I am attempting to consolidate 60k+ private student loan debt to reduce monthly payments and lower my interest %. (My interest is around 11%). My debt was divided during college between Sallie Mae and Navient. My grandmother cosigned in 2012 because my parents were not able to cosign the loans due to their own financial constraints (house bankruptcy post recession). My grandmom died in 2015. I was released from my Sallie Mae cosigner agreement with a simple call. Navient required proof of graduation, income, credit score, and ID. I had to send all of this to Navient by snail mail. Three weeks later I was denied cosigner release because I had borrowed too much from them (?). I need to be released from the cosigner, from what I know, to refinance and consolidate my loans. My income is above the median and I have a ‘Very Good’ credit score. Any advice?
I’m a little bit confused by what they are expecting you to do here.
First of all, I think that forcing people to ask for co-signers is a really despicable practice. I rarely feel comfortable giving other people financial advice, but one of the rare exceptions is that I tell people to avoid cosigners if at all possible. It just multiplies the pain and ends up being super manipulative.
So are they saying basically that they won’t let you consolidate the loan without getting a cosigner release? But what do they expect you to do if the cosigner died? Are they trying to trigger an automatic payment for the full amount (that can sometimes happen when a cosigner dies, and one reason why I think cosigning loans is so awful).
I would seriously dispute all of your private student loans: Dispute a Private Student Loan — The Debt Collective
I don’t think these disputes will be successful, but it is still worth doing. Make it as difficult as possible on the creditors and establish a papertrail.