This has been an ongoing and long-term issue with American Education Services. To recap, I have had trouble making payments in the past due to the large monthly amount and periods of unemployment and underemployment.
I am willing to admit that I was irresponsible financially when I was in college and just after college, but over the last five years I have been attempting to make payments regularly and for the amount in question.
There are the standard complaints: the payments are too high, the customer service is awful, etc.
It has recently gotten worse.
To begin with, I spoke with a customer service rep who treated me in a very patronizing and rude manner. When I asked to speak to his manager regarding his behavior, he demanded I tell him why. I informed him, and he began to give me the runaround about his manager. I kept demanding and finally got through to his supervisor. She kept asking me what my complaint was, and when I told her, she said, "Sir, I'm not seeing the issue here." Halfway through my explanation of the issue, she just hung up the phone.
When they called my parents (co-signers on the private loans), they did the same thing, refusing to let my dad speak to a manager and treating him in a very rude, snobby manner.
It is bad enough that over half of my monthly income goes to pay student loans. But to be treated rudely is too much, especially when I am barely able to make the payments.
I started looking for people to write to regarding this. I filed a complaint with the BBB, and I filed complaints with the FDIC. I heard back from the FDIC that they do not have jurisdiction over AES, and they then passed it on to the Pennsylvania Banking Agency.
The Pennsylvania Banking Agent informed me that because AES engages in interstate commerce, they do not have jurisdiction over AES either. In fact, he went on to tell me that no one is watching this company.
Meanwhile, I sent emails to the board of directors at PHEAA (the parent company for AES). It turns out that the board consists of nothing but senators, representatives and judges. Basically, the people elected to enact laws to prevent the abuses that AES inflicts on customers are profiting by it. One senator's office called me, left a voicemail and informed me they were going to look into the situation.
I received a form letter from AES detailing the general outline of my payments and assuring me that their employees are trained to the highest levels of respect and that I really could not have been treated that way. Also, if I am having trouble making payments, there are a variety of options I could explore.
Here is where the rip-off happens. My loans are mostly private loans. The "options" only have to be offered once, and for no more than 12 months. When I first ran into financial trouble six years ago, I exhausted those options then. Now I am out of luck, and they have threatened to take my parents' house. I have tried to work with them, but they refuse to renegotiate the terms of my loans. When I ask why, they state it has to do with the bank holding the loan. When I ask to speak to that bank, I am not allowed to.
Basically, I physically cannot make payments and eat. My option is to pay my loans, or my family becomes homeless and I starve to death. AES does not care, PHEAA does not care, and no one at the state level will pass a law or investigate. Why would they? They are making millions of dollars every year. There is no federal oversight of AES and companies like it, so there is no accountability or agency I can file a claim against.
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