Consumer complaint received 2015-10-07
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Can't repay my loan — Can't decrease my monthly payments
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (NY)

I was always an A student. When applying for colleges, I applied to about XXXX colleges in the XXXX and XXXX in XXXX, as I am a dual-citizen. I was accepted to all but XXXX and was given minimal financial aid to a few XXXX most did not offer financial aid programs XXXX. In the end, I chose to go to XXXX because it was going to be the cheaper option XXXX $ XXXX versus the XXXX XXXX colleges were looking for, even after financial aid kicked in ). I only " qualified '' for approximately {$12000.00} in Federal Loans, so I had to look to private loans to finance the rest ( I am XXXX of XXXX children, so my parents could not pay for my college tuition ). Fast forward four years ( and XXXX degree later ), and I have {$12000.00} in Federal Loan debt and a whopping {$61000.00} in private loan debt through Navient ( formerly XXXX XXXX XXXX. My parents were able to pay {$500.00} a month while I was in still college to keep the interest off, but it did not affect the principal amount. After I graduated, I took the responsibility off of my parents and I began paying the loans myself. I got a job that paid {$33000.00} a year, which, after taxes, lands me {$1900.00} a month. Unfortunately for me, Navient wanted {$900.00} a month in payments. I called to have them lower the payments ( I was willing to accept a longer payment term and, therefore, more money paid in the end ), but they could only bring me down to {$450.00} a month ( and this is an interest-only payment plan, meaning I am not making a dent in the principal amount ). I pay {$850.00} a month in rent, about {$100.00} in utilities, {$50.00} in medical expenses, {$110.00} for public transportation, and let 's not forget the {$140.00} a month Federal Loan payment. This leaves me with {$190.00} dollars to live off of for the month ... in New York XXXX. 

When I tried calling Navient to have them lower this again, they told me I was " not eligible '' for a lower payment plan. I asked them to put me through to the department anyway, and they put me through to their main customer service number, initiating a vicious cycle of holding for various departments. I have called twice a week for a few weeks now in an attempt to speak to someone in the department that assigns lower payments, and I have had no success. My last payment of {$450.00} was due on the third of this month and I was unable to pay it AND unable to speak to anyone at Navient about my inability to pay it. When I have called and said that I am financially unable to make my payment, they again put me through to the main customer service line. 

All of this frustration drove me to look at options for refinancing. Even if I ended up with the same payment in the end, I was hoping to find a company that was willing to work with me or, at least, answer the phone. I have tried to apply to several refinancing services ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc. ) and all have the initial requirement of attending at least a United States college ( if not a college from a specific list, as XXXX requires XXXX. Apparently, the fact that I am a United States citizen and that my loans is with a XXXX XXXX company is not enough to qualify for refinancing. It feels as though I am unable to find a company to take my money ( I have accepted that I will be paying XXXX more than I borrowed in interest ).