Consumer complaint received 2017-12-30
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: GA
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 originally had my student loans under XXXX XXXX and they were sold to Navient without my consent. I had no choice but to work with Navient and forced to deal with this fraudulent company. When my loans were first transferred, a representative from Navient contacted me about setting up a repayment plan. At the time, I was still in school and did not have to repay any of my loans, as they were not up for repayment yet. They exclaimed that repayment on my loans had to begin immediately, since Navient was no longer part of XXXX XXXX and their regulations were different. Since I did n't truly understand what was happening, they forced me into the XXXX Based XXXX XXXX, which had the lowest monthly payment. I thought that this would be the best option, since I was only working part-time and did not have much disposable income to be paying off my loans. 
I am now four years into the repayment of my loans and they have done nothing but increase. Navient placed me on a payment plan that does not cover my monthly interest and I am accruing DAILY interest on all of my loans ( I have eight loans ). At the time of setting up the payment plan, I did not understand this, but I recently ran some calculations and realized what was actually happening. They are taking the extra interest each month and applying that to my overall principle, which has resulting in an extra {$8000.00} over the past four years. This is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!!! This is complete extortion, because, had I not caught this, my loans would have continued to increase exponentially and I would be powerless to stop it. 
Secondly, when my loans were first taken out, XXXX XXXX had me under a 3.85 % interest rate, which is reasonable. When my loans were transferred to Navient, all of my loans were immediately increased to 6.55 % interest!!! This is nuts!!! When I saw this increase, I immediately called Navient and they spatted out some XXXX about how the interest has always been federally mandated at 6.55 % and I can not negotiate for a lower interest rate. I know that is a complete lie, because I can always refinance my loans for a lower rate and they are only trying to pull the wool over my eyes, because they have gotten away with it. 
Finally, once I realized that my interest has been compounding over the past four years and I have not been making large enough payments to cover the interest, I decided to make additional payments toward the principle. I contacted Navient about doing so and they blatantly told me that I am not allowed to make additional monthly payments toward the principle, as any additional payments would go toward accruing interest. WHAT!!!! This does not make any sense. How am I supposed to pay my loans off, if I can not make additional payments toward the principle when I have the means to do so .... This is complete bogus. 
Enough is enough with Navient and I am in the process of refinancing my loans because I finished with this fraud and deceit. I urge anyone else that is using Navient to get as far away from this company as possible, because they are going to take all of your money and you will never be able to out from under them. RUN!!!!!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation