Consumer complaint received 2018-01-06
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
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:
I took out Stafford Subsidized, Stafford Unsubsidized and XXXX PLUS loans in spring XX/XX/XXXX to pay for my XXXX XXXX degree at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, University XXXX XXXX. I 'm an American citizen who has established residency here in the XXXX. I began paying the loans off in XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XXXX.I called each month to make my loan payment as I use a debit card attached to my XXXX bank account. My loans were transferred to Navient and I carried on calling each month to make payments from my XXXX bank account. I have never been late to pay my loan and there have never been any issues paying with a XXXX debit card. I called Navient on XX/XX/XXXX to pay my XX/XX/XXXX bill and my payment was declined. I verified with my XXXX bank XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX that they had n't declined the payment due to fraud. This was confirmed and I called Navient on XX/XX/XXXX to try to pay my bill again. After speaking with three different customer service representatives and being on hold for close to 50 minutes, I was told that changes to their systems to prevent customers from paying with credit cards was impacting on my payment being processed. I provided the name of the bank and bank account attached to my debit card. This worked and I received a payment confirmation via email. I also received email confirmation that payment had posted on XX/XX/XXXX. Checking my XXXX bank account, the {$500.00} payment had not left my account between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Upon logging into my Navient account online XX/XX/XXXX, it listed that my payment was outstanding. I called Navient on the evening of XX/XX/XXXX and was told that I 'd been sent a message explaining that the payment had been reversed. I never received a message to my email account or Navient message center when I logged into my account online. I was told that Navient would no longer accept debit payments from non-U.S. bank accounts. This was the first time that I was given this information. I never received anything in writing and have not found any information about this change published on their website. I do not use a U.S. bank account as I 'm in full-time employment in the XXXX XXXX. I have been told that the ways to pay going forward will have to be by international money order in U.S. currency drawn on a U.S. Bank, payment made from a U.S. currency account, SWIFT or wire transfer ( which have associated fees ), XXXX XXXX money order ( which also have associated fees ), and internal money transfers that pays out in U.S. currency. Their website does n't specify that non-U.S. debit cards will no longer be accepted. I 've been a told a fax from my UK bank account confirming that my debit card is indeed a debit card and not a credit card may suffice, but I keep getting conflicting information it appears that their systems do n't recognise my XXXX debit card as a debit card as it 's not attached to a U.S. bank  account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation