Consumer complaint received 2017-02-09
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: OH
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Having problems with customer service

Complaint:
In 2011, I had met the published requirements for release of cosigner ( 24 on-time payments, steady employment history, etc. ) with XXXX ( now Navient ), and had contacted the company to begin the process to do so. I called XXXX XXXX to discuss obtaining the paperwork, and the customer service representative that I spoke in the initial phone call assumed that I would not be able to qualify when they re-read all of the requirements back to me, forcing me to re-acknowledge back to them everything that I had already done in preparation for my initial phone call. 

I was finally able to receive and submit the paperwork having met all of the requirements, and found out about a month later that I was denied. The customer service representative I spoke with on my follow-up call was very unhelpful and in my frustration I requested more detailed information on the specific underwriting requirements that my request was being held to. It is my understanding that when you are denied for a credit product ( as I had been ), you are entitled to the specific reason for the denial, as well as a free credit report. This particular customer service representative at XXXX XXXX tried explaining that I was too risky of a customer to allow cosigner release, without giving me the specific details of my risk level, or any kind of useful information I could use to better my credit situation. I then became increasingly agitated while on the phone resulting in directly asking what I needed to do to get released, and the representative told me that if I applied and received a mortgage, that would help me qualify. That statement as horrible financial advice instantly offended me, as I believe it to be illegal to tell consumers to go into more debt to qualify for a loan product. 

As a responsible young adult at the age of XXXX with a sizable student loan balance, even with a steady job in my field of study, I was under the impression that I would not qualify for a mortgage at that particular point in time, due to my loan balances being too high in proportion to the original amount borrowed. This turned out to be the actual reason I was denied release of cosigner, and I was only able to obtain this very pertinent piece of information I found out through requesting my credit report at a later date. As a result of not being able to modify my loan, I believe that it had an adverse impact on my cosigner 's mortgage rate, my younger siblings ' student loan rates, and my personal stress and anxiety level. 

Fortunately shortly after the Navient split, I qualified for a private student loan consolidation with XXXX and have enjoyed their excellent customer service and interest rates, and never have to do business with Navient again. After my consolidation loan was funded by XXXX, Navient once again proved to be a difficult company to do business with and refused to release the overpayment amount to XXXX, instead issuing me XXXX separate checks, XXXX for each loan that was paid in full, when it was explicitly instructed that any over-payment amount should be returned to the other lender. It baffles my mind how they would assume that somehow I would be able to do anything with those checks, and when I called requesting that they do what they were supposed to, I was met with resistance and misunderstanding of a simple process that happens hundreds of times a day in the financial sector. 

I recently became aware of the pending litigation against Navient on numerous allegations of misapplication of payments, unclear information provided to customers, and most importantly their lack of providing information on how to qualify for cosigner release. I wish to add my story to the latter complaint, and do not require any response from the company as I have already terminated my business relationship with them and am thoroughly enjoying not having to deal with them anymore.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation