Navient Loan Servicer

Navient is one of the most heard and controversial names of America with respect to student loans. A loan servicer owning a bad reputation, Navient still services the majority of the student loan borrowers. Navient Inc. split from Sallie Mae in 2014, where the Sallie Mae services the private student loans and Navient deals with the Federal Student Loan Servicing. Jack Remondi is the current CEO of Navient Corporation. As of 2018, Navient services around 20 percent of the federal student loans. Read more on different student loan servicers.

Table of Contents

What does Navient do?
Navient Student loan repayment
Benefits with Navient
The Lawsuits against Navient
A few queries about Navient
What to do if you are not happy with Navient?

What does Navient do?

As mentioned earlier, Navient handles around 25 percent of all the student loan borrowers. So it can be important to know what a loan servicer does, especially if Navient is your student loan servicer. The US Department of Education hires servicers such as Navient to deal with the student loans you borrowed.

The US Department of Education allocates Student loan servicers to different borrowers, to deal with their loans. So Navient takes care of all your payments and helps you know benefits and what you can do in case you face a financial crisis. Navient also helps you know what sort of plan you should opt for, based on your financial condition. It keeps track of all the payments you make towards your student loans. To elaborate, Navient does all the following things:

Navient Student loan repayment

Your student loan repayment has different needs based on your promissory note, repayment term, interest rates, etc. Navient allows you to calculate and make repayment for you possible. Navient offers student loan repayment options for both federal and private student loans. Learn more about How to choose a Student loan repayment plan.

Navient Federal Student Loan Repayment

This repayment allows you to repay through Navient if it is your servicer. You can pay for federal direct(both subsidized and unsubsidized), direct plus, parent plus loans, etc. It also allows you to apply for forbearance and change your Income-driven repayment plan as well. Learn more about Income-driven repayment plans.

Navient Private Student Loan Repayment

These are the actual Navient student loans. Navient Private student loan terms and conditions vary. Different repayment options are available based on a loan's promissory note and the loan owner's policies. Some repayment programs are described in a loan's promissory note. Additional options may also be available at the lender's discretion. And Navient allows these repayment options as well.

Benefits under Navient

Navient also manages the benefits that you get from the government as well, in your repayment terms. Some of them are:

Navient processes your Military Benefits

There are different benefits such as postponement of your repayment due to active duty, HEAL loan postponement and SCRA benefits, that are available to the members who served in the US Military. Read more on the military benefits.

Navient processes your Disability Benefits

It also supplies the application for Discharge of your student loans under the disability flea, which involves student loan forgiveness due to disability. Learn more to find out if Navient performs student loan forgiveness.

Learn more about student loan discharge due to disability.

These are the functions that Navient has to perform as your student loan servicer. But have they succeeded? Based on a recent survey, Navient has received the lowest rating of all the student loan servicers, including the most controversial Fedloan Servicing. This might make you wonder whether you are stuck with your Navient student loans. The answer to this question is 'No'. You can always refinance your Navient student loans. Whether or not to refinance your Navient student loans is a different question altogether. Learn in detail should you refinance your Navient student loans.

The Lawsuits against Navient

Navient has been facing various lawsuits from various corporations since 2017. It has been accused of the following:

Not processing their consumers’ payments properly
Directing struggling borrowers into multiple forbearances instead of advising them to enroll in Income-driven repayment plans.
Incorrect reporting of loans to Credit Bureaus.
Displayed an ignorance of its agreement with the government.

And many more

Here are a few queries about Navient answered:

Q. Are Navient student loans eligible for forgiveness?

If you have Federal student loans, then you are eligible for student loan forgiveness no matter, who your student loan servicer. However, you will have to meet certain criteria that you will have to meet if you want to apply for student loan forgiveness and moreover your student loan servicer won't be Navient anymore. Read more about student loan forgiveness.

Q. Can Navient confiscate your house?

Navient cannot confiscate your house. If you are back on a few payments or if your student loans are in default, then you should know that you owe the student loan debt amount to the government and it is only the government that has the right to sue. Navient is only the servicer. And Navient in no way has the right to sue you and can only report you to the government. However, the government can place a lien on your home, which means that you cannot sell your home, refinance your mortgage, etc. On paper, the government can force you to sell your house to pay off your student loan debts, but in practice that is a rare occurrence.

Q. Can Navient take away my paychecks?

No, Navient cannot take away your paychecks. It is important to realize that you, in no way are held accountable to Navient. But since Navient is the representative of the federal government, it can report you to the federal government. But the government can garnish your wages by up to 15%. They will inform you by sending in a notice at least 20 days before they start doing that, provided that your student loan is in default at least three to six months prior to the garnishing. However, you can fight back by request a hearing within 30 days after you receive this letter and argue that the loan is not valid or garnishing your wages will cause you unnecessary hardship.

Q. Can Navient cause problems to your social security?

As mentioned before, Naveint only works for the government and therefore cannot garnish your social security. However, the federal government to whom you owe the student loan debt can garnish your social security. This can be a matter of concern only if you are an older adult and have taken out parent PLUS loans. Navient in no way can ask you or mention your social security.

Q. Can Navient loans be consolidated?

Yes, the federal student loans under Navient can be consolidated. You can consolidate your federal student loans (including those that Navient services) into one loan that’s easier to repay. Learn more about student loan consolidation.

Q. Can Navient raise interest rates?

If you have private student loans are under Navient student loans and have adopted Variable APR, then it is possible for Navient to raise or decrease interest rates based on various factors. However, if you have private student loans with Navient and with a fixed interest rate, then the interest rates cannot be raised and the interest rates will be the same as that of the interest rate that was agreed upon in your initial agreement. If you have federal student loans, however, then the congress decides upon the interest rates. Learn more about interest rates.

Q. Can Navient student loans be refinanced?

Yes, the student loans that are serviced by Navient can be refinanced with another private student loan lender. But before deciding upon refinancing your federal student loans, make sure you know all the benefits that you will be loosing. Learn more about refinancing your student loans.

Q. When does Navient capitalize interest?

Since Navient manages your student loans, Navient is completely responsible for calculating the amount that you will be paying to the federal government, It is Navient that sends your complete financial details to the federal government and it is through Navient that you pay off your student loans payments. When you go for a long time without making payments towards your student loan debts, then the interest amount will be added to the capital amount by Navient. Also, your interest will be capitalized if you change your student loan repayment plans. Make sure to avoid capitalization of your student loans due to interest accrued.

What to do If You’re Not Happy With Navient?

Unfortunately, there are not many options to change your student loan servicer. However, if you are tired of their service, then you can do the following:

Contact Navient’s Complaint Department

Here are the Navient’s contact details for the complaint department:

Email: advocate@navient.com

Mailing address:

Office of the Customer Advocate

Address:Box 4200,

Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-4200

Make sure that you state your problem in a polite and simple manner, highlighting the reason where Navient went wrong with your student loans.

If your loan servicer is Navient and is wondering what you can do, you can continue to stick with this servicer, until and unless you face an issue from their side. There is no bad review against Navient customer support and surprisingly they have a good review. So don’t expect anything to go so wrong. But in case you have had bad service and just want to change Navient as your servicer, read more about how to switch between your federal student loan servicers.