INDIANAPOLIS — Some student loans are being forgiven because of a recent settlement with the loan servicer, Navient. However, a zero-dollar balance in your account doesn't necessarily mean your debt is included.
What's the settlement?
Navient and state attorneys general from across the country recently reached a settlement that said Navient will forgive $1.7 billion in private loan student debt, relieving 66,000 borrowers.
The company added that if your loans are included, don't do a thing.
That could lead borrowers logging into their Navient accounts to find a $0 balance. However, that $0 balance is likely there because their federal loans were transferred to a new servicer.
Navient Transfers Federal Student Loans
Anna Helhoski, a student loans expert with Nerdwallet, said Navient stopped servicing federal student loans in December 2021.
"All of those loans were transferred to Aidvantage, another private servicer," Helhoski said.
So if you haven't looked at any emails because your loans are pandemic paused, that's probably what some of them addressed.
Navient isn't the only company doing this
Even if your servicer isn't Navient, watch your email because other companies are leaving the federal loan space, too.
"There are a lot of changes that are happening right now in student loan servicing. Three servicers have left within the last year and a half and Fedloan, one of the largest servicers, is exiting the space at the end of the year," Helhoski said.
While Helhoski said the reasons are unclear, federal student loans are complex with a lot of red tape.
"It's very likely, if you have a student loan now, that you will experience some kind of student loan transfer over the next few years, if you haven't already, but you will be notified when that servicing transfer happens," Helhoski said
Loan information should also be posted on your www.studentaid.gov account.