Complaints

This profile includes complaints for E.C.S.I.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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• 

  E.C.S.I.

  1200 Cherrington Pkwy Ste 200 Coraopolis, PA 15108-4354

• 

  E.C.S.I.

  100 Global View Drive Suite 800 Warrendale, PA 15086

• 

  E.C.S.I.

  p.o box 1030 Coraopolis, PA 15108

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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/25/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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 received a past due notice for a student loan that I have did not apply for. I called the customer service number at ###-###-#### several times. I am unable to reach a real person to sort this out. I tried the live chat at heartland.ecsi.net and the let’s chat button on their website does not work. I am currently on the line with this company. There is a dead silence. I don’t think anyone a live person will answer.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/06/2022

  
  
  To Whom This May Concern:
  
  ECSI is the third party billing servicer for student loans on behalf of the University of Illinois.
  
  We have reviewed the call Ms. ********* made to ECSI on August 3, 2022. We found that, while transferring Ms. ********* to an agent, the phone system produced an unexpected error. We appreciate Ms. ********* bringing this to our attention so that we can work with our phone vendor to have the error investigated and corrected.
  
  We have reviewed Ms. *********’s account. To assist Ms. *********, ECSI attempted to contact her to review her account. Unfortunately, ECSI was unable to reach Ms. *********. Ms. ********* has a Federal Perkins Loan from attending the University of Illinois. A copy of the Federal Perkins Loan Master Promissory Note, which was electronically signed on June 24, 2007, is attached for Ms. *********’s records.
  
  Ms. *********’s loan was in a grace period following an automatic in-school deferment while she attended Lewis University. After her grace period ended, her account entered repayment. The first installment after the grace ended was due August 15, 2022.
  
  On April 25, 2022 and May 25, 2022, ECSI mailed billing statements to Ms. ********* to alert her that the grace period on her loan was ending and that her payment would be due on August 15, 2022. On July 25, 2022, ECSI mailed Ms. *********’s August 15, 2022 billing statement which included interest accrued from prior forbearance time used. ECSI has confirmed that the mailing address on file matches the address supplied herein.
  
  ECSI welcomes Ms. ********* to set up a user profile on our student portal which can be found at https://heartland.ecsi.net. Once a user profile is created, Ms. ********* will need to link her University of Illinois account using her ECSI account key number. Users can search for their ECSI account key using their first name, last name, Social Security number, and zip code. Ms. ********* can review her loan online after the profile is created and school account has been linked.
  
  If Ms. ********* would like to talk with us or has any other questions, she is welcome to contact our Customer Service Department at ###-###-####.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  ECSI
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/25/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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.

  ECSI provided false information to Federal Student Aid/Aidvantage, the incorrect loan consolidation amount, and my loans were not properly consolidated. There is a remaining balance after loan consolidation was completed. ECSI did not make any attempt to correct their mistake with Federal Student Aid/Aidvantage or alert me about the remaining balance after loan consolidation. ECSI refused to take any steps to correct their error by communicating with Federal Student Aid/Aidvantage in any way. ECSI does not participate in the electronic method for loan consolidation. ECSI made a business decision to not participate in the most effective method for loan consolidation. ECSI is a predatory company that is attempting to steal from me. I suspect that they will make millions of dollars off of either their customers or Federal Student Aid/Aidvantage with this scheme to provide false information regarding loan consolidation and refusing to participate in the most effective method for loan consolidation.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/30/2022

  Hello ********,
  
  ECSI has assessed interest on the remaining balance with a due date of September 15, 2022. It is my understanding that if the remaining balance is not paid on time then my credit score will be negatively impacted. I have a set-up an autopay for the remaining balance to avoid a negative impact on my credit score.
  
  The ideal resolutions include either require my balance be set to zero without any additional payment or I am refunded any further payments I make on my account to avoid a negative mark on my credit report.
  
  Thank you,
  
  ********

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/01/2022

  Hey ****,
  
  just want to close the loop on this matter. I contacted the holder of the student loan (OHSU) on 08/31/2022, explained the situation, and they agreed that ECSI was wasting my time - they wrote off the remaining $7.75. I advised the loan officer/counselor that I spoke with to review their relationship with ECSI and they said they would take it up at their next managers meeting.
  
  I received a call from ECSI today and they confirmed that the account balance is now $0.00 and I will receive a letter notifying me of the $0 balance.
  
  I am still concerned about how many other borrowers were impacted by ECSI's business practices, but I think it may be more in the realm of notifying the dept of edu OIG or ombudsman.
  
  Also would love to be compensated for the hours I wasted trying to do ECSI's job - out of reach?
  
  The remaining balance is $0 now tho! Thank you for leaning on ECSI to make them address their mistakes. If you agree, I think this incident can be closed.
  
  Thank you,
  
  ***

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/03/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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.

  Scheduled recurring payments turn off without user consent just before a payment becomes due. There is no warning or communication of any kind from ECSI, and it happens by no action of the user.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/15/2022

  August 12, 2022
  
  
  ID: 17668111
  
  
  Nathaniel O**
  **** ******** ** ******** ** *****
  
  
  
  To Whom This May Concern:
  
  ECSI is the third party billing servicer for student loans on behalf of Florida Institute of Technology.
  
  We have reviewed Mr. Orr’s account. ECSI reviewed recent payment activities on Mr. Orr’s account, and the last recurring payment schedule was cancelled at the payors request on January 13, 2022 after a payment was declined on December 15, 2021. Since December 2021, ECSI has only identified one-time payments.
  
  ECSI would be happy to assist Mr. Orr in setting up new recurring payments. ECSI attempted to call Mr. Orr to discuss establishing a new recurring payment schedule on his account. On August 10, 2022, ECSI followed up by sending an email to Mr. O** that we attempted to call him.
  
  If Mr. O** would like to talk with us or our assistance in setting up recurring payments, he is welcome to contact our Customer Service Department at ###-###-####.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  ECSI

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/19/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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.

  ECSI sent me expired deferral paperwork, told me to fill it out anyway, never got back with me on the deferral and regularly refuse to check the clearinghouse. Now they're dinging my credit report and have filed paperwork to rush me to collections. Please take this off my credit report and fix this.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/28/2022

  
  To Whom This May Concern:
  
  ECSI is the third party billing servicer for student loans on behalf of Purdue University.
  
  ECSI is in receipt of Ms. ******’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint as well as a Final Demand Letter dated July 7, 2022. ECSI does not agree with Ms. ******’s description or demands as outlined in her Final Demand Letter. This response is intended to address both Ms. ******’s BBB complaint and her Final Demand Letter.
  
  We have reviewed Ms. ******’s account. On January 9, 2019, ECSI addressed BBB complaint ******** from Ms. ****** related to a deferment for her Federal Perkins loan. At that time we encouraged Ms. ****** to complete the appropriate form based on the reason for her request. ECSI also provided the link to the entitlement forms for Purdue University from our website:
  https://heartland.ecsi.net/index.main.html#/access/schoolEntitlementFormPages/PurdueUniversity
  
  The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) only applies to loans owned by the Department of Education. Ms. ****** has a Federal Perkins Loan that is a campus-based (institutionally owned) loan. These loans do not fall under the CARES Act. This information was conveyed by Purdue University to Ms. ****** through an email on January 20, 2022. At no time was Ms. ****** provided any documentation from Purdue University or ECSI that her loan was covered by the CARES Act.
  
  Upon receipt of a complaint, ECSI does make all attempts to halt activities for accounts that may have a negative impact to the consumer. Ms. ******’s account was accelerated to Purdue University’s collection agency under a normal timeline. This timeline started with a late letter generated and sent on April 8, 2022, and ended on July 7, 2022, when the account was accelerated. Ms. ******’s Final Demand Letter, dated July 7, 2022, was received by ECSI on July 13, 2022. The complaint to the BBB was addressed to Heartland Payment Systems and rerouted to ECSI as these are different entities. Once the BBB complaint was rerouted, ECSI received the BBB complaint on July 19, 2022. Both the complaint and demand were received after Ms. ******’s account was accelerated to the collection agency for non payment. 
  
  ECSI was not negligent in validating enrollment with the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). ECSI has processes that regularly pull NSC data for enrollment activity. These processes have not yielded any data that Ms. ****** is actively enrolled any college or university. Additionally, when Ms. ****** has contacted ECSI’s offices, our staff has, with each contact, manually reviewed the NSC database to validate that the process has not missed any new or updated data. As of the writing of this letter, ECSI does not have any data from NSC that Ms. ****** is actively enrolled. This does not mean that Ms. ****** is not actively enrolled in a college or university. This means that the data available through NSC has not been updated with enrollment activities. Ms. ****** would need to address these concerns with the school in which she is enrolled as to why this information is missing.
  
  On March 17, 2022, Ms. ****** was provided a General Forbearance Request form, at her request, by Purdue University. This is not the same as an In-School Deferment Request form. Ms. ****** can complete an In-School Deferment Request form for in-school deferment. This form has been attached for her convenience. These forms do show expiration dates that have lapsed, however, these forms are still being accepted by the Department of Education, the Purdue University, and ECSI as they are the same forms available from the Federal Student Aid website:
  https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/GEN1602Attach18450011SCHFINAL.pdf
  https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/GeneralForbearance.pdf
  
  If Ms. ****** would like to talk with us or has any other questions, he is welcome to contact our Customer Service Department at ###-###-####.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  ECSI
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/28/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

   

  I was interested in a general forbearance when I initially reached out to ECSI, not a school-based deferment. I enrolled later and was to receive a school-based deferment as well. ECSI made no response to my former deferment. I was ignored and they pushed to accelerate this to collections instead of reaching out regarding paperwork I submitted. I believe that ECSI did not process my deferment and just sought to accelerate. This does not show a good-faith effort on their part. Upon enrolling in school, I realized I could also get a deferment based on this instead of the income-based deferment I was originally seeking.

   

  I think ECSI is confused. I was seeking an income-based deferment. The education based deferment was sought well after the income based deferment was found not to be processed. I’m trying to defer in any way possible and have made a tremendous effort in trying to work with ECSI on this while they regularly disregarded me. In addition, I have had past issues over the years where I was in the clearinghouse but ECSI missed me until I would contact customer service. I am begging that ECSI make this work. I qualify for multiple deferments but they refuse to work with me.
   
  Regards,
  
  ******* ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/10/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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.

  Educational Computer Systems, Inc. is the servicer for a student loan I had through the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The loan was for $20,000 and was in deferment (meaning no interest accruing) while I completed my residency training. The deferment was approved through 6/30/2022. A statement was issued in early June with a 7/1/22 due date. Becuase the DUE date fell after the deferment period was set to end, interest was applied. However, I paid off the entire balance of the loan ($20,000) on 6/22/22. As the loan was paid off before the end of the deferment period, I will not be paying any interest on the loan. The $111 of interest however remains on my account. I called and spoke with a loan counselor on 6/22/22 (ticket #3706748). I was told that this same problem has come up with a lot of people and, because of that, they will not remove the interest. This agent was able to confirm my deferment period ended 6/30/22. I asked multiple times to speak to manager and the agent deferred my request. Eventually she stated that a manager would call me back within 48 hours. I never received a call. My colleague is in the same situation. She has called and requested to speak to a supervisor twice and has never received that call. They are clearly trying to evade the fact that the money they are charging is not right.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/19/2022

  
  
  To Whom This May Concern:
  
  ECSI is the third-party billing servicer for student loans on behalf of the University of Cincinnati.
  
  Ms. ****** has an account that was in internship deferment through June 1, 2022. Once the internship deferment ended, Ms. ******’s account began accruing interest monthly. In order to avoid interest accrual, a payment would need to be received by ECSI prior to the interest calculation on her account.
  
  The June 2022 interest was calculated on June 10, 2022. This interest accrual was shown on the billing statement generated and sent on June 10, 2022, for the installment due July 1, 2022. Ms. ****** made a payment on June 22, 2022. That payment did not include the accrued interest due.
  
  ECSI reached out to the University of Cincinnati on Ms. ******’s behalf to discuss her account and recent payment. The University elected to waive the interest due in June 2022 as a courtesy to Ms. ******. On July 14, 2022, ECSI adjusted Ms. ******’s account to show as paid in full.
  
  If Ms. ****** would like to talk with us or has any other questions, she is welcome to contact our Customer Service Department at ###-###-####.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  ECSI
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/29/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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 am a public school educator in a Title I school. Each school year, I am eligible to submit a request for my loans to be deferred and/ or cancelled. For years 1-3 of my teaching career, this was executed without issue through a different loan servicer. During the pandemic, my Perkins loan was transferred to this servicer. Heartland ECSI has rejected my loan paperwork countless times for various petty reasons. In doing so, they have failed to provide clarity about this approval process. To make matters worse, they have reported me as 4 months delinquent on this loan, which has caused my credit score to plummet. Last week, I sat on a 1 hour phone call with a customer service agent who talked me through the process of revising my paperwork. This agent told me EXACTLY which dates I needed to write in so that my request could be approved. I followed each step exactly and was still told that my request was rejected. Heartland ECSI refuses to address their issues as a loan servicing agency. Each customer service agent gives me a different response, which has made it impossible for me to resolve this issue. This loan servicer has effectively ruined my credit and refuses to provide a solution. I also plan to make a complaint with my university, as well as the Department of Education. They also refuse to allow me to speak with the processing team directly.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/06/2022

  
  To Whom This May Concern:
  
  ECSI is the third party billing servicer for student loans on behalf of University of Notre Dame.
  
  We have reviewed Ms. *****’ account and the documentation submitted. Ms. ***** is seeking cancellation and deferment over a two-year period, during which she was employed with two separate schools. With Ms. *****’ circumstances, two separate application forms are required. She must submit one (1) cancellation for the period she worked with her prior employer, as well as a separate cancellation and deferment application for her current employer. Appropriate accompanying materials will be required for both applications.
  
  After reviewing the documentation provided, ECSI contacted Ms. *****. ECSI reviewed with her the requirement for separate applications, appropriate accompanying materials, and the dates and signatures required on the applications. ECSI also suggested that Ms. ***** utilize a general forbearance while obtaining the corrected materials to cover the period after her post-deferment grace period ended in February 2022.
  
  On July 2, 2022, Ms. ***** successfully applied and was approved for general forbearance from February 2022 to February 2023. It is important to note that during forbearance, interest will continue to accrue. ECSI recommends that Ms. ***** apply for her cancellation’s deferment, which is interest-free, to cover the same months.
  
  If Ms. ***** would like to talk with us, has any other questions, or needs further assistance, she is welcome to contact our Customer Service Department at ###-###-####.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  ECSI