Consumer complaint received 2024-06-29
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (FL)

I am trying to figure out why I am unable to reduce my balance or receive an opportunity to payoff at a reduced rate ( principle ) after so many years and multiple consolidations that were at the insistence of the company during the years I was having financial issues. My account was consolidated four times since XXXX each with a higher interest rate. 

In addition during the law suit I could not get any information but realized I had to make a payment or my interest was continuing to accrue. Nobody on the phone would explain to me why they couldn't talk to me and there was no information on the lawsuit available. 
" As required by the order, communications regarding your account were temporarily suspended and your loan was placed in a forbearance status. Now that the court order has come to an end, your loan will enter back into repayment and regular servicing activity will soon resume. '' was in the XX/XX/XXXX letter. 

Now I am trying to find out how to pay off a reduced/reasonable amount to close this loan or have it forgiven ( my federal loans were reduced by PSLF and I might be eligible for this one now too- it's confusing with the new laws and lawsuits ) but I can't get any information from customer. My balance appears more than it should be given my payment history - due to interest. There are no running balance accounting available on the website. 

It appears given this excerpt from the letter that the money I paid every month was NOT applied to the principle and interest as requested on the website while my loan balance increased. I did NOT request to pay ahead- I expected to reduce the balance. " Your private loan is paid ahead by approximately 15 months based on the additional funds received and the current Monthly Payment for this loan. '' Here is how the records show they applied the monthly payment but apparently this is not true : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX There can not be a prepayment and a reduction at the same time. I was expecting a reduction. 
The letter stating that I was going back into repayment indicates that overpayments ( if my amount due was XXXX then this should have been considered this category ) would reduce my loan. 
" When you pay more than your Current Amount Due, Overpayments will be applied to your Current Balance. Unless you make your payments through Auto Pay or instruct us to do otherwise, Overpayments will reduce the amount of any future payments. For example, if you pay an extra {$50.00} and your regular Monthly Payment Amount is {$100.00}, your next payment due will be {$50.00}. If the extra funds are more than the next Monthly Payment Amount, your billing statements will show XXXX due. Interest continues to accrue on any loan until the loan has been paid in full, including loans with XXXX due. Even if you have a XXXXamount due on your billing statement, continuing to make payments will reduce your total costs of borrowing. '' If I don't continue to pay every month then the interest will continue to accrue. I might be willing to pay the principle ( maximum ) as a settlement but there is no place on the website see running balances to verify and validate what is happening with the money. Customer service will not discuss that option with me. 

My current payoff date is XXXX and that doesn't add up with the way money is allocated and my payment requirement. I would like this loan forgiven or the ability to pay off a nominal amount and the rest written off. I was able to do that 15 years ago on the other loan but didn't have the financial resources at the time to do both. 

Thank you for your consideration.