American Education Services

I took out loans through what was then known as "Astrive" in 2008 and 2009 to finance part of my undergraduate education. After graduating in 2009, I owed $31,000 over three separate loans. Now, ten years after paying, I owe $27,000, because American Education Services has continued to move my due dates, change my repayment terms, send my loans to a collection agency when they are paid up, and lose information I submit to them repeatedly. They are criminals who profit from hard working people. I have paid over $20,000 in interest alone on loans that should only have an 8% interest rate. I am currently "75 days delinquent" on loans that I pay twice a month. When I inquired about the delinquency, I was told it was 90 cents. Ninety. Cents. This company should be shut down immediately.

I’ve had this loan since 2006, I’ve paid a lot of money on it and have had to use forbearance and a couple other options to help with payments. Guess, what? I owe more now than when I took the loan out. My chest hurts from the frustration that I feel from taking this loan out. Never again, I pray someone can get all these issues everyone on here has taken care of. The representatives don’t even know what to do!

Someone forged my name as a co-signer on a loan. The person admitted that to them. Still, this company refused to take my name off the loan. The borrower has stopped paying on the loan, and because this company refused to do the right thing, my credit rating has been messed up badly, over 100 points and plummeting. Why should they take my name off, just because I had nothing to do with the loan? How does it benefit these ## to take my name off?

I went to school back from 2004-2008. My father paid for my tuition and room and board every year so I wouldn’t have to take out federal student loans. My parents saved for years to send us kids to college and pay for it in full at the time with NO loans involved. During my time in college, I took out 2 private student loans to supplement my low income while in school. One was through Chase Bank and the other through AES. Each loan was for $5,500, so a total of $11,000 between the two. AES bought my Chase Loan two years later, so both ended up being owned by AES. From 2008-2018, after 10 years of paying $300/month, I had finally got to the point in my life where I could safely pay them off without bringing my savings account down to practically nothing.

Been paying for these student loans since 2002. Found out recently that AES is a third party. Just the collection agency for these loans. The loans are held by National Collegiate Trust Funds which actually sells the loans off to different institutions. This is why you will never receive a straight answer form AES representatives. They have no binding agreement with anyone actually involved in the loans. Tried to do a settlement agreement with them and according to their representatives they have no authority to resolve your loans. They are just a collection agency. Are there any alternatives to try and get this resolved that anyone is aware of. Frustrated Consumer.

I have been paying on my student loans for 10 years. My interest continues to go up. I called to inquire about public service loan forgiveness as well as teacher loan forgiveness, due to the fact that these are private loans. They simply told me I’d have to repay my loan in its entirety. They were not helpful nor understanding of opinions to reduce the stress of paying these loans every month. I expressed to them that I would let my high school seniors know how their company operates and to never use them if they need loans.

I recently completed my Masters Degree in August. This company bought my loans from Great Lakes in June of this year. I also have loans through Fed Loan who has been wonderful. In the time they have had my loans they decided to delete two months from my grace period with no explanation, have raised my interest rate on what is supposed to be a fixed rate government loan four times, dropped my credit score 20 points before my grace is even overdue to refinancing (not aware they could do this) and have now sent me a bill even though my grace period is not up till March.

How many times do I actually have to complete an application and submit my earnings??!! I've done it 6 times already this year!!! Ever since AES took over Sallie Mae/Great Lakes I've had to pay over 20x the amount I paid before on the IBR plan! So you know I'm broke!!! Whenever there is an email or letter stating that "We are not able to process your (IBR) plan" I call immediately and ask what the problem is, what do I need to do? They ALWAYS tell me something is missing. I have faxed, mailed AND completed these things online several times!!!

Any one of the comments here could be my story; repaying more than I owe, not a qualifying financial Institute for PSLF, have paid more than double the original consolidation amount, "matter of fact" arrogant customer service, etc. It's reassuring to know that I am not alone in the AES scam. But what is being done about it? Are there currently any lawsuits pending? Posting my story will not solve the problem. What action can/should we be taking to see results in the near future and not years from now? I am retiring the end of 2018 and still owe over 13,000. Have paid over 45,000 since 2004 without missing a single payment with an original consolidation amount of around 24,000. In my opinion AES appears to be able to get away with these fraudulent practices while nothing is being done. Horrible!!

AES is by far the worst customer service I have received. I refinanced my loan and my refinanced loan made a payment to AES based on the last billing statement and so ended up paying more than the actual payoff amount. Since then I have been trying to contact AES about the status of this overpayment and how and when can AES return this. They have completely ghosted me - no response to my many emails.

In 3 years, I will finally pay off my student loans through AES after nearly 20 years of payment. For the last several years I've been paying $500 a month or double my minimum payment. If you don't pay double your minimum payment you will never pay off your loan. I originally took out $27,000 for my undergraduate. Due to AES's gouging, by the time I'm done, I will have paid over $100,000 for a $27,000 debt. I don't know how this company is allowed to gouge their clients this way. It is hard to believe it's illegal, but it is. After calling and complaining numerous times, it's also clear that AES does not care. I don't know how anyone who works for this company can sleep at night or look themselves in the mirror in the morning. They are ripping off thousands of people and destroying lives. You'd be better off consolidating your student loans with a Payday Loan Company. Don't walk, run away from AES! Someone needs to stop AES's unscrupulous practices!

If all the reviews below don’t scare you away, allow me to add to the long list. DO NOT. I REPEAT, DO NOT, take a loan from them. You will be in a perpetual, never ending cycle of repayment. Allow me to share my case, the math is surely not in the favor of the borrower as with all the examples before. In 2007 I borrowed $5,586.59. Since then I’ve made a payment of $54.82 for a total repayment of $7,169.75. As of today, I still owe $4,296.03. How you ask? Who knows. This company makes up their own rules and keeps stealing from hard working people. At a fixed 5%, I would’ve been done paying it off by this month. So basically, I’m gifting them the $4300 of the remaining balance at this point. Unbelievable.

In 2002-2003 I borrowed a total of $27266 for AES to pay for college. To date I have paid $31,076 and they still say I owe them another $12,312... How!!! If I have already paid $20,236 towards principal and $10,839 towards interest, how on earth is my balance still $12,312 when my original loan amount was only $27266? How does a loan that was $27,266 end up costing me $43,388? That's literally $16,122 in interest!! That's insane.

This company is terrible- no one knows what they are doing. I have been on the IBR and resubmitted everything for an IBR reapplication over a month ago. I have had to be on the phone for hours having to tell these people how IBR's are calculated. I literally have the form I submitted with the correct answers I filled out in front of me. They are telling me that the same form that Navient used to completed my IBR (with no problem)... their system could not process my answers?? So their system doesn't not know how to process a government mandated form for IBR that is submitted through studentloans.gov? Literally wasted so much of my time...

On February 8, 1996 I consolidated my student loans, totaling $16,414.86. As of September 24, 2018 I still owe $18,837.14. Yes, after TWENTY TWO years of paying $230.44 I owe more than when I consolidated my loans TWENTY TWO years ago! These people are THE ABSOLUTE WORST WORST WORST when it comes to educational loans. AVOID THEM AT ALL COST!!!

Long story short, I wanted to remove my co-signer, quickly, and they required I filled out a form. That's fine, except for the fact that they put the WRONG ADDRESS TO RETURN IT TO ON THE BOTTOM. Literally question every request they make. Awful company - called to get answers and the person I spoke with, and their supervisor, couldn't care less.

My loans are serviced through AES Success. I have been in the IBR/IDR program for years and have kept my account current. AES contacted me as they do every year and stated I had to renew my IBR program. I sent in the form and paystubs over a month ago. I feel that they are intentionally delaying my right to reduce my payments under this law of this program. I have sent my paperwork in several times and they keep denying it due to additional documentation needed. I've sent my paystubs 3 times in the last six weeks to get this resolved.

This ** so called PHEAA (AES) has finally proved themselves in yet another fraudulent type case, according to 2 of my past classmates. There are far too many unhappy borrowers; they have indeed proven they are unethical. All one has to do is read the complaints on Consumer Affairs or just do a general GOOGLE search query. It is quite astonishing. Please join me in the proposed CAL.

This company is a joke, the worst of the worst!! DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT RECEIVE A LOAN FROM THEM. I received this loan in 2007, My original principal balance was 20,000. I've as of today, paid $18,992.86, $15,456.52 towards interest and $3,482.80 towards the principal. How is they even possible? $316 dollars a month (Which still doesn't add up since I've been paying since 2017). We need to all band together and expose this horrible company for what they are, SCAMMERS!! Please if anyone is doing something or have advice on what to do, please let me know.

I had 2 loans with a cosigner (relative). I had been paying my loan for several years, never late, paid extra each month. A few months ago (May 2018) I tried to release the cosigner from both loans but due to missing a payment in February of 2013, I didn't qualify to release the cosigner. I was in good standing for 4 years but due to a missed payment over 5 years ago, I couldn't qualify? That's crap. Another thing, to release a cosigner, you can't have paid extra on your loans. You must not be paid ahead on your loans. How screwed up is that??

When I embarked on an education, I knew that a student loan was the only means by which I could attend college, however, I never expected it to become the bane of my existence. First, I struggled with securing a well paying job and although I tried to make the payments, I was soon forced into delinquency and slapped with a $25,000 penalty by the State of NY, so instead of a loan amount of $49,000 I now had a loan amount of $74,000 on which I have been paying for some years to the tune of $43000. I did not expect this debt to go away overnight, but a recent review of my balance shows that the principal amount has only been reduced by $3,000 which makes no sense and suggests that this company is manipulating the payment terms to drive interest. Having read some of the other complaints here, I am prepared to be part of a class action suit against this company.

I got injured several years ago on a previous job and went back to school to further my education while I was recovering. I got two loans over 10 years ago with AES (which was under a different name at the time ) in order to go back school. I have been paying almost $300 a month on these for years and they hardly move... I still owe almost the same as when this started. I've had a couple of obstacles over the years but usually get them paid even if it's little late. I recently lost my job and it's become a burden to pay these high payments right now. I called this afternoon to try to see if they could help with at least a temporarily lower payment, but the lady said there is nothing at all they can do to help so I let her know I guess they will get the payments whenever I can pay and I wished I had never used this company.

Last night I was going online through AES website to add additional amount to my automatic withdrawal in order to pay off my loan faster. I had already paid enough extra that the billing statement for August was showing no payment would be needed until 2019. Today I logged in and found my next monthly REQUIRED payment had nearly doubled and it was due August 2018. When I called, I received the explanation that "they want to keep me on track" yet made no consideration for my current financial circumstances. I am going to try to get a new loan elsewhere. This place is horrible!!!

My loans were just transferred to this company and my payment was increased. Since I can't even afford what I *was* paying, I requested - in writing - the reason for the increase. I got two messages from AES, the first was "not available" when I signed in, the second - a couple of weeks later - was an electronic copy of a lot of irrelevant information. I can't get understandable information from them. Requested again.

This might be the worst run organization on the planet. I have 4 loans with them. They all have different balances, different interest rates, and different monthly payments but three have the same account number. I made a payment on one loan and they applied it to a different loan. When I called them they said that I had overpaid so they decided to apply the payment to a different loan. They didn't think it was important to notify me, let alone ask me. My daughter is the borrower and they give her the statements with a different account number. I get two notices per month from each loan. One has an account number but no address to send the payment to and the other has an address but no account number. They are so poorly run that I believe it is criminal. When you call you just get the runaround. Every call gets a different answer.

I'll admit when I was young and in my twenties I wasn't very financially responsible. It wasn't until I was in my 30s I became much more financially aware. I graduated from college 18 years ago with a student loan debt of $37,664. When I was in my 20s my mother offered to pay on my student loan debt because she said she wanted to help me pay for college. Of course, I happily agreed. When I was in my early 30s my mother retired, and asked if I would take over my student loan payments. I said "sure, no problem".

I am trying to get my degree to become a nurse, but this loan servicer has been my biggest obstacle in trying to finish and afford school. I am a struggling college student, and now this company is making me pay back my loans during the summers and winters while I am still in school. Nearly half my low income goes to paying off these loans, while I am just trying to save up and afford school during the summer. It is like they are purposely trying to make it impossible for me to graduate, it seems to me that they want you to default on your loans so they can charge you more late fees and interest. Customer service is absolutely useless, they will not help you. I started paying my loans off early, but now that I have, they always come asking me for money whenever I get a break from school. Companies like this are despicable, don't get a loan from a lender that uses this company as their loan servicer. They have a 1 star rating for a reason.

I have worked for 10 years as a teacher at a Title I school. I was told my loans would be forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and l had expressed this intent to AES in the initial contacts. I have never missed a payment. Now, AES is saying that I did not enroll in the correct payment program and none of my payments qualified, so I have to start over. How convenient right? So if you are like me please reach out and claim what we were promised. Please also take the time to email the Pennsylvania Attorney General, consumer financial protection bureau, etc.

This place is like a 1$ roadside in experience. My loan supposedly was transferred however I am unable to make a payment as my account is still not completed being transferred. People are very rude and told me to send in payment but don't know how much to send in. Why would I send in a payment if you don't even have an account open for me and can't tell me the amount to send in. I am very disgusted with this place.

My deceased husband and I each have separate accounts with AES and I didn't realize after his death that I was no longer required to pay on this loan. In March of 2018, I received a refund for the money that I had paid in since his death. The first problem was that the check was made out in his name so couldn't cash it. So I called and requested a new check made out in my name. They told me it would be sent out in 7 to 10 business days. LIARS! Called again was told I needed to send that check back to them, then they could send out a new check in my name! LIARS!