Navient is one of the most complained-about student loan servicers in the United States. Between multistate attorney general lawsuits, a 2022 settlement worth $1.85 billion, and thousands of borrower complaints filed with the CFPB, Navient has earned a reputation for making repayment harder than it needs to be. If you are carrying Navient student loan debt, this guide walks you through every realistic option: income-driven repayment, forgiveness programs, settlement, and what the ongoing legal history means for you specifically.
Understanding Your Navient Loans
Not all Navient loans are the same. Navient serviced federal student loans until December 2021, when it transferred all federal accounts to Aidvantage (a Maximus company). If your federal loans were with Navient, they have already been moved. Check studentaid.gov to see your current servicer and loan types.
What Navient still holds are private student loans: loans it originated directly or acquired through its subsidiary Earnest. These are not subject to federal repayment plans, forgiveness programs, or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). The options for private Navient loans are fundamentally different from federal options, and conflating them is one of the most common and costly mistakes borrowers make.
Your first step before anything else: log into your Navient account at navient.com and identify exactly which loans are federal (now with Aidvantage) and which are private (still serviced by Navient). Then read on.
Options for Federal Loans (Now With Aidvantage)
If your former Navient federal loans transferred to Aidvantage, you have access to the full federal repayment toolkit. Here is what matters most:
Income-Driven Repayment (IDR)
IDR plans cap your monthly payment as a percentage of your discretionary income, typically 5-10% depending on the plan. After 20 or 25 years of qualifying payments, the remaining balance is forgiven (though the forgiven amount may be taxable). The primary plans available as of 2026 are SAVE, IBR, PAYE, and ICR. SAVE is the most generous for most borrowers, capping payments at 5% of discretionary income for undergraduate loans.
Apply through studentaid.gov/idr. The application takes about 10 minutes and links directly to your tax records.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
If you work full-time for a government agency or qualifying nonprofit, PSLF forgives your remaining federal loan balance after 120 qualifying payments (10 years). The key is that your payments must be made under an IDR plan while working for an eligible employer. Certify your employment annually at studentaid.gov to stay on track and avoid surprises at year 10.
Borrower Defense to Repayment
If your school defrauded you, made false claims about job placement rates, or engaged in other misconduct, you may be eligible to have your federal loans discharged entirely through Borrower Defense. This is particularly relevant for borrowers who attended for-profit schools that have since closed or faced federal scrutiny. File a claim at studentaid.gov.
Options for Private Navient Loans
Private Navient loans are a different challenge. There is no IDR, no PSLF, and no federal discharge program. But there are several legitimate paths forward:
Refinancing
If your credit and income have improved since you took out the loan, refinancing through a private lender can significantly reduce your interest rate and monthly payment. Lenders like SoFi, Earnest (which is now owned by Navient, ironically), Splash Financial, and LendKey offer refinancing for private student loans. Even dropping from 11% to 7% on a $30,000 balance saves over $200 per month. The tradeoff: refinancing a federal loan converts it to private, stripping away all federal protections. Never refinance federal loans to private unless you are completely certain you will not need IDR or forgiveness.
Hardship Forbearance or Modified Payment Plans
Navient offers forbearance for private loans under certain conditions: job loss, medical hardship, or other documented financial difficulty. Call Navient directly at 888-272-5543 and ask about hardship forbearance or a modified payment arrangement. Get any agreement in writing. Forbearance pauses your payments but interest continues to accrue and capitalize, so use it only as a bridge while you solve the underlying income problem.
Settlement on Defaulted Private Loans
If your private Navient loans are already in default (typically 120+ days past due), settlement becomes a realistic option. Navient has settled private loan balances for 40-70% of the outstanding amount in documented cases. They are more likely to negotiate when the loan has been in default for several months and when you can demonstrate financial hardship. Offer a lump sum rather than installments: lenders prefer certainty.
Before settling, read our guide on how to prioritize which debts to pay first. A settled private student loan balance above $600 may generate a 1099-C, making the forgiven amount taxable income. Consult a tax professional before finalizing any settlement.
The 2022 Navient Settlement: Are You Eligible?
In January 2022, Navient reached a $1.85 billion settlement with 39 state attorneys general. The settlement included two forms of relief:
- $1.7 billion in private loan cancellation for approximately 66,000 borrowers whose loans were originated between 2002 and 2010 and who defaulted between 2015 and 2021.
- $95 million in restitution payments (approximately $260 per person) for roughly 350,000 federal loan borrowers who were steered into forbearance instead of income-driven repayment between 2010 and 2015.
Navient was required to notify eligible borrowers directly by July 2022. If you were eligible and received notification, the private loan cancellation was automatic: no application required. If you believe you should have been included but were not contacted, contact your state attorney general’s office or the CFPB. The settlement administrator was Rust Consulting.
Filing a CFPB Complaint Against Navient
The CFPB has received more than 60,000 complaints about Navient, making it one of the most complained-about companies in the bureau’s database. If Navient has misapplied your payments, failed to process IDR applications correctly, given you inaccurate information about your repayment options, or engaged in any deceptive practice, file a complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.
The CFPB forwards complaints to the company and requires a written response within 15 days. In practice, a complaint often accelerates resolution of issues that have been going nowhere through normal customer service channels. It also creates a paper trail that may be useful if you later pursue legal action.
When Bankruptcy May Help
Student loans are notoriously difficult to discharge in bankruptcy, but not impossible. To discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy, you must demonstrate “undue hardship” through a separate proceeding called an adversary proceeding. Courts typically apply the Brunner test: (1) you cannot maintain a minimal standard of living while repaying, (2) your financial situation is unlikely to improve, and (3) you have made good-faith efforts to repay.
As of 2024, the Department of Justice updated its guidance to make undue hardship discharges easier for federal loans specifically. If you are disabled, have very low income, or have been repaying for more than 10 years with no realistic path to payoff, a bankruptcy attorney specializing in student loans is worth consulting. Look for an attorney through the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA).
If bankruptcy is on the table as part of a broader debt crisis, see our guide on how to handle financial obligations when you have multiple debt types and review the debt prioritization framework to understand sequencing.
What to Do Right Now
The path forward depends entirely on what type of loans you have and where they currently stand. Here is a clear decision tree:
- Federal loans now with Aidvantage: Apply for IDR immediately if you are not already on one. Certify PSLF eligibility if you work in public service. Check Borrower Defense eligibility if you attended a for-profit school.
- Private Navient loans, current: Refinance if your credit qualifies. If you cannot refinance, call Navient and ask about hardship options proactively.
- Private Navient loans, in default: Prepare to negotiate a settlement. Gather documentation of your financial hardship. Make a lump-sum offer in writing.
- Any loans, overwhelming debt load: Consult a nonprofit credit counselor through NFCC.org before making any decisions. They can review your full picture for free.
Navient has faced consequences for the way it treated borrowers. You have more rights and more options than they may have let on. Use them.