Great Lakes consolidated what they said were all of my eligible loans into direct loans in 2012 so that the payments qualified for the Public Service Forgiveness Program.  I had three other loans they did not consolidate because they told me they were not eligable: Grad Plus, Stafford subsidized and Stafford Unsubsidized. In 2014 I transferred my loans to Fed Loan Servicing.  To my surprise, Fed Loans told me that these 3 loans COULD be consolidated into direct loans and count toward the forgiveness program.  These loans were consolidated by Fed Loans in 2014 and now all of my loans are in the Public Service Forgiveness Program!  GREAT LAKES made me lose TWO YEARS in the Forgiveness Program for three substantial loans! How do I get this rectified?

For two years (2012-2014) I made payments to Great Lakes on the Grad Plus, Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized before they were consolidated by Fed Loans.  I would like those payments to count toward the Public Service Forgiveness Program because Great Lakes made this mistake! I have a letter from Great Lakes from 2012 that reads “all of your qualifying loans have been consolidated.” I have documentation that I made on time payments for the other three loans during 2012-2014.  Who can I talk to at the Department of Ed or elsewhere? The Dept. of Ed Ombudsman told me that Great Lakes made a mistake in 2012, that they could do nothing and that my only option is to take legal action.

I’d really like to hear from others who have had this problem.

So just to be clear, do you have 1 giant consolidated loan or 2 separate consolidated loans? (1 consolidation for the 3, and 1 consolidation for all the other loans). The reason I ask is if you had 1 giant consolidation loan, then the PSLF payments would have been wiped out in 2014 when Fedloan servicing consolidated it.  I’m assuming you have 2 separate consolidated loans.

The Ombudsman would be my first course of action, but it sounds like you’ve already tried that route. Legal action might work, but you’d have to weigh whether the cost of legal fees and time involved is worth the 2 years of payments. You can try contacting your local representative as well to get involved..

I have heard of some who have had success when their former loan servicing company told them they were on the right repayment plan for PSLF, but when they transferred to Fedloan Servicing their payment plan switched or they were told that their past payments wouldn’t count because they were on the wrong plan the whole time. In this case, some were able to get them to retroactively add payments.

If you could get Great Lakes to admit their mistake in writing, perhaps Fedloan Servicing might be willing to address the issue. However, these companies tend not to correct their mistakes unless they are forced to. Good luck and I hope it works in your favor….

Hello- thank you for writing.
I have 4 consolidations: 1) direct loan consolidation Unsubsidized by Great Lakes (2012); 2) direct loan consolidation subsidized by Great Lakes (2012); 3) direct loan consolidation Unsubsidized by Fedloans (2014); 4) direct loan consolidation subsidized by Fedloans (2014). 
This information alone shows the mess.  I had been out of school 2 years in 2012 so all of the loans were in good standing and available to be consolidated in 2012.

Who is my local representative?  How do I get contact information for this person?

When I contact Great Lakes about this (twice in the past 2 years)  they tell me they know nothing because they no longer have my loans (loans are with Fed Loans now) and they can do nothing. They tell me to contact Fed Loans.  Fed Loans says they know nothing about what happened in 2012 and can’t help me.

Heather Jarvis- do you have thoughts about what I can do?

Has anyone else had this problem with their loan servicer?

You can find your congressman at house.gov. All contact info should be there. I believe you contact them and fill out some release paperwork. They tend to have a lot of clout with student loan lenders and the ombudsman.

It sounds like you have 2 consolidations, not 4. When they consolidate your loans, they keep the subsidized and unsubsidized portions separate, but they consider it all one consolidation loan. There’s no way to target payments toward the subsidized or unsubsidized portions currently, but maybe they’ll change that in the future…

Good luck and let us know if the congressman is able to help any!

Remember the Big Picture.  At the moment, it appears that the entire student loan market is primed for upheaval.  The total amount of student loan debt $1.2T (even more when considering private loans), and of that approximately 43% is not current on payments.  I’ve summarized the data, as reflected in a recent WSJ article here:  https://bayarearestructure.com/43-of-student-borrowers-not-making-payment/ (you can’t read the entire article unless you subscribe to the WSJ). 
In short:  the student loan situation is unsustainable, and eventually there is going to have to be a change in the law, or some rather dramatic tipping point.

Remember the Big Picture.  At the moment, it appears that the entire student loan market is primed for upheaval.  The total amount of student loan debt $1.2T (even more when considering private loans), and of that approximately 43% is not current on payments.  I’ve summarized the data, as reflected in a recent WSJ article Hard Facts About Student Loans (you can’t read the entire article unless you subscribe to the WSJ). 
In short:  the student loan situation is unsustainable, and eventually there is going to have to be a change in the law, or some rather dramatic tipping point.