Consumer complaint received 2018-05-03
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: PA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
When I graduated from XXXX XXXX inXX/XX/XXXX with a XXXX XXXX XXXX Degree, I as advised by my loan servicer ( not sure if it was Navient at the time ), I did not have to repay loans because I was still a student. At this time, I enrolled in and was accepted into a graduate program at XXXX XXXX. No customer service representative ever offered any advice on repaying the loan, loan forgiveness or interest accruing as the result of non-payment. At this time, my outstanding loan balance was approximately 10-12k.

Upon graduating with a XXXX Degree from XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, I began paying student loans with standard repayment plan of approximately $ 200-225 per month. At this time, by outstanding balance and repayment amount stood around 40k ( 10-12 for undergraduate, XXXX for graduate tuition and the remaining in interest ).

After approximately two years of payments, I suffered a financial difficulty and began paying sporadically, but bringing my account current when I could make the past due amounts. I was contacted by Navient and offered forbearance, which eliminated my payments on a year-to-year basis, provided I reapplied every summer with my tax return. Each year, a customer service representative informed me I qualified for a XXXX-dollar repayment plan. No customer service representative ever offered a low-dollar income-based repayment plan. My profession at the time involved XXXX XXXX where I later found out paying consistently for ten years, at my original payment ( 200-225 per month ) would have eliminated my remaining loan balance. Therefore, paying {$200.00} per month for ten years, would have paid back close to 24k of the loan.

As of today, XX/XX/XXXX, .my outstanding student loan balance repayment is {$67000.00}. My current minimum balance due sits at {$640.00}. My account sat in forbearance until XX/XX/XXXX, when I started making minimum payments once again to Navient. When I began making minimum payments in XX/XX/XXXX my outstanding loan sat at around {$68000.00}. To date, I made six payments totaling {$3900.00}, to reduce my loan balance less than {$1000.00}. I pay on four different loans, two subsidized and two unsubsidized.

Due to Navients predatory lending practices, I am less marketable as a consumer because my credit score is affected by my inability to pay at certain times, when best customer service practice suggests I should have been steered towards loan forgiveness based upon my employment in XXXX XXXX. Had Navient followed proper channels, I would be year nine of ten in my loan forgiveness program. Second, I recently attempted to refinance my home but was denied citing specifically my outstanding student loans destroyed my debit to income ratio. Therefore, due to Navients negligence, I can not position myself as a consumer and single-father of XXXX  boys to most cost-effectively provide for my family.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation