Consumer complaint received 2017-09-12
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: MA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
Formal Complaint and Requested Appeal Regarding Student Loan Forgiveness To Whom it May Concern : I am writing in regards to the Public Loan Forgiveness program, the mistreatment and negligence on the part of my loan service providers in relation to my loans, and to ask for the forgiveness of my loans. My objective is that some action be taken to resolve the problem that has been brought to my attention by my current loan servicer, XXXX XXXX. 

I contacted XXXX XXXX as my recertification of income information is due for my income based repayment plan. It is my understanding, now, that one needs to be on an income based repayment plan and be employed through public service for a payment to be eligible. I did not know that since the time that I started to go into repayment on my loans because I was not informed, despite asking. I was given the wrong information for many years by two loan service companies, XXXX ( now Navient ) and XXXX. It has put me in a situation where I am being told currently, only 47 of my payments qualify towards loan forgiveness, when I have been in public service, employed as a school psychologist, and paying my loans, since XXXX of XXXX. I currently should be qualifying for Public Loan Forgiveness, but because of the misinformation that was provided to me by the companies listed, I am being told that I have another potential four years before my loans are forgiven. This is criminal and unacceptable. I will explain. 

When my loans entered repayment in XXXX, I spoke to a representative through XXXX. I remember the first conversation clearly because I ended up calling again after speaking with the first representative because his accent was so thick ( he was from XXXX ), that I could not understand what he was saying. This was the person disseminating information to me regarding how I should handle thousands of dollars I was now responsible for after acquiring my education. I was making around XXXX that year and I received a bill for {$1000.00} a month from XXXX. I was calling to get on a plan that wouldnt cost that much a month. I was asking what plans were available that would best meet my needs. I spoke to several representatives in numerous calls through telephone communication. I did the same when my loans were switched to XXXX. I believe I may have had another loan servicer between the two who was equally as negligent, but I can not keep track of how many times this changed. The servicer did not change because of anything I had done. My loan servicers were assigned to me. The question I was asking, repeatedly, was, What is the payment plan I should be on so that I am able to meet other monthly expenses while not paying off the loans for the rest of my life? They had the information regarding my employment and asked me where I was employed. They had the knowledge of the repayment plan I needed and they did not provide it to me. I had asked about the Public Loan Forgiveness plan, they told me about the plan and I was always told that I was, All set. I had no idea that for years I was paying on some kind of repayment plan that would not qualify for the loan forgiveness program. I was never informed of this even though I worked hard to attempt to get the information from them. 

I do not have a degree in business, I am not savvy on the ins and outs of the loan system and I was relying on the guidance of representatives through SallieMae, now Navient and XXXX XXXX, to assist me in paying off my loans within the shortest time period with the smallest long-term financial cost. The information that was provided to me recently indicates that this is not what has happened. I was deceived by these people and it was my right to know, especially if I was asking the specific questions, what I needed to do to be a part of the Public Loan Forgiveness program. It was the responsibility of those people with whom I was speaking to guide me, to inform me, and to provide the best possible solution for my loans. If I am truly being denied access to loan forgiveness because of the mistakes of my service providers, and the intentional deception of the loan service provider to acquire more of my hard earned money. They created obstacles to repayment by providing bad information, and illegally cheated me out of my right to lower payments, which caused me to overpay for my loans.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation