Consumer complaint received 2019-02-06
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: TX
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:
Once graduating from XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, I notified Salle Mae/ Navient I graduated and was no longer in school. My loan XXXX XXXX student loans were dispersed on XX/XX/XXXX. When I received my first loan statement after leaving school, I called Sallie Mae / Navient to ask about my account discrepancies ( loan amounts and default ) in the loan amounts. I asked why the loans were so high and asked them to verify the loan amounts. I was told by the customer service person she was sure they were correct but if I wanted to lower the monthly payment amounts, I should consolidate my loans. It was done while I was talking to here on the phone. I received the paperwork on how consolidating would affect my account later by email and mail. Consolidating changed my loan from 10 years to 30 years lower my payment by approximately {$30.00} and exponentially increased my debt. When I received the consolidation paperwork with the new statement, I called again to complain about negative effect the consolidation had on my account and how I was not made aware of the consequences before the consolidation. I was told nothing could be done. But I could pay my XXXX University Student loans first. Then the other loans would only then be due. So, I continued to pay back my first student loans from XXXX University. One time ( likely XXXX ), I sent a check with an over amount and the repayment coupon. I wrote on the check what month I was paying the payment for and the amount, then the amount of the extra money with a note that that it was to be apply to the principle. The note was on the check and coupon. The excess money I sent was applied to the interest. When I checked my account Salle Mae/ Navient statement and realized my overpayment amount was applied to interest. I specifically stated on the coupon and the check the breakdown of the additional funds. Of course, I called to complain. I was told there was nothing they could do. I never sent a payment with additional funds again. When I completed paying my first set of student loans, I called Salle Mae /Navient again to make payment arrangement for the second set of student loans. I was not able to make the payments as they appeared in my new coupon book. They were too high. I believe the were on the $ 600- {$800.00} range and my take home pay was in the range of {$2000.00} - {$3000.00} a month. I specifically asked if I could get the payments lowered so I could make sure it was within my budget. I was told NO I had to pay the full monthly amount. I repeated asked if they would work with my budget even asking to speak to a manager. I was again refused. I was told partial payment would result in penalties and the whole amount needed to be paid. The penalties could be higher than the payment. However, they did have a solution. Financial Hardship deferment. All my loans were deferred. And deferred and deferred. I called every few months asking to have my account reviewed and asking for repayment arrangement lower than my set loan amount and was denied every time, then placed back on deferment. I started working with a financial counselor with the XXXX XXXX. I explained my loan situation when we were going over my monthly bills. He urged me to call again and insist Sallie Mae / Navient work out a payment arrangement that fit my budget. My credit counselor had given me a realistic budget. I called again spoke to Salle Mae/ Navient and again was turned down. Although I began to call less frequent this cycle continued for years, until XXXX. Around late XXXX, I started hearing about income-driven repayment programs and other repayment options because students were having such a hard time with student loan creditors. By this time, I lived in XXXX and my work had literally been washed out during the Tax Day Flood in XX/XX/XXXX That year I didnt receive a regular paycheck ( if at all ) for 8 months out of that year. 
In early XXXX, I went to the Navient website and signed up for the Income-Driven repayment program with the Dept of Education. When I enrolled, I was given a letter stating my payment amount for the year would be {$40.00}. The was partially due to limited income for the year previous year. After the first year the repayment amount would be re-evaluated based on my XXXX income. I signed all the paperwork and was finally grateful I was able to start paying on this account based on my income. I had been asking for this option since XXXX XXXX. When I logged into my account to pay my first month payment. A fee had been placed on my account totaling over $ 1000+ from Salle Mae / Navient. I was distraught. I didnt have {$1000.00}. I would have taken me over 2 years of {$40.00} payments just to pay the fee. I had no idea what it was for. It had not been on my account previously. I was again deceived. I was done. I had to pay that fee before my {$40.00} payment would be applied. I quit. I had literally spent years asking for repayment help on the phoneLiterally crying, angrily asking to speak to management. Crying asking a creditor to take the money I had, but leaving enough for me to eat XXXX drive, work, live somewhere, and save ( which I could do either ). My heart fell because I was so excited about this repayment program. After so many years, I had been forced into paying for the school crime and forced to eat a bogus default and repaying to my XXXX University loans to completion. I had been complained for years to Sallie Mae management, the Dept of ED, the Ombudsman Office, University Management for years to no avail. Even the Ombudsman Office told me to work it out with my Sallie Mae / Navient or XXXX University on the times I called to complain, leaving them free to act as they will. Within six months, I heard again about thousand of people who were having the same issues as I had been historically having with Sallie Mae turned Navient. I was humiliated because I was now started to understand the harm being done. To add insult to injury AGAIN my greatly inflated loan was sold by those crooks with over {$10000.00} in fee 2 days before a court judged against them in a motion to dismiss part of the case. I have been contacted by numerous companies all claiming to own the loan. I going to fight this.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation