Student Aid Institute Inc

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

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
SAI claimed to have put my loans in forbearance but for two months I was not updated and continued to receive payment requests and credit threats from lenders I was not made aware of the status of the loans by SAI or if I should be contacting my loan providers to be sure I did not obtain penalties or scores against my credit
I contacted my guarantor to begin the process of consolidation independent of SAII was quoted for $0/mo payment independent of SAII made my request to cancel on August 8, after finally realizing I was being charged 39$/mo by SAI in addition to a Made Up "origination fee", none of which was going toward my loan, as I was led to believe I was also led to believe SAI was a government contracted company Upon INDEPENDENT consolidation I learned that SAI was a third party business making money off of people already thousands of dollars in debt.
I received no confirmation of cancelation until September 2, almost a month after requesting a refundThey claim that my loans had already been approved by the time I made my Revdex.com complaint, and they were, because I did it independently and my complaint was made on 10/27, THREE months after requesting a refund and after three attempts by me with no response from the SAI I finally received "follow up" from SAI on 10/28, with another email on 11/that my approval "just came in"! and wondering why I wanted to cancelI repeatedly asked them to please contact me with important information via email because it is the easiest way for me to response while at work They continued to make aggressive phone calls regarding cancelation.
The SAI has had sufficient time to refund $that was requested BEFORE any progress was made on my account from the perspective of my lenders I have independently obtained consolidation. The process for consolidation takes three months
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
[To date, I have not received a refund from the Student Aid Institute as stated in their response.]
Regards,
*** ***

Hello Ms***,
After speaking with my CEO, we cannot authorize a refund due to the fact that we held up our end of the contract in fullOur policy is that we only issue refunds if the work is not successfully completedI can forward the contract and more supporting documentation if needed.*** ***

SAI has the notes and proof that we performed the work That is why we know what the new IBR payment is
Once we were notified by the client that she wanted to cancel, we stopped the monthly service fee SAI performed all the work it was hired to complete

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I am attaching full correspondence between myself and the companyAs you can see I have multiple issues involving being misled and still am seeing inconsistencies in communication. For instance, confirmation request (for refunds for monthly payments since August) was never asked of me. They simply said they would return monthly fees to me, and I had to get back with them to tell them I have not seen refund and that this settlement does not completely resolve my issue anyway. As detailed below in my e-mail to the company, I was mislead regarding my need for this service, I paid maintenance fees for approx a year and a half when no maintenance was done by the company, and company admits they didn't even consolidate my loans through a company that would participate in a forgiveness situationCompletely unacceptable and dishonest in my opinion. Details regarding my complaint are belowFrom: *** *** Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 5:PMTo: '[email protected]'Subject: refund request
Hi, My name is *** ***. I just called today to
request a cancellation of my enrollment in this program. I am also
formally requesting a full refund of at least my initial sign up fee, if not
all of the monthly payments. I am not upset with anyone personally, as
all of your employees have been very nice to me. However, we all know I
was scammed out of this money just like everyone else that has
complained. If I need to go into further detail with the Revdex.com then I will
do so, but I’m hoping to resolve this issue directly with you firstI am
requesting full refunds, and formal notice that you no longer have any POA for
any loan decisions. Hopefully we can agree.
-*** ***
From: *** ***
[mailto:***] Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 1:PMTo: *** ***Subject: RE: refund request
Hello
***,
I apologize that the monthly fee
was still being taken out of your account. This should have ceased in
August when you took over the resubmission process.
In no way were you scammed out
of money. Without our company, you would have been paying higher payments
than what you have over the last year; plus. Your servicer has had these
programs yet they never reached out to you to provide them. Our company
saved you thousands of dollars.
***, one very important thing
for you to be aware of is that *** *** does not provide Public Service Loan
Forgiveness to its clients. This means you will need to switch your loans
to the service provider that does, which is Fed Loans. Our company will
do that for you for free if you need assistance.
I will refund months of the
monthly maintenance fee that was charged to you.
Thank you for your
consideration,
*** ***
*** *** *** ***
*** *** ***
www.studentaidinstitute.org
From: *** *** [mailto:d***] Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 3:PMTo:*** ***
[mailto:***] Subject: refund request
Hi ***,
Thanks for your reply. I
haven’t yet seen a refund of the maintenance feeHowever, I’m still not in
agreement with you for the following reasons
1.
The entire
reason I paid the original fee up front was because the discussion with your
personnel was based on the fact that I work for a non-profit and I was told
your company would help consolidate to make payments lower and prepare my balance
to be forgiven after the necessary period of time. Your company started
the consolidation process and I wasn’t given options of which company was
taking my loan. So if you’re telling me you assisted in consolidating my
loans with a company that doesn’t even honor the forgiveness process to begin
with, then that should in itself void any business that we have done together
2.
I have had student
loans before with my Bachelor’s degree which were also consolidated and have
since been paid in full. My point is, you said that the loan company did
not reach out to me to offer different payment plans, and that statement is
simply not true. Every company offers payment plans for income based
repayment etc. The only reason they didn’t when your company started the
consolidation process for me, is that you were given power of attorney and they
set up everything through you guys. So now you’re taking credit for
something I would have easily been able to do myself (and have done in the
past), and I was led to believe your company was helping with something that
wouldn’t be possible without your assistance, which obviously was not true
3.
The reason my
payments were so low last year is that I was a military spouse the year before
for half of the year, and so my tax info only showed half a year of
income. I was nervous about this a little bit because as a borrower I am
responsible for telling the lender if my tax info is not a clear representation
of what my income currently is, and when I asked about whether this made a
difference, I was told “don’t worry about that, that’s why you hired us to take
care of that for you”. I would have rather paid an extra hundred dollars
per month to the lender being in full control of the situation, than pay your
company a huge fee up front and still pay monthly maintenance being under the
impression that everything was kosher. I’m not saying anything was done
illegally per se, but I certainly think I was misledRealistically, with the
initial payment to SAI, I haven’t saved a penny
4.
Finally, the
consolidation process was completely simple when I applied myself in August, as
opposed to the amount of time I spent collecting info and speaking with people
on the phone when I worked with your company to get the same task done.
The application for income-based repayment lapsed because SAI did not inform me
that it needed to be renewed, and this is why I applied myself in August.
If the payment plan will lapse even when I’m paying maintenance, and the
application process itself is so much simpler than when working with your
company, then why would anyone do it? Simply stated again, I was led to believe
that your company could offer services that could not be obtained
otherwise. I have spoken with *** *** and now Navient, as well as the regular
Federal Student Loan people. They have all told me I can simply apply for
forgiveness after the necessary time period has passed, and do not need any
third party company to assist me with this along the way, which is opposite of
what I was told by SAI
Again, I have to say that
no one person at SAI is being blamed for any of this, as I enjoyed speaking
with each of you, and you all seem to be very polite, respectful, and easy to
talk to. This is purely a business matter that needs to be resolved.
I am again requesting full refund on everything I have paid SAI, including the
initial fee, and in addition I would like a detailed receipt of all payments,
including this fee to be e-mailed to me asap. Thanks for your
cooperation
*** ***
From: *** *** [mailto:d***] Sent: Monday, January 12, 9:AMTo:*** ***
[mailto:***] Subject: refund request
Hi ***,
Hope this finds you well.
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard back from you regarding my second request for
refundsI would think given the stated reasons for my dissatisfaction with services,
that your company would understand and agree with my request. I will have
to move forward with my complaint at this time
Regards,
*** ***
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I first heard of SAI from a radio advertisement and obtained their number where I then contacted them for information of their service, this is true! Throughout their attempts to contact me, to submit the power of attorney, I asked for them to explain the new loan, but was given limited information and new repayment options I could not makeI requested them to submit their offer to me of the new loan details in writing (via phone and email) for my understanding and review, they never didThis is when I stopped receiving their calls and became concerned I inquired about their service with the student federal government They informed me I do not qualify for loan forgiveness and that SAI is a third party company trying to get me to pay for a service I can do for freeI never submitted the power of attorney to continue SAI's service and do not plan on it eitherI feel they have taken advantage of me in my financial situation and would like my money back, which I need to make my paymentsSAI, finally has contacted me, and mentioned since I submitted a complaint to Revdex.com, they will not issue me a refund and makes any further communication unlikelyI have not responded yet, since his email was very direct and forward and made it seem there was no reasoning or further communication to be made
Regards,
*** ***

I sent an email on 3/authorizing the refund of the monthly fees paidFrom: *** *** [mailto:***@studentaidinstitute.org] Sent: Thursday, March 19, 7:AMTo: '*** ***'Cc: '*** ***'; '*** ***'Subject: RE: *** ***
Clients always pay way over the loan amount because of
interest. I she was paying a standard payment, her payment would be
around 1700. The initial approval was well under that, around $
What does she plan on doing. Is she going to continue to
pay or whatever the new approval number is or is she going to go back to
the standard payment. If she wants to go back to the standard payment, we
will do that for her
I’m not refunding the enrollment fee since she did receive a
lower payment that was below what she was quoted. I will refund the MFs
that have been paid if she no longer wants us to do the resubs.
*** ***
Office: (888)
***-*** ext.***
Fax: (888) ***-***
www.***.org

Client is in collections and has been notified that he needs to be in a rehab program Client has not cooperated with our request to finish the rehab process Client also is aware that he will need to be in the rehab program for month before we can consolidate his loans SAI has
performed our part the agreement and we are waiting on the client to provide us with the documents needed to complete the process

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint
resolvedThis is to inform you the SAI institute has now refunded all my moneyI appreciate any help you have been in getting this corrected
Sincerely,
*** ***

One
of the loans that they have through *** is a very rare case as to which it
does not qualify for Public
Service Loan ForgivenessThey have a FFEL
Commercial Spousal Consolidation loan; the Department of Education does not
even allow these to be taken out anymore because of all the problems that have
come along with itWith that being said, this loan still qualifies for
forgiveness but it would be years instead of 10.
The rest do qualify
for the 10-year loan forgiveness and have been successfully approved in the
programAll of the loans have lower payments than when we started and that is
what they paid us to do

Hello ***!">*** and I resolved the issue and she assured me that she was going to delete the complaint and asked me not to respond to itWhat do I do?
*** ***Office:(888) *** ext.***
Fax:(888) ***
D Clairemont Mesa Blvd #San Diego, Ca www.studentaidinstitute.org

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
The business did not fulfil the agreement that was made Per phone conversation and email correspondence with Student Aid Institute staff member *** ***, our loans were to be consolidated at a lower monthly payment and all loans qualified for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program All figures on the amount of the loans being forgiven by their business were drafted based on all loans qualifying in a year forgiveness Per a phone conversation with ***, another staff member at Student Aid Institute, she told us that this spousal consolidation loan was the first time they had ever run into this type of loan and had to research what to do She advised us that she would not be charging us the monthly service fee until she was able to figure out the problem To this date the monthly service fee is not being drafted from our account because *** up to this point had not felt that they had finished the consolidation of the loans After numerous attempts to get information from *** we were finally able to reach *** *** who advised us the *** had left for a medical issue She also confirmed that they did not know of this type of loan Seems that if you are student loan specialists you maybe would be up to date and aware of all of the possibilitiesBecause the spousal consolidation loan is not lumped in with all of the other loans and we have to pay that separate we are actually making a higher payment then prior to getting involved with the Student Aid InstituteThis response from the business claiming that now the spousal consolidation loan is able to be forgiven is the first time anyone has said anything to us about that years is not years as was advised to us by the staff at Student Aid Institute This loan is also part of ***'s loans so the amount of her loans that is on the document is still not consolidated in full With this information and the fact that they still have not drawn their monthly fee because staff was still trying to figure out the problem, we are requesting full refund of the origination fee and for the Student Aid Institute to cease and desist representing usI would be happy to provide the Revdex.com with all email correspondence and any phone messages that I can locate from *** ***, or ***
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the
business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.complaint *** has been resolved*** ***

One
of the loans that they have through *** is a very rare case as to which it
does not qualify for Public Service Loan ForgivenessThey have a
FFEL
Commercial Spousal Consolidation loan; the Department of Education does not
even allow these to be taken out anymore because of all the problems that have
come along with itWith that being said, this loan still qualifies for
forgiveness but it would be years instead of 10.
The rest do qualify
for the 10-year loan forgiveness and have been successfully approved in the
programAll of the loans have lower payments than when we started and that is
what they paid us to do

SAI has had this client since November of We have made 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

First of all, I reached out to the client and he did not answer and his phone would not give me the option to leave a voicemail.  I checked the notes on his account and the last correspondence from him was on September 9th, not the date he has given.  Also, the account manager on his file...

is a woman, not a man, so there is no record of him asking for a refund.  As for the request of documents, those are needed to complete the submission on his file.  He was aware of those documents needed the day he signed his agreement with our firm.  I would like to speak with the client at his convenience to go over his concerns.
 
[redacted] CEO

Hello [redacted],
font-family: arial, sans-serif;">We have already refunded all of the money that was requested by [redacted], I can send you a confirmation if needed. On July 30th Ms. [redacted] told me that she would remove the complaint herself.
[redacted]Office:(888) [redacted] ext.[redacted]
Fax:(888) 528-1488
3952 D Clairemont Mesa Blvd #307
San Diego, Ca 92117
www.studentaidinstitute.org

Revdex.com:
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 have attached 3 documents:
1. The email chain of communication that begins in October 2014 and goes through January 2015. I have highlighted where they said that they submitted my application and the 3 emails in which they assured me that I owe $0.00. The email chain also shows my diligence in communication-attaching documents from FedLoan showing that I had payments due.
2. The screenshot from studentloans.gov that shows they filed an IBR application in 2013, but did not file one in 2014 as promised in the October email. It also shows a quick application thrown together on Feb 24th that was rejected. I filed a correct application on March 5th.  (FedLoan has documented all of the communication regarding these applications and I can get that from them if necessary.)
3. The approval letter from the IBR application that I filed in March.  
SAI has provided a disappointing response and I am very grateful to Revdex.com for helping me attempt to resolve this situation.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Regards,
[redacted]