Two prominent Democrats have highlighted student loan servicer Navient’s attempt to steer borrowers to their private loan products, which would make them ineligible for up to $20,000 in debt relief that President Biden announced last month.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) questioned Navient’s tactics in a letter to CEO John Remondi. The duo also sought guidance from the other leading student loan servicers about how they plan to notify borrowers accurately about their opportunity to receive student debt forgiveness.
The servicers are a powerful hinge point in the relative success or failure of the student debt relief order. Servicers have a notorious history of denying borrowers their best options for debt payments, steering them toward higher-cost products, misapplying payments, and not delivering timely information, among many other deficiencies.
As first reported by Business Insider, Navient has been sending emails to its borrowers promoting an offer to refinance into a private program called NaviRefi. As a private student loan, it would not be eligible for the debt relief Biden announced, which totals $10,000 in forgiveness for all federal student loan borrowers, and $20,000 if the individual received a Pell grant to attend college.
The Navient emails, which cite the recent Biden announcement, detail the difference between federal student loans, which have fixed interest rates, and private loans, which…
