Date Received: 2020-03-03
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I have been trying to resolve my private student loan debt with Sallie Mae, now Navient, for 10 years. They refuse to work with me to lower my payments. It is a CONSTANT, nonstop harassment on their part to try to get me to pay $ XXXXmonth which I CAN NOT afford. I just had a XXXX and had to take 4 months of unpaid FMLA time off of work. They straight up REFUSED to work with me in any way when I called to ask about temporarily suspending payments while I was recovering from having my XXXX. I called several times leading up to my XXXX to ask about my options because I do want to pay back my loans and they offered me no empathy or options. I became very frustrated with the entire situation and told them to just cancel my payment plan of $ XXXX month. That is the absolute lowest they would go, by the way. I work part time and make very little money and they really don't care. They are a predatory company who does not care about helping anyone out, all they care about is money and harassing good people who have fallen on hard times. They usually call my cell phone between 10-15 times A DAY. Not only was that bad enough, TODAY they SOMEHOW got my brother in laws phone number and called his cell phone. They asked for my mother in law by name and said they were trying to get in contact with me. My mother in law was very worried about how they got her information as was my brother in law. This is completely out of line. They are NOT cosigners on any of my loans, they have ZERO involvement with any of my student loans, private or federal. This is outrageous and predatory and I will not accept it. Something needs to be done about this and I need some help. I am at my wits end. I have often considered filing bankruptcy, hiring a lawyer and suing the company and this had led me to a severe XXXX and even at times XXXX thoughts. My credit is ruined, my co-signers credit is ruined, and they remind of that fact every day. I have thought it would be better for me just do XXXX so I don't have to deal with this stress in my life anymore. And I have TRIED FOR 10 YEARS TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. They ALWAYS refuse to work with me about lowering my payments. I have been screaming out for help for 10 years and no one has helped me. I am tired of suffering like this. I need some help. This complaint needs to lead to changes at Navient and how they handle their customer service. It HAS TO CHANGE.
Company Response:
State: OH
Zip: 45224
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-03
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-03
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: My loan is a consolidation loan ... upon consolidation of several loans the final consolidation loan was split into 2 loans ( XXXX, XXXX ) ... at some point, Sallie Mae changed ownership and Navient is now the servicing company for the 2 loans in repayment ... I developed a strategy to make extra payments on principle and only apply them to one of the loans ( XXXX ) ... extra payments are made on the due date and applied to principle so that no interest is incurred This is addition to the regular auto-debit payment that occurs, which satisfies the required interest payment, then whatever is left over goes to principle However, because both loans ( XXXX and XXXX ) have the same due date, any payment recieved ( regular, or extra ) is split equally between the 2 loans. Even when using Navient 's payment tool online that specifically allows the payor to allocate payment amounts to specific loans, Navient is still not honoring the payor instructions. Navient claims that the " system '' automatically distributes the extra payment equally to both loans. Navient also says that the only remedy for the payor in this situation is to call Navient after the payment posts and speak to a customer service representative to manually re-apply those payments as per the payors instructions. Navient also states on thier hard copy statment that the payor can write a letter of instruction for application of payment and send it with the payment. But this is only for payments sent in via check, which I do not do. I do auto-debit, because I am assuming that there is a financial incentive for using auto-debit and that is my preference. I feel that Navient is not honoring the payor instructions/request for payment allocation because the responsibility lies with the payor to call and have the payments manually changed, even after providing payment instructions using the payment scheduling online tool. However, the call back process was working and payments were being applied as per the payor requests. This was occuring until XXXX of XXXX. Upon checking my balance I noticed that Loan XXXX had increased significantly. Navient had reversed the extra payments on Loan XXXX, unbeknownst to me, from XX/XX/XXXX thru XX/XX/XXXX. Upon calling Navient, I was told that the payment due dates for both loans had been realigned and that was the reason for the reversals. I did not understand the line of reasoning as the payment dates have always been the XXXX of each month since I started repayment. I was never contacted about any changes that were needed or were going to occur. So after a lengthy phonecall XXXX and going over my account transactions line by line, the customer service representative didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. Navient assured me that the payments were going to be re-applied once again and that I should see the results within 24-48 hours. This never occured. These servicing companies are playing with thousands of dollars and couping thousands of dollars in interest because of these types of mistakes. They are couping many more thousands from customers that aren't as astute with their payments and accounts as I have been. In addition, Navient is re-negotiating the repayment terms, which are very inconsistent. For example, the repayment terms have been changed 3 times in 4 months, giving me a different autodebit amount each time. I have no way of budgeting the autodebit if I don't know what the amount is supposed to be. Attached is a summary of the amounts and dates of the payments in question
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 78552
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-03
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-03
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Don't agree with the fees charged
Consumer Complaint: My daughter attended XXXX XXXX XXXX, I signed parent plus as there was no other option ( I also attended school for a few months and had $ XXXXin loans ) The total financing ended up being about 20,000 plus Mine. The school closed she had no degree no transferable credits had to start over a year ago In the meantime : the debt is now {$40000.00} because I had no money to pay it and deferred for years .I adopted children and my dependents were high so qualified at XXXX payments but the Interests is still sky high. I have XXXX children to still put thru college. I feel the Interest should be frozen so now I can start to pay I can at least manage it, at this rate Ill be dead before its paid
Company Response:
State: AZ
Zip: 851XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-03
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-02
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Account information incorrect
Consumer Complaint: Navient is refusing to remove 9 late payments that they claim were after my XXXX began, XX/XX/2016. The supposedly late payments are still inflicting emotional damages upon me because Im XXXX XXXX XXXX, they dont need to be adding insult to injury. Those 9 late payments still effect the repair of my credit and reputation.
Company Response:
State: IA
Zip: 520XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-02
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Problem lowering your monthly payments
Consumer Complaint: I have tried over many years to work with my student loan servicer, but there are not flexible with options to lower my payment. I am currently not working now, and my payment continues to rise. I believe that they were predatory in their lending when I first began school back in XX/XX/2005... I had just turned XXXX years old and I was able to take out a student loan with high variable interest rates. Over the years if the rates were not outrageously high I think I would've had a better ability to get them lower. All the payments I have made over the years has done nothing to stop my overall balance from increasing.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 183XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-02
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/2020 I submitted my annual repayment request to renew my income based payment. I submitted my paystub that was dated within the 90 day period. I also receive social security income. The letter I received from social security does not have a date on top of the letter stating the date the letter was issued. However, the body of the letter details the payment amounts for 2020 beginning on XX/XX/2020, which is well within 90 days of the XX/XX/2020 application date. I received correspondence from Navient advising that they are rejecting the letter from social security since there was no date on top of the letter. I called and spoke to a representative on the phone on or about XX/XX/2020. The representative advised that I was correct and the letter body contained the necessary information and submitted a request to have the reps re-review the document and accept it and if not, they would base my payment amount on my paystub income. She told me to look out for the document that would advise of my new payment amount. However, the letter the I received rejected the document again and then increased my monthly payment to over {$1000.00} per month, which is almost equivalent to my monthly income based on their rejection of my document although I can not require the social security administration to include a date on the top of my letter. When I asked what documents they would accept, they advised employer letter on employer letter head, pay stubs or W-2s, none of which are issued by the social security administration. I am jsut trying to be completely honest and transparent regarding my income so that I can pay the proper amount and they are doing everything in their power to reject my efforts.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 33917
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-02
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I borrowed {$7000.00} to finish paying for a class I needed to finish my degree. I had to get a co-signer, my daughter. I have been paying three years and still owe XXXX on the loan. I am paying XXXX per mo. and yet get no principal applied on several of my payments all on time. I was told that I need to pay XXXX a mo. to finish paying off the loan in 10 years! This is ridiculous. I can not afford that type of payment. To begin with, I was XXXX from the XXXX XXXX and XXXX after having several operations. This is when I returned to college at age of XXXX. I am now XXXX and work 5 days a week at the XXXX, but still struggle because of incurred debt and raising XXXX children. This navient bunch lied and are misapplying my payments and constantly change their story as far as my payments ... ..HELP!! XXXXXXXX XXXX-XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
Company Response:
State: VA
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-02
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Subissue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Consumer Complaint: Three Original loan amounts were {$9400.00}. Current debt is at {$32000.00}. Multiple issues getting these paid off. I'll use one loan as example for this complaint which the original loan amount was {$3700.00} with a current balance of {$20000.00}, interest is set at 13.75 % and they will not negotiate. In XX/XX/XXXX my payment terms changed and was asking for over {$400.00} per month, I could not afford that and called to make arrangements. I was told I did not qualify for any programs. I made a large payment in XXXX of which {$280.00} went to interest and {$0.00} to principle. XX/XX/XXXX I get hit with {$620.00} of capitalized interest increasing my principle balance for the year by {$260.00}. This type of issue has been going on for multiple years and Navient ( previously under Sallie Mae ) has not been helpful in getting these loans paid down. My account history is likened to loan shark practices as every option offered only gets me farther in debt -- Since XXXX there has been over {$2000.00} in capitalized interest on this one loan ( recall the original principle was {$3700.00} ). I was told during my last call that I can only redo repayment terms twice in a two year period, but the terms are only good for 6 months. This leaves 1 year of time I am unable to pay the minimum payment which only increases the debt and ruins my credit along with any ability to refinance the loan.
Company Response:
State: WA
Zip: 98366
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-02
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Received bad information about your loan
Consumer Complaint: In XX/XX/XXXX, I saw a notice on the Navient website telling me that I needed to submit my yearly Income-Based Repayment ( IBR ) recertification. I went to the Studentaid.gov website and did this on XX/XX/XXXX. I soon received an email from Studentaid.gov that I'd done this recertification too early. The notice was confusing in its wording, and it conflicted with the online notification I'd received from Navient that I needed to recertify. It said the following : -- -- - " Our records indicate that you are not due to recertify your income until XX/XX/XXXX. If this date has not hit yet, and you select this option, your servicer will not re-calculate your payment based on your updated information until XX/XX/XXXX. If you want your payment to be immediately recalculated, select the third option to have your payment recalculated immediately for the income-driven plan you are currently enrolled in. '' -- -- - The implication from this is that the servicer would wait to recalculate the updated information and would not do it right away. It clearly does NOT mean that the calculation would not be performed at all, and that the recertification application was invalid. As a result, I decided to let the recertification stand, confident that it would soon be valid, if not right away. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the following notice from Navient : -- -- - " XXXX, were unable to process your Income-Driven Repayment ( IDR ) plan Recertification Request at this time. You submitted your request before the recertification period. What you need to know : The recertification period begins 95 days prior to the expiration of your current IDR plan. If your intent was to have your IDR plan recalculated, please be aware that your Monthly Payments may increase if your family size and/or income has increased. What you need to do : If you would like to request that we recalculate your IDR plan, please log in to your account at Navient.com to download another form, or visit StudentLoans.gov to reapply. '' -- -- - Taken with the previous Studentaid.gov notice, I did not see this as contradictory, or as a notice that my IDR plan would not be recalculated at all ( since my family size and income had not changed ). Instead, I saw this as a notice that although I'd done the recertification application slightly early, it would still be valid ( because of the words " at this time '' ). I then received notice from Navient on XX/XX/XXXX stating that I had been granted an in-school deferment for the same loans that I was applying for recertification on. This message was contradictory to the previous messages and was confusing, implying that I didn't need to worry about recertification since I was in school. I subsequently received notice from Navient on XX/XX/XXXX stating that it was time to do my annual IBR recertification. Because I had already done this, and because of the wording in the previous messages I'd received, I thought the recertification I'd completed on XX/XX/XXXX would suffice for this. I also received a notice on XX/XX/XXXX of a pending change in loan terms ( putting me back on a standard repayment plan ). I had seen this before in previous years, and as with previous years, I interpreted it as a boilerplate notification of the change in terms that would occur if I did not recertify my IBR plan. Since I had done this recently, and since Navient had ( I assumed ) only just started working on it on XX/XX/XXXX, I was unconcerned by this. ( I also thought it might have to do with my dropping below half-time status in school, but since I'd already submitted my IBR recertification, I still saw it as not immediately relevant. ) On XX/XX/XXXX, to my surprise, I received notification that I was indeed entering standard repayment, and that I would have a large payment due shortly. Alarmed and surprised, I called Navient on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a customer service agent named XXXX. My notes from that call are as follows : -- -- - Call : XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX : Saw income-based renewal application in system. Unsure why wasnt processed. Checking ( Im on hold ). Said renewal app was sent too early ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and needed to be re-sent. She took me off autopay in case its not processed by XX/XX/XXXX ( the next payment date ) so I dont get billed with a massive payment, although she said the recertification application ( which I just did again ) should be processed by then. She said if it isnt, call them and theyll sort out the payment. -- -- - Panicking, I submitted a new IBR recertification per XXXX XXXX recommendation. On XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that an extremely large amount of interest ( {$110000.00} ) had been capitalized in my account on XX/XX/XXXX. I took this to be related to the mixup over the IBR recertification, as I have owed a large balance for many years ( and been in and out of school since then ), but interest had never capitalized in this manner before. I called Navient again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with another agent about the interest capitalization. My notes from that call are as follows : -- -- - Call : XXXX (? ) ( female ) XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : I noticed interest capitalized ( {$110000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ). I was concerned about the capitalization, and also about my loan forgiveness schedule, if it would reset. XXXX said a lot of things happened at once. Deferment ended and renewal ended. She said an email was sent in XXXX asking me what I wanted them to do. I pointed out that I had just done the renewal application so I didnt think I needed to let them know. She sent the team an email and documented all this in my account. She asked for a reversal on the capitalized interest because I had done my renewal application in good faith. -- -- - Nothing happened. I called Navient several times after that to follow up, but my inquiries seemed to just disappear. The following are notes from subsequent calls : -- -- - Call : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX : Re : capitalized interest I reiterated my story. She said XXXX had already sent a notice/request to the back office to look into it. She said I should receive a letter with outcome and next steps. She said if I havent heard anything by EOD next Weds ( XXXX ), call back on Friday XXXX. -- -- - Status check on XX/XX/XXXX : still nothing. -- -- - Call : XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : She checked and said its still under review regarding timing of when various things occurred in the process. She didnt have a timeline for completion. -- -- - I never heard back on this issue. It just disappeared. My main concern is that the large amount of interest that capitalized will massively affect future interest going forward, i.e., I will be paying interest on a much larger amount of principal than I otherwise would have. This is not acceptable. I tried to work within the system in good faith, and this error was largely due to communication issues, ambiguous wording, and contradictory wording, yet I am being penalized heavily for it. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. Sincerely, XXXX XXXX
Company Response:
State: TN
Zip: 374XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2020-03-02
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Subissue: Trouble with how payments are being handled
Consumer Complaint: I am a XXXX and qualify for a XXXX loan forgiveness program. Naviet continues to deny me for this program. Each time they state the reason, I correct the application then they find a new reason to deny the application. This has happened at least 5 times. Each time I ask them if there is anything else needed and I am told no that the application will go through once this item is " corrected '' most of these corrections are not really needed they are " administrative items ''. It is clear to me that Naviet is intentionally stalling and hoping that I will give up.
Company Response:
State: OK
Zip: 730XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2020-03-02
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A