Consumer complaint received 2022-12-22
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: DC
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
Hello, My name is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and District of Columbia resident. Im writing you to alert you of a new Navient Student Loan Fraud issue. I XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. Ive been paying my student loans monthly for the past 15 years without any missed payments. 

I consolidated my Federal Subsidized & Unsubsidized loans totaling XXXX in XXXX whose the original interest rate was 5.125 %. After consolidating & setting up a repayment plan I signed up for a standard repayment plan ( 30 years ) and was offered a 1.25 % interest rate discount & an additional 0.25 % interest rate discount for auto-pay. This lowered the original interest rate from 5.125 % to 3.875 % and the customer service representative said my monthly payment will be {$580.00}. Despite COVID, Ive been forced to pay my XXXX  loans as the US Dept of Education sold my Federal Student Loans to Navient ( something I have no control over ) and since loans are not technically no longer owned by US Dept of Education, Im excluded from Cares Act and still been paying my student loans the past 2 years. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the attached Update on Change in Notice Term, Change in Notice Term and also on XX/XX/XXXX, I received the Monthly Statement. The first document reflects that after review, Im eligible for auto-pay discount and monthly payment will be lowered. The later documents reflect that my monthly payment will be lowered from {$580.00} to XXXX. This all was unexpected to me. 

On XXXX I called Navient customer service to ask questions about the notices. I came to learn that they did an similar analysis on many other people and sent them similar notices. In addition, the customer service representative told me that yes, starting XX/XX/XXXX my monthly payment was lowered as a result of the analysis. After asking further questions, I learned that the {$580.00} monthly payment that Ive been paying the past 15 years was based on the 5.125 % interest rate which was wrong. Instead my monthly payment should have been calculated based on the 3.875 % interest rate ( and 30 years of repayment ) resulting in a {$390.00} monthly payment. Additionally, I was told that my loan repayment is still set to end XX/XX/XXXX ( 30 year repayment ) if I continue to make my regular monthly payment. 

This a clear fraud!!!! What happened to the overpayment ( difference between 5.125 % & 3.875 % = 1.25 % ) that Ive paid the past 15 years. Well Ill tell you, its gone all to interest ( profit for Navient ) and should have gone to principal of my loan. Instead I still owe ~ $ XXXX in student loans 15 years later. The promissory note says that payments go to interest first then to principal, thats why it takes so long to pay off student loans. The customer service representative said that my payments go to principal first, then secondly go to interest. This can not be true, because if Ive overpaid on my account the past 15 years why do I still have to pay on loans for another 15 years ( end XX/XX/XXXX ; XXXX total years XXXX payments ). Again this is clear fraud!!!! XXXX requesting your help to assist me with this fraud case that also negatively impacts other loan borrowers. I feel to remedy the issue that my total student loan balance should be forgiven or the overpayment ( interest rate overcharge ) made the past 15 years should be taken off the principal of my loan balance. As for me the overpayment ( interest rate overcharge ) is ~ $ XXXX. 

I look forward to hearing from you and working with you regarding this Navient Fraud issue. Again, please understand that there are many other loan borrowers just like me that Navient has financially taken advantage of. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation