How To Qualify for the Navient Student Loan Forgiveness Program
UPDATED Saturday March 28th, 2020
I created this Guide to teach you all about the Navient Student Loan Lawsuits and to explain how to get rid of your Navient student loans, even though there’s no such thing as a “Navient student loan forgiveness program”.
Wait? What? What do you mean there’s no such thing as Navient loan forgiveness? I’ll get to that in a minute, but if you’re in a hurry, then here are links to the most important sections within this Guide:
- What Student Loan Forgiveness Programs DO Exist in 2020?
- What Student Loan Discharge Programs Should I Try For?
- What Other Federal Assistance Programs Should I Consider?
- What Private Student Loan Relief Programs Should I Review?
I promise, you’re going to find SOMETHING that can help you deal with your student loans in this Guide, it just won’t come from a program called “Navient loan forgiveness”, since that doesn’t actually exist.
What is the Navient Loan Forgiveness Program?
Technically, it doesn’t exist. It’s a marketing tactic that people have been using to get your attention.
In fact, there’s no such thing as “Navient Loan Forgiveness” at all, but there are all sorts of Federal Student Loan Forgivness Programs, and there are even a few Private Student Loan Forgiveness Programs, which I’ll cover in this Guide to teach you how to get rid of your Navient loans without paying for them.
But before we get into all the details, first, let’s cover the basics of the Navient lawsuits and explain how they could end up impacting your student debt.
After I’ve answered the most common questions about the lawsuits against Navient, then I’ll go through all of the forgiveness, discharge, and other financial assistance programs in detail, explaining everything you need to know to decide if you can use any of them to deal with your Navient debt.
But Before We Dive Into Details…
Let me first fill you in on an important secret; one of the best ways to get rid of your student loans quickly, and affordably, is to pay for an expert’s advice.
If you're truly struggling with student debt, then you should also consider paying a Student Loan Debt Relief Agency for help. Why? Because the people working at these companies deal with student loans all day, every day, and they're your best chance at figuring out how to get your loans back under control.I've interviewed all sorts of debt relief agencies over the past 10 years, talking to all sorts of so-called "experts", and I can tell you that in all honesty I've only found two companies I trust to offer actual financial relief to people struggling with student loans.
For help with FEDERAL Student Loans: Call the Student Loan Relief Helpline at 1-888-906-3065. They will review your case, evaluate your options for switching repayment plans, consolidating your loans, or pursuing forgiveness benefits, then set you up to get rid of the debt as quickly as possible.
For help with PRIVATE Student Loans: Call McCarthy Law PLC at 1-877-317-0455. They will negotiate with your lender to settle your private loans for much less than you owe, then get you a new loan for the much lower, settled amount. NOTE: McCarthy Law can ONLY help with Private student loans.
If you do decide to call one of these companies and you have a bad experience with either of them, PLEASE make sure to come back and let me know about it in the Comments!
Who is Suing Navient?
Navient is being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Attorney Generals of Illinois, Washington, Pennsylvania, California and Mississippi.
Why is Navient Being Sued?
Navient allegedly harmed student loan borrowers they were supposed to be servicing by:
- Misallocating monthly student loan payments, potentially on purpose, to cause borrowers to owe more money by extending the length of their loans, and racking up fines, fees and penalties
- Suggesting that borrowers utilize costly Student Loan Forbearance and Deferment Programs instead of Income-Driven Repayment Plans, again, to increase the total costs of student loans
- Purposefully making it difficult to rejoin Income-Driven Repayment Plans after Forbearances and Deferments had ended
- Purposefully obscuring the rules around qualifying for Student Loan Co-Signer Releases, ensuring that Co-Signers would remain on the hook for payments even when they have been able to get released from the loan
All of these are serious allegations for a company that’s supposed to be helping their borrowers, rather than hurting them, and that’s why these lawsuits are such a big deal.
When Will the Lawsuits Be Resolved?
Nobody knows, but they’re likely to last for several more years because Navient is purposefully postponing the rulings.
Why would Navient want to stretch out the court cases? Because the longer these lawsuits drag on, the more money they’re able to collect from borrowers!
How Can I Join the Navient Lawsuits?
You can’t. It’s not possible to do so, but if you live in any of the states whose Attorneys General are suing Navient, you’re technically covered already anyway.
And even if you don’t live in those states, the CFPB is a Federal Agency, so their lawsuit essentially covers all American borrowers.
Will I Get Loan Forgiveness if Navient Loses?
You might receive some loan forgiveness, but to be honest, these lawsuits could drag on for years and years.
Also, if similar lawsuits recently completed against schools are any indicator of results, then the financial relief you receive at the end of this thing will probably only cover a tiny portion of your total debt.
Then Why Do the Navient Lawsuits Matter at All?
The Navient Lawsuits are important because they’re a huge signal that the student loan crisis may finally have an end in sight, with borrowers winning the long war against the corrupt servicing companies that have preyed on them for decades.
While Betsy DeVos and President Trump’s Administration keeps trying to protect Navient, these court cases prove that there’s only so much they can do now that the Courts will end up ruling on whether or not Navient can continue to get away with their bad behavior.
Can I Stop Making My Monthly Navient Payments?
Absolutely not! Unless you want your loan to become Delinquent or to Default, which will ruin your credit and allow Navient to initiate collections activities against you.
Keep in mind that collections activities can include extremely serious consequences, like having Navient sue you, Garnish Your Wages, take your tax refunds or your Social Security payments.
Are There ANY Legitimate Student Loan Forgiveness Programs?
Yes! Absolutely.
In fact, there’s never been a better time to pursue student loan forgiveness benefits, because there are all sorts of assistance programs on offer right now.
Most of the loan forgiveness programs are available to borrowers with Federal student loans, and most of them have eligibility requirements that stipulate you must work in a certain type of career.
Below, I’ll go through all of the best student loan forgiveness programs currently on offer.
2020’s Best Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
If you need Help With Federal Student Loans, then you’ve come to the right place, because below I’ve provided a full list of all the current Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs on offer, including:
- Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs Overview
- The Pay As You Earn Student Loan Repayment Program
- The REPAYE Student Loan Repayment Program
- President Trump’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program
- The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
- Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Doctors & Dentists Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- The Non-Profit Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Program
- Military Personnel Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Teacher Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Government Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- State-Based Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
But people with Private loans aren’t getting left in the dust like they used to either, as there are now more Private Student Loan Forgiveness Programs available than ever before too!
Now, assuming you don’t qualify for any of these forgiveness programs, don’t give up quite yet, because there are also a whole series of discharge programs currently on offer, so let’s look at those next.
2020’s Best Student Loan Discharge Programs
Assuming you can’t qualify for any of the forgiveness programs listed above, you may still be eligible to receive a discharge (effectively the same thing as forgiveness…) by utilizing one of the following:
- The Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program
- Federal Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharges
- The Closed School Student Loan Discharge Program
The most powerful of these is certainly the Borrower’s Defense Discharge Program, which you can use to attack ANY school, and which allows you to qualify for a COMPLETE discharge if you can prove that the school committed some kind of fraud against you.
If you need help getting a discharge from one of the big for-profits schools, then again, you’re in the right place, because I’ve created Guides to Using Borrower’s Defense against the following schools:
- The DeVry Student Loan Discharge Program
- The ITT Tech Student Loan Discharge Program
- The University of Phoenix Discharge Program
- The Westwood College Discharge Program
- The Walden College Loan Discharge Program
- The Art Institutes Discharge Program
- The Full Sail University Discharge Program
- The Corinthian Colleges Discharge Program
- The Heald College Discharge Program
- The Wyotech Discharge Program
- The Le Cordon Bleu Discharge Program
- The Kaplan University Discharge Program
Other Federal Student Loan Assistance Programs
If you don’t qualify for any of the Federal forgiveness or discharge programs listed above, don’t give up yet, because you may still be eligible for all sorts of other assistance programs.
Take a look at the other Guides I’ve created to help people deal with Federal student loans, including:
- Federal Student Loan Bankruptcy
- Federal Student Loan Consolidation
- Federal Student Loan Delinquency & Default
- The Federal Student Loan Rehabilitation Program
- Federal Student Loan Wage Garnishment
- Federal Student Loan Deferment
- Federal Student Loan Forbearance
- Federal Student Loan Repayment Plans
You’re almost certain to find SOMETHING that can help with your Federal debt from one of the programs listed above!
To Get Help With Private Student Loans
And if you have both Private student loans, then you’ll want to take a look at my Guides on Private Student Loan Relief Programs, which you can find here:
- Private Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Private Student Loan Consolidation
- Private Student Loan Bankruptcy
- Private Student Loan Defaults
If you can’t find anything that helps from my site, then please post a Comment below and let me know what your situation looks like, and I’ll review your case myself to see if I can come up with anything that might help!
Loan Forgiveness & Taxable Income Laws
One thing you need to keep in mind is that if you are able to receive forgiveness or discharge benefits, then you’re probably going to have to count the amount you get as income on your IRS tax return, and pay taxes on it.
This sounds ridiculous, but the IRS considers all loan forgiveness and discharge benefits as “taxable income”, which means you’re going to have to count that forgiveness as income.
This is extremely important, because the IRS will want you to pay all of that taxable income at once, in a single lump sump, and for many people that simply isn’t possible.
To find out exactly how it all works, visit my Guide on Student Loan Forgiveness Benefits and Taxable Income Laws.
Don’t Get Devastated by the Taxable Income Trap
For people with huge debt loads, like $100,000 or more, it can actually be WORSE to have the loan forgiven than to simply keep making payments on it (even if you don’t think it’ll ever be possible to fully pay it off!).
Why? Because taxable income has to be paid off all once, like I mentioned above, whereas student loan payments can be stretched out over a series of decades.
This is why I created a new website called Forget Tax Debt, where I go through the same kinds of information I do here at Forget Student Loan Debt, but covering problems with the IRS, instead of with student loans.
If you are worried about facing tax problems, or if you’ve already got some, please visit Forget Tax Debt to find out how to do things like Apply for the IRS Fresh Start Program, Hire a Reliable Tax Resolution Company, or Settle Your Debt with the IRS.
Check Back in Regularly for Updates
Whenever anything changes with regards to the Navient lawsuits, student loan forgiveness benefits or discharge programs, I’ll make sure to update this page with the latest details.
If you see anything change that I haven’t covered yet, please make sure to leave a Comment below so I can address it!
And again, if you have other questions that I haven’t already answered here, please feel free to leave them in the Comments section below too.
I’ll do my best to get you a response within 24 hours.
Finally, Please Help Me Out!
Running this website is like working a second full-time job, and I can only continue to dedicate the time and effort required to build Guides like this one if people like you help me out in return!
I will never ask for a donation from my readers, but I do want to ask for your help in spreading the word that this site exists by sharing a link to it on Facebook, Reddit or Twitter.
The more people who visit FSLD, the more time I can dedicate to writing up Guides like this one, and helping borrowers like you!
Thank you for visiting, and thank you for your support.
References
- The CFPB Lawsuit Against Navient
- The Illinois Attorney General’s Lawsuit Against Navient
- The Washington Attorney General’s Lawsuit Against Navient
- The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Lawsuit Against Navient
- Other Resources
- https://consumerist.com/2015/03/17/you-cant-discharge-your-student-loans-in-bankruptcy-because-of-panicked-1970s-legislation/
- http://www.finaid.org/loans/historicalrates.phtml
- https://www.navient.com/about/investors/stockholderinfo/earningsinfo/default.aspx
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navient_Corporation
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/01/20/navient/#72320c196c39
- https://www.nasdaq.com/article/navient-lawsuits-what-student-loan-borrowers-need-to-know-cm855944
Disclaimer:Information obtained from Forget Student Loan Debt is for educational purposes only. You should consult a licensed financial professional before making any financial decisions. This site receives some compensation through affiliate relationships. This site is not endorsed or affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education.
By: Tim Marshall
Tim's experience struggling with crushing student loan debt led him to create the website Forget Student Loan Debt in 2011, where he offers advice, tips and tricks for paying off student loans as quickly and affordably as possible.
I was victim of them continuing to insist I put mine in foreberence instead of income driven…now they are so ridiculous, then i consolidated with fed loan and they kept back 30,000 of the loans and didn’t release them. They were all subsidized loans and kept saying they would, now 3 years later my other loans are in the forgiveness program but Navient just keeps growing interest on the ones they chose not to release. What can i do, if i pull them now, i lose the 3 years of loan forgiveness towards my 10 years. If i dont move them then I am just barely able to pay the interest much less the principal
Hi,
Are there any new details to the Navient Lawsuit for folks in California? What is the status of this? how do we get involved?
Hi Karla,
I don’t have any new details yet. It’s hard to find information about these lawsuits because everything happens behind closed doors.
Hi Tim,
I have federal student loans (original loans were subsidized and unsubsidized) that were taking for my bachelors and masters degrees. I work and have worked in the medical field of home health serving medicaid recipient patients for the past 9-10 years. I previously worked in public schools for 9 years. I have paid on my loans for 19 and 1/2 years under the impression that after 20 years what ever was not paid at that time would be forgiven based on what I was told at my loan exit counseling from the private university I obtained my bachelors from. After completing my masters and starting payments, I was told by then Sallie Mae that it would be easier for repayment to consolidate my loans into two and therefore would only have one payment. That sounded right, so it was done. I called Navient recently to find out what if anything I needed to do since I was getting close to the 20 year mark, and was told they didn’t know what I was talking about 20 years of payment then discharge of the loan. I was told because the 12 original loans had consolidated that I was no longer in that program and had no option other than to pay the loan off entirely, or I could now apply for another type of loan and if accepted, pay an additional 10 years, I don’t want to work till I am 70 just to pay them!! I then asked about a pay off. And was told yes I could do that but it would be for the full amount showing, not just paying off principal amount of loan. My original loan amount was around $69,396 (12 loans ) and I have paid $653 for pretty much the life of the loan for a total as of Feb 2019 $90,551.61.
$67,376.55 and only $23,175.06 in principal. My balance showing as of that statement was $83,007.60 which is what I could “Pay Off” my loan with. Seriously!! for an original loan amount of $69,396 I will pay $173,559.20. (A total of $104, 163.20 in interest) That is if I were able to pay the loan off at that time, which of course on a $50,000 a year job I can’t do, so the amount will go up and has gone up because of compounding interest. They are worse than any loan sharks I have ever heard of!!! Listen, I have no problem paying what I owe, but in 19 1/2 years you would think more principal would be paid. At this rate I will die before this thing gets paid! I want out I have paid for my loans and they have made a lot of money in interest already. I was going to take out a personal loan to pay them, but because they are federal loans I was told I could not do that. I have considered defaulting, which would ruin my excellent credit, to try and force them to negotiate a settlement, but nearing retirement age I am afraid they would confiscate my monthly social security payments. Please advise me on what I can do or what options I may have. I absolutely appreciate you, your website and provided information. Looking for a way out……
Hi Toni,
This is how interest accumulation works – if you weren’t paying more than the interest accumulation each month, you can end up paying tons of money over the long-run, and still owing more than you originally borrowed.
There’s not much that you can do to get out of this sort of debt, other than trying to attack it with one of the benefits programs on offer. Take a look at some of the other Guides on my site to see if you might qualify under any of the forgiveness or discharge programs.
After calling a help line for student relief debt I found out that Navient did not do their job and help me with my loans and caused my 80,000 dollar loan to increase with them by 125,000 dollars to $221,540. Also that I could have been in a loan forgiveness program since 2009. Navient told me I would not qualify. I am a nurse and I have worked for a federally mandated nonprofit for 9 years. Navient representative told me last year I was on the forgiveness program but that was incorrect. My loan could have been paid off if they had given me the correct information. Now I am having to start over with another company. Any suggestions?
Hi Elaine,
Interesting; this may qualify you for something, but the way to pursue it would be to hire an attorney and threaten to sue. The problem with BDAR Discharges is that they’re only eligible for claims against SCHOOLS, not servicing companies.
I just found this site when reading “Student loan official who resigned: CFPB has been a ‘complete failure’ over the last year” and “Student Loan Law Initiative” found at https://protectborrowers.org/our-projects/student-loan-law-initiative/.
I have had problems with my student loans that were provided by USA Group which was taken over by Sallie Mae and is now handled by Navient. From what I’ve read here (I haven’t experienced the same kind of problems with Navient as many others have), it sounds like others like me were dealing with USA Group. When I completed my degree in 1995, it seem as though every time I called or responded in any way to USA Group, my loan(s) had thousands tacked on. Back then at no time did USA Group staff offer anything other than deferments and little else except to ask when I would get the $300 per month payment in to them. I was making around $850 a month at a part time job for the USPS, with no guarantee of any hours on any day. There were many times when we would walk in the door to be met by a supervisor who told us to go home or to sit down to work for, if we were lucky, an hour to be told to go home for lack of work. Initially, I wasn’t worried about the loans because I fully expected to have no difficulty in paying for the loans. Meanwhile, I was completing my degree, paying for day care, and all the other usual expenses for a family of four. Although my husband was working, I actually made more money than him, and that lasted until he took a job with the USPS as well.
I finished my degree in computer science and fully expected to get a job that would more than cover our expenses and my student loans. I don’t remember how many resumes and cover letters I sent out, but I do remember the feelings I had with no responses to any of them and hopeless I began to feel. I still had responsibilities to my family and these loans were hanging over my head. I’d call USA Group, and if I was lucky enough to get through to someone, my next billing would include additional fees on top of what I already owed. It wasn’t long before my loans were doubled in size from somewhere around $16,000 to eventually almost $40,000. It eventually became obvious that I needed to make my job at the USPS more permanent than it was.
Fortunately, that did happen. When I made career four years later, I was guaranteed a set number of hours–not 40 hours but close and better than the 20 I had been working. I had paid off one student loan with Nebraska Student Loan Company or something like that. While USA Group had turned in my loans to a collection agency, they also reported me to the credit bureaus which made things even more dicey and ensured my complete lack of interest in anything they might offer for the most part. Nebraska did garnish my wages, which I accepted without hesitation because they had been working with me and I goofed up. They reported that I was paying my loans as required but there was no negative information from them. They hold a special place in my heart.
When SallieMae took over my loans from USA Group, I was more optimistic even though I realized whenever that happened (I think that was about 10 years ago–may be farther back although not by much) I would still be paying on these loans until the day I die. I’m 70 years old now and even more convinced I will die before these loans are out of my hair. I have no assets except a not quite 10 year old car. I don’t owe a home. The only income I have is a small pension and social security. My children are grown. My husband doesn’t have any responsibility to me. His attitude is you made ’em, you pay ’em.
I called the DOE shortly after the Trimp administration took over to to learn if there was anything I could do–like loan forgiveness–to have to pay any longer. I didn’t know about the 10 year time frame. Frankly, I’m convinced that there is nothing anyone can or would do to help me. I could have handled the initial loans. It was all the excess interest, fees and other charges that really make me angry because I didn’t think they were needed, justified, or anything but a punishment because I didn’t make enough money to take care of them because the employment situation didn’t pan out as I had expected.
I’m sure there is no hope for me. I hope there is hope for others. I know there are many who are much worse off.
Hello,
Thank you for this information. I had private student loans with Salie Mae and later went to Navient.
At the time it was an $8000 private loan, today its a $20,000 loan that I can’t pay down.
I’ve tried to consolidate it with my federal loans and Navient tells me “NO”. They won’t reduce the payments so the put my on interest only repayments which then makes my payments go up after 6 months. I don’t see a way out with them. I would really like for all my loans to be one low monthly payment, then we wouldn’t be going down this road.
Hi Erica,
Yeah, don’t combine your Private and Federal loans. All that does is ensure you’ll lose access to the Federal Loan Relief Programs on your federal debt.
If you need help with the Private loans, get in touch with McCarthy Law to see if they can help. Call McCarthy Law PLC at 1-877-317-0455. They will negotiate with your lender to settle your private loans for much less than you owe, then get you a new loan for the much lower, settled amount.
So i keep seeing this and actually got a call regarding this today.
What are we supposed to do, how do we become a part of this and make sure we are qualified for any potential refunds.
I graduated in 06 and fully repaid my loans by 17. I went into forbearance multiple times and all the interest got added to principle.
So what are my next steps? that is what I can’t find anywhere.
Hi Jonathan,
I’m a little skeptical of anyone who’s calling around trying to get class action participants – that could be a scammer trying to trick you into providing personal information. Be very, very careful about what you provide.
Refunds probably aren’t going to happen, to be perfectly honest, so I would not worry about it much. Keep watch of the court cases and proceedings and see if you can find a class action to join, if it’s legit.
Hi Tim,
Thank you so much for this informative website and your awesome insight. I can’t see where to post a comment so I’m just replying with my concern. Long story short, I had my loans deferred years ago due to financial hardship. Years after I resumed payments, I applied for the Teacher forgiveness (I am a 14 year NYC public school teacher in a Title 1 school). I was denied my forgiveness due to the deferment I was instructed to take years and years before. Should I reapply? Does this fall under the abuses of Navient and, if so, how can I join a class action? Thank you!
Hi Diana,
This wouldn’t qualify you for a BDAR discharge. And it’s not really possible to join the class action either, you basically ARE part of it already. You’ll just automatically be added to the class if you qualify.
I think you should try for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness application again.
Hi Tim,
Thank you for the helpful information. I borrowed 58k for my bachelors and master’s degree in total and now owe close to 200k due to interest at 8.25%. My loans are still in forbearance because despite having 5 dependents at the time, I was told that I didn’t qualify for any type of income based repayment through Navient- they actually increased my monthly payment. My interest is at 8.25%. I have suffered so many abuses from Navient along the way and I am a resident of PA. I tried to work through a Congressman’s office a couple years ago and they contacted Navient with no helpful response. Any advice for me?
Hi Jennifer,
Are you trying to get your loans forgiven or what? What’s the objective here?
Are the loans all Federal, or do you have Private debt too?
Abuses from Navient, unfortunately, won’t do much for you, because BDAR discharges are all about the SCHOOL’S behavior, not the servicing company.
My student loan used to be with Navient and are now with Great Lakes student loans. I tried to obtain my loan information from them but can’t get an information. Most of the interest on my loan grew as a result of them suggesting forbearance/deferment when I would call in. I never was provided alternatives. Can you assist? Thank you!
Hi Dheena,
I can’t really assist, and unfortunately, you’re kind of stuck at this point. BDAR Discharges are not being offered for servicing issues at this point, so the only option is to hire an attorney and try to sue them to get the loan discharged, or wait for the Democrats to retake the White House and restore sanity to the Department of Education (may not happen any time soon…).
Is your loan Federal or Private? If it’s Private, call McCarthy Law, because they should be able to help. You can reach them at 1-877-317-0455
I didn’t get anything in the mail, what do I do to become part of this class action? I have Navient loans totaling 25k, it used to be 35K+. I was thinking about paying off some of the smaller ones, but am not sure if that’s a good idea with this lawsuit going on.
Haines,
There isn’t anything you can do to become part of the class action. At least nothing that I’m aware of. I would pursue a BDAR request of your own.
Hi Tim, Thanks for all the information. Do you know anything about the loan forgiveness for people who’ve had to declare bankruptcy. I head about it a few years ago but no updates lately. Thanks,
Carol
Hi Carol,
I’ve got full Guides on Student Loan Bankruptcy – here’s my Guide on Federal Bankruptcy Discharges, and here’s my Guide on Private Bankruptcy Discharges.
The short answer is, it’s still really, really difficult to get a discharge based on bankruptcy.
I’m not aware of any major program that exists to offer loan forgiveness for people who have had to declare bankruptcy, and even though there are certainly widespread discussions in the Media and even from some members of Congress around the topic, the odds of seeing bankruptcy come back as a viable way to eliminate student debt are quite low.
Hello Tim Marshall. Thank You for the important information you have created. First my wife has had her wages garnished due to her student loans. She hasn’t paid as she didn’t know who to trust as there were several calling her and requesting to negotiate her student loans. Agencies were general revenue corp, Navient ascendium, even the irs. She didn’t know who to trust and didn’t reply because of it. After reading your posting more than once and discussing it with my wife, she has situations same as the borrowers in the Navient suits! Especially now as she just received a week ago from Navient approving her for forbearance on her student loans. My question to you is how do we get connected to someone who can help us? We are located in Hawaii so would you direct me to the people that can help us please? It very appreciated.
Hi Hanalei,
It sounds like you guys are a little lost in trying to figure out what to do. If you need help dealing with your loans, then I have two groups I refer people to, based on the type of loan they have (Federal vs. Private).
For Federal Loans – I suggest using the Student Loan Relief Helpline, who review your case to look at opportunities for relief, forgiveness, discharge, consolidation and refinancing opportunities, and who you can reach by calling: 1-888-906-3065
For Private Loans – I suggest speaking with McCarthy Law PLC, a group of attorneys who are settle private student debt for pennies on the dollar, and who will get you a new loan at the settled lower amount. You can reach them by calling 1-877-317-0455
These are the only companies I suggest speaking with if you’re going to pay someone for help. There are LOTS of scams floating around out there, so you have to be very, very careful about who you agree to pay for assistance.
Ok. So I did contact student loan relief helpline and it has a recorded message about pursuing Navient by suing should contact DOE?
Am I putting aside the Navient suit for now & have them just help us on getting our loans in a better situation?
Yes, the Helpline can’t do anything for you if all you’re trying to do is sue Navient. That’s an unrealistic approach to dealing with student loans though, and people wanting to do that have been flooding the Helpline and wasting their time, so they basically try to divert anyone looking to do that elsewhere.
You could still try contacting DOE for help with Navient, as they MAY be able to assist, but it’s a real long-shot. I’ve heard of very few people getting any actual assistance by complaining about Navient. There are massive lawsuits against the company right now that are still being worked on, and those MIGHT bring relief when they’re done, but it could take years to finish.
I would definitely see if the Helpline can do anything to get your loans squared away. It sounds like you want to deal with the debt, and I have a feeling this will be your best option.
Yes I do! Especially getting the garnished of wages stopped. I will contact them today and let them help us out. Thank You
I had one more question to ask. If the documents submitted by Navient claiming I am responsible for the student loans and the information to my wife’s identity isn’t exactly my wife’s personal information? What can we do? Our options?
My wife’s name is misspelled and it doesn’t match her personal identification information. Just checking another negative claim against Navient to see if we have a claim to discharge
Hi Hanalei,
That MIGHT open you up to some kind of legal case against them, in that the loan may not be valid. In this case, I’d try contacting an attorney, probably one who specializes in Contracts? I would definitely get that reviewed, because it may make it far easier to get rid of the debt than having to pursue a discharge via the official student loan-related programs!
Hi I had my loan with navient and they were charging me ridiculous amounts in interest so my parents took a private loan that I am paying a very large quantity. Then today the department of education called me.And.Told.Me.That I qualified for the student loan forgiveness. When I called navient they told me.That the could.Not do anything because i paid the debt with them. But of course i pid them. They were.Damaging my credit. What can I do?
Hi Jennifer,
Did you apply for forgiveness? The Department of Education doesn’t randomly call people to tell them that they are qualified for forgiveness. This sounds like it could have been some kind of a scammer trying to get money from you. If you already paid your debt off at Navient, then it’s gone and you won’t be able to do anything regarding forgiveness, discharges, refunds, etc.
Hi Tim,
Your site is a great find, thank you for the time you have put into this cause! I just had my Chapter 13 Bankruptcy discharged, and my student loans are back. After 4 years in the Bankruptcy, my student loans went from $9,683 to $13,695 as $4011 in interest was just capitalized. My husbands $52,524 went to $65,294, capitalizing $12,769 in interest. So in this 4 year period we increased our student loan debt by $18,000!! Need advice where to start.
Thank you!
Ashley
Hi Ashley,
Are these Private or Federal loans? If they’re Federal, you’re going to need to start finding a way to qualify for Forgiveness. Look at my page on Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs for details there. Your best bet would be trying to get Government jobs that allow you guys to qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and then use an Income-Driven Repayment Plan to reduce your monthly payments as you work toward earning the forgiveness benefit.
If your loans are Private, it’s time to start looking at debt reduction options via settlement. I can steer you to a great LAW FIRM who specializes in this, but they only work with Private Student Loans, so let me know!
Hey Tim, great information in your articlie and i appreciate you spreading all this knowledge a lot of us aren’ aware of. I am uncertain and what to do and would love for some guidance. I took out a private Sallie Mae loan in 2015/2016 for my school. University of Tampa, which Fl doesnt have any lawsuits and my school was private, not sure if that matters. I went due to connections with a department head in my field i studied. My mom is still in 60k debt from school loans and im getting there with the ridiculous interst of Sallie Mae. I paid a little sum of $25 a month while i was in school and not working and now i pay a ton and havent even been employed for 6-8 weeks due to relocating. When ive talked to them in the past they gave me absolutely zero help on the phone. They said i couldnt do a income driven plan and i couldnt reduce my payments at all unless i agreed to terms that would give me a little break but the interest would destroy me. I feel like were practically paying for their salary and not our education at this point. I honestly have no idea what to do. I even have it on auto-pay so i get the reduction but my interest is still 12%! I really cant afford it, my bank account is almost depleted and dont know how to go about this or what i can do. Any help would be greatly appreciated Tim.
– Josh K
Hi Josh,
Thank you for the kind words!
Unfortunately, your options are SEVERELY limited because you have private loans and there’s simply very little to be done with private debt.
Almost all of the big forgiveness programs on offer are only available to people with Federal student debt.
Try looking at my page on Private Student Loan Relief Programs and you may be able to find something that you could get access to, but remember that the odds really are quite low.
My loans were taken out by The Art Institute of Orange County, which closed in 2018. I went there in 2002, 2003, one full semester, one partial. I got injured on my federal job, its permanent partial, and I have not worked since 2003. I quit paying student loans in 2009, when I got my bankruptcy. My student loans were not dismissed, but I couldn’t pay. I have been on federal disability since, and Navient cannot touch my income. Now I got a letter from a creditor….it has quoted, “The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we can not sue you for it, and we will not report it to any credit reporting agency.” It has come off my credit. How long before they no longer pursue the debt? I am going to join the California lawsuit, for deceptive practices to have even gone to the Art Institutes. Just curious your take on this!
Hi Connie,
Good question, and I don’t think that anyone could give you the answer about how long they it will be before they no longer pursue the debt.
My guess is that they would keep trying to collect from you forever, just that they won’t be able to sue you, and that they can’t use a Student Loan Wage Garnishment or any other form of collection activity because of your disability protections.
It sounds to me like you’ve basically got them beat as long as you just keep ignoring them!
I went to Brooks College which closed years ago. I received school loans through Sallie Mae and was loaned way more money than they had no right to loan me. I now owe more than my house loan because of all the interest that has added up. Do I have any options for discharge?
Hi Rachel,
Your explanation here doesn’t really include any of the sorts of things that would qualify you for forgiveness.
Look at my Guide to Creating a Successful BDAR Application for details on what you’d need to do to pursue a Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Discharge.
I’ve been with this Student loan since 2005. they were Sallie Mae, then converted to Navient. I have not been able to pay for my loan totally. I’ve made $9,000 in payments so far, and need to pay $6,000 left on this loan and I’ve called them numerous times to try to lower payment. and I’ve been put under the deferrment a few times, but the interest keeps going up and it’s not fair cause this loan will never get paid. I was wondering what program I should try to apply for to get this remaining balance diminished! It would be greatly appreciated! I’m in FL.
Hi Nellie,
Yeah, you need to stop using Deferments and Forbearances, because all they do on an unsubsidized loan is rack up interest, and more debt.
Did you ask them about using an Income-Driven Repayment Plan? That would probably be your best bet for short-term relief.
Meanwhile, you should also look into the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Program to see if you have any chances at getting your debt discharged.
Look at my Guide to Building a Successful Borrower’s Defense Application for details on how to write your BDAR paperwork.
I graduated, but my school was trash and is also not closed “advise – never attend a trade school!”. Any way for me to get out of the crazy high cost I owe now? Also any way to get out of the 10+ loans the dumb school got for me? I know I can go apply for a private loan to consolidate them but that also seems risky and may even get declined since it’s for such a high $$ when you already owe a high $$.
Hi Walter,
I’d look into the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Program, as that may be your only hope for getting rid of this debt.
I am confused. Is the only way to apply for BDAR against Navient to go against the school that you attended ? Because I have private loans with Navient and I know for a fact that they:
“Failed to operate in the borrower’s best interest by refusing to help people enroll in the Income-Based Repayment Programs that offer eventual Loan Forgiveness, and instead pushing them to sign up for Forbearance and Deferment programs which are faster for Navient to configure, but which cost borrowers more money over the life of their loans by racking up addition costs due to interest accumulation.”
in my specific case BUT also I use to get an harassing amount of phone calls from them anytime my payment was slightly delayed.
What do you think my options are if any?
Hi Jodi,
You can’t use the BDAR program for private loans, unfortunately. They still remain essentially totally unregulated and wildly out of control. This program is for FEDERAL student debt only.
If you’re having issues with Private Debt, look at my page on Getting Help with Private Student Loan Debt. The best option currently is typically going for a Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharge, unfortunately, as that’s virtually the only way to get rid of Private Loans.
Hi, I was with Sallie Mae back in 2005 when I left university. I paid until I just could not, then paid again until I had to get a low paying job. I became disabled officially by social security in 2009.
Through the times I couldn’t pay the company always told I could only do defferment or forebarence. I tried to ask about income based pay and they would always tell me an outlandish amount that was close to what I was already paying.
When I became disabled and was finally able to talk to someone (mental health), they “lowered” the payment to 250-300 usd, again very close to my original payment, and I was only receiving a bit over 400 a month. I earn even less now that I’m married. I told them I could pay 50 a month, but they said it wouldn’t cover enough to matter because my interest rate was putting on more than that. They even implied that the money might not even be put toward the loan, only the intrest.
By this time it was in default, but they said I could still go though them once I was able to pay again. About 9 months later (they called every 3 months) a “nice” lady called, and when I told her I couldn’t pay the amount she quoted, she started berrating me. She told me that if I couldn’t pay, I should have never gotten the loan to start with. When I emphasize that I was disabled, she told me I should have thought about that as well before getting the loan. She brought me to tears, and told me to “toughfin’ up” and “get over myself”. Then when I mentioned that my disability was my mental health, she told me I was more than likely acting, and that the company would sue me. At this point I hung up and blocked their number.
I have not filed for disability forgiveness on my federal loans yet, due to my husband and I not having near the amount needed to pay the irs. And also because conviently I “forgot” a part of the application despite filling it out properly at the time they only took doctor’s notes and not social security letters.
My federal loans were transferred to Sallie Mae before 2006 as they said it would make my payments easier and lower. Which it did…by maybe 100 usd.
So, I’m not sure if I qualify for this lawsuit or not. I live in MS and I know they have some stipulations on loan companies (including a clause saying they cannot take from my disability SSI payments unless the we over a specific amount). So, I’m not sure what they would need to pay.
Hi There,
You have some very specific issues at play here so I would request speaking with an attorney to try and resolve what you need to do. Fortunately, you can get help from the Student Loan Ombudsman Group, a Federal Government-backed group of lawyers who offer FREE legal advice on student loan-related issues like yours. Google their name for their contact details and give them a call!
Thanks, I’ll check them out
I had loans through sallie Mae which was sold to navient the problem is I was never supposed to be granted any financial aid at that time I did not have a high school diploma or ged what steps do I need to take to get these loans discharged
Hi Lalia,
You may be able to use the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Discharge Program. Check it out.
Hi Tim. This is great information.
I am slightly confused as to how to proceed, though. I attended ITT between 2011-2015 and all of my Federal Loans are owned by Navient. My repayment status is good, but I don’t want to pay another 21 years for a scam that I feel duped into by ITT. Who do I file a defense to repayment against though? ITT, because they mislead me into believing I’d have lifelong support from their services and job placement was in the 90% range, or Navient, because they are the handlers of the loans now??
Hi Justin,
File it against your school. Things have changed since I originally wrote these articles and the DOE is not accepting BDAR requests against Student Loan Servicing Companies.
You’ll need to make sure that you’re CRYSTAL CLEAR about how the job placement data was used to convince you that you should attend the school though. Don’t just say “I was told Job Placement was in the 90% range”. Explain who told that to you, when, where you were, how it impacted your decision to take out loans, etc.
My Sallie Mae was sold to Navient then they sent it over to Higher education Services at $95,000 . After reaching out for help since I couldn’t find be employed from failing my boards they insisted that I could not continue to put my loans on forbarrance and was requesting 100s of dollars a month to be paid which I could not pay . They then sent it over to a collection agency which they are claiming I owe $270,000. My credit is screwed I can’t move forward in life because of this. Any advise ?
Hi Nat,
Are these Private or Federal Loans? Can’t you retake the boards and get going on your career?
Hi I have Navient student loans, I have been paying sometimes I haven’t but I haven’t worked in my field. So I was paying them and the interest wouldn’t go down. So I am up to 22,000.00 it only went down a couple one hundred dollars. I have had this loan since 2009 they never told it was a private student I was going to an online school the school never told me they just said it was a loan if I could e sign it so I did
Hi Cindy,
You’re in trouble because you didn’t pay attention and took out a loan without doing any real due diligence to understand what you were getting yourself into. It’s going to be really hard to get rid of a Private Loan, and my advice for you would be to pursue a Bankruptcy Discharge since that’s typically one of the easier ways to discharge Private Student Loan Debt. Look at my page on Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharges.
So when I graduated from northern Illinois in 2008, I had my first forbearance/ deferment I’m December of 2008. From December 2008-jlaugust 2015 I was either using forbearance or deferments. I would constantly have to call every 6 months or a year to re apply for which ever one was available. They never once mentioned to me anything about the Income based repayment plans even when I asked of there were better options than forbearance and deferments. I finally found out about the. Income based repayments 1 and a half years into my navy career I’m 2015 when I read that the pslf program rerquired a income driven plan and loan consolidation. When I called navient about this, 2014, they then directed me to feed loan servicing to sign up for a income based plan and the pslf program
You may have a shot at a BDAR Discharge because of their failure to fully inform you. This is exactly the type of situation the lawsuit stems from.
What kind of attorney would I contact about a lawsuit against predatory lending? I live in Georgia. Who can I contact? Where do I begin looking?
Good question Tasha. Try to find someone who has experience in that specific field. Look for financial specialty attorneys, or contract attorneys. Maybe even debt lawyers.
I just received a robocall saying an agent name and number and that “your student loans have been accepted into the Navient settlement and are now subject to complete loan forgiveness. The great news is this applies to all loans, even those in default. To apply your benefits, and be entered into the settlement, please call 877-394-4713 now with your reference number *****. Have a great day.”
Is this a scam? Is this for real?
This sounds like a scam to me, but it’s hard to be certain. I don’t think a legitimate law firm would be robodialing like this though – you’d at least get a letter in the mail. I would probably not provide these people with your information.
Thanks for sharing this information.
I have my student loans through Salie Mae. They continuously offered forbearance NEVER explaining that my interest would be continuously growing and ballon from 20k to 100k. I also had nearly 2o years of federal service in law enforcement. Navient steered me clear of the FedLoan payback program.
Do I have a case here?
Hi Joel,
I’m not sure that it’s their requirement to explain how Forbearance and interest accumulation works, but it may be worth taking a shot at it anyway.
Hi Tim! Thank you so much for all of the info you’ve provided. Personally, I have been with Navient since it was Sallie Mae. My mom co-signed with me for my student loans and I got my BA from AIU London which has since closed after an audit for corruption charges. AIU cloaked how much debt I was accruing by forcing students to get new student loans every semester/term and never showing me how much I was racking up. I was never consulted about interest rate options or other lenders. Post-graduation, I was totally overwhelmed at my balance of over $180K in student loans!!! I did manage to consolidate some of my loans at one lower fixed rate versus the higher variable rates I had been on.
I got a job where I had apprenticed during school, but the 2008 recession affected the business and I was forced to find more sustainable employment in a lower-paying job outside of my field. When my UK work visa came up for renewal, the processing took 3+ months longer than normal and caused my employer to have to suspend my employment. I was unable to make student loan payments during this time and only partial payments after re-starting employment due to the backlog of loss of wages in the interim. This resulted in all-day, every day harassing phone calls and nasty letters to my mom as Sallie Mae wouldn’t call overseas. She would call me totally stressed out and in tears because they convinced her they were going to take us both to jail for the debt. My dad got mad and blamed me although the visa situation was completely out of my hands. During my visa waiting period, I ended up homeless and couch-surfing with friends and I couldn’t even travel out of the country because they hold your passport in the UK while they’re processing your visas. I eventually got pushed into forbearances and deferments by Sallie Mae because there was no way I could keep up. I was given no other options. In addition, they put my privacy at risk by continuing to send my statements to my last US address despite requests not to and my signing up for emailed statements.
Even after returning to work once my work visa cleared, that work dried up due to the economy. I found another job, but I still couldn’t swing the full payment, so more forbearances and deferments ensued. I eventually moved back to the US and got a job, but the economy had not improved, so due to stagnating wages, I was struggling to get by. This meant more harassment, more forbearances and deferments. During this time, Sallie Mae became Navient and the harassment lightened, but the forbearances and deferments continued for my Federal loans. they wouldn’t allowany more forbearances/deferments on my Private loans, so I ended up having to do autopay under their Rate Reduction Plan (RRP).
During this period of time I caught them misallocating my RRP payments on more than one occasion because I started getting late fees and the harassment started again. It took hours of my time, dozens of phone calls and leveling up to several managers to get them to straighten up their act and go back and fix the misallocations. Ever since then, I have been in a holding pattern with the RRP because of how high the accrued interest has inflated the payments & balance. In addition, they keep shortening the term period for the RRP and raising the interest rate for the loans. They only recently offered me the option for an Income Driven Repayment Plan, but were pushing for me to do other options instead. My balance now ($180K) is only a few hundred dollars less than the original amount loaned, despite paying on it since 2008 (11 years to-date!)!!! Is there ever any hope of getting off this hamster wheel of debt?
Hi Krisalyn,
Well, it sounds like you’ve been put through the wringer, but you haven’t necessarily outlined any slam dunk BDAR approvals cases here. What I would do if I were you is to contact the Student Loan Ombudsman Group, a group of Government-backed lawyers who offer free legal advice on student loan-related issues, and see if they can advise you on how to proceed.
I’d also follow these Navient lawsuits VERY closely to see if you end up getting access to any sort of relief from their resolution, and I would pursue a Borrower’s Defense Claim against your school, but only after you’ve put together a much more compelling case for ILLEGAL and FRAUDULENT behavior that they committed against you.
You’ve got quite a few options, and BDAR vs the school is probably your best bet at this point. DOE is no longer accepting any BDAR applications against servicers, so even though Navient made a lot of mistakes in your case, there’s really nothing you can do against them quite yet.
Vote Democratic and get everyone you know to do so too. Without Betsy DeVos and other Trump-appointees ruling the DOE, these things will change, but until that happens, we’re mostly stuck with the corrupt system currently in place.
(BTW I’m NOT a Democrat, but I do at least recognize that Republicans are terrible on student loan debt issues).
Good luck!
So reading all this information is helpful. I attended Collins College 2006-2007 but dropped out due to loan payments to the school “not going through”. I ended up with $22000 debt for 4 mounts of school. I then went into the Army and was making regular payment and even use my sign on bonus to pay off $15000 of the debt. When I was discharged (honorable) i had issues because I was unemployed for 6 months and began to fall behind on payments. I still owe around $16000 it has been this way for the past 5 years I was unaware that my co-signer could be removed from the loan any time I asked for a lower payment I was told I could only do so when a payment was not due. I am currently 2 days from default and only last week have they offered a lower payment but I would have to do 6 mounts auto pay something I stoped doing ever since Navient Charged me twice for a single payment and refused to cancel the duplicate payment.
Hi Mack,
I would definitely take their offer and get back on autopay. You do NOT want your loan to default, because it turns into a complete disaster at that point!
Check out my page on Student Loan Delinquency & Default, then look at my pages on Rehabilitating Defaulted Student Loans, and Stopping Student Loan Wage Garnishments. Trust me on this one – you DON’T want to Default!
I had student loans and my husband and I have parent loans out for our kids. All has been consolidated. Sallies loans were sold to Navient. I always make our payments but Navient keeps hounding us about lowering our rate, etc. I am wondering why they are do eager and going out if their way for us. O knew nothing of any lawsuit, now that I do I’m wondering if I did go with Navient’s new deal would that keepe from filing any kind of a claim? I don’t know yet if I have grounds for a claim but I am flabbergasted by their eagerness to help? Thanks
Hi Sue,
You’d have to speak to an attorney for full details on eligibility for filing a claim. I probably wouldn’t change anything without consulting with a lawyer who’s familiar with student loans, but I would also probably wait to see how all the lawsuits against Navient settle out, and I’d also make sure that if I did choose to alter anything or sign some new agreement, it didn’t have any language included within it that said it limited their liability for any sort of lawsuit or claim against them down the line.
Wondering if i qualify. I went to a school (profit) ITT which closed down now. The school lied and said by the time students ready to transfer credits would be transferable. It’s not acredited and now the school is closed! Navient has not out me in a repayment plan that suits my income. They send me emails about forebarence only. I went on the website and enter my information to get a repayment plan and they gave me a high amount that my income does not suit. I have student loans for credits i can’t use and a school that is closed. Do you think I qualify ?
Hi Brenda,
You MIGHT qualify because of the lies about credit transfers. I know a few schools have been sued for that specific mis-statement, so it’s probably worth taking a shot, but it doesn’t sound like a perfect case either.
I have a different problem, my employer forced me a few years to cosign a loan or lose my job. e has bad credit. 12 years he still does and he is no longer my employer as I left the job.
Now he is not always paying the loan back and has no interest in doing sp. Navient has now started coming after me. Should I get a lawyer to protect my interests and should I talk to Navient.
He also signed me up for a second loan.
Hi David,
I would definitely hire an attorney here. You need to get legal assistance with this if what you’ve said is true.
Hi,
Navient made me pay them starting March when I was actually out of school December. I then called and said I have 6 months but the call center agent told me that from dec-March was 6 months and that I would have to start repaying them. I then asked for an income driven repayment plan and was told I was not eligible for one. If I can’t make my loan payments, my only option was to get them deferred. Honestly the call center agent pissed me off sooo bad just bc he honestly thought that from Dec-March was 6 months.
Hi Christina,
This sounds pretty typical from some of the other comments I’ve received about them. Unfortunately, it sounds like BDAR can not be used against servicing companies now, so I don’t know that you can actually do anything about this other than maybe trying to file a lawsuit? I would submit an official complaint to the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and contact your State’s Attorney General to see if there’s anything that their office can do to help you with legal advocacy.
I am a co-signer on a Navient Student loan. The student defaulted, filed bankruptcy and has fled the country. At the time I agreed to co-sign, I admit, I was quite naive about student loans. I do specifically remember asking “will I be released as co-signer after 1 year of on time payments made by the student?” and I specifically remember the answer being YES. I only knew to ask this from prior experience of a friend who co-signed on a car loan. Several years later, after the student had graduated, I started looking at my options to be released as co-signer to find out there was much more involved than 1 year of on time payments. I feel like I was mislead into co-signing. Not only that the amount I co-signed for at my income level is preposterous. I feel like I was taken advantage of because I had an extremely high credit score with very low debt for a woman.
I’m tired of beating myself up over this for make a very stupid decision. I just thought this was how student loans work and I have been paying my dues. The greed of this company is nauseating at the least.
I appreciate your information!
Hi Deb,
Yes – it definitely sounds like you were lied to – and maybe even had fraud committed against you? Misrepresentation at the least. It’s possible you may be eligible for some kind of discharge due to the way that they handled those conversations, but with cosigners, everything is more complicated than usual, and it becomes even harder to get any assistance. Good luck!
I’m a teacher and have tried several times for loan forgiveness through Navient, but have been told that since my wife and I consolidated our loans and that they were taken out before Oct. of 1998 that we do not qualify for any type of loan forgiveness. I seen in your article above that you said everyone should qualify for some form of loan forgiveness, do you have any ideas of where else we can try?
Hi Dusty,
That 1998 limit is a pretty significant limitation, BUT, are your loans Federal? What Repayment Plan are you currently using? If you can qualify for one of the Income-Based Repayment Plans, like REPAYE (you won’t qualify for PAYE because your loans are too old), you may be able to start working toward forgiveness at the 20 year mark.
It really is tough out there for people who borrowed long, long ago – Politicians didn’t set anything up for older borrowers because it didn’t seem to be as big of a deal as it is now, but I’m totally with you in understanding that we’ve basically left an entire generation to hang out to dry.
Hi, I’ve been through the program that helped me out of default. They stretched out payments of $5 basically for 10 months then when Navient contacted me about them taking over they I had it on auto pay (when it for $5) and something told me to check. The few times it took the money but somehow it never went through and they never told me. So I paid over the phone. Then randomly I checked online to make sure it actually went through and that’s when I saw they raised my payments to $300+ . But they didn’t inform me. Luckily I know a lil bit but so I called and requested to have an income based payment plan. They put my account in 2 months forbearance. And I got approved for a lesser payment. I still don’t trust them on auto pay. Is that enough to qualify for forgiveness because during that 10 months I paid the $5 dollars my total went up a lot.
Hi Tori,
No – that sort of thing wouldn’t be enough to qualify for BDAR. You need to be able to prove that you’ve had some sort of fraud committed against you, and this sounds like maybe an administrative error? Maybe just a misunderstanding?
I have a son ( a veteran), who secured a loan when attending ITT, that required a co-signer (which is how I got into this) In 2017 Navient began hounding him and making threating calls to me as well; giving an impression that they were out to help him.
I got involved when the made a threating call to me and when I called them back, they explained that if my son paid them $200 that they would forgive a portion of his loan(s); when I told them that I would pay the amount, I was informed that they would not deal with me ( we did make arrangements to give him the $200); at this point I was never a party to any agreement that was made between Navient and my son( who states that there was on agreement.
I then asked several times to receive a copy of the documents, that I had signed, only to be told that a digitized signature was legally recognized as good as the actual signature, which I disputed, verbally; stating I wanted the actual copies; I finally received a copy without a signature and also w/o an amount.
Now this past year they have started making threats again.up to the point that I received a letter, delivered via UPS through USPS outlining the procedure of filing a lawsuit against me is I did not contact them by Jan 30, 2019.
My question is do I have any legal grounds re; forgiveness for the student?
Hi Hubbard,
Honestly, I’m not sure. This doesn’t really sound like something that would qualify for a BDAR discharge though. Try contacting the Student Loan Ombudsman Group to see what they think. They’re a group of Government-backed attorneys who offer free legal advice on student loan related problems. Google their name to find their phone number.
I was finally signed up for the income debt repayment plan after they said they never received my paperwork which I sent 4 times and it still is accruing interest Is it supposed to
Hi Krista,
I have no idea. You haven’t provided enough details here and there’s no such thing as an “income debt repayment plan”. Do you mean an Income Based Repayment Plan? What type of loans do you have? If they’re subsidized, then you shouldn’t be accruing interest, but if they’re not subsidized, then interest will continue to accumulate.
Hello!
Slightly confused after trying to track down more info on borrowers defense against Navient for a private loan. I spoke with the student loan relief helpline (janice:)who told me no borrowers defense was available for private loans at all… Did I jump to conclusions after reading the “Does The CFPB Lawsuit Cover Both Federal And Private Loans?” portion of this page to think that if Navient forced me into forbearance and deferment I may have a case for discharge or forgiveness? Thanks so much for your time!!
Hi Elissa,
Yes, you can’t use Borrower’s Defense on Private Debt. It’s only for Federal loans.
Hi Tim. Thank you for such valuable information. I am a co-borrower who has been paying back my ex-husband’s school loans. The loans were first with Sallie Mae, then Sallie Mae switch the account to Navient. Since I have been making the payments, can I file for the BDAR application to see if I am eligible? If I am, will the monies be refunded to me or would it go to my ex-husband? Your advice would be appreciated.
Hi M,
How would you be qualifying for BDAR? You have to have a reason why you deserve the discharge, and it needs to explain how you were defrauded.
Basically, you’re liberal. anti-Trump and pro-Obama? How does that help anyone????
Hi “Me”,
If you look at my old content about President Trump, I literally thought he was going to be the “Student Loans President”. While he was campaigning, he talked about fixing the broken system, making EVERYONE eligible for Forgiveness at an earlier date, making EVERYONE utilize the same Repayment Plan, etc., and these were all decent ideas.
As soon as he got elected, he started ignoring student loans completely, put Betsy DeVos (the literal enemy of the common person) in charge of the Department of Education, and allowed her to start gutting all of our most important Federal Forgiveness benefits. He has not lived up to his campaign promises on this front at all.
Obama did a great job to help reform student loans, introducing much more lenient repayment and forgiveness programs, and I applaud his efforts on that front. I don’t like any Politician, period, as I think anyone crazy enough to get elected has some kind of disorder and should be banned from service in the first place.
But thanks for your ignorant comment.
So, what if I have been paying, have a good job that allows me to pay, and have never asked for restructuring but I still feel like I am being taken advantage of by Navient?
Hi Kortney,
If you can prove to the DOE reviewer that some sort of fraud or illegal activity was committed against you, then you might have a shot at earning a discharge. If you can’t, it won’t work.
I had the same question but my only problem was I kept applying for INcome base repayment plans but they never seem to got a hold of my paper so I gave up and just paid the full amount I had too since I didn’t want to go in default.
Would I qualify?
Hi Mai,
I can’t tell you for sure without knowing more details about your situation, but if you’re asking can you qualify for a BDAR Discharge because they didn’t get you put on an Income-Based Plan? I don’t know if that’s a strong enough argument, especially without knowing how many times you tried, how long this time period lasted, etc. I don’t think it’s going to work in your case though – this doesn’t sound bad enough.
Hi Tim,
I’ve been paying back a student loan to Navient since 2008. Many times I had feelings that something just wasn’t right. They did at one time give me a income based payment for two years. Before I realized it my principle shot up way past the original amount I borrowed. This is because I was only paying interest which I didn’t know at the time. Another things I notice when I was making my normal payments, if my payment was a day or two late the entire payment went to interest. The total amount of money I have sent this company is very close to the amount of my original loan amount and yet I still owe them so much I feel like I will never pay them off.
Do you think I would qualify?
Hi Phyllis,
That issue with interest-only payments comes back to bite so many people; it’s one of the best scams lenders have going to rapidly inflate the price of the money you’ll end up paying them back. “Just give us a little now…”, but they never say “… and a WHOLE LOT MORE LATER!”.
I do not think this is enough to get a discharge, because you really do need to come up with a claim against the SCHOOL. Rules have been clarified and BDAR Discharges are not being approved against lenders (though they should be…), and that’s probably going to remain the rule until President Trump is turned out of office and Betsy DeVos is replaced at DOE.
My son’s loan is being serviced by Navient, My son is still in school and need FAFSA financial aid to pay for school. Would filing a Borrower Defense To Repayment against Navient affect my son’s FAFSA application for financial aid?
Hi GigV,
As far as I know, BDAR applications don’t impact eligibility for FAFSA. I’ve never heard of the one causing an issue with the other.
When I applied for a Teacher loan forgiveness program, I filed all the required paperwork and made sure I had the correct people sign and verify. Navient denied my application. I never received an explanation as to why.
Hi Charles,
Better get in touch with Navient to find out why it was denied! Next thing I’d do, if they provide a reason that you don’t agree with, is contact the Student Loan Ombudsman Group, which is a group of attorneys who are backed by the Federal Government, and who provide student loan-related legal advice FOR FREE! Google their name to find their contact info.
If I no longer live in Illinois would I still qualify for this lawsuit? Do I have to submit a request for me to be apart of the lawsuit? I also attended DeVry ( where total in loans come from). Am I able to file against both? How should I approach this?
Hi Cecelia,
I can’t provide details about the lawsuit – you’ll need to speak to an Attorney for any information about those sorts of legal processes.
who can i call to verify if i qualified for the Lawsuit against Navient?
Hi Meruany,
You’re going to need to speak to an attorney.
What if Sallie Mae advised loans could be consolidated into one loan then advised at the time pmts were to begin said “no we can’t provide that any more”. Or if when applying for any forbearance had to pay a $150 fee first.
Was also not advised of income driven repayment early in when it would have made a huge difference.
Hi Donna,
These all sound like legitimate reasons to apply for a Borrower’s Defense Discharge. I would DEFINITELY try to file against them, and I’d provide as much detail about these failures as you can possibly remember. It’s really important that you convince whoever is reading your application that they committed fraud against you.
So how do I apply for this? I feel that I have a solid case for such an issue, I have been working on my student loans for 14 years and its ballooned over 100k more than when i actually graduated!
thanks!
Anthony
Hi Anthony,
Pull up the Government website for the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Application, fill it out and submit.
Will we get paperwork through the mail or do we have to do it ourselves to find out?
Hi Natalia,
You’re probably going to have to do your own research and your own work to qualify for anything I mention on this site. Student Loan Servicing Companies aren’t really on your side, and they don’t offer forgiveness or relief benefits unless you FORCE them to do it.
I cannot tell you how greatful I am that you are putting this information out there. I have been threatened, lied to, harrassed at work via phone, hung up on, called a liar, been profanely berated…and could go on and on by Navient. I have tried a number of times to get a final payoff number only to be hung up on, given a nonsense amount through the mail, and then the following month receive a bill with a $1000 increase, with zero explanation and another $1000 increase the next month. I cannot get this resolved. Navient refuses. I have the paperwork and would gladly share it with you to prove what I am stating. I have paid back over $23,000. towards a borrowed amountnof $13,000 total. Navient continues to increase the amount I owe. I am so overwhelmed with this debt I have had over my head since 1999. I did not graduate. I have not ever made more than $23,000/ year gross. I have had tax returns taken for 10 years. I am sure this arbatross attributed to my divorce. I live in the state of Idaho where the minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour. I am trying to get a handle on my debts. I do not have credit card debt (with my scores??) I have paid off a few car loans over the years, these are the factors that make up my credit history…student loans and car loans. I could go on and on. I am very greatful for the information you are putting out there. Thank you. I will continue the struggle. According to Navient, suicide isn’t even a good reason to stop paying them. But alas, forward movement. Please keep informing the masses.
Hi Kathryn
Thank you so much for your kind words! Your story is not unique – MILLIONS of Americans are plagued by the same excessive debt that you’re facing, and the only thing we can do about it is to keep calling our Congressional Reps and Senators and asking them to do something about it, and VOTING for people who care!
I won’t stop as long as it remains an issue!
Hi tim iam also dealing with navient just got off a forbearance plan with them u think i am included with this lawsuit?
Hi Arthur,
Hard to say – you’d need to speak with an attorney to figure out the lawsuit end of things. What I do know is that the lawsuits against them make it MUCH EASIER to convince the Department of Education to approve you for a Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Discharge, so I’d look at filling out the BDAR Application if you feel that they committed some kind of fraud against you.
I heard Navient loan server had a lawsuit, and am one of the borrowers they mess with my account, with high fees,and high interest up to 14.9%.Today Navient transfered my account to Nelnet.So is it means they get away with everythings.
Hi Najwa,
No, transferring your account won’t mean they get away with it. You will still have options for going after them. Hang tight and pay close attention to how all the lawsuits play out.
Right now Navient dont want to deal with my Private Student Loans. As they say the family income is too much when it actually decreased! Its kinda hilarious, not only that they had the nerve to ask my father who they list as student his personal credit card information. I want it gone as they are just predatory at the moment just like the one in charge. For years been paying it until 3 months ago till they told me .38 payment October and 0 payment November now they just charging 1800 for those 2 month s after their own recorded rep said it but they dont want to hear that. I want to sue and all the money back I paid
Hi Brett,
You may want to try contacting an attorney. Only a lawyer will be able to help you with the lawsuit element here.
Is there a form to fill out for a “Borrower’s Defense Discharge”, or do you just right a legal-type letter? There is a lot of good information here, but I don’t see specifics on how to proceed.
Thank you..
Hi Cindy,
Yeah, in the old days you did write a letter, so perhaps you read some stuff on my site that needs to be updated? There’s an official Borrower’s Defense Application available online now, and you can find it here.
Could this apply to Parent Plus Loans for Parents that took out a loan for their child and loan built up to life issues preventing payments?
Hi Linda,
Parent Plus Loans are a tricky situation and I typically won’t comment on them because I’ve seen it go both ways. My suggestion is to contact the Student Loan Ombudsman Group and ask for their assistance. This is a group of attorneys who offer free legal advice on student loan-related issues, and who are backed by the Federal Government. They will be able to help you.
Please come back after speaking to them and let me know what they say!