Loan servicing company Navient has marketed support for student loan borrowers as part of its customer service strategy however its defense to a court case says the opposite; the company is being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for not instituting customer service that matches its customer commitments; the CFPB’s main argument is that Navient did not take into account the best interest of borrowers, specifically directing struggling borrowers into payment plans versus capped payment solutions because of the time intensive registration of the latter option; Navient blames a lack of compensation from clients such as the US Education Department for the company’s service constraints; the Education Department finds no merit in Navient’s defense and the CFPB has data that estimates Navient’s service caused borrowers to pay an additional $4 billion in interest charges; Navient has evidence citing a significant number of borrowers in income-repayment plans and has solid arguments including that the federal law does not require servicers to counsel customers on their repayment options. Source
