FitBUX Stories is a collection of articles written by Members and Non-Members of FitBUX. The purpose of the stories are to provide positive encouragement to others who have found themselves owing a lot in student loans. Some stories are “Student Loan Horror Stories” so we can learn from each other. This is one of those horror stories.
This story highlights two very important lessons at the end so be sure to read them.
If you’d like to contribute your story, simply send us an email at info@fitbux.com. We would love to hear YOUR story!
Navient Strikes Again
Many of you have read the story of FitBUX Member Taylor F. and how Navient cost him thousands of dollars.
This is a similar story but it doesn’t discuss Navient applying payments incorrectly. Instead, this is a story of how Navient destroyed a new graduate’s credit and potentially cost them thousands of dollars in the long run.
The Background
Kelsey has spent the last 7 years working hard to complete her undergrad and graduate studies. Like many of you, she spent many nights studying instead of enjoying a night out with friends. Priorities and dedication.
Kelsey was fortunate, she was able to complete her undergraduate studies without student loans. However, she borrowed approximately $100,000 for her graduate studies. The Federal government had assigned Navient to service her loans.
Kelsey was prudent and proactive. She had read FitBUX’s Student Loan Refinance Guide and decided to schedule a time with her FitBUX Coach to develop her student loan repayment plan three months before her grace period ended.
Her FitBUX Appointment
As part of her student loan plan, Kelsey decided to refinance her student loans. Based on her situation, her FitBUX Coach wanted her to check the rates she could get with two of FitBUX’s student loan refinance partners: Splash Financial and Laurel Road.
Having a clearly-defined strategy and next step, Kelsey still needed to complete her licensing exams before she could begin working. Therefore, she would submit her refinance applications in 2 months.
Two Months Later
Two months passed and as part of FitBUX’s free student loan refinance service, Kelsey’s FitBUX Coach emailed her a reminder to apply with the aforementioned student loan refinance companies.
The email back shocked her FitBUX Coach. She was somehow denied!
Based on her FitBUX profile, she should have never been denied. The first thought of her Coach is that her credit score was not what she had stated on the call, but this wasn’t the case. It had to be something else.
Kelsey had already signed up for FitBUX’s Student Loan Pay Off Tracking Solution. Therefore, her Coach had great visibility into Kelsey’s student loan repayment progress. He saw that she wasn’t supposed to start payment until the following month.
However, Kelsey stated that when she logged into her Navient account, she saw a message that she was late and was in default!!!! Something was majorly wrong.
Her FitBUX Coach immediately scheduled a time with her so they could do a screen share.
Navient’s Mistake
While doing the screen share, Kelsey’s FitBUX Coach saw that all her Grad Plus loans were indeed marked as being in default. Navient had recorded her repayment start date as being the same day as when the loans were disbursed, almost 3 years earlier! In short, instead of having in-school deferment, Navient had been requiring payment.
The result, Navient had been reporting to the credit companies for almost 3 years that Kelsey was late on payments. This destroyed her credit score. Therefore, she couldn’t refinance her student loans. She also would have to pay more on other loans such as car loans. Or worse yet, she would probably be denied for those as well.
Since Kelsey had already signed up for FitBUX’s Pay Off Solution, her FitBUX Coach did a conference call with her and Navient to sort out the mess Navient had created.
The conclusion is still pending as Navient looks into what happened….Watch for part 2 when Kelsey gets closure on this with FitBUX’s help.
Two Lessons
Mistakes at Navient are not uncommon. If you check the news, you will see that they why they have many pending lawsuits based on similar scenarios.
This story provides us three important lessons:
- Don’t wait until you graduate to look at your Federal student loans. Log into your loan servicer while you are a student and make sure everything is correct.
- If you get denied for a student loan refinance, understand why. You may be able to qualify with another one of FitBUX’s student loan refinance partners. Each lender uses a different approach to make funding decisions and we can help you identify the lenders most likely to approve you.
- We know student loan servicers are hard to deal with. If you need help or want to make sure they are making your payments correctly then be sure to sign up for our Pay Off Tracking Solution.
We know that finding a student loan planner is hard. If you are looking for free expert help with your student loans, be sure to check out FitBUX.
Our FREE student loan planners have helped thousands of Young Professionals manage and eliminate over $950 million in student loans. We help you develop your plan for free because planning your financial future should not cost you your financial future.
If you’d like to read more about money, check out our FitBUX’s blog.
