Consumer complaint received 2024-04-27
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (IA)

Thousands of students, including myself, were scammed by Sallie Mae/Navient XXXXnto taking out predatory private student loans to attend for-profit schools such as the one I attended, The XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX IL ) XXXX As a matter of fact, The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and its parent company, XXXX XXXX XXXX, were investigated by multiple agencies and attorney generals and determined to be fraudulent. I transferred to XXXX from XXXX  XXXX XXXX and attended XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. I had to take out student loans in order to attend, and the only option I was given by the school 's financial aid reps, other than the federal loans that I qualified for, was to take out private loans from Sallie Mae. Not only was I told that there were no other options for private student loans, but scare tactics were used by the financial aid reps to get me to borrow more money than I actually needed. They said I needed more money for the specific class supplies because I could only use the supplies that the school 's bookstore sold, and those were inevitably more expensive than other places. They told me that with my class schedule and projects that would be required I wouldn't be able to work enough to pay my rent, bills, food, etc. I had attended XXXX for about a year and a half when, in XX/XX/XXXX, I was told by school personnel that XXXXXXXX XXXX accreditation was changing, and that I would have to start the fashion design program over if I wanted to graduate because the classes that I had already taken would not apply toward a degree with the new accreditation. I immediately chose to withdraw from XXXX, and since it was within the first week of the new quarter, I was able to cancel my loans for that particular quarter. However, I had thousands of dollars in federal and private student loans from the XXXX years that I was enrolled. At the time there were numerous students that were told the same thing about the accreditation changes, and they also withdrew from the school. I ultimately decided to re-enroll at XXXX XXXX XXXX in the fall of XXXX and despite XXXX 's promise that my credits would transfer, they did not. However, because I had been at XXXX XXXXXXXX before XXXX, and my advisor felt bad for what I had been through, she was willing to help me graduate as soon as I could. I graduated from XXXX with my XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. Unfortunately, almost 20 years later, I am STILL paying for the loans from my time at XXXX, and even though I have paid XXXX more than the original loan amounts, I somehow still owe them over {$42000.00}. I have asked Navient for my payment records from the time the loans originated to the present date, but they told me they can only provide limited information prior to the date that they took the loans over from Sallie Mae. They are only able to provide me with dates of transactions and the loan balances at the time of those transactions, but they are not able to provide me with the dollar amount of the transactions, or how my payments were applied to my balances ( how much went toward interest or principal ). I have spoken with several Navient reps who told me that they do not have that information, but Sallie Mae does. They advised me to call Sallie Mae. Unfortunately, when I called Sallie Mae I was told by numerous reps that they do not have a single record of my loans because Navient took ALL of the records when they took my loans over. I have heard about " relief '' programs that Navient supposedly has for people whose loans were for schools that ended up being determined as fraudulent, but every time I have called Navient to ask about this I am given a different answer. I was laughed at by a rep who told me I " don't have any options so just pay it. '' I called another day to ask about relief options and spoke with a woman who said that relief options are only available for people who were in school at the time the school closed due to fraud. I called and spoke with a rep very recently and asked how my payments were being applied, because my regular monthly payment was about {$590.00}, and I had paid almost {$2000.00} over the past 6 weeks but NONE of it was applied to my balance. The rep simply said that " interest accrues daily. '' I assured her that I am aware of that, but if my {$2000.00} in payments over a 6 week period was all applied toward daily interest, then something is seriously wrong. She kept saying that she didn't know what to tell me other than " interest accrues daily. '' I told the rep that I was looking at my account on Navient 's website, and it showed that I was on an extended repayment plan. I asked when I was put on that, and what would my payment be if I were on the standard repayment plan. She placed me on hold, then came back on and told me that I am not currently on ANY payment plan. I asked how I could possibly not be on ANY payment plan, when they require me to pay a minimum of {$590.00} per month. She said that she would have to talk to a manager and placed me on hold again. When she got back on she told me that I WAS on the standard repayment plan. I asked her why then, did my account on their website show that I was on an extended repayment plan. She said that I had apparently requested that payment plan when I had first entered into repayment, and the website never updates that. I told her that doesn't make any sense, and that if I AM on the standard repayment plan, and my standard payment is {$590.00}, then why would that entire amount be going toward interest. The principal balance is not decreasing at all, despite her claim that I am on the standard repayment plan, which is supposed to be the least amount of months to pay the balance. The rep sounded like she had no idea why, but just kept repeating that interest accrues daily. I was getting nowhere, and I didn't have time to keep going round and round with her, so I ended the call. To this day, I still have no answers as to why I have to pay {$590.00} a month, but my balance is not decreasing. I also still have no answers as to what relief options are available for former students of fraudulent schools. 
Because of the numerous claims of fraud and misconduct perpetrated by these for-profit schools, such as XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX , I was able to file a Borrower Defense claim with the Dept. of Education against XXXX, and my federal loans are being reviewed for discharge, as I am a post-class member of the XXXX XXXX XXXX lawsuit settlement. 
I am aware that Navient was sued by 39 state AGs regarding their predatory loans to attend these for-profit schools and that Sallie Mae/Navient were a " preferred '' lending company in a " deal '' with these schools during the early XXXX 's. These private loans with a high risk of default were part of a package deal offered to " for-profit schools ''. I would have qualified to be part of the very limited settlement agreement, but those who were not in default for 7 months or more during a " specific '' time frame, were excluded. This was like a punch in the gut! There were times over the years that I was 5-6 months past due, but I did absolutely everything I could to prevent them from going into default. The hardships that it caused nearly cost me my marriage and my mental health! And then to find out that if I had just let them go into default, they would've not only been discharged but I could've possibly been paid back some of what I had paid in?! Infuriating! I am sure this was a big win for Navient, but it was a SHAM of a settlement deal for the rest of us borrowers who were scammed into taking loans to at least 150 for profit schools. After the AG settlement, didn't Navient also get out of the Federal student loan business due to scrutiny from lawmakers and borrower advocates? Didn't Navient have to pay restitution to the Federal student loan borrowers for not informing students of IDR/IBR payments students could have enrolled in, but instead steered toward forbearance? Furthermore, hasn't Navient been sued at least a half dozen times for other predatory loan practices and illegal collection practices? 
I am also aware of a " pilot '' program by which Navient is sending out " applications '' to select students who may have filed Borrower Defense claims against their schools and were approved. This application is a sham. Why do we need to prove anything? Navient knows who we are. Under the FTC " Holder Rule '' Navient is liable for giving predatory loans in connection with online for-profit schools. Time is running out for Navient to do right by students who were scammed into taking out private loans to attend online for profit colleges who have committed misconduct and misrepresented themselves to the public to entice students to enroll. XXXX XXXX XXXX has sent a letter to Navient 's CEO asking to discharge these loans NOW! It's time for Navient do the right thing and discharge ALL of these predatory private loans made to attend for profit schools NOW! 
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