XML 38 R23.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT
v3.24.0.1

Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees | 12 Months Ended
--- | ---
Dec. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees | 12. Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees L egal Proceedings We and our subsidiaries and affiliates are subject to various claims, lawsuits and other actions that arise in the normal course of business. We believe that these claims, lawsuits and other actions will not, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations, except as otherwise disclosed. Most of these matters are claims including individual and class action lawsuits against our servicing or business processing subsidiaries alleging the violation of state or federal laws in connection with servicing or collection activities on education loans and other debts. In the ordinary course of our business, the Company and our subsidiaries and affiliates receive information and document requests and investigative demands from various entities including State Attorneys General, U.S. Attorneys, legislative committees, individual members of Congress and administrative agencies. These requests may be informational, regulatory or enforcement in nature and may relate to our business practices, the industries in which we operate, or companies with whom we conduct business. Generally, our practice has been and continues to be to cooperate with these bodies and to be responsive to any such requests. The number of these inquiries and the volume of related information demands have normalized at elevated levels and therefore the Company must continue to expend time and resources to timely respond to these requests which may, depending on their outcome, result in payments of restitution, fines and penalties. Contingencies In the ordinary course of business, we and our subsidiaries are defendants in or parties to pending and threatened legal actions and proceedings including actions brought on behalf of various classes of claimants. These actions and proceedings may be based on alleged violations of consumer protection, securities, employment and other laws. In certain of these actions and proceedings, claims for substantial monetary damage are asserted against us and our subsidiaries. We and our subsidiaries are also subject to potential unasserted claims by third parties. In the ordinary course of business, we and our subsidiaries are subject to regulatory examinations, information gathering requests, inquiries and investigations. In connection with formal and informal inquiries in these cases, we and our subsidiaries receive requests, subpoenas and orders for documents, testimony and information in connection with various aspects of our regulated activities. In view of the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of litigation and regulatory matters, we may not be able to predict what the eventual outcome of the pending matters will be, what the timing or the ultimate resolution of these matters will be, or what the eventual loss, fines or penalties, if any, related to each pending matter may be. The Company accrues a liability for litigation, regulatory matters, and unasserted contract claims when those matters present loss contingencies that are both probable and reasonably estimable. When loss contingencies are not both probable and reasonably estimable, we do not accrue a liability. Based on current knowledge, management does not believe that loss contingencies, if any, arising from pending investigations, litigation or regulatory matters will have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, liquidity, results of operations or cash flows, except as otherwise disclosed. The Company evaluates its outstanding legal and regulatory matters each reporting period, and makes adjustments to the accrued liabilities for such matters, upward or downward, as appropriate, based on the relevant facts and circumstances. The Company's accrued liabilities and estimated range of possible losses pertaining to certain matters can involve significant judgment given factors such as: the varying stages of the proceedings; the existence of numerous yet to be resolved issues; the breadth of the claims (often spanning multiple years and wide ranges of business activities); unspecified damages, civil money penalties or fines and/or the novelty of the legal issues presented; and the attendant uncertainty of the various potential outcomes of such proceedings, including where the Company has made assumptions concerning future rulings by the court or other adjudicator, or about the behavior or incentives of adverse parties or regulatory authorities. Various aspects of the legal proceedings underlying these estimates will change from time to time. Actual losses therefore may vary significantly from any estimates. Due to developments in the second half of 2023 in connection with the Company's CFPB matter, the Company concluded a loss was probable and reasonably estimable and accrued a $73 million contingency loss. The litigation process is not predictable and can lead to unexpected results. Therefore, it is reasonably possible that the Company’s exposure to loss may exceed any amounts accrued. 12. Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees (Continued) The Company believes the estimate of the aggregate range of reasonably possible losses (meaning the likelihood of losses is more than remote but less than likely) in connection with this matter, is from $0 to $250 million. This estimated range of reasonably possible losses was based on currently available information for this matter. This estimate does not represent the Company's maximum potential loss exposure, and further developments could result in the matter being resolved for more or less than the amount currently accrued. It is possible that an adverse outcome may have a material impact on the Company. Set forth below are descriptions of the Company’s material legal proceedings. Certain Cases In January 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the CFPB) and Attorneys General for the State of Illinois and the State of Washington initiated civil actions naming Navient Corporation and several of its subsidiaries as defendants alleging violations of certain Federal and State consumer protection statutes, including the CFPA, FCRA, FDCPA and various state consumer protection laws. The Attorneys General for the States of Pennsylvania, California, Mississippi, and New Jersey also initiated actions against the Company and certain subsidiaries alleging violations of various state and federal consumer protection laws based upon similar alleged acts or failures to act. In addition to these matters, a number of lawsuits have been filed by nongovernmental parties or, in the future, may be filed by additional governmental or nongovernmental parties seeking damages or other remedies related to similar issues raised by the CFPB and the State Attorneys General. In January 2022, we entered into a series of Consent Judgment and Orders (the “Agreements”) with 40 State Attorneys General to resolve all matters in dispute related to the State Attorneys General cases as well as the related investigations, subpoenas, civil investigative demands and inquiries from various other state regulators. These Agreements do not resolve the litigation involving the Company and the CFPB. The Company has cancelled the loan balance of approximately 66,000 borrowers with qualifying Private Education Loans that were originated largely between 2002 and 2010 and later defaulted and charged off. The loans cancelled have aggregate outstanding balances of approximately $1.7 billion. The expense to the Company to cancel these loans was approximately $50 million which represents the amount of expected future recoveries of these charged-off loans on the balance sheet. In addition, the Company agreed to make a one-time payment of approximately $145 million to the states. In the fourth quarter of 2021 when such loss became probable, the Company recognized total regulatory expenses of approximately $205 million related to this matter. As the Company has previously stated, we believe the allegations in the CFPB suit are false and that they improperly seek to impose penalties on Navient based on new, previously unannounced servicing standards applied retroactively against only one servicer. We therefore have denied these allegations and are vigorously defending against the allegations in that case. On April 12, 2023, the Company reached an agreement in principle (“Settlement”) with certain plaintiffs for a nationwide settlement of claims raised in the following bankruptcy adversary actions: Coyle v. Navient Solutions, LLC, No. 22-80018 (Bankr. W.D. Mich.); Homaidan v. SLM Corp., No. 1:17-ap-01085 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y.); Mazloom v. Navient Solutions, LLC, No. 20-80033-6 (Bankr. N.D.N.Y.); and Woodard v. Navient Solutions, LLC, No. 08-81442 (Bankr. D. Neb.) collectively referred to as the “Bankruptcy Cases.” The Settlement has received final court approval. Under the Settlement, Navient will forego the collection of defined balances for borrowers or co-borrowers of certain private loans — all of which were originated prior to our company separation — who have received a discharge in bankruptcy during the periods covered by the agreements. As a result, we recorded a $23 million additional private loan provision for loan losses in the first quarter of 2023 related to the estimated future charge offs that are expected to occur. The Company has also agreed to fund settlement funds. We anticipate that any cash contribution we will be required to make to these funds will not exceed $44 million in the aggregate and will be fully covered by insurance. The net impact to operating expense for this element of the settlement for the first quarter of 2023 was $0 due to the accrual of the offsetting insurance reimbursements. 12. Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees (Continued) Regulatory Matters The Company has been named as defendant in a number of putative class action and other cases alleging violations of various state and federal consumer protection laws including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), in adversarial proceedings under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and various state consumer protection laws. At this point in time, the Company is unable to anticipate the timing of a resolution or the impact that these legal proceedings may have on the Company’s consolidated financial position, liquidity, results of operation or cash flows. As a result, it is not possible at this time to estimate a range of potential exposure, if any, for amounts that may be payable in connection with these matters and loss contingency accruals have not been established. It is possible that an adverse ruling or rulings may have a material adverse impact on the Company. In addition, Navient and its subsidiaries are subject to examination or regulation by various federal regulatory, state licensing or other regulatory agencies as part of its ordinary course of business including the SEC, CFPB, FFIEC and ED. Items or matters similar to or different from those described above may arise during the course of those examinations. We also routinely receive inquiries or requests from various regulatory entities or bodies or government agencies concerning our business or our assets. Generally, the Company endeavors to cooperate with each such inquiry or request. The Company has received separate CIDs or subpoenas from multiple State Attorneys General that are similar to the CIDs or subpoenas that preceded the lawsuits referenced above. Those CIDs and subpoenas have been resolved as part of the Company’s settlement with the State Attorneys General. Nevertheless, we have received and, in the future may receive, additional CIDs or subpoenas and other inquiries from these or other Attorneys General with respect to similar or different matters. Under the terms of the Separation and Distribution Agreement between the Company and SLM BankCo, Navient agreed to indemnify SLM BankCo for claims, actions, damages, losses or expenses that may arise from the conduct of activities of pre-Spin-Off SLM BankCo occurring prior to the Spin-Off other than those specifically excluded in that agreement. Also, as part of the Separation and Distribution Agreement, SLM BankCo agreed to indemnify Navient for certain claims, actions, damages, losses or expenses subject to the terms, conditions and limitations set forth in that agreement. As a result, subject to the terms, conditions and limitations set forth in that agreement, Navient agreed to indemnify and hold harmless Sallie Mae and its subsidiaries, including Sallie Mae Bank from liabilities arising out of the regulatory matters and CFPB and State Attorneys General lawsuits mentioned above. In addition, we asserted various claims for indemnification against Sallie Mae and Sallie Mae Bank for such specifically excluded items arising out of the CFPB and the State Attorneys General lawsuits if and to the extent any indemnified liabilities exist now or in the future. Navient has no accrued liabilities related to indemnification matters with SLM BankCo as of December 31, 2023.

X
- References No definition available. + Details
Name: | us-gaap_CommitmentsAndContingenciesDisclosureAbstract
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition The entire disclosure for commitments and contingencies. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Topic 440 -SubTopic 10 -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -Subparagraph (a) -Publisher FASB -URI https://asc.fasb.org//1943274/2147482648/440-10-50-4 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef -Topic 450 -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Publisher FASB -URI https://asc.fasb.org//450/tableOfContent Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Topic 954 -SubTopic 440 -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (a) -Publisher FASB -URI https://asc.fasb.org//1943274/2147480327/954-440-50-1 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Topic 440 -SubTopic 10 -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -Subparagraph (c) -Publisher FASB -URI https://asc.fasb.org//1943274/2147482648/440-10-50-4 Reference 5: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Topic 440 -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Publisher FASB -URI https://asc.fasb.org//440/tableOfContent + Details
Name: | us-gaap_CommitmentsAndContingenciesDisclosureTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | dtr-types:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration