Consumer complaint received 2017-12-19
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: PA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, Navient calls me regarding being delinquent. I was informed for the VERY FIRST TIME that they " have lots of options '' to lower my payment AND interest rate. The rep on the phone was pretty confident that I 'd qualify after I told him I owe over {$100000.00} in student loans and can not even qualify to refinance anything nor get a mortgage because all my debt ; and that I 've been using debt to pay for debt. So, the rep and I went through an application process, verbally, and then was told I did not qualify because I have a loan in a Grace Period and one of my loans was paid ahead. I asked if I could get some of my loans on a lower payment plan because I 've been in hardships before and it 's about to get really tough for me in one to two months because of my Federal Loans, and he came back and said he could not. He would n't use my Federal Student Loan debt as a factor in the equation because they were n't in repayment at this time. 
I then spoke with a Supervisor who told me " we will not be lowering your payments '' and very stern about it, so I asked to speak to a manager. The manager told me that based on the information I provided on the phone, there was no way I use {$500.00} for food a month and that the information I provided would no way be accurate ... I told her I could show proof my hardship if needed and if she felt that my food expenses were too high then to remove it from the equation..she said no, and even so I have a " disposable income of {$270.00} '' dollars. I told Navient that in XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX that my Federal loans are coming into repayment and will exceed that disposable income {$270.00} ; I also told Navient that I 've been begging FOR YEARS for some kind of relief on my loans and have many hardships over the course of my repayment. I specifically have a loan with an interest rate of OVER 16 % and have been trying SO hard to pay it off and Navient just will not let me..this year, they just increased my interest rate and have be on a " fixed variable '' rate where the " rate will only ever go up and never go down. '' I asked Navient why I was never offered any relief over the course of seven years ( since graduating in XX/XX/XXXX ) and there were times when I had little to no disposable income and have been using a {$20000.00} XXXX Loan to pay my private loans ( I 'm " robbing XXXX to pay XXXX  '', metaphorically speaking '' ). I 've had quite a hardship trying to pay off my loans and Navient ( and XXXX XXXX when they serviced my account ) intentionally hid options to help me. I 've been drowning in debt for years and for years I 've made it clear to Navient that I needed help ; and they just tell me today that I have options, but just do n't quality at this time based on a verbal application.

I want my account reviewed and not just by a manager. I also want my interest rates reviewed at each time the interest rate increased. I ask this because there was one call  where I disputed the interest rate increase and was also told that the rate " incorrectly increased when the Federal rate actually went down '' and it was like pulling teeth to try to get Navient to fix it which they NEVER did. I want to go as far back to the beginning of my repayment plan when the option to 'lower the interest rate was available so that my balance is reduced. I will provide any proof of past and current hardship if necessary. 

I also want to note that my loans were once with XXXX XXXX who told me in XX/XX/XXXX that I  could do private loan consolidation to get my interest rate lowered and pay off my loans quicker ... but was told to wait until I was done with school. I waited, and then was told that the option no longer exists. After that, I 've tried other companies and I not qualify for private loan consolidation because of my income to debt ratio being so terrible. If I would have done the consolidation in the beginning of my repayment rather than being coerced to give more money just for interest, then I would n't have such a high balance with them and I would n't be delinquent..I 'd have a lower balance if most of my payments were applied to principle over the last seven years and not to forever increasing interest.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation