terms
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-18

Smoke Rise, GA

Communication tactics

Debt collection: Federal student loan

Frequent or repeated calls
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-03-17

Eagan, MN

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

2016-03-16

Lacey, WA

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

2016-03-16

Lacey, WA

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

2016-03-15

San Diego, CA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: I moved back to the US in XXXX after living in the XXXX for 6 years. While in the XXXX the Dept of Education refused to accept payment on my loans so I could not make payments even though I regularly called and begged them to take my money. That added up to a LOT of fees and interest that I do n't believe I should have to pay because it 's not my fault. I tried to pay them, they just would n't take it because I did n't have a US bank account. I offered to pay in a number of ways, they refused. Now I 'm stuck with a huge amount of additional interest and fees and a shattered credit score. The XXXX told me to talk to my loan servicer once my loans came out of rehab with a collections company. I just spoke with Great Lakes and they said there is nothing they can do.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-03-14

Eagan, MN

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

2016-03-12

Lacey, WA

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: Yes Timely Response

2016-03-11

Lithonia, GA

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

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

2016-03-10

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

2016-03-10

Key Biscayne, FL

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Keep getting calls about my loan
Company Response: Company believes the complaint is the result of a misunderstanding Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response