Consumer complaint received 2018-09-08
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (NY)

I was pursuing an XXXX XXXX program in XXXX and graduated in XXXX, just about when the economy went into a spiral. I borrowed from Navient ( formerly Sallie Mae ), as I didn't have enough income to pay my full tuition. 

I have been making consistent student loan payments, and was on income-based plan. When that " program '' ended, I was told that now I have to enroll in a rate-reduction plan to keep up with payment. 

Up until XXXX of this year, I was in the rate-reduction plan, and I was contacted by Sallie Mae about the program ending in XXXX. I immediately went through the information sharing process, in which a representative took all my information to do a financial analysis, and stated that an electronic document will be sent to me to review and sign. On XX/XX/XXXX, I signed the statement and followed up with Navient a few days later to learn that everything was " set up '' and the rate reduction plan will continue. 

I made consistent payments in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. For the last few days, Navient has been calling me again to tell me that my interest rate has jumped from 3 % to 9 % ( supposedly from XXXX ). When I inquired about why, I was informed that " Well, when you signed up for this loan, you agreed to pay whatever interest we charge. We don't have any obligation to keep your payments or interests low ''. 

At which point, I reiterated that I had signed up for the rate reduction plan in XXXX, and the representative ( supposedly a supervisor ) says that he sees the document in the system, but it was never set up and there is record that I spoke to someone. I said, " how do you think I managed to sign a financial statement if I didn't talk to someone. It's not like I downloaded that form from the website '', and the representative said that I was essentially arguing about a computer system, and there is nothing he can do. 

After a brief back-and-forth, he said that he has put my information as a " complaint '' status and it will be reviewed by an internal team and they will get back to me. 

I asked him if I need to make the previous payment during the investigative process, to which he stated, " No, you don't need to. Until we find out what happened, you don't need to. '' I further inquired, " But if my payment is delinquent, you will report this to my credit '', and he stated " Oh we won't. You have until XX/XX/XXXX. By that time we will figure this out and then you can make the payment. '' This is not the first time Navient has pulled this stunt with me ( and I know of other borrowers who experienced this ). They arbitrarily changed my loan terms, because they are informing me that I signed up for a variable interest rate. They are consistently lying about their programs, the payment options they have to extort more payment out of students. I am certain that I am not the only person who had to deal with their " rate reduction '' program, only to find out one fine morning that your payment has jumped up by 40 %. 

Navient, just like its predecessor Sallie Mae, is one of the worst entities that exists. It's not a matter of contention that they are predatory lenders, who have lied to and cheated millions of students in this country, and thanks to our lawmakers, they still continue to get away with it. 

I am a fixed-income household, with XXXX young children, and one of them with a learning XXXX who requires significant time and resources. My wife and I have never filed for bankruptcy, have never intentionally delayed our payments, and we have always taken care of our debt obligations. But Navient is a recurring and ever-metastasizing cancer. Absolutely nothing that I do or can do to fight against them. But you can. 

Please help.