Consumer complaint received 2018-02-13
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Received bad information about your loan
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (AZ)

I noticed in your lawsuit against Navient, that the allegations did not include a situation such as mine, and despite that, as you'll see, my situation has escalated to a point that may put me in a poverty/homeless situation. 

My student loans had been with XXXX-XXXX  for almost ten years, and because my payments were affordable ( $ XXXX/month ), and payment was easy and straight forward, I easily made my payments on time each month - without fail - for the duration of my time with XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, when logging in to XXXX to make my payment, I kept being told that my account was being transferred to Navient, and there was a URL to the Navient site that described the transition. Then I started getting emails from Navient saying " it's coming '' etc. The emails, and landing page about the transition looked similar to this : https : //www.navient.com/XXXX though I will say that back in XX/XX/XXXX, I remember there being slightly more vague information. 

Regardless, for three months straight I was unable to make my monthly payment on both the XXXX site, and this landing page. Back in XX/XX/XXXX, no matter where I looked, there were zero instructions about creating a new account, setting up my account, etc. I checked my email, and I got zero correspondence after the XX/XX/XXXX " it's coming '' email, until XX/XX/XXXX, where I was now told there were issues with my account that needed to be resolved ( being past due ). Even if the verbiage on the current transition landing page were accurate vs. what was on it back then, why did I receive no emails from them stating I could now register to make payments? The XX/XX/XXXX email was sent from " XXXX XXXX - Navient <XXXX> '' so I responded, relieved that someone was finally emailing me ( it had a name attached ), stating I've been trying to make a payment but am not being shown how, and got a response from them stating the email I responded to does not have an inbox. So I got annoyed and waited yet again. In XX/XX/XXXX I got another account issue email, responded again, and got the same response from them. 

This time, I went to Navient.com and just started poking around, not really sure what to do since my account was a transfer, and I was not looking for a new loan, etc. I finally created an account, and made what was a normal payment for me that XX/XX/XXXX ( {$200.00} - my normal payment with XXXX was {$180.00} ). After I made my payment I then noticed I was months behind on my payments ( like 600-800 dollars ), and was told that same month when asked, that there was nothing I could do about that. Being totally frustrated that I now couldn't afford to pay my student loans and couldn't catch up, I contacted them on their site asking for my options, explaining my situation, and asking worst case scenario how to transfer my account to another lender. I got zero answers to my questions, but only the same vague, seemingly templated email. 

After that I gave up, and just ignored my student loan payments, I had no choice because, to no fault of my own, I now couldn't afford it. As well, at this point I also didn't trust Navient and 100 % did not want to be doing business with them. So I was in between a rock and a hard place. In mid-XX/XX/XXXX I contacted the Dept. of Education to inquire how to fix what was now a downward spiral of a situation, and was told I couldn't do anything about switching lenders until I became current or in good standing with Navient. It did not occur to me at the time, I could report them to both the DOE and your organization. 

To make matters even better, late last year my wages started being garnished, at twice the amount I was paying when I was in good standing with XXXX. I literally just got laid off a few days ago, and was depending on my $ 2000+ tax return to live off of, when I found out it was fully garnished as well. I realize that there were things I could have done, but in the transfer from XXXX to Navient ( which I didn't ask for by the way ), Navient was deceitful, vague and completely unhelpful, and in my opinion put me in this situation fairly quickly and with no resolve to right the wrong and help be get back on the healthy, long standing good status I had been in with XXXX all along. The DOE was also not entirely helpful as well in my opinion. 

In short I am reaching out because today I read your statement from when you announced a year ago that you were going after Navient, and noticed the allegations. I feel my situation is different from those included in the suit, and may add to it, given the consistency with the intent behind the allegations. I personally just want for the government to stop garnishing my wages, to be able to get a fresh start on repaying my student loans, and to be in good standing with a lender I TRUST. I have started a small payment plan with XXXX as of this month now that I've been laid off, so I'm hopefully on my way back out. But I think that in the end, Navient should pay for their deceitfulness and negligence, and to be honest I think that proof they've done something wrong should entitle me to be allowed a new lender automatically, and to receive my XX/XX/XXXX tax return back in full. I'm a good citizen and I did nothing wrong. 

I'm grateful to you and your organization, for your time and your help.