Consumer complaint received 2017-09-19
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC.
State: ID
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
My original loan debt was about {$32000.00}. I was making regular payments from about XXXX to XXXX. In XXXX of XXXX I got divorced and became a single parent supporting XXXX children on my own. In early XXXX ( about ) financial struggles set in and I had trouble making my payment. I was offered forbearance for several months. It sounded like a great offer at the time so I took it and I continued to take offer after offer to keep my loans in forbearance until recently. The reason I stayed in forbearance time after time because it was so easy to get approved to do this a matter of minutes and also because of my situation as a single parent. From XXXX to about XXXX I was paying over {$1200.00} a month in daycare along with regular living expenses. During this time and into XXXX I experienced several medical expenses including XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX  XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX & XXXX, XXXX  and XXXX expenses for me and XXXX of my children. Although insurance helped, my policies did not cover any of the XXXX XXXX or XXXX costs and I found myself with a lot of medical debt. I also found myself in a XXXX and sought XXXX help. I got behind on my power bills resulting in having it shut off twice, had several expenses related to a XXXX automobile that was included in the several recalls ( for air bags, shorting of door wires, ignition switches, etc ) then in early XXXX I got behind on my mortgage. Once you are behind and experiencing late fees, etc., it is impossible to get caught up. In XXXX of XXXX I was able to modify my mortgage and things started looking up. I entered a debt management program offered by XXXX XXXX and was able to reach the goal of getting enough debt paid off that I could once again start payments on my student loans. It was during this program that I received a budget counselor who helped me understand that having my student loan in forbearance was significantly adding to the principal balance. I remembered discussing with the servicer that the interest would be capitalized during the forbearance periods, but I thought this would be a minimal amount. Once me and my budget counselor looked into the details of my finances, I realized the principal balance of my loan had gone up to {$52000.00}. With the help of the XXXX XXXX program, I was able to pay down several thousand dollars in debt and finally had enough money to start paying my loans again. At this time, I had applied for the Income Driven program ( which does not consider monthly expenses ) and my payment was just over {$300.00} manageable. Then a couple months later it went up to {$470.00} not manageable. I also made an inquiry directly to Navient asking if I took funds out of my retirement and paid the initial loan amount off, if they would write off the capitalized interest. I was told no, so I followed up with a phone call shortly after to ask again. I talked with someone who was very hard to understand ( foreign ) and very short and not helpful in any way. Out of frustration, I gave up on this hope. I am finding myself once again getting behind and juggling bills. I was tempted to ask for forbearance again when I reached out to a company called XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) who were able to present me with an offer to have the government buy the loan for the full amount owed. My monthly payment would be lower and the government would pay my interest for the first 3 years. By signing up for this program I will save over {$62000.00}. I have been approved and have everything in place. I feel this is my only option and plan on signing the documents today. So, my {$32000.00} education would have cost {$120000.00} through Navient, but by entering this program, it will cost {$67000.00}. I need to know who to ask for help to maybe get any additional relief from this increase. I have documentation to verify the hardships I have experienced along with further paper work from Navient if required. 
Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation