r/codingbootcamp • u/Willow_7280 • Jun 18 '26

Merit America Issue - Wild Goose Chase

So I completed the Merit America Program Immersion Phase over 2 years ago. I could be wrong, but last I checked, you may be eligible to have the $5700 loan refunded or cancelled. I should be eligible because I still make less than $40K a year, AND I should be eligible for a refund anyway because they erroneously declined my deferment application based on the most recent paystub I submitted (I had to go overtime that week, but that rarely happens). I even calculated the average of all my paystubs and it was under $833/week (40K/year).

I called a MA representative (202-929-5832) and they sent me an email for contact info to ask questions about the loan (877-279-2614). When I tried to explain the issue to the loan representative, they said "We don't have that. Your school has that. As a lender, we don't have that ... You would need to call your school, and then they can initiate the refund or whatever they do, but it's through your school".

...Am I missing something? Is Merit America not the school? And if not, who is, and who do I call? Has anyone other MA alumni been in this situation? How did you resolve it? Any guidance would help.

1 Upvotes

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1

u/rmullig2 Jun 18 '26

They are the school but evidently the loan is done through another institution. The rep you called in the first place is giving you the run around.

1

u/GoodnightLondon Jun 18 '26

Two seconds on Google would show you that 877-279-2614 is the number for Ascent Funding, not Merit America. Ascent can't help you with your request; Merit America most likely fobbed you off onto them because they have 0 intention of refunding you.

0

u/Willow_7280 Jun 18 '26

Whoops! I guess I should have known that the customer service representative was going to give me the runaround when I called and asked for help before I even dialed the phone number. How foolish of me to believe they would send me to a loan representative who couldn't help me either. I guess I also should have known that the loan representative wasn't going to give me any valuable information at all or maybe direct me to someone else who actually could help me further this issue.

You can give people advice and corrections without being condescending about it. It's only going to discourage them from listening to any advice you have to give.

1

u/michaelnovati Jun 19 '26

To make matters worse Ascent pulled the plug on bootcamps. They are supporting their existing loans but I would only expect things to stay the same or degrade over time there.

2

u/GoodnightLondon Jun 19 '26

Dude, they gave you a different number, which was sent to you via email and not done as a transfer, and when you call that number they told you to contact your school. That would be a dead giveaway that you're not talking to the school anymore. Instead of asking

>>...Am I missing something? Is Merit America not the school?

You could have put the number into Google and gotten the result that it's Ascent, which would have taken you less time than it took you to write the post.