Consumer complaint received 2023-07-04
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: NY
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Private student loan debt
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Used obscene, profane, or other abusive language

Complaint:
I am reporting XXXX XXXX of Navient for two separate instances I dealt with on XX/XX/XXXX. That morning when I came into work, my manager had informed me there was a form my HR representative, XXXX, had received for me to fill out. Upon looking at it, it was a verification of employment form. I was confused because typically with a VOE it was my understanding that that is completed by HR and sent directly back to the debt collector, so I went upstairs to talk to XXXX. She advised me that the way I thought was typically how a VOE does work. She said however the form was unusual in that it was addressed to me the employee to complete, and not addressed to HR. XXXX called the number Navient provided and she said she spoke with a woman ( she didn't say whether it was XXXX just a female ). The female representative told my HR that I had talked to Navient and requested they fax that VOE over to my employer so that I could fill it out and send it back to them. I informed my HR that that conversation never happened. I had never spoken with Navient about a VOE nor requested for them to fax that form to me let alone my employer. The representative blatantly lied. I feel this falls perfectly under the definition of deceptive practices as outlined by the FDCPA and Frank-Dodd Act. 

Later that day I was talking to my Mom who is the co-signer for my student loan. She told me she spoke with XXXX XXXX that same day and revealed that on that phone call XXXX had threatened her saying, " Do you know what they do to teachers?!? ". My Mom was very shaken by that and I advised her that under the above mentioned debt collection laws, that falls squarely under abusive language. 

From my understanding XXXX is a manager at Navient, which is extremely alarming because she most likely is training people under her as well to use these deceptive and abusive practices. 

As a whole, I have had a very negative experience with Navient ever since I started paying them. In these last several months I had gotten behind on my payments in Fall of XXXX and was making an effort to keep up. Each month they would send me a letter stating " X amount is due to avoid default '' and I would find a way to pay it. I believe it was in XXXX of XXXX, the letter I received was asking for about {$90.00} to avoid default. I paid about {$200.00} thinking that would help me get back on track. However the next month, Navient 's next letter said I had to pay at least {$350.00} or so. It seemed odd that it would be so much higher after I had already paid over the minimum the previous month but I still paid it. Every month after this the amount went up as I kept making payments until they were asking for about {$1000.00} a month to avoid default. This was over the course of maybe 5 months and I couldn't afford these payments any more. I made these payments directly to Navient through their website and had them auto-allocate the payments. It doesn't make any logical sense why the payments would increase each month so drastically when I was paying exactly what they were asking if not more. The only thing that makes sense to me is that I was paying it so they decided to just keep raising the amount. There was no rhyme or reason to the amounts on the letter. 


Navient has done many things to me over the years that have felt shady but these two experiences with the VOE and XXXX XXXX threatening my Mom were really the cherry on top. If they are using deceptive and abusive practices with me, I'm sure it is happening to other consumers as well.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation