Consumer complaint received 2021-04-06
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: FL
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Don't agree with the fees charged

Complaint:
Navient Account # XXXX I started with loans of around {$18000.00} and was garnished for 12 years, I now owe around {$30000.00}. 

I graduated in XXXX. I paid some payments through the years but finally defaulted after some financial difficulties. In XXXX, XXXX XXXX  ( I think ) contacted me about rehabilitating my loan. They said if I paid {$150.00} per month for a year then my credit would be cleared and I could just keeping making payments. Nothing was ever mentioned about higher payments in the future. 

After the year of full payments on time, they said I had to make {$400.00} a month payments. I said I couldn't, so they said they would garnish my wages. I let that go through since at the time they could only garnish 10 %, which was less than the {$400.00} a month. I figured they would just take it out of my paycheck & it would be paid off. They never mentioned that they were required to negotiate a monthly amount with me, as I have since found they were required to. They said pay the {$400.00} or be garnished. 

Later the garnishment went up to 15 % due to a change in Florida law. I was garnished for 12 years. When I called to get a status after the 12 years, they said I still owed about {$30000.00} ( the original loan was {$18000.00} ). When I tried to contact the servicer at that time, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, I think run under XXXX XXXX, their website was gone & the phone number directed me to Sallie Mae, who had no information on any outstanding loans. I checked with my employer & got the name of the collection agent, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I contacted them & now they said I owe about {$40000.00}! If I'm making payments, then how could my balance have gone up in 1 year.? They sent me paperwork & pushed me to reconsolidate. All of this is not 100 % since Im going from memory and I have been confused between who holds the loan and who services the loan, and then it gets sold so Im confused again. 

I have included Navients documentation of my loan payments. I also printed the payment history from XXXX XXXX website. It shows I have paid {$92000.00} on what was originally an $ XXXX loan! 

In addition, Navient said back then that they had no record of payments from me except for the garnishment payments. I found the history of my payments on I think the XXXX XXXX  or Sallie Mae site & sent it to them. 

I submitted a complaint to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Navient denied to the CFPB that I had made any payments other than the garnishments, but you can see from both their list and the XXXX XXXX list that I have. I told the CFPB that Navient was wrong or lying, and the next thing I know, they cancelled my garnishment. I thought maybe they had agreed that I had more than paid for this loan, but apparently they just sold it to XXXX XXXX XXXX since it had become a problem account. 

I asked for a hearing, as was my right. I never got one. Most of the above information I sent to the hearing officer. One the date & time of my hearing appointment, no one called. I called Navient & they said the officer suspended my payments & there would be no hearing. This went for a couple of years. Now every year or so I get another letter from another collector. I send them the information preceding this, including the CFPB complaint, and ask for a hearing. I get nothing. They are not garnishing my wages right now, but they are still taking my tax refunds. I recently heard again from XXXX again & sent them the previous information & asked for a hearing. Instead of a hearing, I received a history of my payments & a letter from Navient mostly talking about my credit report. I don't know if they are seeking garnishment again. 

I am so confused & don't understand how I can pay so much & have my balance go up. I don't even understand the relationship between all the parties involved. I am XXXX years old & coming up on retirement & can't afford to pay {$400.00} a month again, especially if the principal goes up instead of down. That's insane. I feel that since I have paid more than 4 times what I owed, even with penalties and interest, that this loan should be considered paid off. 

Please help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation