Consumer complaint received 2023-04-11
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: SC
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
I have had a Sallie Mae/Navient private student loan since XXXX. It is now XXXX, and I still owe more than what I originally took out. For years, I have BEGGED Navient to assist me with making affordable monthly payments, and they have never truly helped me. My solutions were to either pay the amount given, enter an " interest-only '' payment plan where the loan is put into forbearance and I pay the interest that accrues, or pay a {$50.00} fee to put the loan into forbearance for a few months. Since the interest only payments were still too high, and they would not make my payments affordable for my {$7.00} an hour income, I had no choice but to put the loan into forbearance and also because I did not want anything to negatively effect my cosigner. Once they told me I had " run out of forbearances, '' I called asking them what I could do now. They told me to simply pay off the loan. When I told them I couldn't afford it, they suggested I get a 2nd job. All of this is documented on their recorded calls. I decided my next course of action would be to do just that. I got a 2nd job and decided to start the process for cosigner release. The instructions were to make 12 on time monthly payments in order to qualify. I paid well over 12 months of monthly payments before applying. However, once I did, Navient told me that my income was too low and my credit was not high enough. I decided then to build my credit and get another job and try again. However, once again, I was denied. After that, I fell into a financial hardship due to being laid off. I called Navient to ask what my options were, and they told me nothing except entering an interest only payment plan. I told them that I was unemployed and begged them to understand that I had a child that would go without if I had to continue paying them almost {$200.00} a month. However, they did not care. When the Navient settlement came out, which indicated that Navient was forcing people into forbearance and not offering affordable payment plans to borrowers, I knew I would qualify due to having to pay to put my loan into forbearance for months. However, Navient told me that my loan did NOT qualify for forgiveness at all when my circumstances are identical to those who were given forgiveness. I have tried for years to find a resolution with this company, and now I am at my wits end. I've never filed a complaint before, even though I've had every right to do so for years. However after reaching out to counsel this is what was suggested as Step 1. Considering those 13 states, including mine, filed a lawsuit for the same thing I have been through only shows that this company has been keeping borrowers in debt purposely for YEARS and the fact that my loan was not in the running only further proves my point. I've been forced to reenter forbearance and interest only plans over and over just to be able to " afford '' a monthly payment when these payments have not gone towards my loan at all. I have made on time payments for years and have been continuously denied cosigner release. I believe I have overqualified for the Navient Settlement and was not given relief. Even right now, I am in an interest only plan because they refuse to help me by lowering my regular payment. This is not fair to me at all, and I hope that this complaint can result in some sort of resolve that will help me remove this burden. Thank you in advance for your time, and I hope to hear from someone soon.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation