American Education Services

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!

I just discovered/realized that my loan balance had not changed for the better part of an entire year, even though I have been making payments on time and every month. I called, asked and found out that so much interest accrues on my loan monthly that it barely covers the accrued interest. So nothing, no part of my monthly payments goes to reducing the principal balance. How can that be allowed. This is legalized loan sharking. Legalized exploitation!!!!

AES does not respect any of your private information. People that were unauthorized to my account contacted them and they told all my financial information without being authorized to my account. I'm changing my student loan servicer to other company. This is an humiliating nightmare.

This company bought my loan from another and I've been paying the entire loan off for a total 13 years. In that time I've paid approximately 25k, yet my balance has only gone down around 2k! With a very low fixed interest rate on a loan that is not huge. How that is possible? I've already paid almost my entire loan, yet I still owe the whole thing. This company is a complete scam, and when I call to ask for an explanation they are NO help. I was on a 15-year repayment program and still owe the entire loan with 2 years left - how is this going to be paid off EVER? Is anyone starting a class action lawsuit?

Paid off my loan using their online tool to calculate the exact payoff amount based on date of payoff. When the amount came through my bank account, checked to make sure the payment was reflected on the AES website. It was not. I waited for 2 days, then the amount was reflected but there was still an additional $13.99 on my account. Called since there was clearly an error and got a huge runaround that I paid the wrong amount, that the amount I paid was from 3 weeks prior. I did pay the $13.99 and fully expect to see what, $5.99 as a balance despite doing the same exact process. So if you pay off your loan early, expect to get charged for it. Reporting them to BBB which is also a joke of an organization but these kinds of business practices HAVE to stop.

This company bought my student loans and have on numerous occasions gone against my original contract and changed criteria in my loan. They have taken me off of auto withdrawal which raises my interest rates (I've either put myself back on or had to complain so they put me back), changed my monthly loan payments (they lowered them when I am trying to pay ahead so I can pay off), and put me on deferment without my permission (I paid in cash for a couple college classes, this has nothing to do with them).

I received a loan from AES back in 2005 and started repaying them in 2008. I have been repaying my loan for 10 years now and literally still owe what I originally borrowed in 2005. I was young and should have looked into the loan before getting it because now I feel like I will be paying them forever. I've already paid them back over 20,000 dollars which is more than I borrowed, how can I still owe them the original balance. Also, they continue to raise my interest rate which is ridiculous since all my money goes to interest as is. Someone should really be investigating their practices, they are ruining people's lives.

I tried to get loans from AES back in 2001. They treated me like a last priority because my Parents did not have income. I was on my own. I figured it out, got my loans, and you know the song and dance from there. I was still struggling to pay back until I was referred to a place called Academic Financial Support Center (AFSC) in Irvine, CA. They helped get me enrolled in a Federal program I had NO idea existed and I paid $10 a month for 36 months. After that my loans were completely forgiven! Our President has stated he is cleaning up shop and eliminating these loan forgiveness programs. Get in while you still can!!!

First damage by this company: AES/CIS ED placed a 60-days-late Sep 2011 on my credit report in error. In Jun-Jul 2011, my loan was transferred from XPRESS LOAN SERVICING to AES/CIS ED and AES/CIS ED neglected to continue my long-established, contract auto-debit payments when they became the new servicer of my loan in Jul 2011. When I realized their error, I contacted them immediately. I should not have been penalized for their clerical error. I have tried several times to get the 2011 negative, 60-day-late notation taken off of my credit, and hit has cost me higher interest rates on loans over the past seven years.

We have been trying to refile our IBR status with this company now for 4 months. They have successfully lost our paperwork, insisted on paperwork that is not required by student loan.gov and claimed to be able to resolve our issues before our payments were to restart. Now, we are being threatened with emails that our accounts are past due and may be defaulted. This is not the first time this has happened. They insist that they are working on issues and then say that they have never been asked for what you are requesting. This happens every time that we have to do our recertification paperwork.

Seeing how most of these reviews are by students/borrowers who are still paying/defaulted on their loans, here is an opinion of someone who has paid them off. I borrowed approximately $22,000 in loans from PNC/AES from 2013 through 2015. I spent approximately two years paying off the loans on a salary of $40,000. Below is a pros/cons list of the company and website:

Do not trust anyone at this company. I called regarding a rebate that was on my account to find out what it was for. I was told it was part of the Graduate Benefit Program. I asked if it had to be a Bachelors Degree and was told only Associate’s Degree on multiple occasions. I completed my Associates Degree and submitted all the documentation. I was told I was ineligible for my 1% rebate. I have called many times and asked for the supervisor and never got a return call when I was told I would. I also never received the rebate I was promised. I would avoid this company at all costs! They are horrible!!

Almost $12k in student loan payments and have never been late. A whopping $6k goes into interest and only $6k into principal. This company, part on PNC Bank should be investigated so get on the phone and call your state reps. who most likely are in bed with these thieves. Stay away from American Education Services based in Harrisburg, PA and find other lenders. Horrible service dept. and I can't imagine how people would be working at this fraud factory.

These folks are absolute crooks of the highest order. They continually up your interest rate. When you contact them to ask a question, you get more runaround than any government agency in North Korea! The interest rate while showing an extremely high 7% calculates at about 50%.

If I could give them NO stars I definitely would. They've lost my paperwork to defer my loans 2x. I assumed they were deferred the first time, checked and they did not get my paperwork. Sick of them and their horrible customer service, I sent a request to consolidate to Navient. 2 days later, they reported my loans being 90 days default. I know this was done as retaliation. My FICO score dropped WAY below that what it ever has been. Screw them. Something needs to done about them. There needs to be a class action filed ASAP.

DO NOT TAKE OUT STUDENT LOANS WITH THIS COMPANY. I took out a Spousal Consolidation Loan with this company in 2000. I have been paying on this loan for 17 years now and have only paid down my principal $3500!! I've paid $54,000 IN INTEREST on a $46,000 loan. When I asked them about debt forgiveness, they told me my loan didn't qualify for it and I'd have to take out a different loan to pay off the existing loan and then make 10 MORE years of payments.

On October 11th I received a letter stating they had sold my loan Reliamax. When I logged on all billing options had been removed and I could not see if my previously scheduled auto payment had been canceled nor could I cancel it. But sure enough AES took the money anyway on October 30th and once I contacted them they gave me the runaround and said no they would not refund the money but simply forward it to Reliamax. No care in the world that I am short 200 dollars now of money that was not budgeted to spend. I ended up having to submit a fraud charge through my bank to get the money back.

I received a student loan from AES 10 years ago. I've maintained appropriate payments, with never a delinquency to the account. Two weeks ago I contacted AES by phone to ask if the co-signer could be removed. They said it would be a six month process, and at that time I told the agent I would go ahead and initiate transferring the balance to another institution. The next day AES blocked access to my account summary online, and five days later the loan was sold off to another lender (ReliaMax) without telling me (I have trouble believing this timing is coincidence). Now the transfer payments I initiated have conveniently been lost in cyberspace. The transferring institution says they sent the funds, and the funds were received by AES. AES claims they never received the funds, and so now I have an extra open account.

I have three student loans with AES for my sons. For each loan, AES has consistently and systematically raised the interest rates on each. Listed below are the dates for the last 5 interest rate hikes AES has imposed: 10/4/2016, 12/31/2016, 4/4/2017, 7/5/2017, 9/30/2017. To make matters worse, there's never any explanation as to why the interest rate has increased. I'm going to refinance these loans with another loan servicer and leave this SHAM lender alone!!!

This company is the hardest to work with in managing loans. 1) Removing a co-signer is impossible unless you pay off your loan or consolidate it elsewhere. After 7 years on auto-pay with no late payments does not count. They will not remove a name off the loan. 2) Communication is slow. You have to wait 48 hours before getting a response to a question. Most of the time they aren't even answering your question and giving you the runaround. Do you not have documentation of previous communications with your customers? 3) I manage my husband's loans. I am an authorized user. The fact that I called in to check on the loans which I am paying automatically caused them to block the account. Honestly, if someone wants to hack our loans and pay for it, go ahead! In the event you need a loan in the future, do not go with this company. Navient, SoFi, your bank, etc. are better options.

This company is a JOKE! I am in school part-time, trying to finish my dissertation and EVERY semester they try and say I am delinquent on my loan with them. I send them the info they need and the university does the same but they STILL do this. I FINALLY got the Chancellor’s office to handle it and now, I am only delinquent when the semester ends and before it begins. They are a joke!!!

I sent them my forbearance application, along with the requested documents (EDD Letter and Job Exit Letter because my position ended at the end of the school year); however, they were the only lender out of 3, that said this wasn't sufficient information for proof of unemployment. I sent them an email asking to resolve this issue...

Be alert. I just got AES to admit they had me paying off someone else's loans!!! First, they will give you the runaround and tell you to contact someone else. Don't fall for it. I may also suggest live chat and demand transcripts of the chat. They will email it to you and then you have proof. It took months and months and notarizing fraud/identity theft paperwork, make several copies, as they intentionally lose it, and having found my original loan promissory notes, and contacting ombudsmen, CFPB, before they would do anything.

Very frustrating dealing with AES! I never do anything like this because I understand that my debts are just that! Mine! My responsibility to pay! Here's the problem! I took out a student loan several years ago. It was 3500 dollar loan! Payments 50 dollars a month for 8 years or less. A few years back some major changes took place and I was in financial distress! I called AES they offered forbearance! They were very nice. They always have been. However a few months later I get a nasty letter telling me my loan is going to default. When I called I was told there was no record of my loan ever being in forbearance. But that I could bring it current and then request forbearance again! It was hard but I did it. When I called back I was told that I couldn't request forbearance if I wasn't behind on payments! GEEZ REALLY! This went on off and on for a while.

When I first started paying on my student loans I assumed payments were being applied as directed; I was completely wrong! Please make sure you check on any payment you send to your student loan. I have tried to send an extra payment on a monthly basis to try to pay off my debt, and after countless calls and speaking to managers I have come to accept I have to check on my loan minimum twice a month. The problems have ranged from my extra payments not being applied AT ALL (in which case I have to send bank statements and copy of check) to my account being placed on "Paid Ahead" status as it continues to accumulate interest. If you check the website, it states you can target specific loans online, which is completely false.