As a borrower from American Education Services (AES) and finally getting my defaulted student loans after financial hardship into rehabilitation, I felt this story was pertinent to future borrowers. I admit that I screwed up and wasn't paying all my student loans on time, but was able to get my Federal Loans into rehabilitation and up to date, yes! They were great to work with, the ladies were so nice, understanding on the phone and they worked with me to create an affordable repayment plan.
Then I tried dealing with the ladies from AES. I think someone should get them a day at the spa because they are all complete ignorant, miserable women. I've talked to three different women and they all were completely rude ot me over the phone. Last time I noticed I was paying them money every month and essentially am a customer of theirs, right? Well they need some training in manners for "listening" and customer service skills. The first lady had me on the phone 3 times in one day and for an hour at a time, arguing, talking over me, talking to me in a condescending manner; you name it she didn't want to hear it and she didn't listen to anything I was trying to explain to her why I couldn't afford to pay her $3,500 that day. She threatened to call my employer and pull money from paychecks. So I had to give her 10 checks in a row for ACH. My phone call with Federal Student Loans took me 15 minutes ... Something wrong there?
Just today I spoke with a girl named Andrea and she told me that it was in my best interest to pay off my $2,900 balance right now to get it out of default. After I logged in and explained that my online account said my balance was $0.00, she said you don't have online access to your account. Does that make sense? Then I said I'd like to lower my monthly payments before I sign this letter that states you're going to roll $500 of collection fees into my principal. She said, "We can keep taking $300 out of your account, but you paid 8 in a row ontime and with one more you're eligible for rehabilitation" Really? So the fact that I had been on-time didn't warrant a little more human emotion from this lady. Do these people work in a dark room in the middle of Pennsylvania somewhere? Someone send them flowers or something. As she tried to go back into how paying it today would be better for me after I told her I wasn't able to; I decided to pay my last collection payment and call back in a month to hopefully speak to someone with a heart. Even when you do pay on-time, the women of American Education Services (AES) are kind of like praying mantis, they eat their own kind, other human beings trying to get by and correct the wrongs of their past.