Jessica Salmi waited almost an hour on hold before her call was disconnected. Jason Marques’ administrator can’t say whether his next student loan payment will be $100 or $633. Robin Binkley is struggling to figure out what payment plan she qualifies for.

As millions of borrowers navigate President Donald Trump’s sweeping student loan repayment overhaul, which took effect July 1, dozens have told Business Insider they are struggling to get clear answers from the companies that service their loans. They described long wait times, disconnected calls, and conflicting or incorrect information.

Ellen Keast, press secretary for higher education at the Department of Education, said internal data shows wait times and abandoned call rates have remained constant.

Borrowers told Business Insider that the problems go beyond getting someone to call. Several said they were transferred between representatives, received conflicting guidance or were unable to get relevant answers. Confusion impedes your ability to budget for the future, whether it’s putting money toward retirement or tackling that next grocery bill.

Binkley, 38, said she recently filed a complaint with Federal Student Aid after spending “countless hours” over the past few months trying to understand her payment options through phone calls and online chats with her administrator.

“This is a decision that could affect my finances for many years, and I cannot understand why borrowers are expected to make these decisions without accurate information or meaningful guidance,” Binkley said.

Since she also has to budget for a loan she took out for her daughter’s education, Binkley said she wants to make sure she receives the most affordable repayment option and hasn’t been able to get that information from her servicer.

“Right now, it feels like borrowers are facing one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives with no one willing or able to give us the answers we need,” Binkley said.

Navigating the confusion over student loan repayment

Marques, 39, described working with his student loan servicer as “a lot of red tape.”

Marques applied for an income-based repayment plan that was projected to give him monthly payments of less than $100. He was surprised when his first bill was $633.

After communicating with its administrator, Nelnet, about the unexpected higher payment, Marques was placed on temporary receivership. However, she said the first payment of $633 still needs to be paid into her account and she can’t afford it while balancing her other monthly expenses with a five-figure income.

“Obviously, I want to pay off my student loans, but the simple shock of seeing a $633 bill is stunning, to say the least,” Marques said. While Marques said the customer service representatives he spoke with were “knowledgeable,” he feels frustrated because he has to take it upon himself to call and get answers, instead of receiving proactive communication from the manager.

Sarah Smith, 35, said she made a payment to her administrator, MOHELA, but it was not reflected on her website. He said when he called to confirm the payment had been processed, a representative told him he was no longer a MOHELA customer.

Smith was also hurt by Trump’s elimination of the Biden-era SAVE plan, which allowed for cheaper payments. He said not knowing how much you’ll owe under a different payment plan makes it even more difficult to plan financially.

“I can’t keep changing my life to try to predict what these payments will be,” Smith said. “The amount you owe changes so much that you can’t really make good financial decisions.”

Keast said the Department of Education “remains focused on ensuring that student loan borrowers receive the highest quality customer service.” He added that Federal Student Aid leadership “meets regularly with administrators” to review customer satisfaction surveys and performance.

Supervision of student loan servicers

The problems with federal student loan servicers predate the current payment changes.

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Education penalized servicers for failing to meet their contractual obligations, such as providing accurate information to borrowers. In October 2024, the Department withheld $7.2 million from servicer MOHELA for failing to send borrowers billing statements on time, and then fined the remaining federal servicers for similar issues.

Under the Trump administration, oversight of administrators has been reduced. In April 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directed staff in an internal memo to “deprioritize” oversight of student loan servicers. The Government Accountability Office found in a March report that the Federal Student Aid office stopped evaluating administrators’ call quality and billing accuracy in February 2025 due to staffing cuts at the Department of Education.

Four of the five federal administrators failed to meet their obligations and faced fines of $850,000 before the staff cuts, the GAO said.

Trump’s July 1 repayment overhaul, which included new borrowing limits and the transition of millions of borrowers to new repayment plans, is a major task for servicers. The payment failures have already caused confusion: Business Insider reported that some borrowers received payment estimates of $50 even though their actual payments were higher, leading to confusion and frustration among borrowers who budgeted the lower payment.

After spending nearly an hour on hold and then disconnecting the call, Jessica Salmi, 38, no longer bothers to call her manager.

“Getting them to talk to a human being on the phone is almost impossible,” Salmi said. “You could die waiting.”

Do you have a student loan story to share? Contact this journalist at asheffey@businessinsider.com.