California Attorney General files lawsuit against Navient for deceiving student loan borrowers

We applaud California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for taking necessary action against Navient, the nation’s largest student loan servicing company. Today’s lawsuit highlights a long list of Navient’s predatory business practices which were solely designed to increase profits at the expense of students and borrowers.

Attorney General Becerra’s lawsuit accuses Navient of illegal behavior, including:

• Steering vulnerable borrowers toward more expensive repayment plans

• Failing to adequately disclose how students could attain income-driven repayment recertification

• Misrepresenting the order in which it would apply overpayments

• Misrepresenting the “present amount due” to delinquent borrowers

• Failing to properly discharge the federal student loans of borrowers with a total and permanent disability

Student Debt Crisis members have consistently spoken out about the harm Navient has caused them and their families. Tens of thousands of supporters signed the petition urging federal policymakers to end contracts with Navient, many more have shared their story or messaged their members of Congress. The state of California is leading an imperative effort to address abuses that borrowers have been decrying for years.

“Attorney General Becerra’s lawsuit champions economic justice for over 4 million student loan borrowers in California, and millions more across the nation,” said Natalia Abrams, Executive Director of borrower advocacy group Student Debt Crisis.

Abrams continued, “Navient’s unlawful actions are much more than paperwork errors and communication flaws. The company's negligence cost Californian’s millions of dollars, they harmed vulnerable borrowers with permanent disabilities, and they have left us, the borrowers, to pick up the pieces.”

The lawsuit against Navient follows other encouraging actions taken by the state’s Attorney General’s office. Becerra pursued student debt relief for borrowers defrauded by defunct, for-profit Corinthian Colleges. In total, the Attorney General has fought to return over $100 million in student loan relief for Californians harmed by higher education and student loan companies. He also denounced the Trump Administration’s decision to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ‘Office of Students,’ a change that Student Debt Crisis fears would harm efforts to protect student loan borrowers.