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I Settled $250K of Navient Private Student Loans for $8K

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Question:

Dear Steve,

We resolved over $250,000 of private loans with your guidance.

I wanted to share this with you to give more details. If you ever need them, contact me.

I took your advice to default and not respond to Navient’s bill collectors.

In Dec. 2020, they called and offered me a $20,000 settlement. Of course, I wanted to take this deal, but I had nowhere near $20,000.

I called back in early February 2021. I asked for another offer. They said, “$8,000.” So I paid off over $250k with $8k. Not bad. Thanks for your advice column.

Joshua

Answer:

Dear Joshua,

I think you might have read this post on private student loan debt.

It sounds like you had the right confidence and comfort with risk to go this alone. You’ve achieved a great result.

Not everyone is prepared to face the same potential consequences as you did. For those, I always urge them to get educated and advice.

Thank you for taking the time to come back and share your success story and provide feedback.

Sincerely,


You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.

Do you have a question you'd like to ask me for free? Go ahead and click here.

Damon Day - Pro Debt Coach

Steve Rhode
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Steve Rhode
Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.
Steve Rhode
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6 thoughts on “I Settled $250K of Navient Private Student Loans for $8K”

  1. Sounds like it could have been past statutes and maybe even off the credit reports, so not much of a benefit in exchange for that $8k. Other than knowing it’s put to rest, which for some people is worth it. If the loan was past the point of being selected for a lawsuit, and no longer reporting on credit, some debt coaches may have recommended the borrower use the $8k for paying down other more recent debt, or even investing it into a mutual fund. But someone going it alone won’t really have the ability to evaluate the pros and cons without prior experience with similar situations. Just my .02

    Reply

    • Eric,

      You are correct. It is a situation I’ve seen many times. Without an independent debt advisor, people are left to make decisions based on the advice of the lender or someone trying to sell a debt relief product. That is problematic on many levels. I bet you can think of times when you’ve given people the best and most logical advice and they’ve gone off and done the opposite. I sure can.

      But you hit the nail on the head by observing that regardless if the debt was even collectible at that point, which like you, I don’t think it might have been, there is great value in knowing a resolution has been reached, the door is closed, and that will never be an issue again unless the settlement agreement letter is lost.

      Reply

  2. wow! that’s amazing! i had a similar situation, but, it’s been a long time since those loans defaulted, and it is now past the statute of limitations, but i understand that my loans are still there, even if they are in the hands of various collection agencies. i would LOVE if i could settle my debts for $8,000! i would do that in a heartbeat! i am dealing with a similar amount, but spread out amongst 8 private student loans. any suggestions as to what i could do, preferably an option that WOULD NOT reset the statute of limitations on my defaulted loans…

    Reply

    • Well, that is a tricky situation. You don’t want to trigger the SOL but you might want to resolve them by some agreement instead of holding the defense they are past the SOL if you are sued over them. The issue is that just because a debt is past the SOL a collector can still pursue collections and potentially sue.

      Less sophisticated consumers get sued all the time and do not put forward an adequate defense. Just look at all the National Collegiate suits that are filed weekly. Those loans are a mess and yet NCSLT still sues.

      Proceed as you best see fit but my advice would be to contact my debt coach friend Damon Day that has specific experience in these issues. Have a discussion with Damon. Go to https://damonday.com and get armed with factual information you can then use to make informed choices.

      Reply

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