Consumer complaint received 2018-05-25
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: VA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
The second week of XX/XX/XXXX I authorized Navient to withdraw from my checking account XXXX dollars to pay off my loans in full. They were to withdraw the money from my account on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX dollars was withdrawn from my account twice. 
It was after business hours so I sent an email to them stating they had debited my account twice. My Navient account showed a balance of XXXX. I never received a response to this email. 

Saturday morning I went to my bank and explained the situation. They advised me to call Navient on Monday. 

Monday XX/XX/XXXX I called Navient. 

I was initially told they debited my account twice because I authorized them to debit it twice. 
1. I did not 2 If they received 2 authorizations it had to have been a computer glitch 3. why would you withdraw twice what is owed on an account?

I was told that they could process a refund but could not start the process for 10 days and then it would take another 7-10 days to receive a refund. I spoke to 3 people on that day. Eventually was advised that I could get a copy of my account statement from the bank proving they had withdrawn the money twice and then they could expedite the refund. ( meaning the 10 day waiting period would be waived and they would start processing the refund immediately ). They said that it would take 7-10 days for the money to be transferred back to my account. I asked if it took so long because they were mailing a check and they were accounting for the mail and was advised that they could mail a check if I wanted but it would take an additional week to get to me. I said, no, please deposit it back to the account you withdrew it from. They then confirmed the account number with me. The reason I was given for why it took so long to process the refund was the number of refunds the department has to process on a daily basis. 

The bank typed a letter stating that my account was debited twice and printed my statement and faxed it to them. I also uploaded the documents to Navient. 

Expecting the money to be deposited into my account within 10 days, I waited. On Thursday ( day 11 ) when the money was not in my checking account, I called customer service and was told that the refund had been approved by the finance department and should be deposited into my account in the next day or 2. Friday XX/XX/XXXX ( day 12 ) the money is still not in my account. I called back to customer service. I spoke to XXXX ( XXXX ). He stated that the money had been released and sent to my bank. It will probably be there in the next few days, but because tomorrow is the weekend and Monday is a holiday it may be Tuesday or Wednesday next week before I see it. I have very little faith at this point, so I ask to speak to someone in finance to confirm ( my bank has no pending deposit showing in my account ). He states that he does not have that departments number. I ask to speak to a supervisor. Due to high call volume I can not speak to a supervisor. Needless to say, I am extremely frustrated by this point. I ask for the email to the CEO and director of finance. XXXX is unable to give me this information but does give me the employee ID number of the person who supposedly released my money to be deposited into my account ( XXXX ). This is supposed to act as proof that my money is on the way. XXXX also gives me the number of the consumer advocate department. I spent at least 30 minutes on the call with XXXX. 

I then called the Customer Advocate number I was given XXXX. I spoke to XXXX ( XXXX ) and explained the whole situation. He states he understands and will speak to one of the supervisors to see if they can help prior to putting me through to an advocate. XXXX was very polite and understanding. 

I was then transferred to the supervisor XXXX in Pennsylvania. I explain to him the whole situation and tell him I want to be sure my refund is coming because at this point I have no faith in anything I am told. He checks the account and asks to put me on hold so he can contact the right department to confirm because he has a check number as well as another number that could be for a electronic deposit. Remember on XX/XX/18 they confirmed how I wanted the refund and confirmed my bank account information. XXXX comes back to the phone and states that they issued a check and mailed it today. He did submit a complaint to the appropriate department regarding how this situation has been handled. 

Here are a few of my main concerns : 1. If they can debit my account within 24 hours- they should be able to credit my account in a similarly short time period 2. why would you withdraw a payment that exceeds what is owed on the account 3. While you have my {$4500.00} you are likely earning interest on it ( at least 2.875 % which was the interest I was paying on my loan ) 4. While you have my {$4500.00}, I am not earning interest in my investment account- currently performing in the 10-13 % range 5. If this is happening to a lot of borrowers- Navient could be earning millions on money that is not theirs to use, while the borrowers are losing money, not only in lost interest they could be earning but also in bank fees for low balances, overdraft fees, and insufficient fund fees. Not everyone has a safety net to cover a XXXX dollar plus mistake. If I had not had someone to help me, my mortgage would not have been paid, my kids would not have eaten, I would not have been able to put gas in my car to get to work. This is a problem that needs to be addressed with Navient sooner rather than later.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation