Consumer complaint received 2017-01-19
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: PA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about my loan

Complaint:
Several years ago I had fallen behind on one of my school loans issued by my school. I was current with all my federal loans at that time though. I had XXXX and XXXX XXXX as servicers of the federal loans. I received a call from someone claiming to be from the department of education and he informed me that I was going to be in default of my university-issued loan. He said if I consolidated the loan to XXXX XXXX that it would stop the process, plus put me into an income based repayment plan. I did not want to include the XXXX loans but he said that all my loans had to be included for it to be approved. So I was mailed XXXX + pages of paperwork to fill out - there were employment records, tax info, new promissory notes to XXXX XXXX, etc. It took me several days to complete, plus I had to include copies of pay stubs, taxes, etc. I faxed the completed forms to the company. I was contacted later by the person, stating that I was missing certain forms. I re-faxed them. He completed the paperwork and sent me another packet to sign. I did as instructed and was informed that all my loans were now with XXXX XXXX. I was also supposed to be in deferment. Looking back now, I wonder if the person I worked with was not actually a XXXX XXXX rep looking to bring in money. Shortly thereafter ( only a few months ), XXXX XXXX became Navient. I received a bill several months later from Navient, saying I was several months late on repayment and the monthly rate was 3 times what my repayment plan was for. I told them to was supposed to be deferred and that even if I were n't, my monthly payment was supposed to be much lower due to the income-based repayment plan. First they said they had no record of my agreement. Then they changed that to the claim that my repayment plan terms had expired. They put me in forebearance and I asked them to send me the income-based paperwork again. They said the papers would take a while to get there. They put me in forebearance but never did send the forms. I contacted them again and again they said they 'd send the forms. A coupe of more months went by and I never received the papers. I was offered forebearance again. Papers were supposed to be mailed, they never were. Late fees added, interest racked up, forbearance issued. We 've been going round like this now for several years. Sadly, I gave up years ago on getting any help from Navient. My loans have increased substantially due to interest and late fees. They make it almost impossible to get an answer or assistance. The last time I spoke with Navient was several months ago. My husband was losing hours at work and I work XXXX jobs ( both within my degree field, but both categorized " as needed '', so hours worked can vary from no hours to XXXX/wk depending on the month ) but we were struggling financially. I really hated having those late school loans over my head though, and wanted to attempt to bring them current. They offered me a repayment amount that was not within my means at that point. I told them so, but they still pushed the amount, claiming that even though my yearly income was low, my past few months income disqualified me from having no payment ( even though my I explained that both jobs are " per diet/adjunct '', and we have XXXX children in the home ). I reluctantly agreed. But I was never able to make a payment. It 's financially impossible at this point. Again, I received an email asking me to reply " yes '' for a forbearance. My forbearance has just recently run out again and I 'm again going to try to get some kind of affordable repayment plan, however, I have no faith in Navient to help me. And even if they offer a payment, the interest is so high that I know my loans will increase again due to interest not being paid through such a low payment. I fear that I will never be able to repay at this rate. So much for bettering myself through education.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation