Wells Fargo To Sell $8.5 Billion Federal Student Loan Portfolio To Navient

Wells Fargo & Co. will sell its portfolio of federally guaranteed student loans with a total $8.5 billion in principal balance to Navient . Wells Fargo will continue to focus on its private lending business through its Education Financial Services, the bank said. The bank expects the sale to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2014, and the sale is not expected to be material to Wells Fargo results. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Navient is considered the largest servicer of federal and private education loans and with this acquisition, it will service more than $310 billion in student loans. Wells Fargo EFS serves 1.3 million customers with outstanding loan balances of $11.9 billion.