Complaint / Review
American Education Services, Wachovia
Student Loan Payment Typo Cost Me Discount Eligibility

I have student loans consolidated through their service. I am to make payments of about $138 a month. I wrote a check for $128 by accident, not realizing my error.

I was never notified of the mistake I had made until after their 15 day grace period. I received a letter stating I still owed the $10 and immediately called them and paid the money due.

I was told by the woman I spoke with that there would be no problems since I did make the payment. I later received a letter stating my discount eligibility had been withdrawn due to either an installment delinquency or a full installment not being received within 15 days of the due date.

I called them asking what I can do to change this situation and was told by (Shawn, Sean) that there is nothing I can do. They cannot hold my hand and babysit me through all of my payments.

After arguing over a simple typo on my part, he later said he could send in a request to see if I could reinstate my eligibility, but he personally could not help me. I asked if there was someone there that I could talk with who could help me, and he said no.

The discount is for .75% of my principal after 36 on-time consecutive payments. It does not sound like much, but over the life of the loan that tends to be near the $4000 range.

When I told (Shawn, Sean) that the Student Loan Consolidation Center said I met their eligibility requirements and I could get the same interest rate with a .25% reduction for automatic debit and a 1% reduction after 36 months of on-time payments with them, he advised me it would not change the fact that Wachovia would still own the loan and has the final say so.

He told me the request would take a week to process and I would be notified in about 2 weeks if I could reinstate my eligibility.

I asked him one more time if there was someone else I could talk to or if there was anything I could do to get this matter taken care of sensibly and speedier, and he once again said no. I promptly said thank you, and my application to the Student Loan Consolidation Center will be mailed Monday.