Consumer complaint received 2024-08-05
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Don't agree with the fees charged
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (CA)

XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, student XXXX Lender : Navient ( formerly Sallie Mae XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : Attempted to settle for XXXX XXXX of outstanding and removal of addition to credit bureaus, lender wants XXXX XXXX, in spite of all suits lost by school and lender for predatory practices. Have tried filing for XXXX XXXX XXXX, dept claims that can not help as loan remaining is private, and can not apply to loans I have already paid in full. 

Supplemental information regarding complaint against XXXX  XXXX XXXX, parent company XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Basis of complaint is financial harm ; I have been personally responsible for paying over XXXX XXXX for XXXX  years for a degree that is worthless ( {$760.00} for several years ) Told me I was signing a XXXX loan- been paying far longer ; signed documents without a clear explanation of how repayment works or who would be responsible or even that I would have no ability to change payment terms for XXXX  loan o Have had to have XXXX jobs for years to make ends meet and avoid default Was unable to negotiate with lender to transfer XXXX XXXX loan ( I made ALL payments ) to my name in order to consolidate loans or lower monthly payment Can not claim loan interest XXXX XXXX loan on my own taxes, in spite of making all payments during life of loan Unable to secure financial stability, have left hospitality industry twice in order to look for work in more stable industry School failed to educate students on how tipping works in spite of a Legal class ; left many of us open to being robbed of tips, myself included at a XXXX XXXX restaurant Was offered a settlement in exchange for NDA, declined. Have emails to support, if required Have been penalized for working to attempt to avoid default and protect credit so that XXXX XXXX day try to buy first home o Was advised by XXXX ( contracted to aid students of XXXX, paid for by settlement of XXXX lawsuit ) of XXXX XXXX which I had been previously unaware of o Applied for XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, Case Number XXXX Application closed XX/XX/XXXX due to NO active loans ; when called to inquire why had been closed, advised only for struggling students- not sure what else you call working overtime or XXXX jobs fails to constitute a struggle o Degree not transferable Additional Documents Included at end of document : Sheet showing graduation rate Email from XXXX stating Sallie Mae will not work with students on loans Enrollment agreement ; amount paid SUBSTANTIALLY more than shown Class Action Settlement was included in Degree transferability Student Disclosures Earliest record of XXXX  XXXX  loan payment at current banking institution Earliest XXXX showing interest paid on XXXX XXXX loan in fathers name from XXXX XXXX when loan paid in full, additional years available if requested o As of XX/XX/XXXX, ALL LOANS : 1. Navient Private Loan : Principal {$22.00}, XXXX, Interest currently accrued XXXX XXXX Total Today {$43000.00} STILL IN REPAYMENT 2. XXXX XXXX Subsidized {$4500.00}, with Interest XXXX XXXX PAID IN FULL 3. XXXX XXXX Unsubsidized {$2000.00}, with Interest XXXX XXXX PAID IN FULL 4. XXXX XXXX Subsidized XXXX XXXX PAID IN FULL**- information not available according to Navient ( Dept of Education did not have information, advised I contact lender ) 5. XXXX XXXX Subsidized XXXX XXXX PAID IN FULL**- information not available according to Navient ( Dept of Education did not have information, advised I contact lender ) 6. XXXX XXXX Loan : Principal {$30.00}, XXXX, with Interest {$50000.00} - PAID IN FULL Percentage of income, based on Social Security income data from personal profile : 2008-  XXXX XXXX XXXX  Loan only- XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 2020- {$21000.00} ( collected XXXX, restaurant closed whole year ) - stopped making payment XX/XX/XXXX, in-school deferment ; attendance compliments of family who belong XXXX XXXX 2021- XXXX XXXX in-school deferment Did not know could have filed for Borrowers Defense, would have done it in the first year of repayment once Id learned just how worthless the degree is after multiple interviews and low management job offers o Have had substantial revolving debt since graduation to cover costs of living o Have been unable to manage savings and setting aside any money for retirement Additional complaints : o School lied about graduation rates and job opportunities available on graduation o NO real leads on jobs or career services o Told my father and I we had to take loans from Sallie Mae, as they were the only loan company they worked with ; we didnt know we could have gone to a credit union or another institution ( I am the first student in my family to take out student loans ) o Lied about the income we would earn and that prestigious institutions would require a degree Applied for work at XXXX XXXX XXXX via XXXX ; at that time, no one in the kitchen had attended culinary school and all management treated these degrees with very little respect and a lot of skepticism. They are more interested in hiring people who are trainable Earned far more as a server than what was offered in most management positions ; this is a problem known industry-wide that the school failed to mention at ANY point ; couldnt stop being a server to guarantee income to meet financial obligations as have no safety net o NO company hires people directly into management ; vast majority of establishments want to start you as a server and move you up as openings occur, very little to no formal training. Industry attitude is largely this is how we do it, we dont care how they do it elsewhere and this is how weve always done it School colluded with Sallie Mae loan servicer to extend loans that were designed to fail which are now managed by Navient Navient & Its Role In The Student Loan Crisis Explained ( XXXX ) Loans Designed to Fail : States Say Navient Preyed on Students - XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX ( XXXX ) Students Claim Sallie Mae XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : Students Claim Sallie Mae XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ) - Sallie Mae aided and abetted a fraudulent culinary school by issuing student loans at " credit card rates, '' XXXX students claim in a federal class action. 
Lead plaintiff XXXX XXXX sued SLM XXXX and Sallie Mae, claiming they aided and abetted fraud at the XXXX  XXXX XXXX, which is not named as a defendant. 
SLM and its subsidiaries own, manage and service more than XXXX XXXX student loans totaling more than {$230.00} XXXX, according to the XXXX complaint. 
XXXX  XXXX XXXX has been sued repeatedly. XXXX of its recruiters sued the school in XX/XX/XXXX, claiming the companies that run the for-profit college " run the school like a used-car lot, preying on vulnerable students ... saddling them with loans they can not pay back, '' Courthouse News reported at the time. 
In a XX/XX/XXXX class action, the XXXX named plaintiffs claimed they each ran up {$50000.00} in debts for an education worth no more than {$2000.00}. Both those complaints were in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
According to the new complaint : " Sallie Mae misled plaintiffs and committed other unlawful conduct of its own, causing plaintiffs to take out enormous loans with credit-card interest rates, when Sallie Mae knew that these students had a relatively small likelihood of being able to repay the loans in full. Plaintiffs now seek to get their lives back on track by having Sallie Mae bear its fair share of the losses. 
" Plaintiffs had no idea that attending XXXX was an economically irrational act. Plaintiffs did not know that a XXXX education has little or no value. Nor did they understand that at no relevant time has there been a job market for XXXX graduates that pays sufficient wages to enable graduates to pay down the substantial debt they must incur to finance XXXX 's exorbitant education. 
" Sallie Mae knew these facts when it issued plaintiffs their high-interest private education loans ( 'high-interest private loans ' ) to pay for their XXXX education. It further knew that XXXX needed Sallie Mae to extend these loans in order to carry out its fraudulent recruiting scheme, and Sallie Mae, seeking to profit, happily obliged. The results harm to the plaintiffs has been catastrophic. 
" Moreover, Sallie Mae knew at all relevant times that there was an unusually high probability that plaintiffs would be unable to make the full payments necessary to keep these high-interest private loans from falling into delinquency and default. And Sallie Mae knew that plaintiffs did not know this. Yet, intent on issuing as many of these loans as possible, Sallie Mae purposefully did not tell plaintiffs any of these facts. 
ADVERTISEMENT " When Sallie Mae loaned XXXX purchase money to plaintiffs, it knew XXXX students were defaulting on much smaller, lower-interest federal student loans at rates that substantially exceeded the rates at which traditional college students default on such loans. Sallie Mae knew that by setting very high interest rates ( typically in the range of XXXX percent ) on its high-interest private loans-often XXXX to XXXX times larger than on federal loans-it was significantly diminishing plaintiffs ' chances of fully repaying these loans. Sallie Mae further knew that this would likely result in significantly raising the plaintiff class 's high-interest private loan default rates relative to traditional student loan default rates. Sadly, this likelihood has been realized ; the putative class has defaulted at extraordinarily high rates. '' The school lured students with a string of false promises, the class claims. 
" Among XXXX 's false and misleading representations were the following : ( a ) admission to XXXX was a competitive and selective process ; ( b ) a XXXX education increases graduates ' incomes and opportunities in the food-service industry to a degree that makes a XXXX  education well worth the sky-high tuition ( approximately {$48000.00} for the XXXX XXXX XXXX, {$28000.00} for the Baking and Pastry Program, and {$38000.00} for the Management Program ) and corresponding student-loan debt ; ( c ) XXXX  has an extensive network of contacts and close relationships with prestigious restaurants and other food-service employers where XXXX  graduates can easily obtain employment in one or more of the positions for which XXXX  promises to train them ; ( d ) XXXX  has an excellent reputation, and graduates will benefit from that reputation by being able to gain better and more prestigious jobs with a XXXX  degree than without one ; ( e ) XXXX  students have an extremely high rate of job placement in jobs for which the students seek to be trained ; and ( f ) the programs can be financed through student loans, with a resulting debt service burden that is reasonable and manageable in light of the income opportunities available to graduate, '' according to the complaint. 
Sallie Mae knowingly aided and abetted this fraud for its own profit, the complaint states : " XXXX had an agreement with Sallie Mae to recommend Sallie Mae as a 'preferred lender ' to prospective students : Sallie Mae would provide these students high-interest private loans to pay the balance of their educational costs not covered by federal grants and loans. '' Sallie Mae conducted its own research and analysis of XXXX 's graduation rates and employment statistics of its graduates, so it knew what was going on, the class claims : " Sallie Mae was acutely aware, by the time plaintiffs and class members sought loans to attend XXXX, that a XXXX education was not worth what it had been a decade prior, that a significant percentage of XXXX XXXX students were unemployed or making very low wages, and that XXXX students were financially unable to repay fully the high-interest private loans. '' XXXX of the XXXX lead plaintiffs are unemployed and all XXXX say they owe significantly more money on their loans than what they took out. 
Plaintiff XXXX XXXX claims he took out a {$45000.00} loan at XXXX percent interest. The balance has grown to {$140000.00}. He says he works as a line cook at a restaurant where he makes {$14.00} an hour. 
Plaintiff XXXX XXXX took out XXXX loans totaling {$16000.00} to finance her education at XXXX. She has already paid {$14000.00}, but with an interest rate of XXXX percent, her balance remains {$42000.00}, according to the lawsuit. 
" XXXX XXXX 's only culinary-related employment since she graduated from XXXX was a XXXX-month job as a cashier in a corporate dining cafeteria, where she occasionally performed light preparation work in the kitchen, '' the complaint states. " Her hourly wage was {$9.00}. She was unable to find any other culinary work after being laid off from this position, and she believes her XXXX credential actually hurt her culinary-job prospects. '' According to the complaint : " The sad, true fact is that a XXXX education does not significantly increase graduates ' incomes and opportunities in the food-service industry. XXXX 's reputation has plummeted since the XXXX. Indeed, food-industry personnel and potential employers snicker that XXXX stands for XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX. ' '' While plaintiffs and the class are saddled with debts they can not repay, Sallie Mae has benefited in XXXX ways, the complaint states : " First, Sallie Mae profited, and intended to profit, by inflating its balance sheet with billions of dollars of loans to plaintiffs and others at similar non-traditional schools. Sallie Mae 's scheme intentionally inflated its stock price and attracted potential acquirers. 
" Second, because the high-interest private loans have such high interest and Sallie Mae 's own cost of funds is so low, Sallie Mae can profit even if the loans are never repaid fully. " Sallie Mae 's cost of funds ( estimated at XXXX percent to XXXX percent ) is negligible compared to its high-interest private loans ' typical compound interest rates of XXXX percent. 
" Third, because student loans generally are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, Sallie Mae can squeeze out small amounts of money from the student borrowers for the rest of their lives. Sallie Mae demands plaintiffs ' small paychecks, even when the payments do not cover the accumulating interest, allowing Sallie Mae to profit while the XXXX students ' high-interest private loan balances continue to increase. '' Sallie Mae has acknowledged that it knew the students would not be able to repay the loans, the class claims. 
" Sallie Mae 's chairman acknowledged that these loans were 'predictably not collectible. ' He admitted that many students attending XXXX and other similarly valueless schools likely would never be able to earn sufficient income to repay in full the loans they were taking out, '' the complaint states. 
It adds : " Ignoring the financial burden its actions placed on borrowers, Sallie Mae blithely extended loans it never expected to be repaid fully- all for the purpose of manipulating its financial reports and increasing its revenue. Sallie Mae was fully aware there was a reasonable likelihood that plaintiffs and class members would be unable to repay their high-interest private loans in full. Yet it intentionally failed to disclose this highly relevant information to plaintiffs and class members at the time that it issued their high-interest private loans. '' Sallie Mae owns the class members ' " high-interest private loans under various names, '' the complaint states. It serviced the high-interest private loans under the name Sallie Mae XXXX XXXX XXXX which was a division of SLM until XXXX XXXX, XXXX, when Sallie Mae XXXX XXXX was merged into Sallie Mae XXXX , which took over the loan servicing. 
Plaintiffs seek declaratory judgment, rescission of loan contracts, and disgorgement of unjust profits. They also want compensatory and punitive damages for aiding and abetting fraud, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition. 
They are represented by XXXX XXXX. 

Culinary school grads claim they were ripped off - The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) For-profit colleges face lawsuits, U.S. scrutiny ( XXXX ) Article including links to multiple lawsuits : Students Will Receive Big Payout in Lawsuit Against XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX Same predatory behavior in other states, XXXX  : XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX  XXXX Class Action Settlement - Top Class Actions XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Misrepresentation Class Action Lawsuit is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX. XXXX, in the Circuit Court for the State of XXXX  in and for the County of XXXX. 
Securities Exchange Commission listing of lawsuits and filings : https : XXXX