Complaint / Review
American Education Services
Collector Took Over Student Loan Before Agreed Payment Date

In 2003 I took out a loan with AES to go to school. When I left school, I continued to pay my loans off while working.

After a while I attempted to go into business for myself. I am still 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. AES called me about the overdue student loan, and I told them that I could pay as much as half of it by April 18th of that year.

The representative on the phone said that I could pay that much and that 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 every other day. I told them that AES had 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 runaround. 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 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). 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. Do NOT. These companies may have policies in place that sound like they are helping you, but they tend to be ignored.

As of this date, AES and DCS have both ceased to contact me. As far as I know, they have left me alone.