If you attended a predatory school and want to challenge your Navient private student loans, you should contact Navient and ask for a School Misconduct Discharge Application. You can do this by contacting Navient’s Office of Consumer Advocate at (888) 545-4199 ext. 998214. Or by email at: advocate@navient.com.

• If Navient refuses to provide you with an application, you can submit a complaint here to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which is a federal agency tasked with supervising certain financial institutions and enforcing consumer rights. The CFPB requires the companies it supervises to respond in writing to consumer complaints. Although there is no guarantee that your complaint will lead to the result you want, your complaints help the CFPB to understand and prioritize the problems that student loan borrowers are facing and helps its mission to protect consumers from unfair and unlawful treatment.

You can find a blank version of Navient’s private student loan School Misconduct Discharge Application here. (*Note: this is not a fillable PDF). As of June 2024, Navient started distributing an updated misconduct application. Most notably it now states that “student loans potentially eligible for School Misconduct Discharge are direct-to-school loans to attend for-profit schools. Refinance loans and direct-to-consumer loans are not eligible for this program.” Navient also now states that it requires an up-to-date job history (since graduation/attendance) and supporting documentation. We understand that this places additional obstacles and burdens on borrowers, however, we are still encouraging borrowers to apply, and we continue to monitor Navient's response to applications.

Completing this application will probably take at least an hour. The process will require you to explain in detail how your school misled, defrauded, and lied to you and why you are entitled to loan relief. It also requires that you gather supporting documentation to submit along with your application.

Be thorough but concise in explaining to Navient why you should be entitled to relief from your private student loans. Be specific and include details such as dates, amounts owed, and how specifically your school lied to you, did not deliver what they promised to you, and/or otherwise deceived you about the education you were getting and the total costs you would owe. (*TIP: If you already filed a federal borrower defense application, you can include the same information here).

We recommend you write out the answers to Navient’s questions on a separate document that you include as an attachment to your application (*TIP: make sure to put your name and Navient account number on each additional page you submit).

The application states that, in order to be considered, you must provide supporting documentation. Examples of documents that you can include in support of your application are:

• A copy of a notice from the Department of Education approving your federal borrower defense to repayment application for your federal loans for the same school that your private loans are for (this includes a Sweet v. Cardona approval letter).

• A copy of a Department of Education public announcement of school misconduct related group discharge for students that attended certain for-profit schools. These schools include:

  • Marinello Schools of Beauty

  • Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (including WyoTech, Heald and Everest)

  • ITT Technical Institute

  • Westwood College

  • College America

  • The Art Institutes

• In January of 2022, Navient entered into a settlement with 39 state attorneys general regarding its lending practices at a number of for-profit schools. If you attended one of the schools listed under the terms of the settlement, reviewable here, you can highlight that in your application.

• Public information about lawsuits, enforcement actions, and investigations related to your school. A broad overview of enforcement actions, lawsuits, and investigations against many predatory, for-profit schools can be found here. These cases can be cited and included in your application as proof of your school’s wrongdoing.

• Any original documentation you may have from your school that includes proof of misrepresentation, deceptive recruitment tactics, or substantial misconduct (i.e. enrollment agreements, financial aid claims, recruiters’ statements, job placement claims, etc.).

You can submit your School Misconduct Application to Navient either by mail to: Navient, P.O. Box 4200 Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-4200; or electronically at: advocate@navient.com.

If you don’t receive a response from Navient in 30 days, you should file a complaint with the CFPB here. Include your complete application and attachments in your complaint and note that you submitted more than 30 days ago. Be sure to check your Navient portal for updates related to your application.

Similarly, you should submit a complaint to the CFPB if Navient denies your application or tells you that they will not consider it. In addition to filing a complaint with the CFPB, you should also contact Navient for information on why you were denied, and what additional information or documents you can submit for reconsideration of your application.