First I will give you a little background on my situation. I am a veteran of foreign wars (I served under OIF III in 2005). I returned and decided to do a semester of school in the spring of 2007. Of course, I got my loans through American Education Services. (I believe this is what most people do, since you usually do this after applying for grants and such.) At the end of the semester I decided not to go back because of the cost of going to this school (Penn State), which might be another business that deserves a spot on the rip off report because of its ridiculous prices even though it is a state school.
Anyway, the loans came due in November. I called to put the loans on forbearance so the military would pay them back. The first time I talked to one of their reps, she said "yep, will take care of it," but she apparently forgot about it, since I got a bill the next month saying I was late on making payments. So I called again. This time, I thought I had someone a little more sensible on the phone, until I got correspondence again from AES saying that I was now on a financial hardship forbearance. The third time I called, I didn't mess around. I just asked to talk to a manager. She was able to effectively put me on a Department of Defense Forbearance. (I don't even think the first two employees knew what it was.) But now, because of the first girl's errors, I am now disqualified for the loan rate discount, since I was late making payments.
Just last week I sent in my forms for the PHEAA Armed Forces Student Loan Forgiveness Program, which was supposed to pay 2500.00 of my total debt to PHEAA. It was something I was eligible for because I did a tour overseas. I was a qualifying veteran. Well, just today I got this nice little letter from my dear friends at AES that reads:
Dear Ms. %,
Thank you for applying for the Armed Student Loan Forgiveness Program. However we regret to inform you, as of May 2nd PHEAA is no longer offering this program.
Of course, I called again, this time in tears. Donald, in the loan forgiveness department, said this information had been posted on the AES website as of April 26. I said to him, "Why would I check the website if I was sure this was going to be paid?" He didn't have much to say to that.
I really hate to pull the "this is the thanks I get for serving my country" card. No, I didn't check that website in the small window of time they allotted. And yes, I did plan my future bill paying around the fact that this debt was going to be paid. And yes, I did stand out in the middle of the Iraqi desert for a year, and I do deserve to be treated a little better than this.
To any lawyers out there who think this would be a legitimate case, please contact me. I have a feeling this was in the small print somewhere, but I took out the loan under the pretense that this amount would be settled.
And to the people who work at AES: 1) If I did my job the way you did where I work, I would have been fired. 2) Stop losing the paperwork I send you. If it's not your "department," walk it there. Don't just throw it in the trash. 3) In military personnel lingo, you all are a bunch of blue falcons. Ask a military person you know to interpret that for you.
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