I couldn’t tell you the number of people I know who have student loans or how many of them have student loans through Navient. These days it seems like loans are the only way to get through school. What I can tell you, though, is that Navient is the largest student loan servicer in the country. How about them apples?! In fact, Navient spun off from Sallie Mae and has 12 million customers and services more than $300 billion of government and private student loans. Sounds like a lot to keep up with, right?

Well, you’re onto something with that thought process.

We’re here to let you all know that Navient is current looking at not just one, but three different law suits starting in January of 2017. Now isn’t that interesting? The state of Washington, Illinois, and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found some allegedly shady deals going on with Navient and have taken action.

In short, the loan servicer is accused of:

  • Processing payments incorrect
  • Illegally cheated many struggling borrowers out of their rights to lower payments, which caused them to overpay for their student loans
  • Deceived private student loan borrowers about requirements to release their co-signer from the loan
  • Harmed the credit of disabled borrowers, including severely injured veterans

I’m not sure about you, but when I have a loan, I expect to be treated fairly, legally, and for everyone to be on the same page; i.e. payments need to be posted correctly and the proper strategies put in place to successfully pay off the loan. Nobody likes debt, much less having to pay more than necessary because the company isn’t on the ball or is trying to take shortcuts.

We highly recommend that if you have a loan through Navient, please keep an eye on your account, make sure that your payments have been properly posted and see if there are better options for repaying your loan. If you need to look up who is the servicer of your loan, please click here for the Federal Student Aid website.

If, unfortunately, you are a victim to these issues with Navient, you can submit a complaint to the U.S. Consumer Protection Bureau, the Department of Education, or to Navient itself.

It’s important to know that settling these alleged issues could take years, due to the amount of information that has to be sifted through. If you were affected by these issues, please understand that you can try and switch loan servicers through federal consolidation or student loan refinancing. However, note that it can be difficult to switch servicers, therefore, learn about your repayment options and watch out for scammers.

One of our top priorities is to make sure our clients stay in-the-know when it comes to tax laws changes, new fraud scams, and financial issues arising that may affect them. We like to help you all stay connected and take the proper steps to keep your financials save and protected.

If you’ve been affected by these issues with Navient, please use the links we’ve provided and let us know if you’ve experienced any issues with your loan servicer.