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Business Profile

Student Loan Services

Nelnet - National Educational Loan Network

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BBB Accredited BusinessA+Rated by BBB

Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Nelnet - National Educational Loan Network's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 1,153 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 286 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/18/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Hello, I am a student loan holder being forcefully serviced by Nelnet. With the restart of student loans my auto-debit began again (I have to use auto-debit or suffer an interest rate penalty). My payment date is the 9th of the month and I validated my auto-debit details prior to Monday 10/9, my first payment date since the freeze removal. On 10/7, I went in to make a supplementary payment and requested my payment due date not be moved forward. On 10/11 I went to check in on my payment as it had left my bank account, and did not see the supplementary payment posted as well as an outstanding warning for the auto-debit payment saying it needed to be paid immediately as it was 2 business days late. I then manually triggered the auto-debit amount to not get penalized and wrote an urgent email asking them to explain why both the auto-debit did not trigger and why my supplementary payment which posted from my bank account had not been reflected in my loan amount (with interest accruing daily).

      10/16 I went in again and saw they had then triggered the auto-debit after I had manually done so 3 days after the due date, effectively double charging me for my first payment after the freeze. I sent another email and have received no response for either, including no receipt of receiving my messages. I think for a company that effectively services paid-for loans, the least they can do is respond to people when their system breaks after years of preparatory time for loans being turned back on. It is ridiculous for student loan borrowers to pay these at all, and doubly-so insulting to have fake companies "servicing" paid-for loans skimming off the American people.

      Please keep in mind if they provide dates for transactions, they back-date payment dates. So in the portal it looks like I made 2 payments on 10/9 and 1 on 10/11, however my bank account shows I made 2 on 10/11 (the manual payments) and 1 on 10/12 (their auto-debit that was 3 days late).

      Account #: E819503281

      Customer Answer

      Date: 10/18/2023

      Hey, no I did not authorize anyone to file a complaint on my behalf, however I did manually type out my entire complaint and proofread it multiple times. It includes exact dates of my issues, including attachments with proof, as well as my account number specific to me. Unfortunately if this triggered a flag for form letter complaints this is legitimately happening to enough people to flag your system. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you'd like additional information and I'd be happy to speak with someone if there is still concern about the manual nature of my request. Thank you!

      Business Response

      Date: 10/25/2023

      Pertaining to ******* ************
      federal student loan account, we reviewed their concerns and provide the
      attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/18/2023

      Type:Customer Service Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I have been trying to get in touch with Nelnet for over two weeks now regarding my student loans and they will not return any of my calls. My loans were just transferred to them from Great Lakes and I cannot get a representative on the phone. I have to waited for hours. I find this ridiculous that I can’t get questions about my loans answered or my options for repayment answered. I would like someone to contact me so I can discuss them.

      Business Response

      Date: 10/27/2023

      Pertaining to ******* ********** federal student loan account, we
      reviewed their concerns and provide the attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/18/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      My student loan was transferred from ***** **** to this company. Mt student loan is due in 2 days. I don't wanna default on my loan. I am never able to speak with customer service not matter how early or what time I call. No one ever answers the phone. I have set up an online account. But the system locked me out and told me to contact customer service. No one is answering the phone. Please help this is ridiculous

      Business Response

      Date: 10/23/2023

      Pertaining to ******* ********* federal student loan account, we reviewed their concerns and provide the
      attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/18/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Nelnet took over my federal student loans from great lakes just before the student loan freeze ended. I set up an online account as directed. When the loan freeze ended, I logged on to make my first payment. However, the only options listed on their website are for auto payment either by debit, or through my bank. I am not comfortable with these options, and prefer to pay using my debit card over the phone, or website...which are not options they offer on their website. I called the customer service number, and found they didn't offer those options on their phone options either. So I hit the option to speak with customer service...I was on hold for an hour and hung up on. I immediately searched their website for an email address so I could email them. Instead, all I could find was a "request" form to fill out to email them. I filled the form out, explained the problem, and submitted it. Almost a month later I logged on to my account and saw my payment balance is (of course) going up...no phone calls or emails from nelnet. So I called customer service for the second time, I was on hold for 2 hours, and was hung up on. I again immediately looked for an email address but had to settle for another "request" form. I again entered the correct info, and a detailed explanation of the problem, and this time demanding a real person contact me, and submitted the request. This customer service I've gotten from them is not acceptable. After a quick ****** search for nelnet reviews, I discovered I am far from the first to have this experience with nelnet. This poor excuse of customer service is messing with people's lives and credit scores...they need to be dealt with, held accountable and making things right for their customers.

      Business Response

      Date: 10/27/2023

      Pertaining to ****** ********
      federal student loan account, we reviewed their concerns and provide the
      attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/18/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Resolved
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      My student loan account was transferred from ***** ***** to Nelnet a couple months ago and have now come into repayment after the government pauses ended. My payment amount is too high for me to afford monthly on my current repayment plan. I applied for a standard repayment plan with a lower monthly payment first on 9/7/2023 and had not received any response so again applied on 9/22/2023, 10/3/2023 and 10/10/2023 and have still not received any response. I have called 6 times and waited on hold for over 45 minutes and now tonight I waited on hold for 2 hours and 30 minutes and their customer service center is now closed (9pm EST). My payment is now past due and I cannot afford the $1200 that was due yesterday. I tried to make a payment with my credit card but that is apparently not an optional method of payment. This will affect my credit score and I am completely at a loss as to how to amend this with a company I can’t even get in touch with. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I do not want this to effect my credit score.

      Business Response

      Date: 10/26/2023

      Pertaining to ********* *********** federal student loan account, we reviewed their concerns and provide the attached response.

      Customer Answer

      Date: 10/26/2023



      Better Business Bureau:



      I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.




      Sincerely,



      ********* *********

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/18/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I recently filled out a complaint, and now I have to do another. My auto draft was supposed to happen on 10/14 in the amount of $116.04 to go towards two out of my three loans based on a statement received on 10/4. This was to be expected since I paid 659.23 towards one loan. Unbeknownst to me, I was given another notification on 10/6 saying they changed the amount for autodraft to $49.96 on 10/28 which makes no sense because this does not cover my money that was still due on the 14th. Mind you I can't make special request for my autodraft as I have tried. I called yesterday, and no one answered (10/16). I'm currently been on hold for 2 hours and 23 minutes and counting (10/17). I sent an email and got a response basically stating they were not going to answer it due to high email volume. I can't make my extra payment until I know this is getting resolved. Or can they move me to another business at this point?

      Business Response

      Date: 10/24/2023

      Pertaining to ********* ******* federal student loan account, we
      reviewed their concerns and provide the attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/17/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Due to the loan restart in October, I updated my autopay to a new bank account via nelnet in September . Several days before payment was due, I logged into nelnet to confirm that my bank info had been updated and that payment was set for autopay. My payment was due on the 11th but I received an email on the 15th saying that payment was returned/cancelled. There were more than sufficient funds in my account. I tried to call on Sunday 10/15/23 but they were closed. I called nelnet on Monday 10/16/23 at 5pm after work and was on hold for 3 hours. I spoke to someone who was not helpful or informative for about 30 minutes. They informed me that nelnet tried to pull money out of an old banking account even though that bank info was deleted from my nelnet account. After waiting on hold for a supervisor for another 20 minutes, they disconnected my call and I did not receive a call-back or explanation/resolution for my issue. This is the second time I have tried to call nelnet with an issue and have been on hold for 7+ hours total, The hold times are outrageous and give no wait-time info or callback option. Their system also appears to be faulty as it did not record changes and I became "late" on my payment. Very poor or unqualified customer service. Nelnet should be properly staffed and prepared for this situation knowing that loans were about to start back up. Horrible business.

      Business Response

      Date: 10/26/2023

      Pertaining to ****** ********** federal student loan account, we
      reviewed their concerns and provide the attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/16/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      The due date for the student loan is 10/14/23 for the first payment. On the morning of, I go to pay the student loan and it’s saying it will result in a late payment. Why am I getting penalized for making a payment on the due date?! It’s not even giving me an option to pay on Saturdays or Sundays… but my due date falls in a Saturday! This is unacceptable and they really need to be held accountable, especially since I signed no documentation with this new loan network when my accounts were transferred. I am simply looking for a refund of any late penalties I will accrue. I was not late in paying this loan… the account lets you pay the loan, just not on the due date they’ve assigned. This is clearly a method to make more money off of borrowers corruptly. In the attached images, we have the website statement saying the payment will be on the 16th (late), but in the top corner showing today’s date 10/14/23 (the due date on the loan). The second shows the payment confirmation on today’s date.

      Business Response

      Date: 10/24/2023

      Pertaining to ****** ********** federal student loan account, we reviewed their concerns and provide the attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/16/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Trying to apply for payment plans and links just keep taking you in circles. No clear path or link button to start applying as the chat tool describes. Try to call and sit on hold for hours on end. They are impossible to get a hold of and the site is far from user friendly.

      Business Response

      Date: 10/23/2023

      Pertaining to ****** ******* federal student loan account, we
      reviewed their concerns and provide the attached response.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:10/12/2023

      Type:Customer Service Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I have been trying to get ahold of someone at Nelnet for over a week. They bought my student loans from fed loans and I have always been on an extended fixed repayment plan where my interest and payments stay the same for the life of the loans. They just sent me a bill due in 10days and changed my plan leaving me owing much more. I emailed and have no response I’ve sat on hold for over 2 1/2 hours no answer. What am I supposed to do?

      Business Response

      Date: 10/19/2023

      Pertaining to ********* *********** federal student loan account, we reviewed their concerns and provide the attached response.

    Nelnet - National Educational Loan Network is BBB Accredited.

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