/Some Mississippians will benefit from Navient settlement

Some Mississippians will benefit from Navient settlement

The settlement reached last week by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office has allowed Nonprofit Mississippi News Navient to forgive $8.2 Million in private debt. The settlement was approved by a judge of the Hinds County Chancery Court on Saturday. Mississippi borrowers will have their debts erased within the next 90 days. Although the Attorney General’s Office did not say how many borrowers would be eligible for the settlement, it was likely to only cover a small percentage of the 438,000 students in Mississippi. Most of the settlement applies to borrowers who owe past due loans as of July 2014. Borrowers who have not yet made their loan payments on time will not be forgiven. In addition, Navient will pay $1.7 million to Mississippi borrowers who were placed in certain forbearance programs. Michelle Williams, chief of staff to the attorney general, stated that this will likely result in an average restitution payment amounting to $260, depending on which Mississippi borrowers are eligible. Williams stated that Mississippi’s settlement was substantially similar to a deal announced by Navient last week. In 2017, 39 states sued Navient over deceptive and illegal lending practices for subprime student loans that the company knew students would never repay. These states reached a settlement that required Navient to cancel $1.7Billion in student debt and to pay $95M in restitution. Mississippi didn’t join the lawsuit, but instead sued Navient in 2018 separately. The Attorney General’s Office alleged that Navient’s practices made Mississippi one of the most difficult states for students with student loan debt. The fourth-highest rate of default in the country is in Mississippi, where borrowers are much more likely than in other states. The suit claimed that Navient’s actions led to a generation of Mississippi teenagers suffering from the heavy burden of unnecessarily large student loan debt. Mississippi borrowers who believe they might be eligible for the settlement should ensure that their www.studentaid.gov account has been updated to reflect their current address.