A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found a 325% increase in student loan complaints ranging from payment processing and billing problems to issues with customer service and repayment plan enrollment.

If you have student loans, some of these issues may sound all too familiar.

Here’s what you need to know and what action steps you can take:

The Report: The Basics

The CFPB reviewed complaints submitted by consumers over a 12-month period – from March 1, 2016 through February 1, 2017.

During this period, the CFPB received approximately:

  1. 11,500 federal student loan servicing complaints
  2. 7,500 private student loan complaints
  3. 2,200 student loan debt collection complaints

Top 10 Student Loan Complaints

Of these complaints, the Top 10 issues identified in federal student loan complaints included:

  1. Borrower Communication (18%)
  2. Income-Driven Repayment Plan Enrollment (13%)
  3. Payment Allocation (11%)
  4. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (10%)
  5. Payment Processing (10%)
  6. Collection Activity (9%)
  7. Educational Institution (9%)
  8. Recertification (8%)
  9. Credit Reporting (7%)
  10. Billing Statement (6%)

This Company Had The Most Federal Student Loan Complaints

Consumers submitted complaints with the CFPB for 320 companies, including student loan servicers, debt collectors, private student lenders, and companies marketing student loan “debt relief.”

Navient, the nation’s largest student loan servicer, had the highest absolute number (4,638) of consumer complaints.

In January, the CFPB filed a lawsuit against Navient, alleging that Navient “systematically and illegally [failed] borrowers at every stage of repayment. Navient has denied all wrongdoing.

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