Consumer complaint received 2020-03-02
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: TN
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I saw a notice on the Navient website telling me that I needed to submit my yearly Income-Based Repayment ( IBR ) recertification. 

I went to the Studentaid.gov website and did this on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I soon received an email from Studentaid.gov that I'd done this recertification too early. The notice was confusing in its wording, and it conflicted with the online notification I'd received from Navient that I needed to recertify. It said the following : -- -- - " Our records indicate that you are not due to recertify your income until XX/XX/XXXX. 
If this date has not hit yet, and you select this option, your servicer will not re-calculate your payment based on your updated information until XX/XX/XXXX. If you want your payment to be immediately recalculated, select the third option to have your payment recalculated immediately for the income-driven plan you are currently enrolled in. '' -- -- - The implication from this is that the servicer would wait to recalculate the updated information and would not do it right away. It clearly does NOT mean that the calculation would not be performed at all, and that the recertification application was invalid. As a result, I decided to let the recertification stand, confident that it would soon be valid, if not right away. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the following notice from Navient : -- -- - " XXXX, were unable to process your Income-Driven Repayment ( IDR ) plan Recertification Request at this time. You submitted your request before the recertification period. 
What you need to know : The recertification period begins 95 days prior to the expiration of your current IDR plan. If your intent was to have your IDR plan recalculated, please be aware that your Monthly Payments may increase if your family size and/or income has increased. 
What you need to do : If you would like to request that we recalculate your IDR plan, please log in to your account at Navient.com to download another form, or visit StudentLoans.gov to reapply. '' -- -- - Taken with the previous Studentaid.gov notice, I did not see this as contradictory, or as a notice that my IDR plan would not be recalculated at all ( since my family size and income had not changed ). Instead, I saw this as a notice that although I'd done the recertification application slightly early, it would still be valid ( because of the words " at this time '' ). 

I then received notice from Navient on XX/XX/XXXX stating that I had been granted an in-school deferment for the same loans that I was applying for recertification on. This message was contradictory to the previous messages and was confusing, implying that I didn't need to worry about recertification since I was in school. 

I subsequently received notice from Navient on XX/XX/XXXX stating that it was time to do my annual IBR recertification. Because I had already done this, and because of the wording in the previous messages I'd received, I thought the recertification I'd completed on XX/XX/XXXX would suffice for this. 

I also received a notice on XX/XX/XXXX of a pending change in loan terms ( putting me back on a standard repayment plan ). I had seen this before in previous years, and as with previous years, I interpreted it as a boilerplate notification of the change in terms that would occur if I did not recertify my IBR plan. Since I had done this recently, and since Navient had ( I assumed ) only just started working on it on XX/XX/XXXX, I was unconcerned by this. ( I also thought it might have to do with my dropping below half-time status in school, but since I'd already submitted my IBR recertification, I still saw it as not immediately relevant. ) On XX/XX/XXXX, to my surprise, I received notification that I was indeed entering standard repayment, and that I would have a large payment due shortly. 

Alarmed and surprised, I called Navient on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a customer service agent named XXXX. My notes from that call are as follows : -- -- - Call : XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX : Saw income-based renewal application in system. Unsure why wasnt processed. Checking ( Im on hold ). 
Said renewal app was sent too early ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and needed to be re-sent. 
She took me off autopay in case its not processed by XX/XX/XXXX ( the next payment date ) so I dont get billed with a massive payment, although she said the recertification application ( which I just did again ) should be processed by then. 
She said if it isnt, call them and theyll sort out the payment. 
-- -- - Panicking, I submitted a new IBR recertification per XXXX XXXX   recommendation. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that an extremely large amount of interest ( {$110000.00} ) had been capitalized in my account on XX/XX/XXXX. I took this to be related to the mixup over the IBR recertification, as I have owed a large balance for many years ( and been in and out of school since then ), but interest had never capitalized in this manner before. 

I called Navient again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with another agent about the interest capitalization. My notes from that call are as follows : -- -- - Call : XXXX (? ) ( female ) XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : I noticed interest capitalized ( {$110000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ). 
I was concerned about the capitalization, and also about my loan forgiveness schedule, if it would reset. 
XXXX said a lot of things happened at once. Deferment ended and renewal ended. She said an email was sent in XXXX asking me what I wanted them to do. I pointed out that I had just done the renewal application so I didnt think I needed to let them know. 
She sent the team an email and documented all this in my account. She asked for a reversal on the capitalized interest because I had done my renewal application in good faith. 
-- -- - Nothing happened. 

I called Navient several times after that to follow up, but my inquiries seemed to just disappear. The following are notes from subsequent calls : -- -- - Call : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX : Re : capitalized interest I reiterated my story. She said XXXX had already sent a notice/request to the back office to look into it. She said I should receive a letter with outcome and next steps. 
She said if I havent heard anything by EOD next Weds ( XXXX ), call back on Friday XXXX. 
-- -- - Status check on XX/XX/XXXX : still nothing. 

-- -- - Call : XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : She checked and said its still under review regarding timing of when various things occurred in the process. She didnt have a timeline for completion. 
-- -- - I never heard back on this issue. It just disappeared. 

My main concern is that the large amount of interest that capitalized will massively affect future interest going forward, i.e., I will be paying interest on a much larger amount of principal than I otherwise would have. This is not acceptable. I tried to work within the system in good faith, and this error was largely due to communication issues, ambiguous wording, and contradictory wording, yet I am being penalized heavily for it. 

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief