Navient: Charge off. Sold to another lender. Next steps?

[JM761]

Good afternoon,

I am working my way through my credit report and trying to tackle each item. This one is the biggest and scariest to me - I am not sure how to proceed and was hoping for some guidance.

Went to school back 2004-2006 and took out multiple studnet loans (private and federal) to finish up my degree. In 2007, not knowing the right thing to do, I consolidated all the loans into one - serviced by, I believe, Sallie Mae. (<--look back I never should have done that b/c my federal loans would have removed based on the SL forgiveness program but I was naive).

I made regular payments - no lates (maybe 1 for 30 days?). Loan was purchased by Navient.. Again, I made regular payment until I suddenly couldn't. In 2018, my husband's job downsized and we were on one income and all $ went to our mortgage and keeping the lights on. I should have called them but I was scared and stuck my head in the sand (not an excuse, I just feel ashamed and feel I need to say something about it. I wasn't being a jerk and spending the frivolously). Life was extremely tough all through 2019 (made just enough to miss out on govt assistance but not enough to keep bills paid). At that point, my credit went in the toilet and I defaulted on my Navient loan.

My head is out of the sand. Things are better. Husband has a job. I am tackling our debt and trying to clean up my credit. 

Sadly, Navient is a charge off. IT says "sold to another lender" but, to my knowledge, I have no info on WHO the other lender is. No letters have come in, no phone calls, etc.  So, do I contact Navient? I am not eligible for the rehab program. My debt can't be forgiven b/c it's a private loan and, even more importantly, it's charged off.  I don't know what to do but wait for the new agency to call me but who knows when that will be b/c the account has been charged off since Aug 2019.

Where can I go from here? Any suggestions? 

[Gotham-]

Hey You can go to https://myeddebt.ed.gov/
there you create an account they will have all things student loan from the Department of Education including your life story
it should even have the contact information.
also from Now until Oct 2022 there's a PSLF waiver starting from 10/2007
til now if you previously didnt qualify you may go to studentaid.gov and select the PSLF Tool!!!

[JM761]

@Gotham- 

I wanted to send a very long overdue thank you. I am so grateful for your advice! I meant to reply earlier and got caught up in life. I am finally near my laptop and wanted to reach out before it slipped past me again. 

I wrote in desperation and your comment helped me so much. I was on line at the grocery store when I read it and it gave me hope that maybe there's hope. I have no clue about the waiver (or if I would even qualify) but, in that moment, I felt hope. So, thank you for that!

Since then, things have picked up steam and I'm looking forward to next steps. I found out my loans are NOT private. I thought they were. Phew.

I have two consolidated Ffelp loans - total about $14000. I have worked at a non-profit for about 15 years so, at least according to the waiver, I should be able to consolidate these Ffelp loans into a Direct Loan and have my 10 years of repayment on the loans work to eliminate my loans. I know it will take time (and a ton of patience) but to have this debt forgiven would be incredible. Even if it won't be forgiven for one reason or another, I'm on track to get my credit in order. Feels good to be on the offence instead of running away as I have been.  I probably would have kept my head in the sand or not known to look into th waiver if it wasn't for you. So, thank you. 

[zerofire]

The actual giveaway would be your loans going to Navient. Back in the days of Sally Mae the company got a horrible reputation so they decided to split private and government loans. The private loans stayed at Sally Mae while the government loans got dumped on a new split company called Navient. Get yourself back on track as the US Government still has your back.

[Gotham-]

i know this is also a long overdue but You are most welcomed.

[JM761]

@Gotham- 

Another 'round of thank yous from me to you!

As I mentioned, I took your advice and consolidated. I'm so glad I did. It has taken MONTHS and I'm still not much farther than before. The good news is that my loans are our of default and consolidated. They are with a new servicer and in a income-based repayment plan (on pause until end of year). Finally, I was allowed to process my PSLF paperwork - under the waiver, I should be able to get the rest of my payments forgiven. This has been going on since May - so glad I asked, you answered and I didn't wait to do it. This is a JOURNEY and a half!

Thank you, again. I was thinking of waiting for the Fresh Start to get my info out of default and off my CR but if I did, I never would have made the deadlnie for the waiver (and it might not have worked in my favor anyway). I hate that Navient is still on CR as a "closed/sold" with late payments but it's better missing the default deadline. 

So, thank you again! 

[JM761]

@Gotham- 

Thank you. A thousand times over...thank you!

Back in April I was drowning in debt, trying to figure out how to pull myself out of the mess I had made.

I posted here and you gave me some guidance and wrote one simple line about PSLF. That opened a can of worms and I started the process.

As I mentioned in a post a few months ago, thanks to you I consolidated, applied for PSLF.  

Yesterday, I found out my wait was over. $17k in loans have been forgiven. Balance is $0. 

Thank you for taking the time to help my lost soul. Things are looking up and this was the icing on the cake. I wanted to come back and let you know how much I appreciate you!

[Gotham-]

YES!!!! SO glad u HAVE a ZERO $0 PSLF balance it WORKED

[JM761]

I keep checking my Student Aid account to be sure its true. I'm sure I'll have a drop in score when it's removed from my report so I'm waiting for it to be removed butnin nonrush!

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@Gotham- wrote:
YES!!!! SO glad u HAVE a ZERO $0 PSLF balance it WORKED

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