Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation

Review: I stopped attending the College where I the loan from Great Lake Borrowers were assigned, this company charged me for the full tuition even after I had was no longer attending the school. Therefore paying for something I did not receive. My school advised to defer the loan until they and the borrower can get paperwork organized, it has been over a year and nothing has been done.Desired Settlement: This is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any form.

This letter is being sent to you in response to a report in my credit report. Be advised that this is a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for “verification” or proof of my mailing address, but a request for FULL MEDIA VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that (a) the account is valid, (b) the amount allegedly owed is accurate, and (c) I have a contractual obligation to pay this loand and enroillment dates form the school.

Be advised that failing to provide proof on enrollment of the media requested to validate the alleged debt will invalidate any and all claims Great Lake Borrowers is asserting regarding this alleged debt. If Great Lake Borrowers can NOT provide all of the validation media requested above, ALL collection efforts MUST be stopped and the account MUST be DELETED. If you can NOT validate your claim, you can NOT, by law, collect on it, or SELL it to another collection agency. Also, reporting a debt to the credit reporting agencies that can not be validated is a violation of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act), and carries a $2500 fine to be paid to me. I have two years to decide if I want to pursue this matter. PLEASE GIVE THIS MATTER THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES.

If your offices are able to provide all of the validating media as requested, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information, and during such time, all collection activity must cease and desist.

Business

Response:

[redacted]

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

Milwaukee WI 53214

Complaint ID [redacted]

Great Lakes ID [redacted]

Dear Mr. [redacted]:

Thank you for contacting us on behalf of [redacted] and for providing us the

opportunity to address her concerns in regard to her student loans that were taken out for

[redacted].

I sincerely apologize to Ms. [redacted] for the frustration she experienced during

communications with Great Lakes. We value our customer feedback and use it to provide

additional feedback and training for our staff.

Our records indicate that we responded to Ms. [redacted]’s concerns by mail on August 9,

2013.

Ms. [redacted] should feel comfortable to contact our Borrower Services Department at [redacted] with any additional questions or concerns regarding the repayment of loan.

Sincerely,

Review: I have applied for a deferment multiple times and they keep saying they have not recieved it or I make to much. I had a full time minimum wage job in my field when I graduated and made to much ? I have waisted so much of my forbearence and still nothing. They do not help with the situation. I cant keep a roof over my head let alone pay my loans at this time.

My college degree literally pays minimum wage and they promised us college in this field would pay off and it was a lie. I wasted 2 years of my life going to school for a career that pays less than working at [redacted] and they won't leave me alone or help me our. Soon I will run out of forbearance and then what ?Desired Settlement: I want to get rid of my student loan, or defer it. Make it less something.

Business

Response:

Review: I am a graduate student of business. There was a period in 2013 that I was not enrolled in classes. My student loan was sold to Great Lakes who never sent me a bill stating that payment on the student loan was due. If fact, I was not made aware that my loans had been purchased by them. Great Lakes has my home address, phone number and personal email. However, they did not contact (bill) me until my loan payment was 120 days past due.I contacted Great Lakes by phone after investigating and finding they were the new loan servicer. I was told my credit would not be affected if I took action to begin repayment. I paid off the majority of the loan immediately and set up automatic payments. However, my credit has been negatively affected and shows late payments of 120 days.I believe that Great Lakes failed to make good faith efforts to contact me when my payments became due-I was not sent a bill.Desired Settlement: I expect Great Lakes to have the 120 days late payments removed from my credit history.Thank you

Business

Response:

August 29, 2014

Review: I had a $10,000 loan originated in Dec 2006. My loan is at 5.375% fixed interest rate. I have $87/mo drafted from my account. I've been paying for over 8 years with one 6 month forbearance. They are stating my principal balance is still over $7000. I've paid roughly $8000 towards this loan and they are saying I've only paid down $3000. This is in no way a 5% interest. I've taken a snap shot of my payments and one states that out of the $87, that $72 of it applied to interest and only $14 applied to principal. That is NOT 5% interest.Desired Settlement: I would like to see the proper amount I've paid over the last 8 years applied to this loan. This balance should be closer to $1500 not $7000.

Business

Response:

Review: I feel awful to take this collection error all the way to the Revdex.com but I have exhausted every option. My credit has been destroyed by a mistake in the transfer process. As all of my outgoing payments will show My mother was paying my student loans out of her personal account and I would pay her cash. This was happening because she took out all the loans in my name and handled all of the paperwork because I was diagnosed with a severe learning disability my softmore year of college. In 2013 I was able to move out of my parents house on my own and I was supposed to take over all of the loans when I moved. unfortunately the loans were still being sent to my mothers house instead of my apartment. It was not until I was notified by my bonding company that my credit was being negitivly affected by these late payments. once I knew what happened I paid off the loans in full that day to try and show good faith and that I was not trying to do anything mean or irresponsible. I am truly greatful the company gave me the money to go to school for construction and better myself. But it has gotten to the point I cant move forward in life with these late payments. I paid all of the money off. I didnt try to take advantage of anyone. I thought I did the right thing by giving them all of their money back. I didnt know paying these loans off is almost worst than slowly making payments. A late payment of $437 is preventing me from buying a house for my mother and me and continuing my business. I even hired a company that said they would take care of everyuthing if I paid them but they didnt listen and just told me to keep paying and ignore the rejection letters from the lender.Desired Settlement: All I request is these 1 time late payments be removed so I can get on with my life. I am completely crippled by this late payments. I can't even qualify for a line of credit. I have been working with the SBA in Salem and he said my books qualify and cant figure out what is hurting me. The banks explained it is these late payments. Please help I cant handle what this is doing to my life.

Business

Response:

March 27, 2015

Review: I have asked GL to remove duplicate entries from my creditreports, not to mention the accounts are from1998.

BRAZOS/GLELSI Dispute this item

Account Number: [redacted]....

Date Opened: 04/1998

Status: Transferred,closed.

Important Note Important Note: This item is currently being investigated.

EDSOUTH/GLELSI

Account Number: [redacted]....

Date Opened: 04/1998

Status: Paid, Closed.Desired Settlement: They need to remove both from the credit agencies because first they are from 1998, and second they are duplicate entries. This reporting is causing damage and I may take further action if they are not removed.

Business

Response:

Review: I have requested several times for an account history on my two student loans showing the interest charges on my account whether daily, monthly, annually, etc. I have been given the run around and "they don't show that and can't provide that to a customer". I told them I would contact Revdex.com for a response. I want to see the history from the time they obtained my loans to present showing the interest charges to my account. Not the annual interest I have paid, nothing else but the interest amounts the company has charged to my two loans. I am told "it is 12.82 per day" and that is not good enough. I want to see the computerized reports of my two loans.Desired Settlement: History as described above of my two loans, showing interest charges to my accounts.

Business

Response:

July 27, 2015

What a shady lender. I signed up for the parents plus loan for my daughters education. My payments were deferred until she graduated. Upon her graduation we started making the payments. What started out as a Approximate $4000.00 loan has escalated into over $6000.00 . Apparently when the deferred time is up you have to pay all the back interest rate ??? Really??? After 2 years this added up,very disgusted with My Great Lakes.

Review: I applied for a lower payment option through Great Lakes Education Corporation. This is my second complaint concerning this process since it seems the left hand does not know what right hand is doing. I sent my information at the end of August 2014 to reapply for the lower payment since it was ending at the end of November 2014. The representative on the phone told me that I could go ahead and reapply at that time and it would go into affect with my December 2014 payment. This representative lied since it would affect my payments from that moment forward once approved.

With the lower payment application, I sent all my pay stubs (two total) and indicated on one that I got paid once a month and another, every other month. They processed my application, but did not read on the pay check stub that I was paid every other month. The payment amount was wrong since they calculated that I was paid that amount monthly, not every other month. They do not read!!!!

I had to wait until I got my next pay check from the school that I am paid every other month, which was October 2014, so they could recalculate my payment. On October 31, 2014, I faxed over my pay check stub and called later and they told me that they received my fax.

I called about a week later asking the status of my application and trying to find out what my payment would be. The representative stated that they did not receive my signature page. I asked them why they were not emailing, calling or sending me letters concerning this matter. No answer. I faxed over the signature page and confirmed the next business day that they did receive it and had all the information they needed to process the lower payment application.

On Monday, December 1, 2014, I called again to find out the status of my application. The representative told me that they are still missing two pages from my application. I told them that they have had this information since August 2014 and where was it. I never got an answer and talked to several representatives and managers after that. One of the managers stated to just fax over all the information again and start the process over. This has been going on since August 2014 and it seems to be in a infinite loop. The representatives lie on the phone and it seems no one knows what they are doing. The company keeps losing the information that I fax over to them even though one day they claim they have it all and the next not. They do not know what they are doing.Desired Settlement: Finish processing my lower payment application so I can start making payments.

Business

Response:

December 10, 2014

Review: Although the account has already been paid in full, an additional $50.00 has been debited from my account resulting in an overpayment of 50.00 to the loan servicer. In addition, they are withholding the refund at this time. The customer service representative is unable to rectify the situation in a reasonable time frame.Desired Settlement: Refund of my overpayment.

Business

Response:

February 13, 2015

Complaint ID: [redacted]

Great Lakes ID: [redacted]

Dear

Mr. [redacted]:

Thank

you for contacting us on behalf of Mr. [redacted] and for providing us the

opportunity to address his concern regarding the $50 payment that was

automatically withdrawn via Auto Pay.

Our

records confirm that [redacted] scheduled a payment for February 2, 2015 to satisfy

the remainder of his student loan. As with all payments, including [redacted]’s, it

takes approximately 2 business days for payments to process in full. As [redacted]’s payment was submitted on a Friday, it did not finish processing until the

following Monday, February 5, 2015. The reason the extra $50 payment was

processed is because [redacted] was enrolled in Auto Pay, our automated bill pay

service, and his monthly payments were due on the 4th of every month.

Because [redacted]’s payoff payment was still processing on the 4th his

account was still showing a balance, which resulted in his Auto Pay withdrawing

his $50 monthly payment February 4, 2015.

Electronic

payments for accounts with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) are processed

through a clearinghouse (pay.gov) on behalf of the U.S. Treasury. When the U.S.

Treasury receives a refund request for a payment that was made electronically,

it normally takes approximately 4 weeks for them to process and return the

payment to a borrower’s bank account electronically. However, on February 12,

2015, we requested that ED expedite the refund process for [redacted]’s $50 payment

and expect him to receive his refund within 7 to 10 days business days.

It

is important for [redacted] to note that once ED sends the refund to his financial

institution, they will have their own procedures for determining how quickly

the refund will post to his account. We recommend that [redacted] first check with his

financial institution if he does not see the refund posted to his account

within two weeks.

I

understand that the delay in the return of [redacted]’s funds can be frustrating

and hope he will accept our apology for the frustration this experience has

caused. If he has any questions or concerns he may contact our Borrower

Services Department at ###-###-####, [email protected], or the

address below:

Great Lakes

Sincerely,

Great

Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Refund has been provided.

Review: I was attending [redacted] which was sold to [redacted] offered a student loan repayment in the event I no longer wanted to attend. The correct amount came off my student loans with Great Lake Borrowers. I am not a current student or in college, and now over the past couple months over $5000 has been put back n my student loan obligations.Desired Settlement: To correct and resolve, and I do note that I am having several issues of this same nature and am not in a position to seek an attorney at this point.

Business

Response:

Review: I have four loans with Great Lakes, and knew that the forbearance needed to be updated in December 2013. Unfortunately, I was in a serious car accident on December 2, 2013, and was in the hospital for one week. I have been under the influence of serious medication. I was only able to call two days ago. I was told that the forbearance forms would be sent, but then heard that one loan was not included, and that it went into default on December 23, 2013. I would like the loan in default be included with the three others under forbearance, due to my medical incapacitation.Desired Settlement: I would like the fourth loan to be included with the other three due of my medical incapacitation.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted]:

Review: I set up an automatic bill pay with Great Lakes on February 18 to take $69.06 out of my account each month. I made a payment while I was on the phone and was told that a payment of the same amount would go through each month. Great Lakes put a charge through my checking account of $808.29 on 04/16/2014 instead of the agreed payment of $69.06.After a lengthy call with [redacted] she informed me that her records indicated I was sent a letter and an e-mail diagramming my monthly payments of $808.06. I never received an e-mail and when I checked my p.o. box I had 4 letters, none of them from Great Lakes. She refused to reverse the charges on my checking account and I've filed a claim with my bank today.

Product_Or_Service: Student LoadDesired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Other (requires explanation)

The inappropriate charge has only been discovered today so nothing has been resolved yet.

Business

Response:

April 29, 2014

Review: I contacted Great Lakes on 5/28/14 to set up a regular monthly payment arrangement, when I was informed that I was past-due in the amount of $100.00, and so I would have to catch myself up before they could set me up with a payment arrangement.

I never agreed to any sort of payment arrangement in the first place, so I'm confused on why I'm required to catch myself up on a payment arrangement that I never agreed to in the first place.

I want to pay them $25/month, and they are refusing my payment, and so I can't pay my student loans, and so I'm suffering the consequences because they won't take my payments.Desired Settlement: I would like to set up automatic payments of $25/month.

Business

Response:

June 3, 2014

Review: In October of 2014 I began the process of consolidating my student loans that at the time, where held by 3 different companies: Great Lakes being one of them. Initially they informed me my [redacted] was not eligible because it was with ac collection but Great Lakes advised me that if I filled out the income based payment plan information, this would apparently make this loan eligible. I did this and provided my pay stubs. I was contacted by Great Lakes and told that my pay stubs lacked my name and SS# on them. The woman on the phone told me to simply write this information on the forms. I did this as Great Lakes advised me to, only find out a few days later, this was not sufficient. While I was working with the payroll at my place of employment to get the pay stubs in a manner more fitting, Great Lakes began processing my consolidation without the [redacted], though I was still within the time frame. I received a notification my consolidation was under way, though the email stated only 2 of the 3 companies I was consolidating and did not include the [redacted] in question. Concerned, I contacted Great Lakes right away and asked why I didn't see the [redacted] in the email or on my online account. The woman on the phone told me not to worry. She explained it was an automated email, Great Lakes had received my pay stubs and everything would be fine. She advised me to continue to check my online account and it should be updated. Between November 2014 and January 2015 I called numerous times to ensure the [redacted] was included. I sent an email to Great Lakes as well, asking the same question. Each time, including in the email, multiple employees told me repeatedly the [redacted] was included in the consolidation. I received a letter in the mail from Great Lakes in late November 2014 or early December 2014 stating my consolidation was completed and I would receive additional information within the next couple of weeks. Again, the letter I received only showed 2 of the 3 companies consolidated. I never received the additional information. On January 2, 2015 I contacted Great Lakes again, to ask if the [redacted] had been consolidated with the rest. The man on the phone informed me it had been and that the company should've received payment last month. On January 6, 2015, I received a notice from my bank indicating my account was overdrawn. I logged onto my account to see what was going on and the collection agency that held my [redacted], had debited my account for my regularly scheduled payment. This payment went through and cleared my account. I contacted this collection agency and they informed me they had no information on a consolidation at all. I contacted Great Lakes immediately following where I was for the first time in 2 months informed the [redacted] was never included in the consolidation because my pay stubs had been received after they processed my consolidation. For 2 months in numerous phone calls and emails I was consistently given flat out wrong information that has caused an excesses level of stress and funds I was not anticipating, to be gone. The woman on the phone who informed me the company had lied to me for 2 months told me I could just "add on" the [redacted] and sent me the forms necessary. I asked to speak to a manager who simply told me they where sorry for giving me the wrong information and that she'd follow up with the team that did this. I returned the form as of January 7, 2015 and confirmed the form was received on January 7, 2015 via phone with Great Lakes.Desired Settlement: Great Lakes should not only expedite the process of adding the [redacted] to my consolidation (i.e.; it should be completed on or before January 31, 2015). They should contact the 3rd party collection agency and inform them immediately, this is in the works. Great Lakes should reimburse me for the payment from the 3rd party agency of $100.00. This transaction cleared and has put me in a position of financial hardship that I was not anticipating based off the information from Great Lakes. Finally, I would like a formal apology signed by every person I spoke with who gave me the wrong information, including [redacted] and the [redacted], mailed to me.

Business

Response:

January 15, 2015

Review: For years I have been paying more than the minimum payment and even started making payments before I was required to. According to Great Lakes website over payments are to be applied in the following manner"... when it comes to extra payment amounts (see examples below), after all interest and late fees due have been satisfied, we automatically apply the extra amount to the unpaid balance on the loan with the highest interest rate (if there are multiple loans in your account). If you don't want the extra payment amount to be applied this way, contact us."

I recently discovered Great Lakes has not been applying my extra payments to my subsidized loan (the loan with the higher interest rate), instead they have been applying the extra monies to both of my loans. This is in complete contradiction to the information posted on their website. As a results of Great Lakes deliberate deception, I have been paying more money in interest than I should have been.

Additionally, this month I paid my auto payment of $75 (my minimum payment is $60.01), another payment of $1400 and another payment of $50. This money was more than enough to pay off one of my two loans. Again, ordering to Great Lakes documentation since I was paid ahead all of that extra money should have gone to the loan with the highest interest, then to the loan with the lower interest. However, when I looked at my account online I was shocked to see there was still a $33 balance on my subsidized loan. I called customer service and was informed the only way to pay off one loan when you have multiple loans was to call customer service and direct them to pay it off. Once again this is in complete contradiction to the website. The website specifically states not only does all extra money go to the loan with the highest interest rate. It never states you have to call customer service and direct them to apply extra monies to a specific loan or to direct them to pay off a loan.Desired Settlement: Since Great Lakes has never applied the extra monies I have paid as they outlined they would, I have paid more in interest than I should have. I want Great Lakes to go back through my account and apply all the extra monies to my loan with the higher interest. Once it has been determined how much money Great Lakes fraudulently misapplied, I want that extra money to be credit to my one remaining loan. Additionally, I want Great Lakes to stop their predatory and deceptive practices. Customer service told me they are aware of the mistakes on their website, but told me they don't know when it will be addressed because it is not her department. I have add a loan with Great Lakes for several years so I know these "mistakes" have been posted for years.

Business

Response:

Thank you for contacting us on behalf of Ms. [redacted] and for providing us the opportunity to address her concern regarding the application of payments toward her student loan, which we service on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education (ED).After reviewing our records, it appears that Ms. [redacted]’s concern was addressed directly during a phone conversation with one of Great Lakes’ Specialized Account Manager’s on March 7, 2016.If Ms. [redacted] has any additional questions or concerns she would like addressed, she may contact our Borrower Services Department by calling ###-###-####, emailing [redacted], or by mailing:Great LakesP.O. Box 7860Madison, WI 53707Sincerely,[redacted]

Great Lakes was only authorized to take out $20 a month from my account once a month for 6 months. Instead they drained my bank account of everything I had. I called them and spoke with a manager. The manager told me there wasn't anything he could do when I asked for them to give the money back and that they had made a mistake. The manager explained that they automatically change the amount that I owed and withdrew it. I told them I was not notified nor did I give permission for them to take anything out of my account other than what was agreed upon. I further explained that what they did was illegal and I could sue them. The manager agreed with my by saying that yes, I could sue them for that they did. He admitted that Great Lakes committed illegal activity and then proclaimed that they couldn't give my money back and that I would have to call my bank. So I did, I called my bank and filed Unauthorized transaction with Wells Fargo. I explained the situation to them and they also agreed that it was illegal activity and it would take 10 to 30 days to return my money. 10 to 30 days... because they basically stole ever cent I had from my bank account without my permission.

My complaint has to do with the customer service I received when I called to make sure our extra payments were being applied accurately. The representative, [redacted] I spoke with was very rude and came off as if I was bothering her with my question. I know from previous experience, things do not always post as they should have. I simply needed a quick response of how our payments were being applied not to feel like my question was ridiculous and a waste of her time. When I asked for an identifier for her, she stated their was not one and there were plenty of [redacted] in the organization so they would not know who I was speaking of if I called to complain. After waiting for a few minutes for a manager, she stated she did not have the time for me to hold any longer. She proceeded to tell me that she had acted professionally and that I was the one that had been rude. I very displeased with the service I received.

Review: I have loan balances currently being serviced by Great Lakes at 3 interest rates: 6.xx%, 5.xx%, and 5.xx%. When my automatic monthly payment is applied every month, it is apportioned out to apply to the interest accrued across all 3 balances, and the remainder of the payment goes to pay down some of the principal on each of the 3 balances.

Anyone who has debt knows that you should always pay off the highest interest rate debt first in order to pay as little in interest as possible. However, since my monthly payment is pretty low I am not complaining about Great Lakes applying some of the monthly payment to the lower interest rate balances, even though if I had a choice I would only pay the interest on the lower rate balances and apply the rest of the monthly payment to the highest interest rate balance.

What I AM upset about is that when I apply an extra payment the day after my monthly payment goes through, these people are skimming some of that extra payment and putting it toward the lower interest balances instead of it all going toward the highest interest rate. Their website doesn't allow you to specify which interest rate you want to apply your payment to (unlike other loan servicers). Also their website gives no indication at all that extra payments can be applied to lower interest rate balances.

I called and asked why this happened, and they responded that this is just how they apply the payments by default. They told me if I want the extra payment to only apply to my highest interest rate loan, I would have to call them after every single payment in order to request this be done on the phone. There is no way to make your extra payments be applied solely to your highest interest rate loan by default. How can this be allowed for a federal loan servicer? Great Lakes is intentionally causing borrowers to pay them more in interest then the borrowers would pay if they just could choose which balances they wanted their payments to apply to.Desired Settlement: Great Lakes should give borrowers the option to specify which interest rate balances they want their extra payments to apply to, as every other student loan servicer I have worked with does. Absent this, they should automatically apply all of the extra payment to the highest interest rate balance, instead of applying some of it to lower interest rate debt.

Business

Response:

July 3, 2014

Review: Last year my loan was in default, in order to go back they told me I needed to make 6 months of payments. I did that and received a loan and went back to school. I then called and asked if I needed to make payments while in school and they had told me no. Now this year I go to get a student loan and im in default again because there saying I had to make payments while in school when I specifically called and asked this. Now they are saying I cant go back until its paid in full or for another 9 months of making payments. This is my senior year, if they didn't tell me that I didn't need to make payments I would have continued to make them. They will not pull up the recording of the conversation and they will not let me make the 9 payments all at once so I can go back to school.Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Other (requires explanation)

To let me attend school and be eligible for a loan because if they hadn't told me the wrong information we wouldn't be in this matter, or at least let me make 6 months of payments like last time so I can go back in January.

Business

Response:

Thank you for contacting on behalf of Ms. [redacted] and for

providing us an opportunity to assist her.