Student Loan Resource Center

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.I do not accept this company has yet again said my file was cancelled, the service they use to withdraw the payment has yet again withdrew another payment, this is ridiculous, when a company says the file is cancelled that should be the end of all of your payments that were scheduled to pay for the services since it is (cancelled ) as they say. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Hi, I continued to reach out to the company and they finally responded. They have agreed to cancel the service and waive any fees involved. If you need any further information please let me...

know. Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely, 
[redacted]

Review: Student Loan Resource Center sent a seemingly legitimate letter in the mail, stating that "a new law has passed regarding federal student loans," and they even displayed a surprisingly accurate estimate as to how much I still owe in federal student loans. I called them because it seemed like a great way to lower my monthly payment/pay more towards the principal. During the call, they said that I would be charged in the amount of $599.00, stating that this was necessary to process the paperwork regarding federal student loan consolidation. They even had me sign a contract, and apparently it would take them "several weeks" to process the loan consolidation. Since I was feeling uneasy about having spent so much money, I did some research and found that what they are doing is unethical and misleading:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2014/06/10/beware-student-loan-scam...⇄ />
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/14/student-loan-consolidation-cottag...⇄ />
The mailed letter shown in the U.S. News article is the same exact one I received, which led me to immediately contact them and ask for my money back. The guy came back and tried to argue with me however I believe this is pretty cut and dry - what they are doing is not good business practice.

I followed up again a week later via email and still no response. After that, I sent correspondence directly through their website (an online form that you fill out). Again, no response, so now I am contacting you in hopes to get this matter resolved. Your time and assistance is greatly appreciated.Desired Settlement: I think the business has a responsibility to assist students and conduct business in an ethical way - currently they are taking advantage of uninformed young adults and taking hundreds of dollars away from a lot of people who could already be in financial distress. The fact that they somehow knew how much I still owe in student loans is worrisome because who knows how they are getting this information.

Business

Response:

Student

Loan Resource Center has a dedicated compliance department monitoring all

company activity in order to maintain the highest level of customer satisfaction

in the industry.

First

off, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience Mr. [redacted] experienced

and have processed a full refund on his behalf. The representative Mr. [redacted]

originally signed up with is no longer working with us however we have a

dedicated customer service department during normal business hours that can

happily assist with any inquiry. We provide our customer service contact

information on all documentation for this very reason.

Mr.

[redacted] stated that this service can be done yourself however he still

contacted us and went through the application process. These programs have been

available since 2010 yet our clients call us day and night looking for help. We

know this because we have seen the challenges that people experience when

dealing with loan servicers themselves or even with the Department of

Education. We have seen countless clients call in with denial letters or higher

loan payments than they had originally made after attempting their own

applications. If the process is so simple, our company would not be in

business.

The information

on the mailer is generic and generated based on algorithms. These type of

marketing pieces are used to generate leads for the student loan industry. We apologize if it caused any

confusion.

The

links Mr. [redacted] provided do not have anything to do with our business or our

processes. 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

wish Mr. [redacted] the best of luck and hope he is satisfied with a full refund.

Business

Response:

Student

Loan Resource Center has a dedicated compliance department monitoring all

company activity in order to maintain the highest level of customer satisfaction

in the industry.

First

off, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience Mr. [redacted] experienced

and have processed a full refund on his behalf. The representative Mr. [redacted]

originally signed up with is no longer working with us however we have a

dedicated customer service department during normal business hours that can

happily assist with any inquiry. We provide our customer service contact

information on all documentation for this very reason.

Mr.

[redacted] stated that this service can be done yourself however he still

contacted us and went through the application process. These programs have been

available since 2010 yet our clients call us day and night looking for help. We

know this because we have seen the challenges that people experience when

dealing with loan servicers themselves or even with the Department of

Education. We have seen countless clients call in with denial letters or higher

loan payments than they had originally made after attempting their own

applications. If the process is so simple, our company would not be in

business.

The information

on the mailer is generic and generated based on algorithms. These type of

marketing pieces are used to generate leads for the student loan industry. We apologize if it caused any

confusion.

The

links Mr. [redacted] provided do not have anything to do with our business or our

processes. 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

wish Mr. [redacted] the best of luck and hope he is satisfied with a full refund.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], 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,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], 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,

Review: I believe that I was scammed out of $599.00 for a forbearance fee by Student Loan Resource Center (SLRC). I received a letter in the mail saying to call this number prior paying my next bill. This service did not deliver the service that it promised it would and the next student loan service that I became connected to received documentation that was incorrectly prepared and not synchronized. I was told by [redacted] W. that the $599.00 was a fee to complete the forbearance for the loans. I discovered later that this was untrue by another student loan servicer and that services for the loan consolidation process is offered by companies approved by the U.S. Dept. of Education free of charge. I was led to believe by [redacted] W. that SLRC was associated with and an entity of the U.S. Dept. of Education. This became apparent to me when SLRC's true partner, company by the name of Student Assist Plus contacted me to tell me that my billing information that they received from SLRC was incorrect which is another issue entirely. I have attempted to contact [redacted] W. but this employee rarely replies to my concerns about the "service," this company purely operates on taking your money and running off with it while attempting to slap you with an additional $30.00 per month fee for another bogus service. After researching the matter more in depth I discovered that scams such as these are common and are designed to prey on the financially distressed and the not yet established laborers that already owe vast amounts of school loan money.Desired Settlement: If there was a legitimate service offered from this company it was not adequately delivered but to find out that I was scammed out of $599.00 by SLRC when I am already in a financially stringent situation is proof of how unethical and how unreasonable this company truly is. This company is systematically preying on people that are already in a tight spot financially and has put me through undue hardship and stress. All in all I feel that I should be refunded my $599.00 to make up for the unethical standards and poor business practices that this company adheres to.

Consumer

Response:

Update: I discovered today, 10/02/2015, that SLRC has yet again provided me with false information. [redacted] W. and SLRC promised/guaranteed that I would be receiving an Income Based Repayment Plan that was supposed to consist of 10 years and beyond 10 years the loan would have been forgiven and $0.00 monthly payments for the first which would then be re-evaluated on a monthly basis. This did not happen in even the slightest... I am now stuck with monthly payments when promised another situation entirely which was the main selling point. It is a shame to think that this company is actively preying on people and promising services that either do not exist or that they lie about to ultimately talk a person into paying for a $599.00 "Forbearance fee" that does not exist in the real world. SLRC's goal was to deceive me on their "partnership" with the US Dept. of Education, to deceive me on the service that they supposedly carry out, and to lie to customers about the nature of fees that are free from other institution. I feel that I have been duped into forking over money that I did not have with hopes that this company would help me.

I was sent a postcard in the mail from Student Loan Resource Center letting me know that they work with the government to help students that have loans apply for forgiveness or reduced payment.

I asked several times if this was something that I could do myself and they said yes but it can be very cumbersome and take a lot of time and run around from the loan provider. I asked if I would be using the same loan provider, in my case Mohela, and they said I would not. I was told that I would be saving over $15,000 over the life time of my student loans.

Turns out after I gave SLRC three payments of $189 all they did was change my payment to income based with the same provider. Something I could have done over the phone in 15 min with Mohela. I do have a lower monthly payment but the life time of the loan is longer and after doing the calculations with Mohela I will be spending more not less over the lifetime of the loan! This business might help some people that have more complex loan situations but for me I was lied to, plan and simple.

I have called several times to speak with someone about my account and never receive a call back.

Review: Student Loan Resource Center sent me a letter that appeared legitimate; claiming a potential "TOTAL FORGIVENESS" of student loans, with emphasis to "CALL BEFORE YOUR NEXT PAYMENT IS DUE". The letter even included accurate details regarding my total loan balance (in hindsight this is frightening). The offer sounded very nice at first. When I called, I spoke with a "L**" who assured me that their company has a relationship with the Department of Education, and they are legitimate. L** then led me through the process of reporting financial information that would be supposedly used to lower my loan payments, and said that I would be awarded $3,000 reduction off my loans.

After filing the paperwork with L**, she said she was going to give me a "deal", and only charge me 3 installments of $233 (once per month, for 3 months) instead of the "going rate" of $349 per month for their services. This was a hefty fee, but I relented, considering I was supposedly going to be "awarded" $3,000.

However, my husband later brought to my attention that this expensive "filing service" could have easily been done by me, in under 30 minutes, for FREE at www.studentloans.gov. He also pointed out the previous complaint on the Revdex.com for this company, which is very similar to my situation. I also saw the alert on the Revdex.com page for this company that links to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which specifically and adamantly warns against seeking assistance from companies using tactics like Student Loan Resource Center.

Feeling that I had been deviously misled and severely wronged. I called L** back to request cancellation of the service before my bank account was charged (I have not yet submitted the DOE paperwork). She became defensive, audibly sighed and outright refused, stating it cannot be cancelled.

I find this company's practices highly unethical; they prey upon uninformed, stressed, indebted college students, plunging them even further into debt.Desired Settlement: As a company claiming to aid indebted college students, it is Student Loan Resource Center's responsibility to do just that - help. This company does the exact opposite. I am requesting that Student Loan Resource Center cancel all pending charges to my bank account (they have not yet withdrawn them, but the paperwork says they will start in 7 days on the 29th). Furthermore, if these charges are not preemptively cancelled in time before the first installment is withdrawn, I am requesting a full refund of any and all charges to my bank account from Student Loan Resource Center.

Consumer

Response:

Hi, I continued to reach out to the company and they finally responded. They have agreed to cancel the service and waive any fees involved. If you need any further information please let me know. Thank you for your assistance.

Review: Was enrolled in the program and will set to pay and 199 payment, after a little thought I called the company back and told them I did not want to be enrolled in the program anymore. I was assured that my 199 payment had not come out and would not come out and since I was in enrolling from the program I would not be charged this payment. After looking at my bank statement I was charged this payment of 199.75 on October 15th. I am reporting them because I was assured twice that this payment would not be taken out of my account because I was done in rolling from the program.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund of my 199.75, and to make sure that I am unenrolled from the program and will not be charged the other payments of 199.75

Business

Response:

We spoke with Ms. [redacted] and apologized for the error. The refund is already being processed just as she was told. We are unsure why this complaint was made as we informed her on 10/19 that funds take approximately 3-5 business days to be reversed. We ask that she feel free to contact us during normal business hours with additional questions.

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.

I do not accept this company has yet again said my file was cancelled, the service they use to withdraw the payment has yet again withdrew another payment, this is ridiculous, when a company says the file is cancelled that should be the end of all of your payments that were scheduled to pay for the services since it is (cancelled ) as they say.

Regards,

[redacted]

Business

Response:

We spoke with Ms. [redacted] today and apologized for the error. We also informed her the funds would be back in her account by 10/28.

I was sent a letter in the mail as well that looked like a legitimate federal student loan consolidation company. When I called the customer service representative was very pushy and tried to get me to make a down payment of $799 or make payments. She kept saying we only had 45 minutes of an appointment and she had someone after me but because I was having a hard time logging in to my FAFSA account to send her my loan information she called the next person who was being patient with us. I told her I'd have to call back after I talked with my husband and she said they only gave 48 hours for us to make a decision. I've never had any company push me into trying to give money right away for anything. She also said this would save me $20,000 in the long run so she could talk to my husband right now to make the decision. I wouldn't trust them.