Consumer complaint received 2018-06-06
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: MA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
I've held a private student loan with Navient Solutions , LLC . ( XXXX XXXX formerly Sallie Mae ) since XX/XX/XXXX. Since the start of my loan, I've had issue after issue with the company. From allocating my payments incorrectly during the repayment process - to encouraging co-signer release at just XXXX years old - to failure to notify me of major account changes which resulted in capitalized interest and fees - my entire experience with Navient ( Sallie Mae ) has been a costly and stressful nightmare.

On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my Navient account online and noticed a payment of {$40.00}. was made to my account that I personally did not make. I immediately called Navient customer service and notified the representative that a payment was incorrectly made to my account. They confirmed the payment was made by check and insisted it was made by me. I again told them that the payment was not made by me. First of all - I never make payments via check, my payments are always made electronically right on the website. And second - my payments are always in the {$300.00}. range ... never just {$40.00}. so I knew this was not my check. I asked to see a copy of the check and they said it would take 11 days to generate. So I waited the 11 days and called back on XX/XX/XXXX. Again, I explained the situation to the Navient customer service representative and he faxed me over a copy of the check.

Upon receiving the check, I immediately realized that this check belonged to another person, with a similar name yet all of the account details, address and Navient account # s were different. It was so obvious that it was not my check. Its as if whoever processed it was so lazy and incompetent that they didnt even thoroughly check for the right account, they must have just applied it to the first account that came up in their search with the same last name. Furthermore, Navient has now provided me with this other account holders banking account information and routing number at XXXX XXXX XXXX as well as additional personal PRIVATE information. To make matters even worse ... they wrote MY social security number on the check along with the other account holders information.

Because Navient was useless in helping me resolve it - I called XXXX XXXX XXXX. I was able to reach customer service there just by entering the account information from the check. I explained to the representative the story behind this mix up and they said that since the check has already been applied - there's nothing they can do. They said that unless the 'other ' account holder calls regarding not seeing her payment posted, there's nothing they can do about it.

Frustrated, I tried finding this other person online. I tried calling her house phone by looking up her address. I tried messaging her on social media to explain what happened. And all of my attempts were to no avail. I decided to let some time pass and hoped that Navient would catch the mistake and reconcile it on the back end. However, Ive just logged into my account online today, XX/XX/XXXX and I see that ANOTHER payment from the same person, in the amount of {$40.00}. was subsequently applied to my account on XX/XX/XXXX.

Now, I am in absolute disbelief. How is this company still doing business? Their practices are unlawful and their integrity has been severely compromised. When is enough, enough with this loan provider?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation