A coalition of attorneys general announced Thursday that Navient, one of the largest student loan servicers in the country, will provide $1.85 billion in relief to resolve allegations of predatory loan practices.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro was one of 39 state officials who charged that Navient participated in unfair, deceptive and abusive practices in student loan servicing.

The agreement resolved claims dating back to 2009, when the company was accused of steering struggling student loan borrowers into costly long-term forbearances instead of counseling them about the benefits of more affordable income-driven repayment plans.

"Navient repeatedly and deliberately put profits ahead of its borrowers," Shapiro said in a statement. "It engaged in deceptive and abusive practices, targeted students who it knew would struggle to pay loans back, and placed an unfair burden on people trying to improve their lives through education."

"Today's settlement corrects Navient's past behavior, provides much-needed relief to Pennsylvania borrowers, and puts in place safeguards to ensure this company never preys on student loan borrowers again," Shapiro said.

Navient said it will cancel the loan balances for 66,000 borrowers who largely took out loans from 2002 to 2010. However, the company denied that it did anything wrong and did not violate any laws in servicing loans to students.

"The company's decision to resolve these matters, which were based on unfounded claims, allows us to avoid the additional burden, expense, time and distraction to prevail in court," Navient's Chief Legal Officer Mark Heleen said in a statement.

"Navient is and has been continually focused on helping student loan borrowers understand and select the right payment options to fit their needs," Heleen said.

Shapiro said during his investigation, he found Navient was involved in "two deceptive and unfair schemes Navient was using that broke the law." He said the company often put its own profits ahead of the people it served.

On litigation and negotiation of the settlement, Pennsylvania was joined by Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts and California.

Also signing onto the settlement were attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

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