2,200 Arizona student borrowers may receive $54 million in debt relief; 12,400 will receive over $3.3 million in restitution
The Arizona Attorney General’s office announced January 20, 2022 that thousands of Arizona student borrowers are expected to receive over $54 million in debt relief because of the settlement of an eight-year-old lawsuit with Navient. Navient, once called Sallie Mae, was alleged to have used unfair, predatory, and deceptive student loan servicing practices. Navient has denied the allegations.
It is also anticipated that 12,400 Arizonans will receive over $3.3 million in restitution under the proposed court settlement, according to Arizona’s Attorney General’s office.
In a statement, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said that “It’s disappointing how Navient took advantage of distressed loan borrowers who were simply trying to get an education to better their lives.”
Navient is one of the nation’s largest loan services and the settlement still needs court approval.
Of particular interest to Arizona, because is has so many for-profit schools, is the claim that Navient provided predatory subprime private loans to students at these schools with low graduation rate while knowing many of those borrowers could not replay them.