The deal will settle litigation brought by several state attorneys general that claimed that Navient, one of the largest student loan servicing companies in the US, engaged in unfair practices and made predatory loans to students who were unlikely to be able to pay them back.
About 350,000 federal student loan borrowers whom Navient placed in long-term forbearance — which allowed them to temporarily stop making payments — will receive about $260 each, totaling $95 million in restitution.
Additionally, Navient must fully cancel the remaining balances of private loans borrowed by about 66,000 students, totaling $1.7 billion. Those loans were largely made between 2002 and 2010.
“Navient knew that people relied on their loans to make a better life for themselves and for their children and instead of helping them, they ran a multibillion dollar scam,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro at a press conference Thursday. He co-led the litigation with attorneys general from Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California.
The state attorneys general claimed that Navient steered federal student loan borrowers into forbearance rather than directing them to enroll in low-cost repayment plans. As a result, some of these borrowers fell deeper into debt as interest accrued.
The lawsuit also alleges that Navient made private loans to students attending for-profit schools and colleges with low graduation rates, even though it knew that a high percentage of those…
