Consumer complaint received 2018-04-27
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: MS
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
I have been struggling with private student loan payments with Navient for quite some time now. After multiple attempts to lower payments by providing my financial statement along with my co-signer financial statement to show neither she nor I have the financial means to pay, Navient has refused to lower payments. The solution has been to sign up for auto-draft to reduce the payment minimally or to pay interest only by auto-draft that still amount to only {$30.00} less than the original monthly payment. They state there are NO other options. 

I initially received this loans during studying at XXXX XXXX University in XXXX XXXX/XXXX from Sallie Mae at the time. I received these loans without fully understanding what a private student loan was. Sallie Mae repetitively offer these loans every semester as my only option to pay for school. The amount offered and received each semester was in no way affordable by a XXXX XXXX, when schooling was complete, nor by my mother, a XXXX XXXX XXXX. With that in mind, my payment per month is currently {$450.00} and some change. I make roughly $ XXXX/month with expenses at roughly $ XXXX/month before adding the Navient payment into the mix. I mailed in hard evidence in XX/XX/XXXX ( attached ) of my financial hardship listing ALL bills I currently pay with my income and copies of a majority of bills ( only lacking those that do not have monthly statements ) highlighting the payments I am making to show them I am not trying to scam them out of money and just simply asking for a payment I can afford without having to go into default or file for bankruptcy. I received a generalized response in the mail ( attached ) stating that they would try to lower the payment if I contact a loan representative by phone. 

My first attempt to lower my payments, I received a great agent that seemed to be trying to help me as much as he could. He stated there may not be anything he could do to lower it but he would look through everything and try. I asked him about options of consolidating my private loans through them. He quickly stated they stopped consolidating private loans recently. We went through my financial statement again, even though I had sent in a letter with everything including my account number and loan numbers. ( Obviously, the letter was not kept as record in my file. ) We completed my financial statement and he proceeded to ask for my co-signer 's financial information. He tried to start a conference call to talk to my mother and collect her financial statement. During the process, we were disconnected. I never spoke to that agent again because you can not request the same agent you had previously when calling back. 

My second attempt, I connected with a terrible agent. His name was XXXX and I wish I could remember his last name. He stated that the payments could not be lower and he had no clue why a financial statement was even taken. He knew there was no way I could lower my payments and offered the auto-draft option that doesn't not help in any way. 

The third attempt, my father tried to call on behalf of me and my mother to give a financial statement. He talked to a female agent, who was friendly and apologized for XXXX stating that the payments can not be lowered. She stated there are other options out there they could offer but would not allow my father to go forward on my account without me present and recommended that we do a one month forbearance until we have everything situated since my payment was delinquent at this time. 

Fourth attempt, I called and talked to XXXX. He was very pleasant. I explained my situation and asked for forbearance for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. He asked why my payments haven't been lowered yet and I told him they were waiting on my co-signer 's financial statement. He made it seem like there were options available for a lower payment. I paid my forbearance for XX/XX/XXXX and did not have another payment due until XX/XX/XXXX. This gave us time to get my mother 's financial statement together and talk to an agent to hopefully get everything settled. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, my father contacted them again with my mother on the line since she has access to the account as my co-signer. After giving a financial statement, Navient came to the conclusion that payments can not be lowered. My only option from here forward is to make interest only payments for 6 months which would be {$420.00} per month auto-drafted. 

As a XXXX XXXX, I would not have been able to make these payments and would have already filed for bankruptcy many years ago. A few years after school, I realized I would never be able to pay back my private loans with a XXXX XXXX salary and went back to XXXX school. I figured I could make more to pay them off quicker. With government financial help, I received my XXXX and hoped for a better life financially but unfortunately I am still unable to make the minimum payment on a registered nurse salary. All I ask is for a lower, affordable payment so that both sides win.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation