In 2003 I took out a loan with the AES to go to school. When I left school, I continued to pay my loans off while working.
After awhile I attempted to go into business for myself. I'm still in self-employed. But I had a hard time paying the loans (of about $5,000) for about two years as I worked to just make ends meet.
Between Feb and April I managed to save up enough money to pay off half of the loan. The AES called me about the overdue student loan and I told them that I could pay as much as a half of it by April 18th of that year.
The representative on the phone said that I could pay that much. And they would accept the payment. Hanging up the phone, I expected all to go as planned.
A week prior to payment, I had all the money ready and was just waiting for the date to come around. I received a letter saying that on April 1st, my student loan was deferred to a company in CA called DCS. These letters demanded the full sum of the money, plus other fees.
DCS began to harass me ever other day. I told them that the AES agreed to my terms to repay, and that they had no business calling me. They even called me during my working hours (that is illegal according to the Fair Debt Collections Act).
I notified AES about it, and they then gave me the run around. My loans were deferred two weeks prior to my arranged repayment date. This was obviously a way to milk me for all the money they could, and I outright informed them that I consider this debt disputed.
I feel that the AES and DCS have scammed me, while I did not make payments for over two years because of trying to be in business for myself (computer services). The AES did break a verbal contract to allow me to repay. I believe this is breaking a verbal contract made over the phone.
This is just a warning to anyone getting student loans through private groups like this. DON'T, these companies may have policies in place that sound like they are helping you, but they tend to be ignored.
As of this date, the AES and DCS have both ceased to contact me. As far as I know they have left me alone.
0 comments