GREAT LAKES

2016-03-09

Villa Rio Canas, PR

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

2016-03-08

Krakow, WI

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: I continue making extra payments and they keep applying to interest on loan. I feel Great Lakes is a predatory loan company. At this pace I will never get out from under my student loans. I keep sending money and my balance only grows despite me paying more then the minimum.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-03-07

Jersey City, NJ

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

2016-03-06

Houston, TX

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't temporarily postpone payments
Complaint: I had an existing 6-month grace period on my student loan account. When I applied for an unemployment deferment, it overrided my grace period, cutting it short. Now Great Lakes is saying I must pay up soon. Furthermore, I am in graduate school. I am publishing this information to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for others to see.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-05

Salton City, CA

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

2016-03-04

Dallas, TX

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

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

2016-03-04

Lockport, NY

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

2016-03-03

Rumpus Ridge, SD

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

2016-03-03

East Windsor, NJ

Communication tactics

Debt collection: Federal student loan

Frequent or repeated calls
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-03-03

Wallington, NJ

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

2016-03-02

Rumpus Ridge, SD

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

2016-03-02

Stamford, CT

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

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

2016-03-01

Washington, DC

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

2016-03-01

WI

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Need information about my balance/terms
Complaint: I have complained before. I am paying more than the minimum due each month however Great Lakes is not applying any of my payment to principal. There statement does not say how much interest is due each month, only the payment amount, and all payments regardless are applied to interest. How can I ever pay this loan off? Why do they not need to provide a normal loan statement that shows interest charged, interest paid, amount received, and how it is applied? FYI I have an XXXX and XXXX and I 'm an expert XXXX, and I ca n't understand what they are doing. Please help ... As it is, this payment is taking about 40 % of my disposable income.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: Yes Timely Response

2016-02-23

Spring Hill, FL

Communication tactics

Debt collection: Non-federal student loan

Used obscene/profane/abusive language
Complaint: I am a reference for my god daughter. Great Lakes 1st called and tried to get information about her because of an " emergency ''. Now I have a letter that offers me condolences because they have information that she died. These are obscene methods to collect
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-02-17

Goodview, MN

Disclosure verification of debt

Debt collection: Non-federal student loan

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

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-01-26

Oxford, GA

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Having problems with customer service
Complaint: The company in question has contacted me several times to repay a debt. I am currently finishing XXXX studies through an extension from an illness that I sustained when I was enrolled in the XX/XX/2015. I am not presently enrolled, though I have been granted academic permission to continue my coursework as would any student who is actively enrolled. In the past, I was granted a deferment/forbearance status by this company when not actively enrolled in classes. This time, they have decided to pursue aggressively a debt repayment on the basis that I was reported by the school as being no longer enrolled. The school and the lender both are having difficulties with communications between themselves regarding the issue -- something that I have personally intercepted with the intention of resolving this issue. I have disregarded the lenders contacts on the basis of my history with Great Lakes. I applied for a deferment and/or forbearance in the past several times with Great Lakes and was granted them without delay both over the phone and on the Internet. This time around, I applied again and was granted a deferment/forbearance on every loan except for this one, which was locked/frozen, meaning I could not request the same deferment/forbearance that l had requested successfully and without problems in the past. The lender has after several attempts finally emailed my personal email account without a description in the body of my email address -- only included is the sender 's email and contact information. I find these practices to be extremely fishy, unwarranted and demonstrative of the use of loopholes for the collection of debt without regard for academic circumstances. I base the reasoning for this complaint on my past experience with these particular companies.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2016-01-21

NH

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: Pulled directly from Great Lakes Borrower Services Website : How Payments Are Applied " However, when it comes to extra payment amounts ( see examples below ), after all interest and late fees due have been satisfied, we automatically apply the extra amount to the unpaid balance on the loan with the highest interest rate ( if there are multiple loans in your account ). If you do n't want the extra payment amount to be applied this way, contact us. If you, instead, want an extra payment amount to be applied to a specific loan, you must provide us with the loan 's account number and interest rate. '' I was a XXXX major and currently work for XXXX XXXX. I state this so that my concern may be taken a bit more seriously as I 'm sure you receive unmerited complaints all the time. Their are multiple issues at play here, but I will start with what I assume to be the most common. I am currently in repayment on XXXX loans with this lender ( technically it 's XXXX XXXX XXXX ), XXXX has a 8 % interest rate and the other 8.375 %. I have all of my amortized interest paid and so only pay monthly accrued interest. I overpay each month in order to further deplete the principal balance. As the quote states above all extra payments will be applied to the higher rated loan. THIS IS NOT TRUE. I have been informed by multiple service representatives that I need to continuously call in to request that my over payments be allocated the way that I prefer and that if I do not than they will be applied proportionally to each loan. XXXX off that is not how it should be because the borrower is at a loss in this case. XXXX that is not how they advertise on their site which is fraudulent as well. I have been happy that they are willing to prorate my payments and make the adjustments that I prefer, but I ca n't imagine many graduates thinking this way nor looking into it. Please Help!
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2015-12-22

Austin, TX

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Can't temporarily postpone payments
Complaint: I have fallen behind on XXXX of my private loans because I am making payments on other private loans, as well as the bare basics to live on. My parents, XXXX of whom is XXXX, have no way to make payments even though they are the co-signers. I am currently planning to make a move and job change to try to improve my situation. I have a previous arrangement with great lakes for a reduced payment of around {$140.00} a month however I was in the hospital and XXXX as well as other life-issues happen and have fallen behind, I am making small payments when I can every few weeks but the current " past due '' is over {$600.00}. They call my parents several times a day, threatening collections and demanding that they make a payment and threatening default - this happens every single day even on weekends though they never call my phone. I call them several times, explain the situation, asking them for any way to reduce or postpone the payments, to do anything to keep it from going to default - I simply can not pay what I do not have. They basically tell me time and time again there is nothing they can do, it does not matter. I am attaching email correspondance - I emailed them after speaking with several reps who suggested that I send an email because they were not sure which department could help me. I sent an email and got a reply saying " it looks like your question about your loan going into default was already resolved ''. WHAT??? I called again and FINALLY a nice rep informed me that basically the only way I can get any help or deferment or any kind of a different arrangement to AVOID default - he told me the only way to get any kind of help would be to enroll back in school and take out more loans. So my choices are to 1 ) default on my loans if I am unable to find a better job/more income, even though I am doing everything I can and will continue or 2 ) enroll in school when I 'm not sure I want to go back and take out XXXX more dollars in debt.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2015-11-30

Glenn Heights, TX

Communication tactics

Debt collection: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)

Frequent or repeated calls
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2015-11-25

Saint Petersburg, FL

Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed

Debt collection: Non-federal student loan

Debt is not mine
Complaint: Great Lakes has been calling me 5-10 times a day about my deceased father 's student loan. They have reported the debt as a delinquency on my credit and refuse to settle the debt when I called to explain the situation.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2015-10-26

Austin, TX

Can't repay my loan

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Can't temporarily postpone payments
Complaint: I am on a reduced interest/monthly payment however due to ME making payments on XXXX and my parents parent + loan, I have been unable to make any substantial payments on this account, I pay $ XXXX when I can but I can not overdraft my account any more without not having any food or having my car taken away. Great Lakes continues to post negative marks on my credit report, there is no way for me to get any kind of extension or forbearance or anything based on my conversations with the Great Lakes reps - they are also calling my parents ( who are cosigners but living in poverty with health concerns ) every single day asking for payment.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2015-09-23

OH

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Received bad information about my loan
Complaint: This dispute involves incomplete and inaccurate information on my credit reports with XXXX loans from the same creditor, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. All XXXX have the same address. It is XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, WI, XXXX, phone number XXXX. The account numbers are XXXX ... XXXX ; XXXX ... ./XXXX ; XXXX ... ./Great Lakes XXXX ; and XXXX ... XXXX. XXXX of these loans are closed, paid in full with zero balances. Yet they are still being reported as " Adverse '' or " Negative '' with all credit bureaus except XXXX. They have been all removed with XXXX ( copy attached ). When I called the creditor 's toll free number listed above, XXXX was unable to find any accounts under my name. Please delete all XXXX accounts on my credit reports. XXXX account shows an outstanding balance of {$2400.00} as of XXXX XXXX. I owe nothing on this account. I have never received a bill yet it is being reported as current making monthly payments. I received a XXXX waiver from the XXXX XXXX. of XXXX dated XXXX XXXX, 2014 ( copy attached ) which wipes out all my student loan debt. Yet XXXX account, XXXX ... .under the credit name of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX shows an outstanding balance with XXXX late pays in its payment history.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2015-09-11

Scottsdale, AZ

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: Greatlakes is representing their lender in managing my private loan and they constantly harassing me and the cosigner. I 've submitted letters asking for a lower payment because I can not afford to pay back over {$700.00} per month. They refused to work with me and issued blanketed statements such as private loans are not eligible for income-based repayment. I did not ask or apply for such a thing and this is utter nonsense as other institutions have options to lower payments for private loans. I presented the situation that I 'm unable to make payments in full and would need it lowered. I do not plan on defaulting the loan that 's why I asked for help. They refused to go back to the lender and work with them to find a solution. They would call and harass me daily without providing a solution. I ask that CFPB step in to find me a solution. They 're damaging my credit by keep reporting late payments without providing a satisfactory resolution. This is modern day discrimination and we need to escalate to the highest level.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response

2015-08-26

Taft, OH

Dealing with my lender or servicer

Student loan: Non-federal student loan

Received bad information about my loan
Complaint: I attended XXXX University from XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX and have been making nearly $ 600/m payments ever since I left the school to Great Lakes / XXXX XXXX. Great Lakes is servicing my private loans through XXXX XXXX. I have been unemployed for a few months, but have continued to make my payments until this month due to lack of funds. My payments are due on XX/XX/XXXX, and I called Great Lakes on XX/XX/XXXX to request a forbearance or deferment. They gave me the info to do so on my federal loans, but advised me that despite being proactive, I needed to wait until I was 1 day past due on my private loans before I would be eligible for a forbearance. I called back to Great Lakes on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that I met all the qualifications for forbearance and was given a number to XXXX XXXX to call to have it placed on my account as they were only the servicer. I was asked how long I would need, and when I advised it would probably be until XX/XX/XXXX for sure before I could resume payments, she told me that would be fine. When I called XXXX XXXX, and incredibly rude woman answered and told me that XXXX XXXX only offers a 2 month extension, and they are under no obligation to offer me anything else. The issue though was that they will only offer it to me if I am employed - they have no options for those that are unemployed and can not make payment. I was told to call Great Lakes back to figure out what the issue was. When I called back, a rep named XXXX answered and gave me the exact same information about the forbearance and that I should call XXXX XXXX back and ask to speak to a manager. When I called XXXX XXXX, I spoke to a rep named XXXX who said there was no manager available. XXXX though was very helpful and explained that Great Lakes had incorrectly told me to allow my payment to go past due, causing my account to go delinquent, and that I could have applied for an extension before missing the payment. We did a 3 way call with Great Lakes where the conversation included statements where XXXX XXXX had told Great Lakes numerous times that this was not one of their programs, yet their system has not been updated, and they 've received many calls like mine over the last few months. I was escalated to another rep at Great Lakes where again they began speaking of forbearance 's that do not actual exist. When I asked about late charges and reporting to my credit even though I had been given incorrect information, they said there was nothing they could do to stop it. XXXX from XXXX XXXX offered to submit a 2 month extension request, but advised I would probably be denied since I do not have a steady income. He still submitted the request, but made me give a 100 % guarantee that I would be able to resume payments after the 2 months, even though I am still unemployed and have no current income. I am in disbelief that Great Lakes and XXXX XXXX have a level of miscommunication that would cause GreatLakes to give advice to a student to allow their account to become to delinquent to apply for a program that does not actually exist, and then not offer anything to help resolve the situation. I also can not believe that XXXX XXXX has nothing available for people who are unemployed and can not make a payment. When it came down to it, my only options were to make the payment, or let it go into default and eventually to collections where I would be assessed late charges, and collections fees ( which usually average around XXXX % of the outstanding balance, which in my case would be an additional $ XXXX I would owe ). If those are my only options, it will be the last time I ever do business with XXXX XXXX. Again, I was told to let my account go delinquent, and now am being told that should never have been the case. I would like to have the correct information and all miscommunications resolved for future students in my same scenario.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Disputed: No Timely Response