For example, Navient is perhaps best known for being one of the student loan servicers contracted by the U.S. Department of Education for federal student loan servicing. However, Navient announced in 2021 that it would end its contract with the Department of Education and stop servicing federal student loans.
How Navient Works
To improve educational access, Congress created the Student Loan Marketing Association (SLMA) in 1972 as a private, for-profit corporation classified as a government-sponsored enterprise. A corporate spin-off in 2014 divided the SLMA into Sallie Mae, offering private student loans and consumer banking products, and Navient, which managed both federal and private student loans. If Navient was your student loan servicer, this means that your loan owner assigned Navient to handle billing and other tasks related to your loan at no cost to you. Navient also would have been able to switch your repayment plan, consolidate your loans, or help you understand your options for loan forbearance or forgiveness. (Those tasks would now be handled by Aidvantage.) For example, let’s say you have a private student loan serviced by Navient. You would register for an online account with Navient to stay informed about account balances, interest charges, and repayment details. When it’s time to make a payment toward your student loan, visit Navient.com, click “Contact Us,” and then click the type of loan you took out. Call the toll-free number to make a payment via the automated system, or make a payment by mail. If paying by mail, include your remittance slip with your payment, and write your account number on the check.
Types of Navient Loans
The student loans serviced by Navient fall into two categories:
Loans not owned by the Education Department: These are federal loans that aren’t owned by the Department of Education, such as loans issued through the defunct Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program.Private student loans: Navient also services private student loans issued by private lenders through various loan programs.
How to Get Navient Loans
If you’re wondering how you wound up with Navient as your loan servicer or how to secure it as your servicer on a new loan, here’s how the process works. First, would-be borrowers must request, get approved for, and then accept a student loan. The lender then allocates funds for tuition, fees, and room and board and disburses them to your student account. Then it pays out the remaining funds (known as the “credit balance”) directly to you so you can cover other educational expenses. When the student loan is first disbursed, the lender hands management of the loan over to a loan servicer. Your servicer then notifies you. In some cases, your loan may be transferred from one loan servicer to another, but the newly assigned servicer will contact you, and your loan owner won’t change.
Criticism of Navient
Navient has an outsized number of customer complaints logged in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) online database. Between April 22, 2020, and the same date in 2021, consumers filed 3,878 complaints about student loans with the CFPB. Slightly over 33% of them—1,285—were against Navient. Some of the most common issues borrowers alleged in the complaints were categorized as “received bad information” about loans and “trouble with how payments are being handled.” Navient has a B- rating, but no accreditation with the Better Business Bureau. 89 reviews awarded the company with just one star, with 828 complaints. Should you have issues with your loan or Navient, stay persistent and proactive. Keep all receipts, account records, and written correspondence from your servicer. Make notes of any calls you have with a customer service representative, including when you spoke and what about. If you need to escalate a problem with your loan servicer, file a complaint with the CFPB or, as a last resort, the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group.
