Consumer complaint received 2018-12-20
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: PA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
Navient claims there is a debt owed on the account that is due solely because of an unsubstantiated variable interest rate. When asked to review the account, Navient claimed they had the Ombudsman department do a full audit on the account, with calls regarding the alleged delinquency stopped until the resolution of the issue ; however, these action were never taken. Navient continued to call 20+ times while the " investigation '' was underway. When asked to substantiate the conclusion of the report, Navient claimed there was no documentation to provide and the account was still delinquent. All requests to discuss with their Ombudsman department were denied and I was, instead redirected to a number of other departments. 

I have yet to receive answers or documentation from Navient, supporting their claim of a past due balance. Additionally the student loans in question were originally the from Sallie Mae, before the mass move into Navient. Although I am a full-time student, we were offered two loans that necessitated monthly payment on the interest of the loans- I believe that this was a predatory practice on the part of Navient XXXX Additionally, the school has a less-than 50 % graduation rate. I am concerned that I was A. led into an monthly-interest payment loan, although I am a full-time student, B. I more recently was led to believe that re-payment options made available to me would reduce my monthly rate, only to find, after additional inquiry, that they, in fact raise my rate. 
After over 30 phone calls from Navients automated system ( I have requested 5+ times that I do not want contact via automatic dialer and told by Consumer Advocacy that the calls would be pushed out until the plan went through ), I called to finalize my plan. I was told by a representative that the plan, would, indeed reduce my rates to a particular amount. It was only after she had done so did I realize the final, lowered amount ( which she claimed was as low as possible ) was actually higher than my current payment option. Additionally, this representative claimed that my monthly amount was a number I have never paid or heard before. This is predatory behavior, and certainly ANOTHER example as to why Navient is facing a class-action lawsuit. 
I immediately called Navient back, and spoke to 9 representatives over the next 3 hours- one of whom seems to have purposefully disconnected the call. I was told that there had been a capitalized interest rate added to the account, but this representative could not explain why/how. The next representative said there was no capitalized interest rate and to ignore that number completely, due to the new lowered payment plan. I was passed along to 3 other representatives, all who claimed they could not help me. When I noted that my lowered payment plan actually was higher than my current and that it had not been previously known to me that it would take me out of my in-school deferment status- the agent seemed to threaten the plan already offered to me, saying, We dont even have to give you that! 

Additionally, I called a number of times to inquire who the 3rd party financer of my loan was- only to be told 4 different times  that it was solely Navient. It was only with the last agent I spoke to ( today alone ) who noted my specific financer was Sallie Mae Bank. I additionally asked where to find substantial evidence of the change in market, effecting my variable interest rate- only to be refused the information ; the agent claimed that monthly changes could be found on my master promissory note and that that, instead, would be sent for my review. I asked another agent if there were any payment plans available to me to lower my monthly rates as a full-time student, I was told no ; when it seemed I was then going to end the call, this agent immediately tried to PERSUADE ME INTO FORBEARANCE WITHOUT disclosing the raise in my monthly rates, therein. Navient tried to steer me toward a forbearance without the associated an necessitated information, just as they tried to lure me into a payment plan they claimed would lower my monthly rates ( going as far as to take my financial information to fulfill their requirements for this plan ), while it actually raises the monthly costs and takes me out of my deferment status. As a student, I can not stand for it. These predatory practices by Navient have to end. I have the names and ID numbers of all agents I spoke to today, as well as the name and departments that made up the lowered payment plan. 

Navient continues to harass me, calling 5+ times a day, claiming I have not paid the balance, although I have. They even went as far as make a report to the credit bureau, ruining my credit, without any substantiated information.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation