Consumer complaint received 2017-11-30
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (CA)

When I enrolled in the automatic payment program with Navient in XXXX XXXX, I was told by the customer service representative I spoke with, that after 24 consecutive months of on-time payments, my co-signer would be released from the loans. In XXXX XXXX, I noticed that one of my payments had not posted to Navient a few days after it should have. When I contacted Navient about this, I was told that my automatic payments had ended, and that I was responsible for contacting them to renew being a part of that program every 12 months. I was never informed of this when I originally signed up for the program. So, the first year of my automatic on-time payments no longer count towards the release of my co-signer, and I have to start all over again. In XXXX XXXX, I speak to Navient about releasing my co-signer as I approach 24 months of consecutive payments, and I am told that the only way a co-signer can be released from the loans is when they are completely paid off. I am frustrated, but there is nothing I can do, and XXXX continue paying my loans. 

Unbeknownst to me, Navient ends my enrollment in the automatic payment program after my call with them regarding releasing my co-signer. Between XXXX and XXXX XXXX, I go back and forth with them on why they ended my enrollment and how I can make a payment. My payments are not posted until XXXX XXXX, and they assure me that I have been enrolled in an automatic payment and reduced interest rate program in all my private loans. In XXXX XXXX, I am horrified to learn that of my 3 private loans with Navient, they have only applied the automatic payment and reduced interest rate to ONE of my private loans. So, while the payments I expected were leaving my bank account, they were all applied to one loan, not divided among the 3.

When I contact Navient about this error, they claim that I had to agree to each loan to be included in those programs. When I tell them that I did, they claim that they have no record of my giving them permission. I was never sent a letter confirming my enrollment, and I only ever received automatic payment reminder emails that did not indicate the amount that would be applied to my loans - just that a payment was coming up. As a result, my credit is adversely affected by late payments in XXXX. 

I have been told by customer service representatives that the interest on Navient private loans are determined by my credit score. It is outrageous and extremely suspect to me that each time I come close to nearly a year of consecutive payments, Navient appears to create a reason that results in a returned payment or a missed payment on my end. Missed payments have an immense negative affect on my credit score and allows Navient to assign a higher interest rate on my private student loans in the long run.

When I consider the years of misinformation, harassing phone calls, exorbitant interest rates, and frustration that Navient has given me, I am shocked that they have been able to get away with what they have. Since I started paying back my private student loans with Navient, I have paid thousands of dollars in interest and questioned the legitimacy of their random and sudden capitalized interest to my original loan, and their interest rate adjustments and addition of interest to my loan with no explanation. My interest rates have fluctuated to as high as 9.25 % with Navient. The way Navient has conducted their communication and business makes it impossible for myself and other customers to ever pay off their student loans in a timely manner.