Consumer complaint received 2023-08-19
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Trouble with how payments are being handled
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (TN)

Sallie Mae never kept track of the partial payments I made from XXXX to XXXX. Sallie Mae never recorded my partial payments and put me in default despite the fact that I made partial payments. Sallie Mae failed to forward the complete records of my payments to the new service providers when they were no longer servicing my loan. 

Why this complaint is so important : Under the one-time adjustment of IDR-qualifying payments for all William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan ( Direct Loan ) Program , the Department of Education will count any months in a repayment status, regardless of the payments made. I made numerous partial payments over the years and was still put in default. The payments were taken because the checks were cashed. I requested them from my bank, and they no longer had the records due to the 30-year time span. 

Attempts I have made to get my records : I requested my student loan payment records ( from the Department of Education through the Freedom of Information Act ), made PRIOR TO my XXXX consolidation on loans dating back to XXXX. 

I was emailed the file of my student loan records. It was incomplete. It only showed my information AFTER my consolidation. I sent two follow up emails to the FOIA office about them not being complete and received a letter saying that those records could be accessed through the NSLDS website. 

I accessed NSLDS and downloaded my student loan records. They DO NOT show the payments and partial payments I made of my student loans between XXXX and present. 

Facts : From XXXX to XXXX when I consolidated my student loans, I made partial payments to the student loan servicing company Sallie Mae, and they cashed the checks but still put me in default and sent me to collections. Instead of showing my partial payments, it shows that I was in default. In XXXX when the income-based repayment plans were available, I was never told when I called them about lower payments. 

My proof of payments being made between XXXX and XXXX : I qualified for federal aid in XXXX when I went to law school. I would not have qualified if I was in default. 

I was able to determine the following regarding my student loans : I was in deferment ( for school ) between XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX of XXXX ( went into repayment in 6 months later ) and again XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX of XXXX. 

With the One-Time Payment Count Adjustment for Eligible Borrowers, I should have met the threshold of XXXX credited payments ( under guidelines this would include months of forbearance except for when I was in school ). 

I made partial payments and/or was in deferment for economic hardship from XXXX of XXXX to XXXX of XXXX ( 26 months ), from XXXX of XXXX to XXXX of XXXX ( 104 months ), XXXX of XXXX to XXXX of XXXX ( 24 months ) and after consolidation in XX/XX/XXXX to present ( 181 months ). 

I have not been in default or missed a scheduled full payment on my income contingent plan since consolidation. I even paid my income-based repayment all through the student loan halt period due to Covid. 

In total, 335 months or XXXX years of either full payments, partial payments, or economic hardship/forbearance have been accumulated. 

I borrowed a little less than {$68000.00}. Because of interest and compound interest I still owe {$190000.00} ( as of XX/XX/XXXX ). 

Since XXXX, I have not netted more than $ XXXX/year with my lowest yearly salary at $ XXXX/year. 

I need my payment records from XXXX until present to show the months that should be counted toward my 25-year discharge. I need documents showing dates and payments by each month and year. I need the dates ( month and year ) that I was in forbearance. 

I have requested them from Sallie Mae but was told the records were sent to the new service provider. I have requested those records from the following service providers, and none have been able to locate them : XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX. I want my records.