Consumer complaint received 2017-09-30
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: HI
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 Navient manages a series of federal student loans I took out during college. I 've spoken with their call center ( located in the XXXX XXXX multiple times as I prepared to pay off the loans that were un-subsidized and at a higher interest rate. After considerable financial planning, I took my inheritance from my mom and very, very clearly instructed Navient over the phone to pay my highest interest, XXXX  loan in full : {$4700.00}. 

Because of the emotional attachment I had to this inheritance from my mom, I was extremely careful and extremely clear and talked to three clerks at the call center before finding one that undoubtedly knew exactly what I was asking for, and she confirmed that we could pay for that single loan without a problem and she told me by phone that I had paid the loan XXXX XXXX XXXX in full, and would get the official letter confirming this loan had been paid off. 

Although I believe the clerks intentions were good, when I reviewed the emails, paperwork, and online account information on my payment of {$4700.00}, I discovered that Navient had distributed the {$4700.00} across all of the loans - most of which went towards lower interest loans, subsidized loans, and loans that qualified for forgiveness. They did not follow my instructions and did not do what we had agreed upon. I think they did this on purpose because I was making a wise financial decision by paying off my worst loan first ( it was not consolidated - so it was not part of a grouping of loans ). It really appears that they lied to me in order to charge me more money in the long-term. 

I am worried that they will not fix this - particularly since the only record of my request would be their recording ( I did not record the phone call - but I will record all of my phone calls with Navient from now on and will let them know I 'm doing so at the start of each conversation ). 

My mom worked so hard to save that money, and I have all these memories from childhood of her leaving at sunrise for work and not being home until late ... she wanted to help me go to college, but because of life 's misfortunes she could not. She left me that gift when she passed on, and I was trying to use it for what she would have wanted - my college education - and Navient disrespected that by trying to make more money off me by distributing the payment across loans instead of the one we agreed upon over the phone. 

I really worry about other people in a similar circumstance as me, but who are n't keeping detailed records and who do n't have time to double checking that what Navient does matches with what they said over the phone. What they did to me was an easy/deceitful way to make me owe more money for a longer amount of time. 

Thank you for bringing attention to this. My biggest concern is that this was not a mistake ( because I 'm sure the clerk and I were on the same page ) - but part of an organized effort by Navient as an institution to charge more interest and make more money by not following the instructions of those that try to pay off higher interest unsubsidized student loans first.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation