Consumer complaint received 2017-02-27
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: IL
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Can't repay my loan
Sub-issue: Can't decrease my monthly payments

Complaint:
I continue to have ongoing issues with my private student loans that are serviced by Navient. In XXXX I first submitted a complaint to CFPB about Navient wanting me to pay in excess of {$1100.00} per month for my private student loans ( on top of what I was paying for my federal student loans ). I paid what amount I could each month. They repeatedly made harassing phone calls to the employer of my mother, father, and me after it was requested that they stopped calling. Only after this complaint was submitted was I offered lower payments of {$420.00} per month under their " Rate Reduction Program ''. However, I first had to pay the {$420.00} for three consecutive months ( all while the $ XXXX payments are still being negatively reported on my credit, interest being capitalized, and payments being applied only to interest ) in order to be " enrolled ''. I have been in this program and paid on time through automatic withdrawals ( was told this was the only way I could pay ) for the past 14 months. 

I recently received a letter from Navient stating that my enrollment in the program was ending and that my automatic payments will be increasing. Therefore I called to request an extension in the program. I was first told that my cosigner needed to call in to provide a statement of income. After that was completed, I called and provided my income statement as requested on XX/XX/XXXX. During this time, the Navient representative ran my credit without my permission and asked " Why I had a second vehicle in my name ''. I was also asked about merchant credit card accounts and what items I was purchasing from them and why. The representative stated that I had no late payments on my credit report except for the Navient payments and hinted that I needed to do the same for their payments. I was bullied about providing my spouses income and I explained that her name was not on any of my loans and they were taken out before we even met. I was told that her information was required to see how much money was in my household. I further explained to the representative that I had an unborn child on the way and that my forbearance on my federal loans that I was using in order to pay the private loans would soon be running out. I told him that money was already very tight and my credit cards were maxed out due to these payments and that I needed to reduce these payments in order to stay current on my payments. The representative informed me that my monthly expenses exceeded my monthly income and I agreed. Unfortunately, even though my income has not increased, I was told that the temporary XXXX interest would be increasing to XXXX and my payments would be increasing from {$420.00} per month to {$530.00} per month. I explained that I could not afford that much and I needed a decreased amount to stay current. I was told that was all that could be offered and I replied that I needed to sit down and figure out what to do and I would call back. The representative told me that the offered terms may not be available when I call back and stated that I was turning down his offer. I replied that I was not turning it down but that I just needed some time to look things over after receiving the news of the increase. The representative said that I may have to go through all this again when I call back. Furthermore, he explained that rate reduction program was a stair-step program, and that interest and payment amounts would continue to increase until I reached the original monthly payments of $ XXXX per month. I replied that all of my private student loan balances have more than doubled due to high interest.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation