Consumer complaint received 2017-02-07
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Can't repay my loan — Can't get flexible payment options
Company: Navient Solutions, LLC. (CA)

During many attempts to file for Income-Driven repayment options with Navient I was told unhelpful, confusing and false information. The most recent experience occurred in XX/XX/XXXX in which I was following up with my XXXX application due to experiencing a financial hardship after having a child and being on XXXX for XXXX weeks. I submitted several documents, including an outline of what each of the documents entailed to demonstrate a change in income from XX/XX/XXXX from mine and my husband 's taxable sources. When I called after XXXX weeks I was told that everything was good to go, they were just waiting on the final decision. A few days later I had been denied for my request and was informed that my payments would be approximately XXXX. When I called to dispute this, the person informed me that they discovered an error in their calculations of our income documents ( an error of over XXXX being added to our income yet not accounted for by what was submitted ). This simple math error on Navient 's behalf was discovered in the course of a phone call and a matter of minutes. However, when I asked that the error be corrected to accurately reflect our income and that my monthly payments be lowered to reflect this new amount, I was told that I would have to re-submit an entire application with all of the supporting documents. I asked several times if there was any possible way to simply correct this error that was not made by me, the consumer but by their data entry individuals and I was told a resounding no, and that the only way to correct the error would be to resubmit. As a new mother and full-time worker, it is not easy to pour over these documents, make copies, fax/prepare and send all of this over during working hours. I asked what I would have to do in the event that I refused to resubmit an application that they misinterpreted. They explained that my only option was to enter into forbearance or to pay the {$2700.00}. I disagreed with this, asking whether they would be covering the interest that would likely accummulate as a result of forbearance. They of course stated that this was not their responsibility and that I would continue to be responsible to pay the amount unless an entire application was re-submitted. 
Over the next few weeks/months I began getting emails and phone calls pertaining to my loan, warning that if I did not begin making the $ XXXX payment that my loan would be going into default. I was attempting to wait until filing my XXXX taxes as I was left frustrated and angry about being requested to submit supporting documents and then these very documents were mis-read and led to a wrongful decision on my XXXX plan. I had hoped to file taxes so that I could provide something simpler for them to interpret with their decision making. In the wake of getting several harrassing phone calls, I decided to bite the bullet and reached out to Navient again in XX/XX/XXXX. I was told that there was no need to submit any additional documents/another application and I was eligible for an extended plan that would drop my payments to a reasonable $ XXXX. When I explored why this was not offered to me as a viable option in XX/XX/XXXX, I was told, " We are trained to only promote the XXXX plans and not these extended plans ''. I felt angry and disheartened at going through hours of headaches, no answers, risking defaulting on my loan only to be told that they could have very easily and simply solved my problem but chose not to. I have tried to refinance my loan with XXXX other carriers as I do not want to nor feel comfortable with Navient handling my loan servicing but learned that due to my debt/income ratio ( the other servicers would only let me list my income not my joint income with husband ) I would not be able to do so.