I am currently in AES hell - have been for 2 years now. I got pregnant and had to leave school to have my child - I got the 6 month grace period and then they started hounding. I applied for a deferrment because I was pregnant and had a high-risk pregnancy and could not work or afford the payments. It was a run around - my Dr had to fax them forms and then she would and then they would say they had not received them. This went on for about a month - all while they are threatening to report me for non payment, etc. Finally I sent a letter return receipt requested with all the forms, threatening to tell the Attorney General about them, and suddenly I was deferred - imagine that.
But they would only give me the 6 week post partum because I had an emergency c-section - then it was back to the harrassing. I had to stay home with my baby due to her health problems and the fact that daycare is so expensive here, so I filed for an economic hardship forbearance - by the end of that, I had to file for food stamps to get them to grant me a measly 6-month deferrment (mind you, all the time I spent battling them counted in this, so really it only ended up being a 4 month deferment.
It is now up and I requested the usual forms to defer again - after they ignored my emails for a week, I finally got an email saying I've maxed out my deferment time - WHAT?! All my other loans give you 3, 1 year deferments before you have maxed! I'm furious and asked them to provide me a link ontheir site where it states this. I'm getting ready to contact the attorney general and BBB on them, they have horrible communication and misleading practices.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
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I've had problems with AES, too. I am currently repaying my loans and about once every couple months I receive a delinquency notice though all of my bills have been paid well before the due date!!!!! Every time I call the company, they are extremely rude and argumentative and when I try to ask for someone new they either tell me no one is available or ask me to hold for at least a half an hour. Just this last time I called, they told me my due date had been changed and the delinquency notice was their way of informing me! I advise anyone needing a student loan to choose any other lender except AES.
I completely agree! AES is horrible! I spent a lot of time choosing which company to consolidate my student loans with-I choose ISM-they were wonderful!! Then after 2 years are flawless interaction with ISM, they sold my loans to AES! Apparently the borrower has no say when loan companies do this! AES has been hell since the begining! They have screwed up my direct debit and have overdrawn my account 2 times! Now they are refusing to refund me for withdrawing my monthly payment TWICE in one month!! Their costumer service is horrible-IMPOSSIBLE to get through on the phone and if you are lucky enough to talk to someone they are extremely rude and unhelpful! And they never respond to emails!!
STAY AWAY FROM AES! THEY ARE RUNNING A SCAM!
If you take out a loan your expected to pay it back right? federal loans offer quite a bit of help when you can't afford your payments. All you people cry because of the economy and can't afford your payments because of it, come on and get a grip. call the companies you get car loans through or mortgages and see what they can do if you can't pay! Your lucky to get a break. AES is a business, in order to keep aes going and students keep going to school you pay your loans. If you have a problem with making payments then DON'T go to school. You people are one of the biggest problems with the economy! Barrowing money and making up excuses to not pay. Thank god for credit reporting, wage garnishment, and income tax withholding! Ism was bought out by aes so no you don't get to choose, reason besause they weren't bringing enough money to stay afloat. It's your responsibility to inform a company well before its past due that you cant pay!
American Education Services has been rejecting my payments from two valid checking accounts for over 90 days. If i knew what I was doing wrong I could fix the problem, but no customer service representative has any idea!
They've told me to try forbearance while I "fix the problem." I don't understand why I should go into forbearance when I've been making timely payments from checking accounts that work everywhere but AES. This has already affected my credit rating, and AES says there is nothing they can do about it. One customer service rep told me "well, try a check from that account again and see what happens." WHY? So my credit score can take a bigger hit while I wait around and get no answers because the rep's can't pull up the specific information on my individual payments? All I'll be told is that I've entered some invalid info for my account, and I'll go back and check everything I've entered (again and again) find NO ERRORS, and confirm that this is the exact payment info I've been using on other sites with no problems.
I have been dealing with AES for 8 months now related to my son's death. The cooperation, sympathy, and customer service from these folks is deplorable.
I had provided them with death certificate shortly after his death. The Federal Loans came through just fine. These were th eones AES serviced, but I paid the US Department of Education. Forgiveness of the loans was prompt, and an unexpected refund from the US Treasury came.
Then I began getting calls from bill collectors for the private or professional and graduate loans. The first came from India. That I couldn't believe. Then I would get calls from collectors oseing cell phones. Finally they began billing me, versus my dead son. It was like revisiting his death with every call.
Having been killed by a cab, we had a law suit progressing. I requested documentation that the co-signed loans were originally in his name and he was the primary borrower. It was complicated due to another family member having co-signed as well. I provided documentation again of death and the court paperwork designating me as the administrator of his affairs. That got me no where. AFter several calls and connecting with a supervisor I received a letter from a Vice President stating that such loans were not forgiven. Then I received a refund check drawn on an AES account stating my son's account had been forgiven.
Not trusting this, I called and was told the account was not forgiven. Also, I provided a Power of Attorney for the other family member. It took them over an hour on the phone togo through and verify who I was and that I had the right to information regarding my son's accounts. I am still waiting for a response from them.
AES also really screws up the ability to track loans. Each person, borrower and co-signer is given seperate loan numbers. To track or connect the loans is a feat in bookkeeping. This gets further complicated when you have multiple children that you are helping with loan payments.
Then when you get through their matrix of customer service reps you think you may be able to get a direct dial line to a supervisor when trying to resolve problems. But, no, they have to verify who you are each time you call. The customer service reps are rude, smart mouthed, and totally dispassionate. I would advise anyone looking for a company to consolidate loans with to try at all cost to find another than AES.
We cosigned for both of our children's loans. They are independent adults now and make all of their payments. Our daughter made a payment which AES applied to something other than the bill it was made for .. and the circus began. They have called us for four days in a row, hounding us incessently about the missed payment. The first thing I ask is "did you speak with (my daughter)" and get some vague answer about a call was made to her. SHE PAID THIS TWO WEEKS AGO!!
The person I spoke with before the harassing phone call today looked just a little further into things and surprise .. there it was! I was told sometimes it takes a few days. Today I told the harasser the same thing, and when she would not listen to me I chose to terminate the call.
Why don't they go pick on people who DON'T PAY and leave those of us who do alone?
They are truly a nightmare to deal with.
I can't agree more with with the above comments, what a nightmare!
This company has nothing in the way of customer satisfaction or friendly service.
I just finished my schooling and having to deal with AES....my god what a nightmore. I almost had a stroke over it a few days ago. I think their works are some of the most inept people out there, but the company is run in a very ineffecient way. I don't mind banks making a mistake or two once in a while, but mistakes every month and harming my credit from FICO of 750 to 530....it is harmful to me, my business and my ability to make a living, all the while I have been paying my loans on time. This company is not worth doing business with.
My son too has been having alot of problems with AES. With one year to go to complete his PhD he was denied this week on his final student loan because AES has damaged his credit rating. Their reps have lied to us repeatedly. My son has used 3 omnths on a deferment but is told he has no forbearance or deferment left. It is time for us to work together to bring this company down. Please email me a brief account of your problems with a return email and phone number. I will then contact you to verify accuracy and then find an attorney in PA to take on a class action lawsuit on our behalf. Email is
fapostalman@roadrunner.com
I went through their fraud claims. What AES does is get access to Your ID then gets your loan and creates its own fictitious loans. What you need to do is
1) Go to the University website and get your Statement of Fees. It is impt. that you do this first.
2) Ask AES to send the loan statement and your payments. Compare the loan statement with Statement of Fees. If they do not match you know AES is a fraud. AES is a fraud entity that preys on students.
3) Get all the Statements of payments to AES from your Bank. Highlight them and give it to the police.
4) Keep all AES letters and make sure you record AES and their Associates (the debt collectors) calls.
5) Give all your Statements to your city/county Police.
I confirmed this later when:
1) Statement of fees and Loan Statement did not match.
2) There were 2 lenders for the student loan. AES was the fraud lender.
AES and Associates have abused me/borrower, through their calls, to pay amounts which were fraudulent amounts. Unfortunately I became the victim until friends advised to go to the Police.
Students are the most vulnerable to these frauds. I am glad our president Mr. Obama has made it a law that the govt. oversees student loans.
I did a websearch on this and the related lenders/collectors. IT APPEARS THESE PRIVATE LOANS MAY BE BUNDLED INTO SECURITIES (like those notorious home mortages). THE SECURITIES MAY HAVE BEEN SOLD WITHOUT PAPERWORK DOCUMENTING THE SALE (again like securitized home mortgages). THIS MEANS THE CREDITOR COLLECTING MAY NOT OWN THE LOAN. IF THEY DON'T OWN THE LOAN, THEIR LEGAL RIGHTS MAY BE LIMITED.
TALK TO A CONSUMER ATTORNEY BEFORE PAYING ANYTHING!
We are stumped also!!In January we received call fro AES that if we sent them 1,739.00 and set up an automatic draft from my account9 co-signer) right away we could get a reduced amount. We mailed a cashiers check from our local bank after taking out a small loan from them. AES/ National Colligiate and now some company named Conserve have all said that they never received payment altho I have the check copy from the bank in front of me cashed by Nation Enterprise and subsideray of National Collegiate who administers to AES. How can a kid and Mom figure this out. I am a widow and my son has had multiple surgeries and has only been able to work part time. Any monies we send out our precious bills. HELP!!!
Mary said:
Do you realize that when you defer these loans, you will still continue to be charged interest each month of deferment, That means you will be paying interest on interest. We are caught in a nightmare with them. Thank you to the person who suggested consulting a consumer attorney. We are in our 70's and unless we are able to get some help;when we die, every bit of our retirement, home, etc., will be used to pay off these loans. Our children's and primarily our grandchildren inheritance will be sucked dry from these scam companies. In good faith, we agreed to help our child go back to college at a later date in her life. Her schools, etc. all advised us where to obtain financial help and we were stupid enough to trust them. PLEASE DO NOT even look at using any lender until you have very throughly checked them out.
Also, be sure that your child or student you are helping will make enough money to eventually pay off debts that will run into hundreds of thousands of dollars before a degree is obtained. In most cases, you will end up paying them, even if it means attaching everything you own. As a co-signer, you will be the responsible party, believe me - I know - we are there now.
If you have a loan with AES, I advice you to check THOROUGHLY what they are charging you for interest.
I received a series of rate reductions 3 yrs ago due to on-time payments and direct debit. Or.... I thought I did. Even my account online at AES says that I received a rate reduction. BUT..... I discovered recently that they NEVER recalculated my monthly payments to reflect those rate reductions.
I called them up, spent an hour on the phone and they finally agreed with me that they had not recalculated my payments correctly after I was given the interest rate reduction.
It's easy to verify.... know how much principle you have left, know your rate, and know how many months you have left in your payment terms. Then use their own repayment calculator on their website to crunch out your monthly payment. I did that and it was VASTLY different to what they wanted me to pay. I was thinking... WTF? Their own loan repayment calculator on their website doesn't even reflect what they're charging me. The calculator is correct because it uses the same formula that EVERY institution in the US uses to calculate loan repayments. I used the actual mathematic formula to crunch out the numbers, and it is the same as just plugging in the numbers on their own calculator- so I knew I was right when I told them they were OVERBILLING me.
When they finally admitted that they had not actually used the lower interest rate (that i was entitled to) in calculating my monthly payments... all they said was since I was overpaying, then that means I would be paying off my loan faster.
I don't think they can legally do that. It is OUR choice if we want to pay off the loan earlier or not (by paying more principle). If the interest rate is low enough (and for me it is VERY LOW because I consolidated in 2005), I have no incentive at all to pay it off earlier than the initial term agreements.
It is unbelievable that the rate reductions they said they gave me 3 yrs ago actually haven't factored into my monthly payments for the last 3 yrs..... and it took a bit of thinking on my part to figure out I was overpaying.
So... please check thoroughly what they are actually making you pay each month. Just don't simply accept it as the truth. If you have friends who know about loan calculations, check with them too to see if you are overpaying.
Okay...I work at AES, we service way more loans than you could ever imagine. Loans are transferred to us and we service them on behalf of the bank so that means...WE DON'T OWN YOUR LOAN...your offered a lot of different options on your Federal Loans, you have plenty of time to see what options you have before your billed AND go delinquent..if you really cared you would make some kind of payment the first 6 years you decide to defer your payments, and I think the reason your really mad is because your balance almost doubled while you didn't pay on it. And whats sad is most of you didn't even finish your education, or got pregnant, or have a mortgage, etc...well what did you think this was? A Grant?
To the supposed AES employee above me....If you're really an AES employee, then you need to act a little more professional. I got my mother going through hell right now trying to keep you at bay, and she faithfully makes payments every month, starting with trying to say that she's delinquent this past summer. Yet, you keep jacking the payments up every month. Last month you agreed to start her payments at $180 come the new year, and now all of a sudden she gets a letter today saying she now owes $223 a month? We almost couldn't have a Christmas because of you. You are asking for more than what your clients agree on and can handle, and you KNOW it. I don't understand how another human being can be so unsympathetic to the fact that someone is having a baby or that their child died. Horrible, horrible, business people you are. You're supposed to help, not hurt. You will get yours...too many people are complaining about you nationwide, and I feel a class action lawsuit might come down on you one day.
AES is a damn fraud ..I understand that they are student loans and are required to pay back l,however,they DID NOT report my$400.00 monthly required deferments that I paid over a year to credit bureau and recently I became unemployed and of course cannot afford to pay $400. I called to cancel/decrease payment and this unprofessional,uncourteous,assanine Rep...told me that I was still responsible to pay that amount. After arguing back and forth,I asked for a supervisor. She HUNG UP...well now you'll get nothingv until I am able to pay my FULL BALANCE....then Ill see you in court IMMEDIATELY AFTER....AES NEEDS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!
I have no problem with the concept of paying my borrowed money back. I do however have a problem with paying back 4 times the original amount owed. I took out a loan from an agency who sold my loan to AES my four thousand dollar loan will be a 16,000 dollar loan by the time I am done paying off the interest. I have tried to get ahead with the payments, but I can't because they don't apply this money to the principal, just the interest. I have called to see if I can get a lower interest rate with no luck. The economy will no allow me to find a job that will pay me what my degree is worth, so I don't have the 6,000 dollars that they will accept to pay off the loan. That is right folks if I had 4,000 dollars in my account to pay them off, they won't accept it, they want their interest. These people are part of the problem, you need to work with people, and even more so when things are so difficult for people. When I signed up for my bachelors degree I had no idea that 2 years later I would be making the same amount I was making six years ago (pre-degree). God help America.
I'm trying to figure if this is correct. In 2005 I graduated with 42K in student loans. I was required to pay $210 a month on a 2.9% rate for 25 years. So, I've been paying on this loan for 7 years now and giving them $300 a month. On my statement, it shows that I've only paid $7,600 in principal and rest in interest. I asked them in the beginning to use the "extra" money from my payment for principal but it appears that the "extra" $90 is going toward principal as I requested but the regular payment of $210 is going all toward interest. I've tried to call them about this and they've told me it would be against the law to change it. When I asked for a repayment schedule so I understand how the repayment is being applied they said that they can't because it doesn't work like that. I then asked for them to verbally explain to me how my payments are being applied and they said "It's complicated and they don't think I would understand".
Also, once I received a late fee when I was supposedly late even though the payment was there before the 5th which was my regularly scheduled due date. They said the due date is 30 days from my last payment so if I pay early, my due date shifts every month.
Does anyone know of options I might have because by my calculations I will never pay to principal off in 39 years while paying about 93K in interest.
Today my payment DOUBLED!!! I have always made my payment on time with AES and today I went to pay my monthly payment only to find out it had doubled. When I called the representative told me this is how they do it and I have to pay it. I asked her what can I do in order to remain in good standing without having to pay so much, I was willing to work with them and they DID NOT CARE nor want to work with me on figuring something out.
I hate AES they don't know what the hell they are doing over there. You can tell with the employee that commented in here that they are a bunch of arrogant assholes that can't do their job. I have sent in my income sensitive form which they said they received but did process it. Instead they sent me a collection letter. I also asked three times for a form to be mailed to add my wife to the account. That still has not happened. It shows how lazy and irresponsible they are. They have no problem sending you a bill.
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