American Education Services
Student Loan Servicer Lost $11,000 Payoff Check for Two Months

Students beware! AES is bad business.

We are not given a choice who our student loans are sold to or who services them, but AES would not be one of my choices.

In May, my husband and I refinanced our home to pay debt. One of the debts was a private student loan with high interest. Paying it in full this way would save us a lot of money.

The escrow company sent the already printed checks to us to confirm and to mail out. One of those checks, for nearly $11,000, was mailed out immediately to American Education Services using one of the THREE PARTIAL addresses listed on the front and back of their bill.

A few weeks later I got a call to make a payment by phone, which I did. I called my husband to make sure the funds were transferred, and he said, "No. We already paid them in full with the refi." So he went and put a stop payment on that check by phone.

If you ever want to get a collection agency's attention, just put a stop payment on a check. From there everything went downhill fast.

1st - AES was ticked about the stop payment.
2nd - We asked where the $11k we sent them was. AES said they never received it. This mess became an instant nightmare.
3rd - We contacted the escrow company and asked if the check had cleared. Yes, it cleared on June 5th. AES said no, we do not have it, can you get a copy of the canceled check?
4th - We got a copy of the front and back of the processed check. In all the printing and faxed ink mess, we made out some routing numbers and two bank names. Sure enough, AES said no, not our banks, not our routing numbers. You screwed up.
5th - I was contacted by a lawyer working for the company that guaranteed my student loan. Why have I not paid? We are going to sue... I filled the lawyer in on the missing funds. He somewhat agreed that AES is bad at business. Great... NOT!

Now the search was on for the missing money. But I am only one single person up against some very big organizations, with no lawyers on my side. I cannot contact the various banks involved because I am not their client, and I cannot go down to the building because I am across the country. And here we are, scared to death that we will be sued for something that we did right!

The man that I dealt with at AES is a bill collector nightmare. The double talk was horrible and frustrating. I was refused the name and number of a supervisor. They cannot give that information out, yet they cannot connect me to him either.

Now, something you have to understand. When we got the copy of the cleared check saying it had been cashed, there were several routing numbers on the back as well as the names of two separate banks. They were difficult to see, but we got enough information from it to ask some serious questions. One bank's name was FIFTH THIRD BANK, located in Ohio. We asked AES, "Do you do business with a Fifth Third Bank?" AES said that is not our bank. The other bank listed was Bank of America. We asked AES, "Do you do business with B of A?" They said that is not our bank.

Bank of America is an interstate banking hub. They process checks from out of state all the time. We found this out by going down to our local B of A.

This nightmare has gone on for more than two months. I sent AES several faxes with important information to the fax numbers that Mr. X gave me directly. They never received them. I sent a very expensive overnight Fed Ex package to them with the same very important information. They did not get that either! Mind you, this whole time I was keeping the lawyer informed so I would not get sued, and he received everything we sent him (so I know I am not a complete moron when it comes to sending information to someone).

When we sent the Fed Ex package, I called to confirm that AES had received it. When Mr. X said no, we have not received anything from you, I asked: "So you are telling me that my Fed Ex package is in the same place my $11k check is sitting, hanging out together?!! This is a joke!"

We got online and checked that the Fed Ex package had arrived. Yes, it got there. I called back AES and spoke to Mr. X again. I told him that the Fed Ex package had arrived at AES and that it was accepted and signed for by this person in this department... Go FIND IT!

By now, my nerves are shot. I am pulling my hair out trying to jump through all these hoops that they keep throwing at me.

I called the escrow company, because I needed a trace put on the check. Yes, that will take 90 days. In the meantime, AES is sending red flags to my and my husband's credit reports!!!

There are so many things wrong with this entire escapade that it is not even funny.

Out of curiosity this week, I went online to check my other student loans, wondering why they had not contacted me about late payments. I checked my payment history to see when my last payment was sent and...

There sat my $11,000.

The exact amount that had been missing for two months. Posted the day before the check was dated as processed.

I called my husband at work, very angry and overjoyed that I found it.

I called Xpress Loan Servicing and asked if they have anything to do with AES. Why, yes, they do, they told me. AES does collections for them! I asked who their bank is... It is Fifth Third Bank out of Ohio, where they are located. I asked, "Would you cash a check made out to another entity?" They told me no, they legally cannot. I asked, "Would AES have any reason to send you a check?" They told me yes. AES would send the check over for an account they are collecting on for Xpress.

AES denies all of this. AES says they have NO association with Xpress, but they do business with a "Student Loan Servicing Xpress." I went on the web site for XLS and found that, WOW, THEY are a subsidiary of Student Loan Servicing Xpress, of whom AES admittedly does business with!!!

Mr. X called me from AES. What do you know, they actually checked the computer and they could see the missing funds!

Now Mr. X at AES is being so sugary sweet and helpful that it is sickening. "Now, when you get that money refunded to you, you call us immediately and we will make sure you have the correct information to get the funds here to us, and then we will clear everything up with your credit and the payments that have accrued over the past two months!" Now isn't THAT helpful?

I called the lawyer and told him that I found the funds. He says that when I get the funds back, we will make arrangements to send them directly to the guarantor of the loan, bypassing AES altogether. As it is, I will have to go back and clear my debt with XLS, who had no wrongdoing in the matter, and I will have to fight AES to clear my credit and the payoff amount of my loan now. And I get no compensation for the money spent on faxes, long distance phone calls, Fed Ex packages, late payments and interest accrued during the lapse, and the personal grief that AES has caused me and my family.

Here is what OUR research tells us happened:
1) We mailed the check, made payable to AES, to one of the three PARTIAL addresses they have on their bills, including the account number for my loan.
2) We think the check got to AES and somehow, for some reason, they either did not document it as received or they just sent it on to XLS.
3) XLS applied the funds not to the loan they were meant for, but to all my other loans, which are consolidated with XLS.
4) AES dropped the ball completely.
* They had the funds at some point and sent those funds on to the wrong student loan department or agency.
* They do NOT have clear addresses, fax numbers, or other contact information.
* They WILL NOT put you into contact with a supervisor when directly asked to.

AES takes no responsibility in the matter at this time. They will not apologize and state that it was their mistake. And of course, they are glad the funds are found, I assume, so that they can get their cut.

If I had any say in the matter, I would not want my student loans serviced by AES at all. As a matter of fact, I will fight tooth and nail to get my student loans out of AES's hands!!

Company: American Education Services
Country: USA
State: Pennsylvania
City: Harrisburg
Address: 120N. 7th St

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