This is regarding a private school loan through XXXX. It was then transferred by XXXX to American Education Services ( AES ). There are numerous problems with this company. They are jacking up the loan I co-signed for by separating out the huge interest amount. When asked why is my balance not decreasing ( paying regularly for years now ), I was told " Payments are applied first to outstanding accrued interest and late fee 's, and any remaining amount is applied to the principal balance. If the outstanding late fee 's and interest exceed the amount of your payment, none of the payment will be applied to the principal balance. '' The amount of my loan is going up because of the way that they charge a separate fee for interest. They make it difficult to even see what the interest rate is. What it basically means is that I am never going to be able to pay off this loan that I co-signed on. I can not afford their monthly charges ( it is more than XXXX ). If i just pay the required amount including interest, the amount goes up rather than down. They offer no alternatives for repayment and are not willing to negotiate. I looked online and there are thousands of complaints about this company. Surely the government can do something to help those of us who are trying to pay off our debt but are being held prisoner by this ruthless company. I am the co-signer. My son took out the loan in 2008 and he is unemployed now.