Consumer complaint received 2016-02-28
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Can't repay my loan — Can't decrease my monthly payments
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (IL)

In XXXX, when I applied to XXXX University during their open house, I immediately apply for student loans and was approved for Federal Student loans. The loan amount did not cover the $ XXXX tuition, so the school told me they would take care of it and not to worry about anything. I was then informed I had been approved and I could start my program. 
When attending school, they required me to sign student loan forms without explaining what I was signing. Trusting on the institution as they said this was " standard procedure '', they would take care of everything, and based on my being approved by XXXX XXXX for Federal loans ; I assumed the school had managed to increase the Federal Student loan amounts. The school assured me that I was going to get a job after graduation and I would pay off my loans quickly. 
Little did I know that most of the student loan debt was Private Student loans with VARIABLE interest rates of 8 % +. I found this out after the graduation-date 6-month grace period. My first Private Student loan bill was for almost {$1000.00} ( Loan Amounts {$35000.00}, {$12000.00} ). I immediately contacted XXXX XXXX ( I had no idea that they had Private Loans ) to inform them that unlike the promises given to me by the school, I had not found a job on my field and I was struggling to find any jobs. I asked for repayment options, but they did not have any. The XXXX global financial crisis then begun. 
So the nightmare started, I called XXXX XXXX in multiple occasions to request repayment plans or alternatives to prevent my going into default ; all my requests were declined. Therefore the loans went into collection. 
This has been a never ending cycle : Private Student loans in default XXXX Being " un-hireable '' for decent paying jobs XXXX Unable to re-finance the loans XXXX Ballooning of delinquent Private Student -variable-interest-rate-loan to $ XXXX and counting = leaving me with no options. I seldom find freelance jobs and now I am working as a XXXX. 
Please note : 1. I have contacted the collection agencies and also XXXX XXXX in several occasions to try to work something out to NO avail. 
2. When contacting collection agencies, not only I am been bullied, laughed at, and disrespected as a person struggling to make ends-meet, but my offers of manageable monthly payments have been dismissed. 
3. All collection agencies ONLY have offered me : to pay the ENTIRE amount owed, period. 
4. In XXXX, my family got together and offered {$20000.00} so I could offer a " settlement '' payment and get on with my life. When I offered this amount, the collection agency of the time wanted double of that, so they did not accept my offer. After this, my family got very upset as they saw the collection agency as not serious and they withdrew their offer to assist me. This offer is no longer possible due to my family 's current financial situation. 
5. Loan counseling agencies have contacted the collection agencies and XXXX XXXX on my behalf, to NO avail. 
6. The collection agencies are harassing my family, telling them they will sue them, take all of their money away and call their employers. I HAVE NO CO-SIGNERS/GUARANTORS. They should not be THREATENED AT ALL. 
7. Managers of the small companies where I have managed to find few freelance jobs at, have been contacted, thus leading them to not contract me again. 
THIS HAS BEEN XXXX FOR ME AND MY FAMILY IN EVERY WAY AND IT HAS DEEPLY LIMITED MY ABILITY TO FIND A DECENT PAYING JOB. 
At this point I do not know what else to do, I can only offer monthly payments of {$250.00} a month ; but unless the Private Student Loan lender re-structures the loans to their initial loan amount and have an affordable FIXED interest rate, I will never be able to get out of this nightmare and find better job opportunities. 
For all these reasons I am reaching out to CFPB. Thank you.