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Sallie Mae

Russell of Chicago, IL November 19, 2008

Russell of Chicago IL (11/19/08)
I borrowed money sometime back to go to school. I also used my grandmother as a cosigner. We both have done everything within our power to make payments and make everything with Sallie Mae current. I have paid small payment having them deducted automatically from my account each month. I have paid numerous forebearance fees. Sallie Mae will not stop calling and when they do call they are so rude.

I hang up everytime in tears and it makes my grandmother a nervouse wreck. When borrowing the money I never imagined that the economy would be in the condition it is in when it came time to pay back. Today they called and I spoke with 2 supervisors that proceeded to tell me what I loser I am and one even called me a dumbass.

I can't pay the 1800 they want per month...I offered a payment but that was not good enough so the supervisor on the phone says to me then you are refusing to pay and we will put these in default.

I can't sleep or eat becasue of the stress of Sallie Mae calling me. It bothers me more that they will not leave my grandmother alone. They start calling by 8AM and call all day until about 10PM. This will destroy both of our credits.

Latippinea of Orlando, FL November 19, 2008

Latippinea of Orlando FL (11/19/08)
During my years in college 1992-1994 I secured student loans from Sallie Mae. After completing school and paying on the student loans (off/on); I decided to return to grad school to obtain my Masters degree upon entering my college of choice, I was made aware of Direct Loans (government agency that gives student loans at a very low interest rate). I immediately took advantage of this opportunity, quickly completing my application to transfer my student loans from SallieMae to Direct Loans and to utilize Direct Loans as the current lender for loans to return to school.

The process went well - I never heard anything negative from SallieMae until 09/12/08 when I pulled a credit report (yearly) check and noticed that SallieMae placed a bad debt charge on my credit report (1st timer ever) which, was during the time the transfer had taken place. I telephoned SallieMae and questioned them about the legality of this incident.

I made them aware that this was recently placed on my account and is inaccurate. I requested they do an investigation to verify this claim. The gentlemen stated to me that I must prove to SallieMae this did not occur.I am appalled that a company (anyone) can legally falsify claims against others and there be NO consequences. I have tried everything and have not been able to obtain cooperation in this matter. I hope that someone can shed light as to the answers/steps in correcting this!

My credit is reuined!

Mike of Scottsdale, AZ November 18, 2008

Mike of Scottsdale AZ (11/18/08)
Upon the urging of my school and Financial Aid rep. I applied for a loan consolidation...I don't know...4 years ago in order to qualify for a lower interest rate (4.5%). All three applications were ignored by Sallie Mae. I did finally get one at 8% after graduation and owe in the neighborhood of 25k to Sallie Mae And sold the other 50+k debt to another company because SM is so screwy.

I make all of my payments on time and for additional toward the principle every month. (ON THEIR SECURE WEBSITE)I made an electronic payment in Sept '07 for 200 and for some reason it did not go through. So in Oct '07 I made a payment over the phone for 400. It has been over a year now and Sallie Mae still refutes that they ever recieved any payment or that they returned it...Why would they return it? They didn't! I have provided proof of that payment numerous times through multiple different avenues...including three way phone calls with my bank, faxes, emails, certified mail.

My bank is now disputing this through the Feds because they know that Sallie Mae recieved the funds. There is not one part of this story that is a good reflection of their business practices. I have done my due diligence to prove my payment and I want them to get out of the racquet of loaning money before my kids end up having to deal with the same BS.

14 Months of late fees, additional interest charges on money I paid, risk on my credit report, risk on my co-borrowers credit report, 15-20 phonecalls every day for more than a year, including my cel phone, well in excess of 160 hours of my own time gathering data and providing the proof to sallie mae...and waiting on hold, stress to a level that put my girlfriend(co-borrower) in the hospital for two weeks, complete lack of faith in the system, and a intimate understanding that Sallie Mae does not care that they are breaking the law.

Chris of Hilliard, OH November 15, 2008

Chris of Hilliard OH (11/15/08)
At the age of 21, I signed as a co-signer on a student loan for a friend. His family would not sign for him and I had good credit and I figured he would be good on repayment...I did it as a favor and was too young to realize that I would eventually have problems.

The reason my credit was good was that I lived at home with my parents while I was going to school and they were paying for my education...my parents did not know about me co-signing on my friend's student loan.

So, why is it that Sallie Mae will take a mere 21 year old as a co-signer without checking more into their background? Why would they allow a kid (I know I goofed now, but I thought I was helping a friend out) to just simply sign a paper without checking to see that this Good credit was really one that could not get a student loan on my own, since I was living with my parents and my parents were paying my way through school?? As I look back, something seems very very wrong with this scenario!! The process by which a student can get funds through a way too easy co-signing process is a disgrace and I feel my own lack of knowledge (and stupidity about what I was doing) and wanting to help a friend is now coming back to haunt me...my friend is not making payments and I want to make sure things get paid off as it will show up on my credit report (I'm getting notices from Sallie Mae)...I even called Sallie Mae and offered to help them find my friend, get VIN numbers on his vehicles, tell them where he worked so they could garnish his wages, etc., I WANTED TO HELP GET THE BORROWER TO PAY!! And the Sallie Mae people said they don't do any of that (asset repossession, garnish wages, etc.) and that I was on the hook...how could they be so uncaring?? Why would they ignore help to get the money for the paon from where it should be coming from?

I am extremely perplexed about this one and just don't get it! I am willing to pay one-half of the loan balance (about 24,000) if there would be a way for me to get off the credit and let Sallie Mae deal with the borrower after that...is that possible?? Is there anyone that can help me?? Am I being unreasonable?

Kristen of Auburn, GA November 15, 2008

Kristen of Auburn GA (11/15/08)
In 2005, I attended college full time and applied to have my student loan deferred. Sallie Mae kept billing me and claimed they never received my deferment request. I mailed the request 3x and finally had to fax it. All the while, they kept billing me and adding late fees.

Finally, I stopped being contacted (harrassed) by them and assumed they finally procesed my request. Until fall of 2006 when they mailed me a letter that I was going into default. I called them and explained what happened to the representative and told him I was only working 20 hrs.per week. He told me to go find a full time job and I explained, as a single mom I couldn't afford child care and had to work while the kids were in school. He said if I agreed to have my payments debited he would erase the late fees and start my payments over so I wouldn't look like I was behind. It didn't do any good to keep telling him I only had late fees because they never processed my deferment request.

They have been debiting my account now for 2years. Last month, I noticed they were going to debit my account for 3x the amount of my normal payment and when I checked into it I found out they re-applied my late fees. They will not reverse the charges, they denied that anyone made the arrangement but won't answer me when I asked them why the late fees had not shown up on my account for the past 2 years until now. I also pointed out to them that according to their own procedure they apply payments toward any fees owed, then toward interest then toward principal but they have never applied any of my payments toward fees for 2 years (that observation was also ignored). I also realized that even though they had been applying all my payments to interest every month for 2 years, they added an extra 250 to my accrued interest each quarter.

Now, I'm in the same boat with my payments. I'm a full time student and they won't process my deferment request, won't respond to my emails regarding my deferment request. Charged me for 2months that should have been deferred and added more late fees. On top of that, my ex recently stopped paying child support and I am seriously in debt but according to their qualifications, don't even qualify for an economic hardship forebearance. My original loan amount is 9000 but they have added over 4000 in interest.

Of course, my credit that I've been working hard to improve is going to be ruined.

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