Consumer complaint received 2017-02-10
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: WA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are handled

Complaint:
After filing my taxes in XX/XX/XXXX, I was waiting for my refund to be deposited into my bank account and when I did n't see it, decided to check my XXXX. On the day I was supposed to receive the refund, it stated that it had been taken due to an offset posted by the Department of Education for a defaulted loan. I was not aware of any defaulted loans and was definitely not provided with any notice by phone, mail, or email, that an offset had been placed ( which I learned recently violates federal law ). 

I immediately contacted the Department of Education who said that the offset was placed by Navient. I then contacted Navient, who claimed they do n't post offsets and was put in contact with someone at XXXX, who then pointed me to a company called XXXX. Not one of these agencies was able to tell me who placed the offset, why I received no notice and where the money had actually gone. I was then placed in a conference call between Navient and the Department of Education, both agencies were claiming that the other was the servicer of this loan. This seemed like a good explanation to me for why this loan was put into default in the first place. I have paid at least XXXX different agencies monthly payments for this loan since I opened it with XXXX yet none of those payments were posted and the loan defaulted. 

I then entered into a loan rehabilitation agreement with XXXX to get the loan out of default and the offset removed. As of XX/XX/XXXX, the loan is no longer defaulted. 

I have applied twice to have my tax return refunded to me on the grounds that I received no advance notice of the offset, I was unemployed at the time of the offset ( which, if nothing else, should have qualified me for " financial hardship '' ), and I immediately entered into a loan rehabilitation program to fix the problem. 

Twice now I have been denied. The first time because I " did n't provide the correct documentation ''. I was unemployed and had no paystubs and asked ahead of time if I should provide documents from the Unemployment Security Department and was told " that was n't necessary ''. The second time I was denied ( XX/XX/XXXX ) was because : " My account has been rehabilitated. '' Neither of these reasons is just, nor are they consistent. 

After receiving this letter yesterday, I immediately called Navient/XXXX to discuss this matter with someone on the phone. After being prompted to enter my social security number, I was informed that Navient/XXXX does not service my loan and that I should contact the Department of Education. Sound familiar? This is the second time in a year that I have been told that my student loan servicer does n't service my loan. It is going to be very difficult, if not impossible to keep this loan out of default if no one is servicing it. It is also the reason it was defaulted in the first place. 

Last year I made a whopping {$8500.00} XXXX and the {$900.00} taken by this offset, while being unemployed, accounted for almost XXXX % of my income and was detrimental. 

Not related to this loan, but still relevant is the fact that since I ended my schooling XXXX years ago, my private loan ( also serviced by Navient, originally {$18000.00} XXXX has more than doubled to over {$45000.00}. 

I have tried calling, emailing, and writing Navient and XXXX dozens of times over the last year to no avail. I have received no explanation of how this happened or who actually services my loan. I feel that there has been gross mismanagement of my account and I am in desperate need of help. 

Thank you so much for your assistance with this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation