Consumer complaint received 2017-07-22
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (KS)

I have had student loans serviced through XXXX XXXX, and then Navient, since XXXX. When I graduated in XXXX, XXXX XXXX pressured borrowers to go into deferment and my loans were in deferment for several years. When I graduated, I owed approximately 36,000 in student loans, and after several deferments and through the switch to Navient, my loans total over 55,000. The interest being accrued on the loans is far more than the income based repayment options allow and there is a considerable amount of ambiguity regarding the income-based repayment. Originally, I was told that there were many options for XXXX to have student loans forgiven. For example, as a XXXX XXXX in Kansas, you can have {$17000.00} forgiven from your loans. What they do n't tell you is that is a variable amount - you can have UP TO & XXXX forgiven after serving a high needs area for five years, and if you take that option, you ca n't apply for any other forgiveness programs. This was incredibly deceptive since I chose a school to work at based on the availability of this program. I would have NEVER taken my first XXXX job so far away from home if this repayment option was transparent. I only discovered that the full amount of the forgiveness of this program was rarely given well into my fourth year of XXXX. The second repayment option was that if you make on-time payments for ten years, your loans will be forgiven in full. This is a statement that people in my profession hold on to as the only chance of reprieve from their student loan debt. However, the amount of interest accrued on the loans is more than what is being paid on the loans through the income-based repayment so borrowers see their total increasing as time goes on with hopes of the forgiveness at the end of the ten years. I have spoken with Navient customer service dozens of times, each representative giving different information about this option ranging from " yes, your loans are eligible, and will be forgiven '' to " only some of your loans are able to to be forgiven '' to " that is no longer a forgiveness program '' to " that is true - but it 's 20 years ''. The information about my loans that the customer service representatives give me is so incredibly varied, that there is no way to manage or plan for actual repayment of the loans. I started the process to purchase a home in XXXX of XXXX. In this process, I had to provide my bank with all of the information about the student loans - including amounts of loans, providers, dates, and monthly payment for full amortization of the loans. I had seven different reports generated by different customer service representatives in the month of XXXX, each showing different information, different amounts, and varied repayment amounts for full amortization. The comment was made by my banker " you could call every single day and get a different number from a different employee. '' Eventually, we found a document the mortgage servicer would accept and I was able to purchase my home. However, the fluidity of the loans made it seem as if the entire entity was false. It is incredibly difficult to manage student loans, debt, Navient and I have given up on trying to actually repay my loans - because repayment seems completely impossible. I tried to make sense of the jump in the balance from the 30,000 's to the 50,000 's when I was n't attending university, but statements for the account can not be found on the website.