Consumer complaint received 2016-04-10
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Received bad information about my loan
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (NY)

I moved to XXXX in XXXX XXXX after finishing XXXX school at XXXX, and I was working for a XXXX company for the first 9 months that I lived abroad, but I was not making enough money to be able to afford to make my monthly payments on my student loans. I called Navient ( my loan servicer ) and asked them what I should do, and they only offered that I could qualify for deferment/forbearance. They never offered that I could potentially qualify for IBR, which would potentially give me a minimum monthly payment of {$0.00} per month, and that way I could at least get credit towards the 25 year repayment term that I 'm required to fulfill, since at the time of graduation in XX/XX/XXXX my outstanding loan balance was at least $ XXXX. During the time of XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX I was unemployed for a period of time while still living in XXXX and then later I started freelancing in XXXX which meant that I did n't have a regular salary, and could not afford to make my monthly payments. I always kept in touch with Navient and they never once mentioned the possibility that I could qualify for the {$0.00} per month IBR repayment plan. So the interest on my outstanding loan balance continued to accumulate and my loan balance ballooned because I was unable to pay. XX/XX/XXXX I moved back to the USA and took a job where I was earning a modest full time salary, but I still could not afford to make monthly payments because I was trying to help my brother financially ( he 's a XXXX who has been XXXX in the past and has been struggling for a long time ) and I was also trying to help my mom financially because she has been, and continues to be, at high risk of homelessness. When I got laid off from my job in XXXX XXXX I contacted Navient to explain that I had lost my main source of income and they said it would be no problem. Navient instructed me to send in the application for IBR and to put down on the application that I had no income, which I did. I was then immediately placed onto a {$0.00} per month IBR plan, and this was the first time I discovered that this option even existed. I am extremely frustrated and feel cheated because Navient never informed me back around XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX that I might be able to qualify for the {$0.00} per month plan, since I was not making enough money to be able to make monthly loan payments. I would like to have Navient and/or the Dept. of Education retroactively issue me credit for the several years my loans were classified as economic hardship deferment/forbearance, so at least the years from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX will be counted towards satisfying the 25 year max repayment term. I do n't think it should be legal for Navient to withhold information from borrowers, and if I would have know about the {$0.00} per month IBR plan sooner, then I absolutely would have applied for it. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I would also like to have the Dept. of Education assess whether Navient incorrectly calculated the interest rate on my loan balance during the period of XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX because I believe I should have been eligible for some kind of interest rate benefit due to my financial hardship and my inability to make payments.