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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Wells Fargo's Response

I consolidated my student loans last June, and the process was pretty painful. It really shouldn't have been, but there were some minor issues that turned into huge problems due to Wells Fargo constantly giving me wrong information about what forms I had to fill out to fix them.

Anyway, a few days ago I noticed that my loan had been taken off 'in-school deferment" status and put into repayment, and a retroactive "hardship forbearance" had been processed without my knowledge. As part of this, $366 of interest was capitalized into the loan. I was upset because interest is tax deductible (if it is paid as interest, not if it is rolled into the principle!) so I contacted Wells Fargo to complain.

Their response, basically, was that it is too late and they can't help me. They also explained that this was an unusual siltation, and in most cases, I would have been given the opportunity to pay the interest. So, that will cost me about $100 in a tax deduction, but I was surprised at the level of helpfulness and competence they showed in dealing with my situation.

Here are snippets from the most helpful correspondence I've had with their loan department to date:
According to our records, we originally disbursed your Federal Consolidation Loan (CA0001) on 01/05/2007 and since you were enrolled in school half-time, we processed a half-time study school deferment on loan CA0001.

After loan CA0001 was disbursed we received your request to add another loan to your Federal Consolidation Loan. We processed this request and disbursed your new Federal Consolidation Loan CA0101 on 06/07/2007. Loan CA0101 canceled out loan CA0001.

[My note: this loan was listed on the original application, and I have no idea how they forgot it. It also took them a million years and several phone calls to take care of this issue]

In October we received updated enrollment information from your school showing you dropped to less than half-time status as of 05/05/2007. Usually we would update the deferment end date and process an administrative forbearance on the account to keep it current. However, since you dropped to less than half-time status before loan CA0101 was disbursed on 06/07/2007, we had to remove the deferment from loan CA0101 and process a standard forbearance on your loan.

We regret that because we just received your updated enrollment information and made the adjustments to your account, there wasn't sufficient time for us to notify you of the outstanding interest so that you could pay it before it was capitalized onto the principal balance of your loan. However, by processing the standard forbearance on your loan, we kept the loan from being reported as delinquent to the credit bureaus and from being assessed late fees. [My note: Gee thanks how kind.... especially since I was not getting billed and my account online clearly said "deferment" with nothing due!]

Well, it sounds a bit confusing, and I'm not sure that I buy the "there wasn't sufficient time" line, but I do understand their motivation. They also reminded me that after THREE YEARS of on time payments, I would qualify for another 1% rate reduction. I'm certainly annoyed that I will not be getting any tax breaks on the interest I pay this year, but if I was more in tune with the rules, I could have notified them of my school status myself.

No comments:

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Wells Fargo's Response

I consolidated my student loans last June, and the process was pretty painful. It really shouldn't have been, but there were some minor issues that turned into huge problems due to Wells Fargo constantly giving me wrong information about what forms I had to fill out to fix them.

Anyway, a few days ago I noticed that my loan had been taken off 'in-school deferment" status and put into repayment, and a retroactive "hardship forbearance" had been processed without my knowledge. As part of this, $366 of interest was capitalized into the loan. I was upset because interest is tax deductible (if it is paid as interest, not if it is rolled into the principle!) so I contacted Wells Fargo to complain.

Their response, basically, was that it is too late and they can't help me. They also explained that this was an unusual siltation, and in most cases, I would have been given the opportunity to pay the interest. So, that will cost me about $100 in a tax deduction, but I was surprised at the level of helpfulness and competence they showed in dealing with my situation.

Here are snippets from the most helpful correspondence I've had with their loan department to date:
According to our records, we originally disbursed your Federal Consolidation Loan (CA0001) on 01/05/2007 and since you were enrolled in school half-time, we processed a half-time study school deferment on loan CA0001.

After loan CA0001 was disbursed we received your request to add another loan to your Federal Consolidation Loan. We processed this request and disbursed your new Federal Consolidation Loan CA0101 on 06/07/2007. Loan CA0101 canceled out loan CA0001.

[My note: this loan was listed on the original application, and I have no idea how they forgot it. It also took them a million years and several phone calls to take care of this issue]

In October we received updated enrollment information from your school showing you dropped to less than half-time status as of 05/05/2007. Usually we would update the deferment end date and process an administrative forbearance on the account to keep it current. However, since you dropped to less than half-time status before loan CA0101 was disbursed on 06/07/2007, we had to remove the deferment from loan CA0101 and process a standard forbearance on your loan.

We regret that because we just received your updated enrollment information and made the adjustments to your account, there wasn't sufficient time for us to notify you of the outstanding interest so that you could pay it before it was capitalized onto the principal balance of your loan. However, by processing the standard forbearance on your loan, we kept the loan from being reported as delinquent to the credit bureaus and from being assessed late fees. [My note: Gee thanks how kind.... especially since I was not getting billed and my account online clearly said "deferment" with nothing due!]

Well, it sounds a bit confusing, and I'm not sure that I buy the "there wasn't sufficient time" line, but I do understand their motivation. They also reminded me that after THREE YEARS of on time payments, I would qualify for another 1% rate reduction. I'm certainly annoyed that I will not be getting any tax breaks on the interest I pay this year, but if I was more in tune with the rules, I could have notified them of my school status myself.

No comments:

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Wells Fargo's Response

I consolidated my student loans last June, and the process was pretty painful. It really shouldn't have been, but there were some minor issues that turned into huge problems due to Wells Fargo constantly giving me wrong information about what forms I had to fill out to fix them.

Anyway, a few days ago I noticed that my loan had been taken off 'in-school deferment" status and put into repayment, and a retroactive "hardship forbearance" had been processed without my knowledge. As part of this, $366 of interest was capitalized into the loan. I was upset because interest is tax deductible (if it is paid as interest, not if it is rolled into the principle!) so I contacted Wells Fargo to complain.

Their response, basically, was that it is too late and they can't help me. They also explained that this was an unusual siltation, and in most cases, I would have been given the opportunity to pay the interest. So, that will cost me about $100 in a tax deduction, but I was surprised at the level of helpfulness and competence they showed in dealing with my situation.

Here are snippets from the most helpful correspondence I've had with their loan department to date:
According to our records, we originally disbursed your Federal Consolidation Loan (CA0001) on 01/05/2007 and since you were enrolled in school half-time, we processed a half-time study school deferment on loan CA0001.

After loan CA0001 was disbursed we received your request to add another loan to your Federal Consolidation Loan. We processed this request and disbursed your new Federal Consolidation Loan CA0101 on 06/07/2007. Loan CA0101 canceled out loan CA0001.

[My note: this loan was listed on the original application, and I have no idea how they forgot it. It also took them a million years and several phone calls to take care of this issue]

In October we received updated enrollment information from your school showing you dropped to less than half-time status as of 05/05/2007. Usually we would update the deferment end date and process an administrative forbearance on the account to keep it current. However, since you dropped to less than half-time status before loan CA0101 was disbursed on 06/07/2007, we had to remove the deferment from loan CA0101 and process a standard forbearance on your loan.

We regret that because we just received your updated enrollment information and made the adjustments to your account, there wasn't sufficient time for us to notify you of the outstanding interest so that you could pay it before it was capitalized onto the principal balance of your loan. However, by processing the standard forbearance on your loan, we kept the loan from being reported as delinquent to the credit bureaus and from being assessed late fees. [My note: Gee thanks how kind.... especially since I was not getting billed and my account online clearly said "deferment" with nothing due!]

Well, it sounds a bit confusing, and I'm not sure that I buy the "there wasn't sufficient time" line, but I do understand their motivation. They also reminded me that after THREE YEARS of on time payments, I would qualify for another 1% rate reduction. I'm certainly annoyed that I will not be getting any tax breaks on the interest I pay this year, but if I was more in tune with the rules, I could have notified them of my school status myself.

No comments:

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Wells Fargo's Response

I consolidated my student loans last June, and the process was pretty painful. It really shouldn't have been, but there were some minor issues that turned into huge problems due to Wells Fargo constantly giving me wrong information about what forms I had to fill out to fix them.

Anyway, a few days ago I noticed that my loan had been taken off 'in-school deferment" status and put into repayment, and a retroactive "hardship forbearance" had been processed without my knowledge. As part of this, $366 of interest was capitalized into the loan. I was upset because interest is tax deductible (if it is paid as interest, not if it is rolled into the principle!) so I contacted Wells Fargo to complain.

Their response, basically, was that it is too late and they can't help me. They also explained that this was an unusual siltation, and in most cases, I would have been given the opportunity to pay the interest. So, that will cost me about $100 in a tax deduction, but I was surprised at the level of helpfulness and competence they showed in dealing with my situation.

Here are snippets from the most helpful correspondence I've had with their loan department to date:

According to our records, we originally disbursed your Federal Consolidation Loan (CA0001) on 01/05/2007 and since you were enrolled in school half-time, we processed a half-time study school deferment on loan CA0001.

After loan CA0001 was disbursed we received your request to add another loan to your Federal Consolidation Loan. We processed this request and disbursed your new Federal Consolidation Loan CA0101 on 06/07/2007. Loan CA0101 canceled out loan CA0001.

[My note: this loan was listed on the original application, and I have no idea how they forgot it. It also took them a million years and several phone calls to take care of this issue]

In October we received updated enrollment information from your school showing you dropped to less than half-time status as of 05/05/2007. Usually we would update the deferment end date and process an administrative forbearance on the account to keep it current. However, since you dropped to less than half-time status before loan CA0101 was disbursed on 06/07/2007, we had to remove the deferment from loan CA0101 and process a standard forbearance on your loan.

We regret that because we just received your updated enrollment information and made the adjustments to your account, there wasn't sufficient time for us to notify you of the outstanding interest so that you could pay it before it was capitalized onto the principal balance of your loan. However, by processing the standard forbearance on your loan, we kept the loan from being reported as delinquent to the credit bureaus and from being assessed late fees. [My note: Gee thanks how kind.... especially since I was not getting billed and my account online clearly said "deferment" with nothing due!]

Well, it sounds a bit confusing, and I'm not sure that I buy the "there wasn't sufficient time" line, but I do understand their motivation. They also reminded me that after THREE YEARS of on time payments, I would qualify for another 1% rate reduction. I'm certainly annoyed that I will not be getting any tax breaks on the interest I pay this year, but if I was more in tune with the rules, I could have notified them of my school status myself.

0 comments: