It is *not* explicitly illegal to use automation with cell phones, they must have your consent in order to do so however. They obtain it a number of ways, such as adding a statement on a form that by providing your cell number you are also giving your consent. And I'm sorry, but you need to do research before posting inaccuracies. Navient and other student loan servicers do not fit the definition of a "debt collector" by law (since the loans are not in default) and generally do not fall under the FDCPA. And most of the time, they are required by the Department and Federal Student Aid to attempt to contact you a certain amount of times. Sure, payments are best case scenario, but there are multiple plans and even deferment/forbearance options to prevent further delinquency and default. They're not just calling you to get your money, because in most cases you don't owe the debt to them anyway, you owe it to the government or a bank.
In short, they're following the instructions of their employer, the DOE, to do what they do, and it's actually not illegal. Here's an idea. Pay your student loans or make arrangements with them. If you do, guess what? The "harrassing" calls will stop.
Navient used to persistently harass me to. Obviously they still do from time to time since I am looking up this number. Now I just get phone calls with hang ups from them. It's illegal to leave messages on cellphones so I submitted a complaint through the Federal Government about this and other practices. Didn't solve everything it does help with the calls though. Now they can only leave me real live person messages which they almost never do. Also I started getting bills from them telling me what I owe which I wasn't before. I highly recommend others reading this do some research about what they are legally allowed to do and file a complaint if they are breaking the law. The are required to respond, and enough of them might lead to a lawsuit changing their practices.
They try to harass me too, Person. It seems pointless since I never had any student loans or have ever failed to pay my debts. In my case all they do have is a telephone number that used to belong to a guy who had a timeshare and also had collection agencies after him. Using this forum is a good thing because it helps warn other people who are being harassed.So block their number. Get yourself a Panasonic phone system that block 250 numbers. A wireless system with 3 handsets is less than $100. Check Amazon.com for one. A nice feature is when these losers do call back which they will do many, many, many times; there is absolutely NO RING to irritate you. And they will call from other numbers, but once again you will block their number and there will be absolutely NO RING to irritate you. I am surprised they don't know that.