Consumer complaint received 2018-01-15
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: AZ
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:
XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I discovered I was two months behind on making my student loan payments and I had barely graduated from my XXXX program in XXXX. I assumed there would be a grace period so I inquired with Navient. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : A Navient rep emailed me through the Navient website and told me that Navient had automatically consolidated my loans while I was still in school without my consent and with no warning. This action removed the " standard '' 6-month post-graduation grace period. 

XXXX : I applied for an income-driven repayment plan. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ( or XXXX if you go by the date on the actual document and not the website ) : Navient confirmed receipt of the application. I had submitted my bank statement as proof of income. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : Navient contacts me stating that I had submitted insufficient proof of income and suggested that I submit a letter from my employer or a bank statement. Since I had already submitted the latter, I called the company. The rep assured me that a bank statement would work, so I tried it again. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I receive a notice saying my payment schedule had been adjusted and payments would begin on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. I decided that probably meant that the process had worked a bit, and I would follow up closer to XXXX to figure out the next steps. Which I did. The rep said they would look into it. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I eventually receive the same redundant email telling me that my proof of income was not accepted and I need to submit a letter from my employer or bank statement. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I email Navient to enquire. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : A Navient representative responds to my email inquiry and finally tells me that my bank statement had been repeatedly rejected because Unfortunately, your bank statement is n't a valid form of proof of income because it does n't specify fi your income amount listed is gross or net. That is a real misspelling. I did not add that. 

The rep also said, Please note that proof of income other than tax documents has to include your gross monthly income and the frequency with which you are paid. This is not information easily found anywhere that I have seen on XXXX website or any documentation up to this point. no one had even mentioned these details. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I get another IBR proof of income processing error message. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I email both my schools inquiring who to contact to get my proof of my income sent to Navient from HR. I email Navient stating that I had contacted my employers and they would be submitting my proof of income. 

I attempted to attach a better version of my bank statement in hopes that it would work this time. Navient confirms receipt ( again ) of IBR application updates. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : At this point, I called Navient to explain the trouble I had been having so far. The rep talked me into applying for a temporary forbearance since there was no way to wipe away the charges I had already acquired while dealing with this drawn-out application process. I consented the forbearance and was immediately approved. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I get another IBR proof of income processing error message. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : One employer sends proof of income to Navient. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : Officially requested HR from my second job to forward my proof of income to Navient. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : One employer officially confirms receipt of document request after sending the documents to Navient. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : HR at second job confirmed again that they had sent my proof of income on XXXX. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : Emailed Navient once again. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : Called Navient, they said they never received any proof of income from my employers. Contacted HR of both jobs asking them to resubmit proof of income once again. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I get another IBR proof of income processing error message, but THIS one had more than just three options of proof of income available such as : Pay stubs Severance pay ***A letter ( s ) from your employer ( s ) that must : Have a date List your gross pay, Show pay  frequency, Be on company letterhead or contain a signature from a company official ***Interest or bank statements ( should show the income/deposit on the statement ) Dividend statements *A contract for residency and teachers Taxable social security income Unemployment Benefits ***Forms of income proof that both my employers and I have submitted multiple times at this point in the timeline. I have also mentioned the fact that I am a *teacher to countless representatives at Navient and no one has mentioned the teacher contract option. However, I assume my employer documentation could basically double as that. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : Requested a resubmission of my XXXXXXXX from my employer but there was some confusion when I checked the website. Both Navient and XXXX ( my other student loan servicer ) appeared to have accepted my IBR applications and my payments looked delayed on both sites. I wrote HR back and told them to disregard my email. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : Response email from HR confirming that they had sent the message to both groups. So I waited a little bit. 

XXXX/XXXX/XXXX : I called Navient. The customer service agent was extremely rude despite how ridiculously polite I was being all things considered. I used to work in customer service and know how this game works. She was being so rude that I asked to speak to a manager. She flatly said No. She said that the instructions for submitting proof of income were CLEARLY '' laid out on the website. I explained to her that, no, it was far from clear. I still wanted to speak to a manager. She mumbled something about it being a 30-minute wait and put me on hold. The call eventually dropped. 

So I called the HR offices at both my schools to request a corrected copy of my proof of income be resent. They kindly agreed, and one of them sent me a copy of the documentation to look over. Everything looked exactly as Navient asked for. 

I called Navient back to inform them that my employers had submitted my proof of income and would the agent please put a note on my account. She said she would. Im positive it was the same rep. 

XXXX : I emailed Navient again to check on the progress of my application and the email bounced back. This is the last straw. I have been patient enough. 

Navient 's website is in no way easy to navigate or user-friendly. Much of my documentation that has been electronically uploaded to the site by the company itself is posted a day after the document was actually written and dated. There is no way to access correspondence documents from Navient through the initial Account Summary page. I have to go back to one of my three email addresses that all receive mail at varying points from Navient. I click on the link in the email and only then can I be taken to another log-in page despite being already logged into the website. From the email accessed second login screen, I can finally see a message history and read PDFs of the unhelpfully vague and often misspelled replies from the Navient customer service agents. 

In conclusion, several rounds of corrected income proof have now been submitted to Navient. I am a newly graduated XXXX XXXX degree holder with a ton of debt and two adjunct faculty member positions at both a college and a major university. I am getting paid less than my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX classes in higher ed, working multiple jobs outside of teaching and still barely making ends meet. I completely qualify for this program. I can not pay down my loans at all at the moment, and I can not keep pushing them into forbearance. 

Frankly, its hard not to feel as if this is being made intentionally difficult for the purposes of gaining more profit. My other student loan company has deferred my loans using almost exact criteria for submission of the proof of income materials. One works, Navient doesnt.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation