Student Aid Institute Inc

Review: I was contacted by the Student Aid Institute 2 years ago to the month. I was told they could enroll me in a program for student loan repayment that would allow my student loans to be forgiven after 10 years total of repayments including what I had already paid before talking with them. The company debited a fee of $647.50 out of my account on 07/03/2013 and also on 07/31/2013 for the paperwork it would require to enroll me in the program and transfer my loans from Sallie Mae to Department of Education. Since then I have been debited $39 a month for their services to continue being enrolled in the program that would allow me to have my loans forgiven after 10 years of repayment. After looking on myfedloan.org for my scheduled repayment time frame I noticed my loans would be paid off in 2025. I have been making payments on my loans since 2010 which according to the Student Aid Institute was to go towards my repayment timeframe of 10 years total to have my loans forgiven. I would inquire with them how many years I have for repayment under the program and would never receive an answer from them except the latest inquisition which said to look on the myfedloan.org website. This is when I noticed the 2025 payoff date. If I was enrolled in the program they claim then I would be done paying my loans in approximately 5-6 years. After calling the department of education I was informed that I am not enrolled in any such program for loan forgiveness after 10 years total of repayment and that I do not qualify for loan forgiveness. The Student Aid Institute was misleading and out right lied about me qualifying for and being enrolled in a program and have been charging me monthly for maintenance of the paperwork required for this program when I am not even in one. They simply charged me to set up an income based repayment plan which I can do for FREE and a maintenance fee monthly to stay in an income based repayment plan which I can also do for FREE!Desired Settlement: Student Aid Institute purposely mislead and lied about me qualifying for a loan forgiveness program and that they could perform the work needed to get me enrolled in such program for an initial fee and additional monthly maintenance fee to maintain me in the program. I would like a refund from Student Aid Institute for the initial fee of $1,295.00. I would also like a refund for the monthly payments over the past 2 years totaling $936. I want all future debits out of my account to stop and I want all communication with the company stopped. I have revoked Student Aid Institutes power of attorney privileges to my loans and therefore they are no longer providing any service they claim to be providing me. I will also be filing a complaint with the State Attorney's General Office.

Business

Response:

This is in regards to complaint #[redacted]... we have already cancelled Ms. [redacted]'s account and refunded her.[redacted]

Review: I recently enrolled in an Income Based/Public Service based student loan repayment plan and was told by student aid institute that in order to be enrolled in the program I would be responsible for a monthly payment towards my student loan balance and a $39 monthly payment that was taken in order to be enrolled in the program I recently contacted myfedloan.org to inquire about my account and was told that there is no fee to be enrolled in this program. I tried to contact the Student Aid Institute to get the issue resolved and there was no answer I was asked to leave a message and someone would call me back.Desired Settlement: I want to make sure this company does not keep depriving people of money and giving out false information when it is not necessary.

Consumer

Response:

I recently put in a complaint against the Student Aid Institute I would like to rescind that complaint against the company I have talked to them and resolved my issue with them myself. [redacted]

Review: I contacted the Student Aid Institute to help coordinate the consolidation of my student loans. My ultimate goal was to reduce my overall loan term to less than 10 years so that I could become debt free faster and save on the interest expense inherent in a 30 year loan.

The final consolidation with Sallie Mae was completed on 9/27 and documentation of my new loan with Sallie Mae was received on 10/3. The notice received from Sallie Mae shows a 25 year loan with graduated payments. Ultimately, the loan term was only 5 years less than my previous loan and with a higher interest rate - 4.75% vs. 3.75%.

I emailed [redacted] asking what had happened and why I was in a loan that was not as discussed or agreed. [redacted] replied with a voicemail on 10/7 that stated that I was in a "10 year forgiveness" and that at the end of 10 years, I would not owe anything. I called Sallie Mae directly that same day (10/7) and spoke with a customer service agent named [redacted] confirmed that I am NOT in a 10 year loan and that there is no paperwork pending to transition me to one. This discrepancy concerned me so much that I asked Sallie Mae to revoke Student Aid Institute's Power of Attorney immediately, which [redacted] did. I then sent [redacted] / Student Aid Institute another email asking if they have paperwork to confirm that I'm in a 10 year loan and to please provide documentation supporting this. [redacted] replied with the following email:

We confirmed with Sallie Mae when we went over the approval information that it was on a 10 year term, but let me follow up with them to see why it is showing a 25 year term through them still. It can take a couple of days for the online accounts to be updated, so that might be the issue. I will give you a call/email as soon as I hear back on why it is still showing as a 25 year plan.

Office: (888) 670-4687 ext. 6026

Fax: (888) 979-8918

www.studentaidinstitute.org

Today, 10/9, I received a voicemail from [redacted] /Student Aid Institute that they had confirmed with Sallie Mae that I am on a 10 year plan and that it might take up to 2 weeks for my file to reflect that. I was again quite concerned about the discrepancy in information that I was receiving from Sallie Mae versus the information from the Student Aid Institute. I called Sallie Mae this evening (10/9) and spoke with [redacted] confirmed again that I am in a 25 year graduated loan. Furthermore, he informed me that I am not eligible for a 10 year loan and that all loan consolidations are automatically placed in a 25 year plan, unless you are working in certain industries (military, government, education). I don't qualify for the 10 year loan and never have..

Finally, [redacted] also confirmed that no one from SAI had contacted them since 8/26. Even if they had, there is no possible way that the Student Aid Institute or any representative could have accessed my account since the Power of Attorney had been revoked on 10/7.

In summary, my complaint is that the Student Aid Institute and their representatives have repeatedly given me incorrect information about my loan. While I appreciate the filing of the paperwork, ultimately I paid $1000 to be moved into a loan that did not improve my financial position AT ALL. In fact, there was no material difference in overall debt due to the increase in interest rate. The final straw was being told I don't even qualify for the loan they promised. I feel completely misled and that I'm not receiving the services I was promised.Desired Settlement: Ideally, I would like a refund of at least a portion of my $1000 fee and confirmation that they will not charge me the $40 / month ($480/ year) maintenance fees going forward.

FYI - My loans with Sallie Mae have been PAID IN FULL as of 10/9, so there is nothing left for the Student Aid Institute to "maintain".

Business

Response:

The client was put into the Graduated Repayment Plan that requires a fixed payment over 25 years. The processing team did as instructed based on the information provided by the agent who spoke with the client initially. Once the work was complete, the client let us know that she wasn't satisfied with this repayment program. We have made attempts to confirm with her lender that she stays in a 10 year repayment program. The lender confirmed that this would take place but could take up to 2 weeks before the system was updated properly. We cannot check to see if this was taken care of since the Power of Attorney is no longer in effect. SAI will not charge the monthly maintenance fee of $39 as there is no longer work to be done for the client. SAI is issuing a partial refund for the processing fee as requested.

Review: I was solicited by the SAI. I'm not sure how they got my information. I had inquired about loan consolidation some time previously with another institution and SAI claimed that it was with them I had started an application. It was not. I was led to believe that my loans would be consolidated to a minimum payment of $39/mo. I would first need to make three payments of $165 dollars for an 'origination fee' so SAI could buy my debt from my guarantors. I later found out from my guarantors that $39/mo. is a maintenance fee and is not applied to my loan balance, and that consolidation is free and there is no such 'origination fee'. The SAI claimed they would work with my lenders but they took almost a week to get back to me regarding my lenders sending aggressive payment requests. The SAI was not communicating with with my lenders as they claimed. When I asked to terminate my application after 2 months of no progress I received phone calls chastising me for my choice. I requested a termination and a refund of two withdrawals of $165 for a total of $330 over two months ago. I receive notice that my files were shredded. I made another request on Sept. 7 for my refund and have not yet heard a response.Desired Settlement: I was misled regarding monthly payments and the requirement of the origination fee. I would like my $330 refunded because I did not receive any service with the SAI.

Business

Response:

Consumer became a client on June 17th. Loans were verified on June 18th. SAI put clients loans in forbearance for 3 months on June 19th. Client was originally unresponsive when we requested the documents needed to submit. By the July 20th we received clients docs and submitted the file for consolidation. While waiting on approval, client contacted company to cancel. SAI had already performed services client paid for. The process for consolidation takes three months. When we received the Revdex.com complaint, we checked to see status of the consolidation. It was approved and client now has a $0 payment. SAI did the work it was hired to do and delivered the payment that was quoted.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Review: I was contacted by the Student Aid Institute at the end of my loan deferment period. I was panicked about starting to pay on my loans with no job prospects and needed help. This company offered great services and relief to my debt, but after 1.5 years they have not delivered on their service agreements and misled me in a lot of areas.

1. They told me over the phone that it was a one-time start up fee of $687 and that the $39.00/mo was for my IBR payment for my loans. It was actually a maintenance fee for their company. I have now paid them a total of $1272.00 services that they did not provide.

2. The most egregious error: Last October 2014 my application to re-apply for the IBR payment program was due. I emailed them all of the correct documents on 10/13/14. I received an email that my application was submitted that same day. It takes up to 30 days for approval. On 12/8/14, I emailed SAI again to check on the status of my application. They said that it was still in review. At the end of Dec., I received a FedLoan statement that a payment was due in January. I emailed 1/7/15 with the statement attached to ask what was happening. On January 8th I received just this response, "This is the amount that would have been due if the Income-Based application had not been re-submitted. It was resubmitted on-time and was approved late December at $0.00 per month for the next 12 months, starting on January 15th. At the end of the year we will re-submit the application again as we did just now." This was not the case. Looking at my student.gov account, SAI never filed a re-submission application for my IBR. It was not until I received several late fee notices from FedLoan that SAI finally sent in a very late IBR application in Feb. This application was filed incorrectly and not approved. I can provide paper evidence to support this complaint. SAI is no longer able to access my student loans. I have taken control of my loans with the free help of FedLoans.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund from Student Aid Institute. They not only charged me $1272.00 and did not deliver on promised services, but because of the late status of my loans I had to immediately pay out $2,368.05 to keep my loans from entering a delinquent status and negatively affecting my credit.

My other desired outcome of this complaint is for a way to keep SAI from taking advantage of scared students, but I'm not sure what the Revdex.com will be able to do about that. I've learned my lesson, but I would hate for others to have to go through this.

Business

Response:

SAI was hired to assist in the consolidation and repayment placement for client. SAI performed and client received a $0 payment on over $222,000 in student loans. SAI also performed the re-submission that is required each year and the client was quoted a payment of $119. Client stopped monthly fee payment and SAI has offered to continue to work on the file and complete the re-submission process at no charge.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

SAI is obviously looking at the wrong account or attempting to fabricate their information. I only owe $70,597.24 in student loans not over 222,000. They never quoted me $119/mo for a payment, but 0.00 three times in email and several times over the phone. I personally filed a correct IBR application and my payment is $426.57/mo.

I just called my loan company and they informed me I was delinquent. They stated they could see Student Aid had signed me on to the program and monthly installments BUT they have not made any payments. It is extremely sad. They pray on young, naive, scared college students. We feel the pressure after graduating and the loans start haunting us. So when a company who promises us to help out but are actually fraud saddens me. To the three people that I spoke to in Student Institue Aid you should be ashamed of yourself. I am working with Navient now. According to them the reason why I haven't received any information from them is because it is Student Institute now has power over my account. they are the ones getting all my delinquency notices. Just last month I called spoke to someone in Student Institute and they promised I was all caught up for my payments. Stay away from them! I am now waiting for them to contact me but no response.

Review: Student aid told us that my student loans were in default. in order to take them out of default, I needed to make 2 payments. 1 for $200(2/18/14) and $223 (3/14/14). I then was told that I need to send them my pay stubs, documents, 3 referrals etc.

We have sent them, NUMEROUS times. 3/12,3/36,4/25,5/29 were the dates we faxed the information. They still state that we have not sent nothing and we have faxed them over multiple times, as if they received nothing.Desired Settlement: That I am refunded $423.00. For a service that I never got. nothing has changed.

Business

Response:

WE have reached out to the client to go over his concerns and satisfy his request. He has not responded. SAI will fully comply with his request and would like to speak with him about it.

Review: I received a letter in the mail stating I am eligible for the Reform Act Student Loan program. The letter also states they can reduce debts for those with loan balances over $25,000! I do not have ANY student loan debt and I do not appreciate be contacted with these marketing tactics. My wife and I had to go through our records to ensure we did not overlook any documents in regards to the student loan debt I already paid off. We were incredibly upset after being told we have $25,000 in debt. Can you imagine getting such a letter in the mail, especially after you were so proud of paying off that exact debt!?!?Desired Settlement: We would like an apology AND a confirmation from this company that they do NOT show I have over $25,000 due in student loans. I also do not want to be contacted by this company ever again (after their apology and explanation).

Business

Response:

I spoke with [redacted] to discuss his concerns. We purchase data from a third party and some of that data provided did not have student loan debt. He understood and seemed to be satisfied with my explanation. I contacted our data provider and their response was; "The personal

information was obtained exclusively from publicly available information such

as telephone listings, U.S. Census data, mortgage deed and tax assessment

records, subscription lists and summarized credit at the zip+4 level are also

used in modeling. The information was not obtained from a consumer reporting agency

and accordingly, the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not apply. None of

the information was obtained from any private or legally protected

database. Public record information that is legally accessible may be

used for any purpose."

Review: Student Aid Institute set me up with Nelnet to repay my student loans. In addition to my loan payment to Nelnet, Student Aid Institute is charging me $30 a month. I would like to stop these payments as I am in forbearance with Nelnet. I have tried to contact Student Aid Institute by Fax, phone, and email with no response. Please help!!!Desired Settlement: I would like a possible refund for the months I was in forbearance and no further payments taken out of my checking as I am solely working with Nelnet and not Student Aid Institute. I would also like future possible customers to know there are federal programs that do not charge you monthly.

Business

Response:

Hello [redacted],

Review: I verbally agreed to enroll in a program for student loan help. The company has my social security number,bank account info,and a e-sign contract. Within a 24 hour time frame I made numerous phone calls to the company trying to cancel my contract but got directed to answering machines and people who claimed they did not know how to cancel contracts. I even sent a cancellation e-mail to the selling agent but still got no response.Desired Settlement: A letter saying the contract is canceled and there will be no debits from my bank account.

Business

Response:

[redacted] (CEO) contacted the client to confirm that his agreement had been cancelled. No money was ever charged, which the client confirmed. He also, sent an email stating that the contract had been cancelled and that no money has been or would ever be charged. The client was satisfied and agreed to pull the complaint.

Review: I heard a radio Ad about Student Aid Institute & contacted them for information on their services. They lead me to believe they worked for the federal government & were able to reduce my overall student loan balance & payment term down to 10 years. Stating I qualified for a Forgiveness Plan through the “Reform Act Student Loan Program”. They requested personal documents and information to start the process: 1040 Federal Tax Return, recent Pay Stubs, Copy of Driver’s License, Copy of most Recent Loan Statement, References & Power of Attorney along w/ 2 processing fee payments of $430, total of $860. I provided them w/ the required fee, withdrawn from my account asap before receiving my documents, I never submitted the power of attorney. I then consulted with the Federal Student Loan Services and they notified & assured me whatever service SAI is they are not part of the federal govt, & they can not reduce my payment term & qualify me into a forgiveness plan, since I unfortunately do not qualify. That SAI is a third party and has overcharged me a service I can do myself online or over the phone for free. SAI made attempts to contact me to receive this documentation of Power of Attorney & to resubmit previous forms, but I am reluctant to submit anything further since I doubt their services are reliable and legitimate.

I am now in a better repayment plan w/ Federal Student Loan services & would like my money returned for my future payments on my student loans. I relied on SAI to help me with my student loan debt, but in return they have taken my money without any proper service & have not been cooperative w/ my refund request. I do not believe in their services and feel I was mislead,robbed & taken advantage of due to my debt situation. I’ve contacted them only to get a busy signal/voicemail (888-670-4687) & sent several emails requesting a refund & my cancellation of their services w/ no professional response.Desired Settlement: Student Aid Institute has placed me in a position where I can not do anything, feel helpless and used. I would like to cancel the "service" with SAI and receive a full refund of the processing fee in the amount of $860.

Business

Response:

SAI has had this client since November of 2013. We have made 29 attempts to collect the appropriate documentation to submit her file. In over half of those attempts, the client has either sent in partial documents or has replied that she was going to get us what we need. IF the client would have cooperated, her consolidation would be complete. Once the term of her new loan is reached, she would qualify for loan forgiveness. Also, the client did not respond to a radio ad as stated. SAI does not advertise via radio. I have reached out to client to discuss her issues and to make this right and have not gotten a response.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.