Consumer complaint received 2019-10-31
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
Last year I got married, so my husband 's income was combined with mine in my student loan payments. The result was an increase in the monthly payment, understandably. In XX/XX/2019, in response, I called Navient, my student loan company, to see if I could have my payment decreased because it was a lot more than I had paid previously. Before this, I was paying $ XXXX/month. After this, I was paying {$200.00}. I was told I could lower that if I applied for a particular IDR plan. In XXXX, I was notified that I was enrolled in the new plan. The payment somehow went up to {$740.00} a month, which is obviously not what I was told it would be. In panic, I called Navient again, and was enrolled back in the previous plan, and paid the {$200.00} a month amount. While more than I wanted to pay, I understood the combined income would cause an increase in my monthly payment, though I did not anticipate it growing 10x. 

This summer, we relocated from XXXX to XXXX, California. I have found new work, but my husband has not. I am making less than I was making in XXXX, so with him being out of work and I making about {$20000.00} less a year, I contacted Navient to see about recalculating my monthly payment. I was granted a forbearance and told to apply for a new payment. The result of this was, again somehow, that my monthly amount was increasing again, this time to {$230.00} a month. I still fail to understand how going from making {$100000.00} a year to approximately {$45000.00} resulted in a {$38.00} increase. 

When I contacted Navient about this, I was told that there was a miscalculation on their end. They had calculated the amount as in addition to what I had previously made in income the previous year. I was told that the error would be corrected and I could expect my new payment amount to be around {$180.00} a month. While I still fail to see how this payment amount makes logical sense, it was certainly better than {$230.00}, so I agreed to it and went about my day. 

In late XXXX, I received a bill for {$230.00}. I contacted Navient to ask what happened, and I told them I could not make the payment that month. I was granted a forbearance again. I was told the problem would be corrected, I didn't have to submit any new documentation, and I would be good to go. 

This morning I received two bills from Navient. One was for {$240.00} and the other was for {$810.00}. I called them to see what happened, and I was told I had missed something on the application I submitted back in XXXX. I have spent hours on the phone with Navient, and no one had ever mentioned this before. I was told to apply for a totally new income-based repayment plan, to NOT select a recalculation. I began to do that, and saw that I am being asked to connect my IRS account. I know what is about to happen. It will be the exact thing that happened before. They will see last year 's income and give me the same {$230.00} amount as before. I am completing it because I was told to, and I don't want to miss something I was told to do and then have that used against me. 

Every single time I have contacted Navient this year, the information I was told on the phone has been different than what happened. I believe I have been intentionally misled and confused in order to get more money out of me. I am being lied to and taken advantage of, and I demand it end immediately.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation