Student Loan Education Center

DO NOT DEAL WITH THESE PEOPLE. You might receive a letter in the mail that looks [very] official, advertising that they work with the DOE to help you. Their business revolves around charging you for something you can do yourself. They are supposed to tell you this, but I didn't know until I read it after giving too much information. When I talked to Rene from SLEC on the phone she did a very good job of making it sound like the only way to get my payments down or consolidated was through this program, and that I had to pay $599.00 to have it all taken care of. I gave her way too much information, because she already had enough information about my loans that I assumed it was a legitimate DOE program. This point is concerning in itself; I have no idea how they already had the information that they had. I signed the documents electronically and sent them back and then had second thoughts. I have not sent the second required document back with my signature and plan on canceling everything. If you find yourself in the situation I have found myself in, be sure that you cancel the Power Of Attorney that is in the document you signed electronically, and receive confirmation that both parties have agreed to cancel it.

Review: I received a mailer with my student loan amount on it and a notice saying that I may be able to get my student loans consolidated and that I may qualify for student loan forgiveness. I called and set up an appointment and was called back today. The representative told me that I qualify for complete forgiveness and I went through the entire process including giving them my bank account information. I was told I needed to pay either $599 before the 10th for this service or $699 by April 17th by making 3 scheduled payments of $233. Once I hung up the phone I decided to call the Department of Education and ask what the qualifications are for student loan forgiveness and I realized I don't qualify at all. I feel like the company is going to charge my bank account the $599 or $699 to file an application for something they know I don't qualify for. I have called to cancel any services I have signed up for but have not received a call back at this time.Desired Settlement: I would like all my information deleted from your system (ie: bank account numbers, ID number, FAFSA pin number, home address and phone number, etc.) and to not be charged for any services including the $699 (three payments of $233) I scheduled.

Business

Response:

Student

Loan Education Center takes any and all complaints/reviews very

seriously. We have a dedicated compliance department monitoring and

reviewing all incoming and outgoing calls in order to maintain the highest

level of customer service in the industry.

To

address your concern and desired settlement, Ms. [redacted]’s application and

information have been deleted from our software system and your contact

information has been added to a “do not contact” list. Gaining the trust of our

clients is important to us. In fact, we use a payment system designed with

consumer protection in mind. By utilizing an FDIC-insured bank and trust

accounts for each client, we guarantee that we will never take a dime until we

perform the service we promised to. We also abide by all federal and state

guidelines to maintain the utmost level of compliance.

Our compliance manager reviewed the recorded

call, and here are his notes:

The

advisor that spoke to Ms. [redacted] never said that she qualified for immediate loan

forgiveness. She went over all the programs she qualified for: Standard Plan, Graduated

Plan and the Income Based Repayment (IBR).

The advisor explained how the Income Based Repayment Plan comes with a

zero dollar payment and after making 240 consecutive payments, any balance

remaining would be forgiven if Ms. [redacted] continued to qualify. This program is

available and many people are taking advantage of it. Please visit DOE web page

for details: https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans

We

urge people to understand what’s available before claiming fraud or scam.

Those being scammed are the students and former students who diligently make

their payments to the loan servicers, never exploring the government benefits

that are available to them. Finally, we ask that those same students and

former students learn more about companies like Sallie Mae and how they were

fined by the federal government for over $139 Million dollars for defrauding

their customers.

We

apologize for any confusion or inconvenience that Ms. [redacted] experienced. However,

we cannot apologize for educating millions of borrowers paying higher monthly

payments than they have to about the federal programs available.

Review: I contacted the Student Loan Education Center after receiving a few mailings from them. I spoke with a lady named [redacted]. We spoke for at least 30+ minutes and she explained that there was an Obama Act that would help me with my student loans which she said the loan companies don't tell you. She said their company would consolidate my loans.Through the consolidation my loans would be paid directly to the Department of Education instead of through [redacted] which was currently handling my loans. She explained that I was basically paying [redacted] a ton of interest to handle my loan and as a result I would paying over a long period of time and paying way more then I needed to which is exactly how I felt about my loans. After taking my information and explaining what I qualified for she said through the Obama Act paying my loans directly to the DOE I qualified for a lower interest and instead of paying over the course of 20 years it would lower my payments to 144 payments, the 1st three years of the consolidated loan were interest free so if I paid more I could potentially pay my loans down in less time. She explained there was a fee of $599 for SLEC to process the consolidation. I was very hesitant about this but she sent me paperwork that looked very legit from the DOE and the Obama Act. We decided to pay the fee. We were told the consolidation process would take 30-90 days and after which my loan payment would go directly to DOE and no longer [redacted], I would have 144 payments and the 1st three years the loan would accrue 0% interest. I paid them and filed the paperwork and then crickets. It took 6 months. All the while my loan was accruing interest. Everything she told me about the consolidation was false. My loan did not change at all. [redacted] direct line is no longer working as well has 2 of the other numbers for their company. Her email is also no longer working and their website states they are no longer accepting new document preparation!Desired Settlement: I feel the company should refund the $599 that they claim is a document prep. I later found out you can consolidate your loans for free. While I will admit they filed some paperwork what they said I qualified and the end result of my loan consolidation were all false statements. As a result my loan accrued interest over the 6 months it took them to prepare the paperwork and my loans are not being paid directly to the DOE, the amount of payments is not 144 months and I certainly don't get the 1st three years at 0% interest. Plus, the fact that no one will respond to me and that all working numbers and emails I had while they were in contact with me are no longer working are very troubling. This "company" should be shut down! I would appreciate a refund for the services which were falsely given to me.

Consumer

Response:

I sent an email previously. The company did contact me immediately after the claim and they refunded my cost.

Review: I file my income based repayment plan every year with my current student loan servicing company but the Student Loan Education Center told me that they could reduce the length of term of my repayments from a 15 year to a 10 year so I went ahead with their program. They told me my new payments would be $428 a month and that my loan would be moved from its current loan holder. I paid $599.00 to this company. They have done nothing. My paperwork I filed is still in effect. My loan is actually only at $421 a month and it is still with Cornerstone as it was before. I have phoned several times requesting my money back and have been hung up on and I have written 3 letters to them with no response back.Desired Settlement: I want my money back because they stated in contract they would move my loans and change the term of repayment and none of this has occurred. Further I no longer trust this company and will continue to have Cornerstone Service my student loans

Business

Response:

Student Loan Education Center takes any and all complaints

very seriously. After reviewing the details of Ms. [redacted]s complaint, we would

like to apologize for any inconvenience. Before we begin discussing the details

of her application, we would like Ms. [redacted] to know that we have already processed

a full refund on her behalf. She should expect those funds very shortly.

After receiving this Revdex.com complaint, our office made multiple

attempts to contact Ms. [redacted] to clear this matter up, but we still have not

received a call back.

The refund process has been started and Ms. [redacted] should

have her funds shortly.

We wish Ms. [redacted] the best and hope she is satisfied with

her refund.

Consumer

Response:

Revdex.com in regards to consumer complaint #[redacted],

Review: I contracted with Student Loan Education Center in 1/2015 to consolidate my student loans with Dept of Education. They stated they would contact Dept of Education and process consolidation paperwork on my behalf. They charged me $699 to "finalize" this process. I have contacted them several times and was told "it's processing". After some research I discovered that consolidation thru Dept of Education is free and after contacting Nelnet I was informed that there has been no inquiry into payoff amounts or consolidation requests from Student Loan Education Center. I have emailed the company and asked what the process is to discontinue my relationship with them. However, despite the outcome, this company is taking money and not doing the work they promise. Per Dept of Education, consolidation should take no more than 30 days. This company has not only cost me the money they stole for services the did not do, but six months worth of accruing interest on my loans that I will now be responsible for. They also put my credit standing in jeopardy by not conatcting me or following up with my initial inquiries.Desired Settlement: I would like to get my money ($699 paid) back and cancel the contract since my consolidation has clearly not even been started and they did none of the paperwork. At the very least I just want out of the contract and to have no further contact with this company. Ultimately I feel this is a scam and they should be shut down.

Business

Response:

Student Loan Education Center takes any and all complaints

very seriously. After reviewing the details of Ms. [redacted]’s complaint, we

would like to apologize for any inconvenience however everything with her

application was moving forward as normal. Before we begin discussing the

details of her application, we would like Ms. [redacted] to know that we have

already processed a full refund on her behalf when she contacted our office on

6/12. She should expect those funds very shortly.

Upon Ms. [redacted]’s first payment, we processed and

submitted a forbearance as we normally do however we do not complete the entire

application until the fee is paid in full on 3/21. Once the fees were paid, her

application was held up due to missing information in regard to additional

loans as well as her spouse’s indebtedness details.

Our office made multiple attempts to contact Ms. [redacted] in

regard to the missing information however after doing so, we were finally able

to complete the documents necessary for her consolidation on 6/4.

Frankly, we are surprised to receive the complaint as we

immediately complied with her request and refunded her when she called in to

our customer service department. Further, Ms. [redacted] states that the

Department of Education told her all consolidations take 30 days to complete

however this is simply inaccurate. We have processed thousands of applications

and some can take as little as 30 days while the majority takes up to 90 days

or more.

We wish Ms. [redacted] the best and hope she is satisfied with

her refund.

Review: I received mail on 2/2/15 stating that I could receive total loan forgiveness through the US Department of Education. So I called the number and an advisor named [redacted] (contact number 949-298-7208) picked up and stated that I couldn't receive loan forgiveness through any agency except his agency Student Loan Education Center. He said that Fedloan Services was out to get my money and that they going to help me. He even advised me to not tell Fedloan I was using their services because "they would stop me because they want my money". It wasn't later until I realized that Student Loan Education Center is actually fradulent and was out to get $599 to consolidate my loans through the US Department of Education. The ten year loan forgiveness is a free service given from my loan holder Fedloan Servicing and Mr. [redacted] told me otherwise so he could get the $599.

Unfortunately, he got me to sign and initial documents electronically and I gave highly sensitive and confidental infomation such as debit card number, social security number, drivers license number etc. Once I found out it was a scam I immediately canceled the services. Mr. [redacted] then called me and asked why I changed my mind and I told him that I am no longer interested in their services and to delete all my information and to never use it. I also cancelled my debit card, placed an identity theft alert and report them to ensure non of my information will be sold or used illegally.Desired Settlement: I want to ensure that the document that I signed and initialed electronically with Student Loan Education Center and [redacted] is now voided out and that I have no obligations to fulfill and no ties to them. I also want to ensure that my social security number, date of birth, name, driving license number, address and other confidental information is deleted from their system because it was obtained under false pretenses and claims. I do not authorize to use Student Loan Education Center's services to use or sell my information. I also want to be ensured that my confidental and highly sensitive information isn't sold or used by Student Loan Education Center any other fradulent organizations.

Business

Response:

Student Loan Education Center

takes any and all complaints/reviews very seriously. We have a dedicated

compliance department monitoring and reviewing all incoming and outgoing calls

in order to maintain the highest level of customer service in the

industry.

We listened to the call

recording in its entirety and discovered many inaccuracies throughout Ms.

[redacted]’s complaint. First off, at no point did [redacted] tell Ms. [redacted] that only our

office could offer loan forgiveness. He simply stated that she may qualify for

programs depending on her situation.

Ms. [redacted] also mentioned that

[redacted] told her that her current loan servicer, FedLoans, was “out to get her

money” which we would like to expand on further. We agree that speaking

negatively in regard to a loan servicer is not in good taste. For that, we

sincerely apologize and will speak with the advisor [redacted] about how to better

convey his thoughts when discussing loan servicers. However, our advisors are

highly experienced as we have helped thousands of people lower their monthly

payments and apply for loan forgiveness. Throughout this time, our advisors

have heard horror story after horror story describing the difficulties clients

have experienced with their loan servicers prior to contacting our office for

assistance. Our agents hear clients tell them about denied applications, lack

of customer service or understanding, and even higher monthly payments than

they had before asking their servicers for help!

We would like to assure Ms.

[redacted] that she has not been a victim of any type of scam. We are simply

educating the millions of student loan borrowers out there who don’t know about

these benefit programs and would never hear about them from their current loan

servicers. If these government programs have been around since 2010, then why

did Ms. [redacted] wait until now to look into it? We are simply reminding student

loan borrowers that these programs are out there, there are benefits to take

advantage of, and the loan servicers are not making the borrowers aware of the

possibility that they can have lower monthly payments and possibly even loan

forgiveness for those that qualify.

Ms. [redacted] can rest assured

knowing that all of her personal information has been removed from our client-management

software and her contact information has been placed into a do-not-contact

list.

We wish Ms. [redacted] the best of

luck and we apologize for any inconvenience this process may have caused.

However, we are adamant in our stance that we are a consumer-advocacy group

helping thousands of borrowers every month.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and I'm satisfied that my information is no longer in there system. However, I dislike that they are calling me a liar. [redacted] stated several times that I could only could get this service through them & because I cancelled the "service"wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Review: This is a scam and the lady I spoke with on the phone was able to get too much of my personal information from me, which I now feel uncomfortable about. Then she was trying to get my banking information and when I didn't acquiesce she began to pressure me. She was very rude. This business portrays themselves as being associated with the department of education.Desired Settlement: I would like an email stating that all of my personal information will be deleted from their files.

Business

Response:

Student

Loan Education Center takes any and all complaints/reviews very

seriously. We have a dedicated compliance department monitoring and

reviewing all incoming and outgoing calls in order to maintain the highest

level of customer service in the industry.

To

address your concern of providing too much information, Ms. [redacted]’s

application and information have been deleted from our software system and your

contact information has been added to a “do not contact” list. Gaining the

trust of our clients is important to us. In fact, we use a payment system

designed with consumer protection in mind. By utilizing an FDIC-insured bank

and trust accounts for each client, we guarantee that we will never take a dime

until we perform the service we promised to. We also abide by all federal and

state guidelines to maintain the utmost level of compliance.

Our compliance manager reviewed the recorded

call, and here are his notes:

[redacted] did not pressure the client for banking

information. The client did not feel comfortable giving out her banking

information and claimed that she did not have a checkbook with her. [redacted]

immediately sent her an email and reviewed the email with the client on the

spot. In the email she reviewed our A+ rating with the Revdex.com, etc… The

client expressed that she wanted more time to review and think about it.

[redacted] simply asked the client if she was serious about considering moving

forward, as [redacted] did not want to follow up with her if she wasn’t

interested. The client stated that she

would call [redacted] the next day at 8:00 am (her time - EST). [redacted]

explained to her that we are in CA and she was available at 9 am PST and then they

ended the call. [redacted] may have been a tad short with the client at the end,

but not that I would call that “rude.” The

client specifically asked if we were through the government and [redacted]

answered: “Nope, we are Student Loan Education Center, a third party private

company.”

We

urge people to understand what’s available before claiming fraud or scam.

Those being scammed are the students and former students who diligently make

their payments to the loan servicers, never exploring the government benefits

that are available to them. Finally, we ask that those same students and

former students learn more about companies like [redacted] and how they were

fined by the federal government for over $139 Million dollars for defrauding

their customers.

We

apologize for any confusion or inconvenience that Miss [redacted] experienced. However,

we cannot apologize for educating millions of borrowers paying higher monthly

payments than they have to about the federal programs available.

Review: I was contacted via a mailer that stated they could help me pay off my student loans or get me total forgiveness on my loans. I contacted them and unfortunately gave my identity information before doing my research. I do believe this company is a fraudulent company. During the phone call the lady, [redacted], had told me to not pay my student loans if I plan on opening an account with them, to me that was suspicious. She had stated at the end of the phone call she would send me and email with the "companies" information and the exact information about the loan option we talked about. When a few hours went by and I did not receive the email mail I started to feel something was not right so I did research. Also, during the phone call she was trying to get me to make a payment for closing cost of $599, which I did not do.Desired Settlement: My desired outcome would be for the company to remove ALL my information from their database and have no further contact with me.

Business

Response:

Student Loan

Education Center takes any and all complaints/reviews seriously. We have

a dedicated compliance department monitoring and reviewing all incoming and

outgoing calls in order to maintain the highest level of customer service in

the industry.

Upon review

of the call, we discovered that Mrs. [redacted] called in to our office and spoke

to [redacted] for over one hour. [redacted] completed a full application and went

over all the available programs with Mrs. [redacted] never stated that

“Student Loan Education Center” would pay off her loans. [redacted] explained

that the programs offered by the U.S. Department of

Education would consolidate her loans and that these loans are designed to

assist people by lowering their student loan payments and possibly even provide

loan forgiveness depending on the individual circumstances.

never told Mrs. [redacted] to stop making her student loan payments. Instead,

as part of our document preparation service, [redacted] explained that we will

complete the paperwork necessary to file for a forbearance on her existing

loans so that during the consolidation process, Mrs. [redacted] would not have to

make her student loan payments contingent upon approval of the forbearance.

Unfortunately,

after hanging up with Mrs. [redacted] went home sick for the day and forgot

to send the requested email. [redacted] did, however, physically mail Mrs.

[redacted] our 16-page color brochure which summarizes all of the available

programs and discusses who we are and what we do in further detail. After

hearing about this Revdex.com complaint, [redacted] immediately emailed Mrs. [redacted] the

information promised along with an explanation for the delay.

We are sorry

for any inconvenience this may have caused and will delete Mrs. [redacted]’s

information from our customer-relations management system.

Further, Student Loan Education Center assists thousands of

individuals each month in helping them apply for government benefits that they

are entitled to. These benefits have been around for some time, and

many people with federal student loans never realize that they pay more on

their monthly student loan payments than they have to. Moreover, their

current servicers don’t bother making them aware of these programs because the

servicers would lose money if they significantly reduced every customer’s

monthly payments. Armed with this knowledge, Student Loan Education

Center aids consumers in realizing that they can save a tremendous amount of

money each month on their student loans by not only lowering their payment but

also possibly qualifying them for various types of loan forgiveness. We

urge all members of the public with federal student loans to read into the

Health Care and EDUCATION RECONCILIATION Act of 2010 and become enlightened to

the benefits that are out there for those struggling to make their student loan

payments every month.

We

urge people to understand what’s available before claiming fraud or scam.

Those being scammed are the students and former students who diligently make

their payments to the loan servicers, never exploring the government benefits that

are available to them. Finally, we ask that those same students and

former students learn more about companies like Sallie Mae and how they were

fined by the federal government for over $139 Million dollars for defrauding

their customers.