Consumer complaint received 2016-04-27
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: TN
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Can't repay my loan
Sub-issue: Can't get flexible payment options

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX I received a XXXX XXXX Tuition Answer Student Loan in the amount of {$20000.00}. I am listed as the Student Borrower/Co-Signer of the loan. I completed XXXX school in XX/XX/XXXX ( A long time I know ) and then went to graduate school. I utilized forbearance and in-school deferment options all I could but during my 2nd year of XXXX school I received notice that I no longer qualified for assistance and would need to start paying my loan immediately. The monthly loan amount was more than {$400.00} per month and as a XXXX student with a salary of only {$5800.00} a year this was a struggle. 

After finishing XXXX school the job market was less than ideal. I missed some payments and got behind. I contacted XXXX XXXX for assistance and they informed me that the only program I qualified for was a " rate reduction program ''. In this program they reduce your interest rate to 1 % and you pay the interest on your loan ONLY. None of the money goes towards the principal which has now exploded to just over {$54000.00}. 

I now have a secure job and I have been making payments and each month I pay what I can and the principal NEVER goes down. As a young consumer at the time of this loan I feel like I was taken advantage of by XXXX XXXX. It is n't that I do n't want to pay my loan, it is more that I have made payments for XXXX years and my loan balance has n't decreased a cent. XXXX XXXX, now Navient, simply collects money from me every month and calls the program a way to help consumers. This does n't HELP consumers, it suffocates them. I am a teacher so I will never make enough money to make the monthly payments that they want from me and LIVE. 

I reached out to them to see if we could settle this account for a smaller amount and they declined. I filed a complaint with the XXXX about their predatory lending techniques and they sent me a letter with the promissory note included. According to a XXXX XXXX XXXX with the Office of Customer Advocate, the Rate Reduction Program, " is a special modification program that is designed to assist customers in resolving delinquency and repaying their student loans ''. 

The problem is, the Rate Reduction Program DOES NOT help consumers repay their student loans, it helps make the pockets of Navient thicker by collecting " interest only '' payments from those who are financially struggling. Here is an idea Navient, if you really want to help consumers repay their student loans why do n't you take the interest rate down to 0 % for one year and allow them to make a pre-set payment that will ACTUALLY help them pay down their principal. 

As I said before, I want to pay my debt back, but I do n't think it is right for me to have made payments for 3 years and still owe the same amount. This is n't helping me " repay my student loan '' it is helping Navient MAKE money off of a person who ca n't afford the full monthly payment on their {$20000.00} loan that has EXPLODED to {$54000.00} because of a crazy high interest rate.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation