This complaint concerns a private student loan held by XXXX and serviced by Great Lakes. I began paying on this student loan in XXXX XXXX. From XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX I made every payment and additional payments worth about {$5500.00}. I made additional payments because of my plans to get a XXXX ; by making payments ahead I hoped to avoid making payments while enrolled as a XXXX student. Before describing the substance of this complaint I note that I had another student loan which I paid entirely during the XXXX period. I was scheduled to begin graduate school in XXXX XXXX. 
In late XXXX I called Great Lakes to ask about deferment. In particular I wanted to know if my best option was to go onto deferment or wait until the time in which I was paid ahead ( at this point, about XXXX years ) was over and then go on deferment. I explained that I was enrolling in graduate school and wanted to avoid payments if at all possible. 
The customer service rep explained that I should go on deferment and any period in which I was paid ahead would simply be begin at the end of my deferment period. In other words, after deferment I would still have roughly XXXX years in which no payments were required. 
In XXXX of XXXX Great Lakes informed me that I was out of deferment and I would have to resume making payments ; they explained to me that the payment clock resets after deferment and any time in which I was paid ahead is nullified because of the deferment. The customer service rep I spoke to in XXXX had apparently provided me with bad information ; I had been told my " paid ahead '' period would begin after my deferment ended but now, according to representatives at Great Lakes, this is not the case. 
I am in the curious position of being paid several years ahead on a loan yet simultaneously having monthly payments. Because I am still a XXXX student I struggle to make the monthly payments ( I should be done within XXXX months to a year ). 
I feel that this situation is largely the fault of Great Lakes. I was told bad information by a customer service representative in XXXX the thousands of dollars that I paid ahead have all but vanished now. 
Great Lakes has been non-responsive to my requests. I have been unable to contact anyone in the company besides front-line employees. I believe that because I am paid ahead on my loan by XXXX dollars, and because Great Lakes has given me bad information, I should be given a period of time in which I do n't have to make payments or perhaps I can make reduced payments.