18 Facts About Ben Navarro

Benjamin W Navarro was born on 1962 or 1963 and is an American businessman, the founder and chief executive officer of Sherman Financial Group, LLC, one of the largest buyers of consumer debt in the United States, and the owner of Credit One Bank, a bank specializing in credit cards for borrowers with low credit scores.

Ben Navarro now has several investments in Charleston real estate and sports.

Ben Navarro's companies have been criticized for aggressive debt collection practices, while he has been credited for helping transform the once small and fragmented business of collecting credit card debt into a multibillion-dollar industry.

Ben Navarro grew up in Westerly and Chariho, Rhode Island.

Ben Navarro is of Italian descent; his grandparents arrived to the US from Italy, entering via Ellis Island.

Ben Navarro lived in Princeton, New Jersey, and graduated from Princeton High School, when his father was coaching the Princeton University football team.

Ben Navarro earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Rhode Island in 1984.

Ben Navarro started his career at Chemical Bank, where he worked for two years making loans to banks after completing a credit-training program.

Ben Navarro then worked for Goldman Sachs for three years, where he worked on whole loans and agency mortgage-backed securities.

Ben Navarro left Citigroup in 1997, and in 1998, he founded Sherman Financial Group.

In 2021, Ben Navarro founded Beemok Hospitality Collection, a hospitality company consisting of hotel, restaurant, and entertainment properties in the Southeast.

Ben Navarro owns the Live To Play Tennis Club in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, which has hosted three USTA national junior tennis championships, and six International Tennis Federation women's pro circuit tournaments.

Ben Navarro is married to Kelly; they have four children and live in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 2021, Ben Navarro contributed $500,000 to a political action committee supporting Tim Scott.

In 2008, Ben Navarro founded Meeting Street Schools, a South Carolina-based network of one private and three public elementary and middle schools serving over 1,800 students of an under-resourced demographic.

In December 2020, Ben Navarro announced the Meeting Street Scholarship Fund wherein he pledged to supplement the cost of higher education for any Charleston County high school students who qualified for the Pell grant and the State's LIFE scholarship, ensuring college opportunities for hundreds of South Carolina high school graduates each year.

In 2020, in partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina, Ben Navarro founded Modern Minds, a mental wellness center that uses holistic health strategies to help adults living with anxiety or depression.

In 2022, Ben Navarro funded extensive renovations to Credit One Stadium, a 20-year-old city-owned facility, as a gift to the City of Charleston.