American Education Services [AES] review: loan 100

Absolute Joke of a company! getting harrassing collection calls and my account is paid each month...
today alone 7 phone calls by 12 noon! STAY AWAY the are criminals... they will promise you the world then take the world from you!

i am writing the us attorney General, my senator even the president... someone has to hold these people accountable for the practices of harrassment. STAY away then they will go out of business and everyone will not be taken avantage of by this crooked company.

haha keep sending those forbearances in, harassment? i think not lol just pay your damn loan. stop crying that they are calling you and get off your lazy @ss and get a job! and the interest rates are given to you by the banks not aes, prom note says variable interest rate so thats what your gonna get unfortunately. Maybe if you people talked more with your financial aid officers before you took the loans out! And for you getting lawyers? how the hell can you afford lawyers when you can't pay your loans? Im pretty sure your lawyers will laugh and say good luck with the lawsuit! Pheaa/AES has their own lawyers that only deal with pathetic people like you! Hey lets try and bring down a company that is backed by the federal government! Yea good luck

My son is paying so much interest he will probably never get it paid off! Should be a law against it. Maybe he should sell his house and move to a shelter.

I have been having a similar experience with AES and have decided to give them a taste of their own harassment. They automatically send a forbearance form when you don't pay, which of course they will decline if you try to apply. I xeroxed this form and, since all you have to do is fill in the address, have been sending them one application for forbearance every day. Wonder if/when they'll catch on. Anyway, I won't cause them much trouble alone but if we all were to flood them with daily forbearance applications maybe they'd get the point.

AES, simply put, are ### infested loan sharks. They lie, cheap, steal and do do with implied impunity. I have the means to hire a damn good lawyer to take them to task, and I am going to do just that. I suggest all of you do the same. Once they start paying huge amounts in damages to those they harmed, perhaps their behavior wil chance, or better yet, they will go away//back to the sewer they call home

I went to a US Medical School--a private one, which means that I have borrowed from possibly every bank there is...may be even some of you guys/gals. Anyhew, finished my 1000 years of training and the loans started coming back like a tsunami. With due deligence here and there I got everything squared away and things are going nice and smooth...except AES/KEY bank . Essentially, everymonth, I spend about two hours correcting their mistakes. KEY bank is even funnier. When AES decided to use all my monthly payments to oversatisfy one account and leave all others in delinquent state, KEY bank calls me that my payments are late. When I asked which accounts are late, not only do they not have the answer, but they get upset with me...kind of like one of my demented patient who was mad at me for not knowing her son's name, which she had forgotten. To make the matter worse, their stupid mistakes led to my credit score dropping from excellent to very weak. I can't buy a house, get a loan or anything for the next 60 days. So, all you prospective borrowers, I would rather pay a bit extra in interest rates to save the headache later. Run away as far as you can. Personally, as soon as my credit is restored, I am going to move from them as well.

I hope it helps.

Do you people realize AES is a loan SERVICER. Therefore, they are not the ones setting interest rates, how the interest accrues, what the limit is on deferements and forebearances. The LENDERS do this. AES has been a lender, but unless you have them as a lender, which most of you don't, all they do is manage your loans for the likes of PNC, Citi, BOA.

You are all inept idiots. Your MPN clearly states the guidelines of the loan. Here's a thought, next time you take $30, 000 out in student loans, maybe read the fine print, its pretty important. For God's sakes, you're all going to/went to college, you can use your head and figure out how this stuff works, its not rocket science.

As for the people refusing to pay, go ahead. You'll default on the loans, ruin your credit score for 12 years, and never be able to get a credit card let alone a house. Have fun have your paychecks/taxes have a lien.

Whats the most asinine thing about all all complaining is that you think you have some sort of leverage "power to the people". Guess what, AES, your lenders, and your guarantors are FEDERALLY BACKED. That's right. The US government is the reason you all got to go to school in the first place. Try taking them and their team of lawyers to court, and have fun on the way.

Interest accrues daily on ALL FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS. Whether it be serviced by AES, Sallie Mae, or Federal Direct. Take your principal balance, multiply it by your interest rate (in decimal form for you ###s out there) and divide by 365. There ya go, you have your daily interest accrual. Now when you go to send in your payment, you can actually figure out how much will be going to interest in a given month. Of course, thats if you pay on time. If you're behind 60 days, take into account 60 days of interest.

Going to college isn't everyone's right, its a privilege. That's whats wrong with liberal America today. Everyone should be entitled to everything. ###. If you can't even figure out a loan and how it works, you don't have the brain capacity to go to college. Stay out. Wash dishes the rest of your life and let the people with half a brain do the thinking.

Oh, and here's a thought to the Mom with the daughter in the peace corps. Maybe she should have taken care fo her financial responsibilities BEFORE she left. I'm sure she just didn't disappear into the night without letting anyone know she was going. Its something called privacy policy. If AES let everyone call in and make changes to your accounts, how would you feel? I could call in and ruin your lives. A person needs to take a certain responsibility with their money. Don't complain if they didn't think of that before they left. Shes entitled to a deferment right now, and all it takes is about 30 seconds to print the form, fill it out, and put a stamp on an envelope and send it. But its AES' fault because she couldn't find one minute of her day BEFORE she left to take care of that right? You just thought the loan would magically disappear, right?

The ignorance of Americans is absolutely astounding.

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.

Has anyone had a similar problem? I feel helpless.

Absolutely assisnine. My daughter has been ill, got 18 days behind on two payments due. Eighteen days. Because of missed work whe had to wait an additional week to pick up another paycheck before she could make the payments. My wife was the co-signer on one note, I on the other. We have received a minimum of two phone calls a day, Saturdays and Sundays included - as early as 8 AM on a Sunday morning.

Each time I explained what was happening and was told bluntly the phone calls would continue until we paid our bills and there was nothing we could do about it. Rude, insdensitive, uncaring. Today I indicated that the bill was paid online this morning (2 months, both notes) and was told that the calls would contine for 2 to 3 more days until the electronic transaction "cleared" - and was again told there was nothing I could do about it - pay my bills on time next time.

I am going to be contacting the offices of senators Dodd and Leiberman here in Connecticut, and filing a complaint for harrasment with the state department of consumer protection.

I will NOT be bullied by a ragtag bunch of rude, don't give a damn 20 somethings who work for a "squeeze shop" contracted by AES. I intend to be as rude as they are as often as they are. This is about to become sport, and I might as well enjoy it.

Yes, I agree with all of these commets. In my case I am unemployed due to the economy, not due to my fault, have been since last year (what's new?). I had a deferment through 12/31/08.

I wrote to them in response to their bills in January, February, March and April, informing them I had NO MONEY to make ANY payment and when I have an income again, I will determine how much I can afford to pay and set the new payment terms on the account. I kept copies of all of these documents AND included state certification of my lack of employment (food stamp benefit received) since October 2008. I was out of work BEFORE October 2008, but had to ask for state help at that time.

They have ignored ALL of my written communication, but did send me a deferrment/forebearance form last month. I completed it, returned it, they replied "denied" because no payments made since last deferment ended in 12/08 and three payments must be made to be considered for addtional deferment(!)

I AM OUT OF WORK. I HAVE NO MONEY. WHERE DO THESE *SSHOLES THINK I WILL FIND IT, ROB A BANK?

I am getting ready to send them my last letter, it will read something like:

"As you know from the numerous past letters I have sent to you and you have ignored, I have no means to make payment on this account. This is the last time I will communicate with you. No payment will be made on this account, now or at any future time. I have written this debt off and will refuse to make payment. When the statute of limitations for this private (educational) loan have expired, it will no longer appear on my credit history or will be legally removed. Do not contact me again. Any further mail will be returned, unopened, to you, postage-due, at your expense."

I have no assets, no real property, no employment and these jerks seem to think they can squeeze blood out of a stone. They are sending a "reconsideration form", but if they refuse the "reconsideration", I will write them off and refuse to ever pay them, ever.

I encourage others to refuse to pay this company, if enough do, they will get the message. Even better, tell them in writing you have written the debt off and under your policy it is no longer a valid account and you will not make payment and they are not to contact you again...(return to sender etc).

The more who refuse them, the better.

I am unemployed and my ex husband is not working either. We are trying to get a deferment for the loan. I've filled out the forms 3 times and I've faxed them about 10 times with confirmations of reciept. I've mailed them with UPS and tracked them, they got them. I've scanned them in and emailed them. They keep telling me they didn't get the forms via fax, they didn't get the email and once they told me they lose mail internally. They are intentionally dragging thier feet. I went so far as to ask to drive to AES and meet with someone to submit the forms, but they refused to see me. I've been considering filing a complaint with the court house and calling my congressman.

I mistakenly sent them $1500 using my bank online bill pay. I was trying to pay my American Express bill and American Education Services was in the box above American Express. I simply put the payment amount in the wrong box. When I discovered the mistake, I called asking for them to return the money. They said that it is their policy that if a customer sends them money and it's not due to their error, they keep the money! They keep they money! I had an officer of my bank talk to them and worked up three levels and were met with absolute stubborn refusal to return my money. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, for all the good it will do. They are crooks, plain and simple. I loathe them!

I've had my student loan differed for a year due to being on temp. disability and I recieved a statement of the amount interest incured 3 weeks ago that stated that AES would be sending me a bill 20 days before it's due... right well I just recieved it today the 20th saying it's due the 1st! The letter was post-marked the 18th and AES says "We don't know why the post office didn't send it out but we sent it on the 12th" Oh and they had to add "legally we don't have to provide a bill it's a courtesy that we do" What the hell is this! I work with postal mail and I know that the post office has to post-mark the mail the day they recieve it! Hey AES way to pass the buck! The Federal Postal Service is going to love hearing about how they are to blame for your billing date issues!
On another note I'd like to say I love this site! With AES handling pretty much every student loan out there we definately need a site dedicated solely to their complaints!

Agree! Avoid if possible! I have been fighting with them for 6 months to get a deferment for my daughter who is in the Peace Corps and cannot contact them herself. They have been totally unhelpful- wouldn't send the correct form or even tell me which form to send her. At the same time they keep calling an harassing me 4-5 times a week. I ended up picking the wrong form (it said specifically it was for Peace Corps volunteers). The result is she is 6 months overdue and they have tacked on all kinds of late fees. I am beginning to suspect they are dragging their feet on purpose for this reason. I am very close to filing a formal complaint. BEWARE!

AES is essentially the mob. I used to think Sallie Mae was egregious, they are lambs compared to AES. not only do I agree with all of the astute comments made here about the inept customer service, these people are purposefully rude, confusing, and not helpful. Over the years, I have been talked down too, been told to speak English (I only speak English), I've asked questions that were followed by disconnecting, pretending to not hear, and then just put on hold. I so wish I wasn't duped into getting a loan for a degree that was supposed to be covered by insurance claim, (another matter) and essentially insurance and AES worked together to get me the 17% loan. Now I own 20 grand more than the original loan amount and still pay over $700 a month to them. I really can't afford to do this the rest of my life, after 5 years in my career I still pray for each payday to come so that I might reach ZERO. Thanks for duping us, I had no choice about getting this loan, and I have no options than to be fleeced for what seems like the next 30 years. Damn I won't even live that long. Meanwhile, I still won't be able to buy even a trailor. I seriously dream everyday of just going to a non extradition country, or doing a identity change, but I have real people I love, and I think that is illegal too. I so wish I didn't ever go back to school. AES, thanks for working with me to take every cent I'm worth. A holes. I hate your customer service, you are totally subsidized 100% and yet you rely on Loan Sharking to pad the coffers of your CEOs. Go to hell you rich greedy ###s. You strangle the working class of this once strong country.

I have a monthly Payment of $475.00 a month, I've paid these guys over $10, 000 over the past 3 years and due to daily accrueing intreast I now owe MORE money than when I started.

Last month I worked an extra job to earn the $500 I needed to get the accout current. Each month the due date was always around the same time rent was due, so I would have to wait for my next check to make my student loan payment. I would always be a month behind due to this. Finally I worked an extra job so that I could get current. I went to my computer and paid my current bill ( I paid them 2 times in one month to catch up)

I got a call 10 days later telling me that my balance for the previous month had not been paid. I checked my account and the money had not come out, so I went to my computer and paid them a second time.

One week later I got a call telling me that I still had not paid my bill and I was almost a month behind, and that I now had to pay a late fee.

I paid a third time, and agrued for hours on the phone with their customer service who refused to believe that I had made the payment. I asked them "Why should I have to pay a late fee because of your incompetience?" They responded "Our records say that we haven't done anything wrong, It's not our fault that you can't pay your bills on time."

I went through great pains to catch up to these insane bill payments, just to end up behind due to their mistakes, just to be told that it's all my fault.

Look, I've got no problem paying back a loan, but to structure the intreast in such a way that they can jack it up at will, so that by the time you pay it off you've paid more than twice what you borrowed is nothing more than theft.

This company is ridiculous! They are worse than Citibank. I tried to pay off my loan based on the balance shown on the account. Apparently they don't show you the interest accrued for that loan in the balance. Yes, it seems so simple that I should know what my principle is but when you have 10 different loans from undergrad and grad you tend to forget the principle of every loan plus I applied for forebearance and blah blah blah everything gets twisted around. I even keep an excel spreadsheet of all my loan info but since things change so often and repeated mailings about this change to your account and that one it is sometimes hard to keep up with everything. Sorry, back to the issue at hand. Anyways, I was trying to pay of the balance at this time and failed to add in the interest accrued into the balance amount. So when I made a payment, I still had a balance left. Of course they don't apply the entire payment you made to the principle, but to some of the interest. So for a $10, 000 balance and say a $200 interest (that you didn't realize was not included in the balance) you pay $10, 000 and they apply $9, 800 to the principle and the rest to the interest. WHY? Because by the time you figure out what has happened (7 days later) they have accrued interest on what's left of the principle at the very least if not accrue interest on the original loan amount. Now that means you owe 7 days more of interest than the original day you tried to payoff your loan. Who knows for sure but what you are certain of is that you are getting screwed no matter what. The customer service rep was not that helpful and he just read off his script and then added slight jabs of insult into his "explinations" such as, "you have to call in to find out what your loan pay off balance before you make a payment and when you do this is when we give you a disclosure about what is going on." Such bull. Even Citibank's customer service isn't this inept. Why do I have to call in for my loan "pay off balance" when you show the balance online. Just like any other bank account or credit card statment, include the interest in the balance for every billing cycle / stament issued!

Its bad enough that the mortgage bankers gave suspect loans to people trying to fulfill their american dream and buy a house, but now banks and loan companies have found new and unsuspecting victims in students who have no other choice. If you want the american dream of an education, you have to succum to these ridiculously shadey loan companies. This is akin to getting a loan from the mob.

I co-signed a loan for my daughter about 8 years ago. I had no idea that the interest rate woudl go so high - the loan was for $30, 000 and today the amount due on the loan is $45, 000. $15, 000 in interest! Something is not right. The payments are so incredibly high - my daughter is unemployed, I can't come up with $400 a month in payments and I have no idea what do do. Can anyone give me some advice?