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Nelnet

United States

Consumer complaints and reviews about Nelnet

rdaws001 Send email
 
Mar 29, 2016

More issues w/ Nelnet..

I have several issues with Nelnet like other folks have mentioned. One of my major complaints is that each time I call their Customer Support line, I always get a different answer to my questions. The first person I spoke to said I was eligible for a repayment plan, but then the next guy I spoke with said I wasn't legible and had to apply for another plan..

Either way, I eventually talked to someone that I thought had set up my income based repayment plan, and was told to wait for further correspondence about actions needed on my part. Two months later I call to see what the heck is going on, after not hearing anything. The person I talked on the phone told me that my application for income based repayment had actually not been finalized, and that I needed to pay a small fee and sign some document (none of this last information had ever been communicated to me, I even checked my email). What really bothered me though was that for the last 2 months I had gained several hundred dollars in forbearance fees, waiting to hear back about my application.

I attempted to speak to a supervisor about this issue, and he simply said he would talk to his rep but there was no other action that could be taken. I find the whole practice totally unacceptable, and can't believe how inconsistent their information can be. They also have no recourse to correct miss-information or mistakes made on the part of their team. Making payments and financing students loans can be a difficult journey on its own, but this company only makes the experience even more painful. I will definitely be looking to move my student loans away from Nelnet ASAP.
barry98 Send email
 
Jun 27, 2015

Nelnet scams its customers

We had a loan from Direct Loan Service Center and everything worked smoothly. Nelnet took it over and it has been a rough road ever since. First they claimed that we had to initiate the auto debit ourselves even though they stated in their welcome letter that everything would transfer automatically (but check it in case it doesn't lol). We did that and made the first payment with Nelnet five days before the due date. We even received an electronic confirmation email of our first payment that we kept. They claimed that they never received the auto debit but waited until 10 days later, after the due date, to MAIL us a delinquent notice. We received late fees and an interest rate hike. The late fees were removed upon proof of the initiated payment but they refused to budge on the interest rate hike, even though we showed them proof of payment. They claim that we provided incorrect auto debit information, but could never provide proof of that. This company is a scam artist and should be avoided if possible. We unfortunately have no choice.
BLUTO52992 Send email
 
Feb 27, 2015

PHONE OPERATOR VERY RUDE

UNEDUCATED PHONE OPERATORS THIS WAS THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE WE ARE LOCKED OUT OF OUR ACCOUNT AND JUST TRYING TO PAY OFF OUR LOAN THE OPERATOR WAS SO RUDE AND THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED THERE IS NO RECOURSE. NO WAY TO GET INTO OUR LOAN NO ONE TO HELP. TERRIBLY RUN BUSINESS
NO ONE TO SPEAK TO WITH HALF A BRAIN BEWARE OF NELNET.
mappel Send email
 
Feb 5, 2015

Awful Customer Service

These are just drones stuck to a script. Every month or so, they will call to tell me that I am late, ask me how I'd like to pay. In skittles, I suppose. Blood diamonds? Ridiculous. So tired of repeating the same stories again and again, uniformed representatives who try the same old strategies to impact my account but can't help, suggesting that I instead play 'catch up.' What that means, I could not tell you. For the love of God, please read information in the notes. Please don't offer solutions when they don't apply. Nelnet is awful. Boo!
WowEEE Send email
 
Nov 18, 2014

Nelnet is the Worst

Nelnet servicer made a giant error with my account, and they can’t seem to accept responsibility for their error, or give me a consistent message about what they are doing. They won't let me selectively pay off loans in groups and they won't allow me to apply my payments to pay off the principle. I had a a representative selectively pay almost $800 of principle+interest+fees on one group and they some how charged me interest on this supposedly "paid off loan" the very next month.

Nelnet takes as much money from indebted students with impunity. They are in the business of profiting from debt. If the student wants to relinquish that debt, they do their best, with ample chicanery to ensnare the student indefinitely.

I will be consolidating my loan shortly and switching loan servicers at the start of next year. Beware of Nelnet!
SickOfBeingRippedOff Send email
 
Sep 6, 2014

Netnet has Issues

I have top agree with most of the posts. I have been paying my college loans off since 2008 and thankfully I am almost done. I paid off many loans with money I saved right after I graduated and was astonished at the Interest that accrued on the loans. I have made more than double my payment online and found it difficult to locate the check box for "Do Not Advance Due Date". Last month I clicked the check box and Nelnet still did not apply my extra payments towards my principal. I feel they are intentionally doing this to earn more interest. I made extra payments to them on time in the past and they misapplied the payment to the wrong loan and charged me a late fee. When I called them up they were clueless and could not assist me at all. The $10 was not worth the headache of dealing with them. I would never take out any college loans in the future because of the headaches they cause.
carplson Send email
 
Aug 14, 2014

Bottom line- Nelnet is the worst.

When you pay more than the amount due, Nelnet automatically moves your next month's payment due date and does NOT apply the extra to the principal. I was told you must click "Do Not Advance Due Date" when making a payment, but this option did NOT appear when making an extra lump sum payment. I spoke to the Rep and was given a vague answer - something about the payment needing to be 2xs the amount due- but my lump payment was 5xs. Regardless, all the loans have extra paid each month so they are all ahead of their original due dates. I keep on making payments that they keep on taking. Incredibly, Nelnet stopped applying portions of the monthly payment to only one of three loans (at two different interest rates) you can guess which loans they applied the payment too. The low interest ones, of course, and stopped applying any money to the higher interest one. TOTAL BS. The Rep I spoke with said they would get it all fixed and apply all the payments retroactively. It didn’t happen. My email query into this was responded with a ‘yes, we can do that, just give us a call’. The next Rep I called said they had no record of that request. The explanation as to why they do this is apparently in an effort to get all loans to the same future due date. I asked customer service about this practice and they blamed the Dept. of Education. Seriously? Didn't Congress ban credit card companies from doing this same thing? This company is terrible! I don’t like that my personal and financial information was traded/sold/whatever to this company, Dept. of Ed! They are seemingly untrustworthy and deceitful. And the problem still isn’t solved. I asked if there was a form or something I could fill out to formally request the changes -so they aren’t lost AGAIN- (and to avoid the terrible customer service). Nope. Sorry no forms but you can call back anytime. Hopefully a third phone call will work to get them to stop moving the due dates and to fix the past payment applications, fingers crossed. I graph my balances every month in an effort to track my finances. Imagine my surprise in seeing a loan balance increase, despite making more than required monthly payments and an additional lump sum payment. So far their unscrupulous behavior has cost me $1135 and counting. This company is the worst.
MarieProkos Send email
 
Aug 1, 2014

Nelnet

I hate Nelnet. I am paying off my daughter's loans, and the balance has not changed at all. The interest rate is terrible and if you are late one day, they add on fees. I've tried to negotiate a lower payment, and told them that my daughter can't afford to pay on the loan, so I am taking it on; could they please lower the payment? They said no they couldn't lower the payment. So I make payments whenever I can, just so my daughter;s credit won't be ruined. This company gives so much money to "charitable" companies we will never be able to bring a class action suit against them. They shouldn't be allowed to function as a company in the first place.
Notpleasedwithnelnet Send email
 
Jul 22, 2014

Kwikpay/Extra Payments

The customer service is stunted. They have a script that they follow and seldom deviate from. I have saved my conversations to learn the right trigger words that elicit the correct scripted response so that I can then steer them in the direction I need in order to receive assistance.

The most irritating thing at the moment is that I am making extra payments while enrolled in Kwikpay so that I can receive the .25% which will save me about $340 during the remainder of the loan payment period. Apparently if I weren't enrolled in Kwikpay and made an extra payment there should be a button that allows me to select to not push my date out. This is according to an infographic which they have published on their website. With Kwikpay I do not have that option so my due date is pushed out.
When I first noticed this they reassured me that Kwikpay would still go through and everything would be fine.

I stuck to the "trust but verify" adage and found that while Kwikpay did go through it only did a partial payment. I got all sorts of responses from reps from "well its because you didn't make payment of x amount" to "well you need to select this option etc etc"

I was told that I should not be mad as these people make nine dollars an hour. I found that odd. I make less than that at my part-time job. Does that excuse me from doing decent work too?

After several conversations and hours figuring out what I have to say and how I have to say it to get the right response I have worked out the least PITA way to make sure payments are applied to all my loans. But it wasn't easy. I was also upset to find that 4 months of my after deferment payments went to interest only on 3 loans. That made me really upset. If I had known that was there policy I would have found a way to pay more so that I could have had some of the principal paid during those months.

Now I that I watch them like a hawk I am finally seeing my principal balance dwindle. Who knew it was this much work to make sure that your loan payments are being paid appropriate and on time in the correct manner?
angrybird Send email
 
Jul 3, 2014

nelnet is horrible

Nelnet is horrible, they call and send me letters telling me that I have to make a payment based on my income, well I have "other" bills and I can not afford to pay the amount that they want me to pay ($375.00) a month I offered a $100.00 a month but they refused it. I can not believe that they are asking me to pay this huge amount. I will get me a lawyer and solve this problem IMMEDIATELY.
cgloan Send email
 
Apr 8, 2013

Nelnet scamming

I have had my loan payable since 2009. I too noticed issues with the 'interest payment'. I have not calculated using a spreadsheet but soon will. I started with $60,000.. have made extra payments and ontime monthly payments, etc... Aa of Feb 2013 currently seen to owe $56,000. Something is terribly wrong.
I am thinking that a class action law suit will be needed about these 'interest charges'.
I have talked to nelent several times about not aplying pre-payments correctly and about the 'charges'. Each time I get... we will investigate and fix it. They have yet to do so.

I prepaid $10,000 on one of the higher interest loans. I have 2 at 3.4% and had 2 at 7%. I paid off one of the 7% loand. So, on the monthly automatic payment, they once again decided not to put anything towards my other 7% loan so they could charge me more interest. Every time I prepay, they won;t allocate towards the higher % loans, which causes me to be charged more.

Anyways I set up an email account [email protected]
I am getting my papers together next week and will look for a class action attorney.
cderby Send email
 
May 23, 2012

Nelnet

My experience with Nelnet has been absolutely horrible. If it was not for the Student Assistance Corp. Nelnet would have defaulted on my sudent loan without even providing me with the options that were available for my situation. It was an awful experience. I am thankful that Student Assistance contacted me. Nelnet was actually looking forward to my loan default.
User925138 Send email
 
Mar 29, 2012

Poor Customer Service

This is typical Nelnet. Their reps are awful - rude and irritated while supposedly trying to help you. You are not alone - google Nelnet complaints sometime - thousands exist. This company will not survive with sleezy tactics like this one (they have others too). Someday we will read about all the unemployed Nelnet workers trying to pay their own bills and I can only guess they will receive the same treatment they dished out.
UselessPsychdegree Send email
 
Mar 25, 2012

charging of interest

I would love to find a way to 'beat Nelnet'. My balance has barely moved in the past 4 years, due to a 1 year forbearance. There are so many fees and interest payments tacked on, I actually am paying an $89 'fee' each month. I am never going to get this paid off unless I pay in one lump sum, which I guess I just need to suck it up and start saving for it. I had no idea I'd have such a terrible time paying this loan off! It was a scam when I re-financed the loan back in 2000, clearly it's my fault for being so naive, but the law that I can only refinance a student loan one time is ridiculous.

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