Consumer complaint received 2017-01-27
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: NY
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are handled

Complaint:
XX/XX/2006 I applied for a XXXX loan from XXXX XXXX ( which is now Navient ) in the amount of {$10000.00}. At the time, I was a student with no income and so I had my then husband co-sign the loan for me. My husband and I subsequently divorced a few years later and about a year ago I applied to have my ex-husband removed from the account. The criteria listed on Navient 's website that would qualify a borrower for co-signer release is the following : 1. Provide proof of successful completion of school, 2. Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, 3. Be up to date and have made 12 consecutive on-time payments of principal and interest immediately before applying, and 4. Pass a credit check including income verification when the release request is processed. 
I did not hear back and figured it had been approved until my ex-husband called and asked about the release. I called Navient and was told that my application had been denied due to " insufficient income. '' I was shocked to hear this considering that, at the time, I earned an annual salary of {$110000.00}. To put it in perspective, I took home approximately {$5600.00} a month and the Navient payment on my total loan ( including another small loan ) has been about {$150.00} a month. At the time I was denied I also had fulfilled the other three requirements and, in fact, had made every payment over nearly ten years on time ( 12 consecutive on-time payments are required ). 

I was told that there was no appeals process and that I had to re-apply. Upon re-application, I was again denied. This time Navient cited " serious delinquency, public record, collection on file // balances on revolving accounts too high in proportion to limits //proportion of loan balances to loan amounts too high // amount owed on accounts is too high // insufficient income. '' Although my credit is not spotless, this explanation does not accurately reflect my credit profile. Nor does it, once again, make sense that I would be rejected based on " insufficient income, '' especially considering that, at the time of the re-application, I was earning over {$XXXX} a year. 

Moreover, Navient does not provide any defining criteria for what constitutes " passing '' a credit check. As most people know, one lender may approve you based on your credit score/report while another may reject you. Thus, the requirement of " passing '' a credit check is wholly arbitrary and does not give the borrower an understanding of why he or she would be denied release of a co-signor. 

As XXXX XXXX XXXX, an adviser for XXXX opined, in order to release a co-signer, " the primary borrower needs to demonstrate that he has the tools, knowledge and experience to be successful in repayment on his own. '' As outlined above, the fact that I have paid on time every month for, not only the required time period, but for nearly ten years, that the monthly payment on the loan is XXXX of my monthly take home pay and that my credit is sufficient given the other factors, I have clearly met Navient 's criteria for release of a co-signor and demonstrated that I can successfully make the loan repayment. My repayment profile offers absolutely no risk to the creditor, and the co-signor should be released immediately from the account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation