FAFSA loan application approved but my servicer (EdFinancial) won't acknowledge payments made

omg this happened to me last year but with Mohela! took my $$ for 3 months straight and then claimed I never paid. I had to send them bank statements AND the confirmation emails and they still made me wait 45 days for a 'research ticket' to be completed. FAFSA servicers are THE WORST

I work in financial aid at a community college and unfortunately we're seeing this more often with the FAFSA loan servicer transitions. There's a disconnect between their payment processing system and account management system. You need to immediately request a "Payment Investigation" which is different from a regular customer service inquiry. They are required by the Department of Education to complete these within 14 business days. Make sure you specifically use those words. Also document EVERYTHING - who you talked to, confirmation numbers, case numbers, etc.

ur not alone man, feels like the entire FAFSA system is designed to make us fail. ive given up trying to prove my payments to Great Lakes, just gonna refinance with a private company even tho ill lose the federal benefits. cant deal with this stress anymore

I had this EXACT problem with EdFinancial after my FAFSA loans were transferred there. Calling them was useless - 2+ hour waits just to talk to someone who couldn't help. The only thing that worked was using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to reach an actual FSA agent at the Federal Student Aid office. They bypassed the regular customer service and connected me to a supervisor at EdFinancial who finally fixed everything. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ - saved me hours of frustration and they fixed my account within a day.

This is a systematic issue with the loan servicers hired through the FSA/FAFSA system. Here's what you need to do: 1. Submit a formal CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) complaint - this creates an official record and servicers must respond within 15 days 2. Contact your school's financial aid office - they can sometimes escalate issues with the servicer 3. Request an immediate payment audit in writing 4. Demand written confirmation of each payment application The most critical thing is getting this resolved before your loans are reported as delinquent to credit bureaus, which happens at 90 days past due. Servicers are notorious for misapplying payments when systems are updated or accounts are transferred between servicing platforms.

I HATE EdFinancial with a passion!!! My FAFSA disbursement was supposed to include a Parent PLUS loan portion, and they somehow applied it all to the wrong loan type in my account. Took me FIVE SEPARATE CALLS to get someone who understood what happened. And yes, they also "lost" two of my payments. Make sure to check if they've moved your payment to an "unapplied" or "suspense" account - that's what they did with mine. They claimed my bank info didn't match their records but THEY STILL TOOK THE MONEY.

Update on my earlier comment - it may also be worth checking if your FSA ID on studentaid.gov shows the same payment history as your servicer. Sometimes there's a discrepancy between what the Department of Education shows and what the servicer shows. If the FSA database shows your payments but the servicer doesn't, that's powerful evidence for your case.

My FAFSA was processeed last yr and i had same issue with great lakes. turns out they spelled my last name wrong in there system so payments werent matching up with my account even tho the money was gone from my bank lol. check ALL your personal info on the loan portal to see if something doesnt match your bank info

In response to your question about the middle initial - YES, that could absolutely be the issue! Loan servicers use name matching algorithms when processing payments, and discrepancies in initials are one of the most common causes of payments going to suspense accounts. Request them to update your information immediately and specifically mention the middle initial discrepancy when you request the Payment Investigation.

I'm dealing with something similar right now with my FAFSA loans through Nelnet! Been making payments for 2 months and they just sent me a delinquency notice saying I'm behind. The frustrating part is that when I call, each rep tells me something different - one said my payments were "pending processing" and another said they were applied to interest only instead of principal. It's like they don't even train their customer service people on how their own system works. I'm definitely going to try some of the suggestions here, especially the Payment Investigation request and checking if there's a name discrepancy. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - at least we know we're not alone in this mess!

This is absolutely infuriating and unfortunately way too common with FAFSA loan servicers right now. I went through something similar with FedLoan before they transferred my loans to MOHELA. Here's what I learned from my nightmare experience: 1. **Document EVERYTHING** - screenshots of every page, confirmation emails, bank statements, phone call logs with names/times 2. **Use the magic words** - when you call, say "I need to file a Payment Investigation under the Higher Education Act" - this triggers a different process than regular customer service 3. **Escalate immediately** - don't waste time with tier 1 support, ask for a supervisor or complaints department right away 4. **File complaints everywhere** - CFPB, your state attorney general, and the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman (studentaid.gov/ombudsman) The middle initial thing mentioned above is HUGE - I had a similar issue where they had my apartment number wrong and it was causing payment matching failures. Also check if they have the right Social Security number on file. Don't let them gaslight you into thinking this is normal. You have rights as a borrower and they are legally required to properly credit your payments. Keep fighting!