GREAT LAKES

2019-04-13

TX

Struggling to repay your loan

Student loan: Private student loan

Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Complaint: I have sent in a complaint qith them all together last year, yall told me it could take up to 2 years, now they are putting it on my credit.i cant even get a job eith my degree. Still unemployed. Frustrated and broke
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-12

Palos Park, IL

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Received bad information about your loan
Complaint: I am an XXXX and graduated from XXXX school in XX/XX/XXXX. That is paid for. I went back to school and completed my XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, and my XXXX in XXXX/XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. A year after graduation the alumni from my school had a meeting because there were no jobs, or extremely low paying ones, and way too high student loan debt. There was so much XXXX among all of us as this was not anticipated. Shortly after I graduated I tried a couple positions in XXXX. I found that I could not afford to have such low pay with such high debt. I gave up on the idea of working in XXXX ( what I went back to school to do ), and went back to working in XXXX. My loans have been consolidated, and transferred repeatedly to different loan servicers : XXXX XXXX, Great Lakes and XXXX XXXX among them. I owe 10 's of thousands more now than I did when I started paying on them ( I owe over {$150.00} ). I'm in the IDR program right now since about XX/XX/XXXX, and my current servicer is Great Lakes.I had inquired numerous times ( since XX/XX/XXXX ) to the loan companies, and was lead to believe that the PSLF program hadnt begun yet, or the person I was speaking to didnt know about it. I found out ( around XX/XX/XXXX) that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program began in XX/XX/XXXX. Just prior to XX/XX/XXXX, I had cut my hours down from full time, at a XXXX position I worked, at a XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX . That is when I got into the IBR program with the goal of getting into the PSLF program. If I had been properly directed into the PSLF program, I could have applied for it in XX/XX/XXXX. I would have been eligible. I would have kept that my full time XXXX position ( or at least would have kept a position ) at the XXXX as well. My loans would be ( or should be ) paid by now. I needed a desk position because of XXXX problems, and geared myself toward one when I was seeking a new position. I never found one outside of that institution that was a full time XXXX position that would have qualified me for the PSLF program. Whenever my loans were transferred and I would call whatever loan servicer to make an inquiry about anything, it was as if my payment history was not accessible to them. No one was ever on the same page, I'd get a different response from every person I spoke to. I gave up a long time ago on trying to keep track of my payment history.I never got any information about applying to the PSLF program till I could have been 5 years into the program already, at that time ( in XX/XX/XXXX ). When it was time to reapply for the IDR plan in XX/XX/XXXX, I was asked if I wanted to be in the plan where the government pays half of the interest each month. Of course I said yes. Only when I went to reapply in XX/XX/XXXX did I find out, that as a result of accepting that program which is in the IDR plan, I was started over, and would be repaying for 24 more years. I spoke to a supervisor when I found out. I dont know his name. I filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General 's office stating that I would like my student loans forgiven. As if Id have been in the PSLF program since XX/XX/XXXX. Which I should have been. I received a response from Great Lakes with information about the PSLF program. It did not even address my complaint that I was repeatedly misdirected away from applying for it beginning in XX/XX/XXXX. Today I contacted XXXX XXXX Citizens Advocate who provided the contact info for Senator XXXX XXXX office. I called Senator XXXX XXXX office and filed a complaint against Great Lakes. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-11

Cleveland, OH

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

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

Timely Response

2019-04-11

Bendale, SC

Struggling to repay your loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-11

NY

Struggling to repay your loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Complaint: I was recently diagnosed with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I'm XXXX years old and have significant student loan debt. I am unable to work full time during my treatment for the next upcoming year. I learned about a law that passed on XX/XX/2018 which grants a deferment to borrowers receiving XXXX treatment. During this deferment, you do not need to make payments and interest does not accrue. I have made several attempts to contact my loan servicer Great Lakes to request this deferment. Each time I have contacted them I have been told that the US Dept of Education is responsible for creating the forms to grant the deferment. I have now contacted the US Dept of Education multiple times and have been greeted with inconsiderate and unknowledgeable representatives who transfer me continuously without getting anywhere. Today I spent an hour on the phone and finally spoke to a supervisor who informed me she never heard of the XXXX deferment. I made her XXXX the law so she became aware. She advised that the Dept of Education does not need to draft the forms and that Great Lakes should be able to provide me with the appropriate forms. Great Lakes denies this and referred me back to the Dept of Education. I need assistance with getting this deferment immediately and no one at either my loan servicer or the Dept of Education will help me.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-11

Krakow, WI

Struggling to repay your loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Complaint: I pulled a Parent Plus Loan so my son could attend college in XX/XX/XXXX. At the time of repayment which began around XX/XX/XXXXish I was told if we set it up for autopay we would get a .5 % reduction on the interest rate. We set it up for auto pay. The loan was in my name but my son is helping repay this loan. When my son go into some financial issues they encouraged us to put the loan in forbearance. When he got back on track we started paying loan again. I was told because we put the loan in forbearance that we lost the .5 % rate reduction which was never explained prior to this. At this point we have been paying this loan for years. To date not XXXX XXXX has been deducted from the original loan. I called to inquire what was going on and was told that unless we pay additional money each month over and above what set payment is, the loan would never reduce. Again this was never explained. So why would they set the loan payment at the rate that will never pay off the loan. This is a complete crime and should be against the law. There is not one program out there that is of any help to us regarding this loan and it will NEVER get repaid unless we win the lottery. How can this be legal?
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-10

Vallejo, CA

Took or threatened to take negative or legal action

Debt collection: Federal student loan debt

Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-09

RI

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Received bad information about your loan
Complaint: XXXX university is a hoax I do not feel I should be responsible for the charges being on public assistance.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-07

OH

False statements or representation

Debt collection: Federal student loan debt

Attempted to collect wrong amount
Complaint: Great Lakes Have a attempted to collect a debt that has been deleted from my credit report. The original owner of these accounts was XXXX XXXX. This XXXX XXXX debt was deleted from my credit report. This is ruining my credit and it is violating my rights as a consumer.I sent a letter in XX/XX/2019 asking who was the the original creditor and what was the original account number. They have taken my income tax in the amount of XXXX and I want this money refunded back to me.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-06

Cumming, GA

Attempts to collect debt not owed

Debt collection: Federal student loan debt

Debt was paid
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-04

Vab, VA

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

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

Timely Response

2019-04-04

Burlingame, CA

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are being handled
Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX, I made a {$900.00} excess payment on my account which currently contains/contained two XXXX loans. One has an interest rate of 4.250 % and the other an interest rate of 3.150 %. I selected to manually enter my instructions for the payment and requested 100 % be applied to the higher interest loan, which should have eliminated this loan with a small amount left over. Instead, approximately {$770.00} was applied to this loan and the rest to the lower interest loan. I acknowledge that it appears there is a caveat in the instructions that pending payments may be applied first, but would note that my loan account also states that I am paid ahead by over {$6000.00}, I am not required to make a payment until XX/XX/XXXX, and I had just completed a scheduled payment on XX/XX/XXXX. In addition, the payment of this loan as directed would ( to my understanding ) changed what my next scheduled payment will be, as one of the loans would have been eliminated. Further, I was unable to determine any place on the Great Lakes site that outlined a breakdown of my scheduled payment per loan in the account rather than for the overall account, making payers unable to discern how to adjust any excess payments. For example, if I have a pending payment of {$150.00} on an account containing two loans, if I wanted to pay one loan off that is {$500.00} and do not know the portion of scheduled payments that might be automatically applied to other loan I do not know how much I should add to that {$150.00} to pay off the {$500.00}. Payoff amounts are, to my knowledge, only able to be calculated based on the entire account, not each loan in the account. I feel that all of this combined unfairly prevents payers using an " avalanche '' method to pay off higher interest loans first, allowing those loans to exist for a longer amount of time and gaining interest. The options available to the consumer are to A ) keep paying more and more months of excess payments while money is diverted to the lower interest loans or B ) be able to pay off the entirety of the account at once.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-04

Indianapolis, IN

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Don't agree with the fees charged
Complaint: I renewed by XXXX in XXXX of 2018. Against my wishes and application, my loan servicing company ( Great Lakes ) placed me into PAYE. This caused me to acquired increased interest as none of the interest is subsidized. They have since rectified placing me into the wrong IBR plan, but the will not rectify the additional interest that accrued during this time. Additionally, now the interest has capitalized into my principal, which will cost me thousands by the time I am done with repayment. The first individual I spoke with at Great Lakes assured me that this was an error on their end, and it was no fault of my own. This seems to no longer be their story. The short detail of this is that my interest shouldn't have capitalized due to their mistake, and there is more interest than there should be, had they placed me into the repayment program I desired ( REPAYE ).
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-04

Menomonee Falls, WI

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Trouble with how payments are being handled
Complaint: I received my yearly bonus from work and wanted to pay off the remaining {$740.00} of one of my student loans. I went onto the website and turned over the money from my bank account. I waited several days, waiting to see this money come out. Although the money instantly comes out of my bank account, making it impossible for me to make interest on it, Great Lakes always drags their feet for 4-10 days so THEY can continue to make interest off of me. I submitted {$770.00}, which is {$35.00} more than what was 'owed ' ( see attached ), because their is ALWAYS some conniving and deception when dealing with these people. After the typical days of waiting to see the money, already taken from my account, be applied to my loan I noticed that not only did they not use my money as instructed but, they arbitrarily left {$180.00} on the loan I told them to pay off. So they robbed my yearly bonus, refused to let me pay off my loan, AND are collecting interest on it as we speak!!! I contacted them stating that I ; 1. ) Have screen shots of what they've done 2. ) Have bank statements showing them taking this unaccounted for money ( my yearly bonus ) and 3. ) Have read and understand their " Excess Payment Policy ''. I stated all of this up front to try and expedite my dealings with them as their default stance is to always claim a lack of intelligence/understanding on my part. I'm done arguing with these people month after month and waiting around for them to do something about the CONSTANT " misunderstandings ''. There is no misunderstanding. I have all the paperwork to show they are lying and purposely misdirecting money in order to keep loans active, even AFTER I SEND THEM THE MONEY TO PAY THEM OFF. I'm not XXXX, I understand perfectly well, what they do is NOT complicated, and I should've reported them earlier when it was smaller amounts of money and not an entire year 's worth of regular over time to have my bonus robbed from me and then being called too XXXX to know how to give my money to them properly. I sent them the money to pay off loan # XXXX. There is NO MISUNDERSTANDING. Then, I got an email from XXXX in Borrower Services Department stating ; " The first {$260.00} from your XX/XX/XXXX monthly payment were applied to cover your remaining monthly payment. The remaining {$500.00} was applied to the loan token of your choice. '' This is SO far off the mark that she could not have possibly even looked at my information. As you can see attached, my monthly payment came out on XX/XX/XXXX, as it does every month, and it is for {$270.00}. There is no money " left over '' from my monthly payment, that doesn't even make any sense. Then, on XXXX, they took my 2018 yearly work bonus, which she does not even mention in the email, and disappeared it.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-04-01

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

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

Timely Response

2019-04-01

San Jose, CA

Struggling to repay your loan

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Problem lowering your monthly payments
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-03-31

Atlanta Naval Air Station, GA

Incorrect information on your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Account information incorrect
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-03-28

Brown Deer, WI

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

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

Timely Response

2019-03-27

Grand Rapids, OH

Written notification about debt

Debt collection: Federal student loan debt

Didn't receive enough information to verify debt
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-03-27

NM

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Received bad information about your loan
Complaint: Im applying for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Loan forgiveness and need a pdf of my payment history. Id requested the payment history and submitted it in a word document format, but then was informed it needed to be submitted as a pdf by XX/XX/XXXX. I called my loan servicer on XX/XX/XXXX to request this. I was instructed to try saving the website as a pdf, but that didnt work. I called again and was told it could be done but would take longer to process, that it could be ready XX/XX/XXXX. I repeated this to confirm since it was the same as my due date. Today is XX/XX/XXXX and by the time I finished work, I still hadnt received the pdf so I called again. I was told that getting it as a pdf is never possible and thatwhile they could see both phone calls from XX/XX/XXXX, no action was taken after the second XX/XX/XXXX call. Furthermore the most they will do for me is review the calls and provide further training to anyone who misinformed me, they will not do anything to compensate me for {$20000.00} in loan repayment if this means my application can not be accepted.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-03-27

Grosse Ile, MI

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

Don't agree with the fees charged
Complaint: To Whom It May Concern, As of XX/XX/2019 I've been actively trying to seek information and resolve the discrepancy with my student loans. I recently XXXX and noticed an error with my subsidized loans. Out of five of my subsidized loans, I've lost subsidy on four. Though, I did not reach my subsidy limit on amount of loan nor time of program completion. I reached out to my loan servicer to understand why subsidy was lost and to report the issue. And though I was given reasons why I could've lost subsidy, none were applicable. I was told to contact the Department of Education by by servicer 's customer service. After speaking to the Department of Education, I was told to contact by educational institution. After contacting my institution by phone, I was told to contact my servicer because, " they did not have control over taking away my subsidy, the servicer 's do ''. Again, I contact my servicer, but request to speak to a manager. I am told by a manager from my servicer to contact my school again because, " they do not have control over my subsidy and just go by whatever the school reports. '' I continued to make multiple in person appointments at my school 's financial aid office. Speaking with the financial aid officers we've made claims with both the XXXX and XXXX. Even with verification from the financial aid officer 's manager that the school reported my correct and timely program completion, both departments couldn't figure out how the error occurred. I even asked a financial aid officer if I could please have the email from his manager stating that the school reported my program information correctly, I was told he would asked if he could later on and never sent it. Even after emailing him for any updates, I received no response. I've also spoken with two ombudsman ( one from Great Lakes ) that have told me to again contact my institution. I've also tried to contact a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, but was advised to contact my school. Even after in-person appointments at my school, I'd get email updates stating the faculty still didn't understand anything. After numerous visits to my school to get an answer or any type of update, I was sadly told that the more I emailed or made appointments the more I was wasting time because if they, " knew anything, they'd tell me. '' At this point, I am greatly disheartened and have desperately tried anything I could do to resolve the issue. My subsidy has been lost and interest has continued to accrue for 3 years now. It wasn't supposed to even start until XXXX of this year. Every specialist I've contacted agrees there's an issue with my account, yet no one has resolved it or taken accountability. After graduating, I just wanted to pay off my loans to prevent accrual. I took out so many subsidized loans to avoid accrual because I can not afford tuition on my own and as a XXXX XXXX XXXX who has worked multiple jobs to afford schooling ; I just want anyone to hear me and help take better action on this matter. Thank you
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-03-25

Charlottesville, VA

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

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

Timely Response

2019-03-25

Philadelphia, PA

Incorrect information on your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Account status incorrect
Complaint: I have a student loan thats discharge and its still showing up on my credit report saying i owe XXXX and was late .The school close down and my loan was discharge with oweing no money .Great Lake Id:XXXX .its not fair its bringing my score down badily
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2019-03-25

Roseville, CA

Dealing with your lender or servicer

Student loan: Federal student loan servicing

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

Timely Response

2019-03-25

Hampton, VA

Incorrect information on your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Information is missing that should be on the report
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation

Timely Response