Sallie Mae SUCKS!
Ok seriously Sallie Mae, do you think i’m going to manage coming up with $400 over the next hour? Every hour i’m getting called and harassed by you people. No, I can’t borrow from my grandparents, what the hell is wrong with you? No, i’m not going to borrow the money from my friends, siblings, parents, aunts or uncles, or anyone else. Being rude and yelling at me isn’t going to make me pay you any faster nor will it make money come flowing out my ass!
So what the hell is wrong with Sallie Mae? These people call me literally like 20 times a day telling me that if I don’t pay them that they will report me to credit places and ruin my credit. LOL I was in a motorcycle accident that incurred thousands of dollars of medical bills, etc. My credit is already ruined because I couldn’t afford to even pay those back fast enough!
I don’t think any professional company should actually yell at people or hang up on them. I am the customer and I am always right (at least be polite is what I mean). I couldn’t believe how these people treated me. If you work at Sallie Mae and you are reading this, pray that you never meet me in a dark alley or secluded area. The treatment i’ve gotten has been ridiculous. I maintained a polite tone of voice several times only to pull the phone from my ear from them getting so frustrated with me because I simply don’t make enough per month to afford my bills AND their $400 per month payments.
Ok, end of rant….
Sallie Mae is ridiculously stupid, not only their employees but the way they run their business.
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Man, I didn’t even have to read past the title to pick up on what you were laying out there with this blog post man. I mean, Sallie Mae Sucks. That really does say it all, doesn’t it. I don’t have personal experience with Sallie Mae sucking but I did know this woman once who had those skills as well. Yep, we used to call her Misses Hoover around the neighborhood. She’d only charge $5 to show us her God given talents. We’d go in one at a time of course. I mean, it wasn’t like we were in a porn film or anything. I mean, she should have been, what with the way she handled herself.
Umm… after reading the article, I’ve come to the conclusion that you weren’t talking about the same thing I thought you were. As it stands, I think my story is better.
Ok, first things first, when you got in your accident the first thing you should have done was contact ALL your creditors. There are options available for your student loans if you are in a situation where you cannot pay them. I personally know of two… deferment and forebearance. One of these would have been an option for you. Have you tried to take this route with Sallie Mae??? They’re calling you because you owe them money! They are a creditor, just like Captial One, American Express etc…. If you cannot make your payments they always have options for you. Instead of griping and complaining, try to do something to help yourself out. You said in your blg you can’t pay the other bills you have….. Take action and do something about it!!!! Those who don’t find a solution have no right or reason to complain about it!!!!
I don’t think this person needs a lecture from you and if you haven’t dealt with Sallie Mae don’t bother posting your useless response. I have dealt with many creditors, pay my bills on time, and am I co-signer on a loan with Sallie Mae. They are impossible to reach on the phone, they offer no assistance and the customer reps often don’t speak understandable English. They will call you 20 plus times a day, but it’s a recording so even if you pick up there is no one to work with forcing you to contact them and spend half your day trying to navigate through their voice mail hell. Even if you wanted to set up a payment plan you would spend enourmous hours trying to do so, which by the way good luck with that anyway. They are often rude, at one point I asked to speak with a supervisor because a customer service rep was being billigernt and then the guy hung up on me. I’ve reported them to the better business bureau and filed a written complaint. So before you decide to lecture someone in the future on what they should have done maybe you should do your homework first. Sallie Mae is the worst company I have ever dealt with.
I have had to go through the forebearance and deferement process with sallie maybe tweleve timese(i have records) and everytime I call back and nothing was done to my account I pay my original agreement on payment ammount and they still insist I pay double that and then place me into default status. any suggestions anyone
I have done both options with sallie mae (deferment and forebearance) but those are for a specific period of time. Now, something they don’t tell you until way down the road is that they can actually set you up on a payment plan that pays interest only. At least then you don’t go into deferment but by the time you can actually pay the loans back, you’ll be paying more in interest than you will for the loan itself.
When your total monthly bills from creditors, living expenses, etc. exceed that in which you make monthly, there aren’t many other options. Now much of the problem was going through a huge learning process.
When you’re young and don’t have any experience with creditors, debt, etc., you don’t really know what to do or how to handle things. Many people get depressed, discouraged, etc. which just makes things worse. After you have gone through the thick and thin of it and managed to keep your chin above water, you know what you should have done. Hindsight is always 20/20.
The methods Sallie Mae uses to get money from people is morally wrong, rude and unprofessional. I’ve heard of credit card companies being cut-throat but they don’t even come close to comparing to how Sallie Mae is.
I would like to say that you are absolutely right! There are so many things I should have done right from the very beginning that I knew I should have and didn’t. I’m paying the price (literally) for being ignorant and lazy in my youthful years.
Sallie Mae does suck. I’ve been dealing with them for 5 years. Personally Jarel if you haven’t dealt with Sallie Mae then you shouldn’t post comments. Sallie Mae sucked up all my student loans and decided they’d throw the bulk into a private “signature” loan. It was something I couldn’t do anything about. They bought my loans and they can do that. However, their ethics are very wrong and they are in business to screw people over. Their customer service is known as the worst ever. Their people are rude and vicious and this was even before I had any problems with my account. The private loan they chose for me was locked in at 18% interest. This made my payments out of school over $700 a month. Tell me who makes that kind of money out of school to be able to afford to eat and pay that? Certainly not the school I graduated from. Yes I’m aware of forbearance and deferement. Did that because I let them know I couldn’t pay that much money. It wasn’t that I was trying to get out of paying, it was that I couldn’t afford to pay that much and when I signed up for the school they told me the loan payback would be around $300 a month, not $700 so that’s a pretty big difference. After a while I was out of forbearance and deferrment options. I was still unable to make that amount of payment and because of the type of loan Sallie Mae set it up to be, there was no way I could consolidate or refinance it with Sallie Mae or any other company on the planet for that matter because believe me I tried. I asked what would happen if I simply sent in what I could afford be it $300 or $500 a month and the reps told me that if I didn’t pay the minimum due regardless of if I was trying, they would still consider the balance late and charge me late fees which if I didn’t bring current they would default my loan, report it to the credit bureau’s and send it to collections where lawyers would then just garnish my wages or try to take my house. Lucky me I don’t own a house any more. So there it was. Sallie Mae’s solution to me trying to pay the loan was to say screw you anyway, we’ll take all the money you send us but it won’t do you any good. So my decision was not to pay them at all. So now it’s on my credit and I don’t care because they are a horrific company with very bad business eithics which is why they constantly have class action lawsuits against them for their business practices and they are known for screwing students over, all over the world by locking them in to privitized loans at outrageous interest rates and they do not disclose this information to you what so ever. On top of that even you get loans through someone else, chances are, Sallie Mae will end up buying them out and doing it to you. It was bad practice on my school’s part to participate in Sallie Mae’s games and get kickbacks from the loans which is also why they have gotten sued. So you see Jarel, it isn’t because we are lazy or making bad decisions. Some of us have tried very hard to work with Sallie Mae, the fact is, they refuse to do anything espcially if they have you locked in an 18% loan for $18,000. They actually bank on you not being able to pay it so they can put a lien on your house or take your car away from you but they lost out with me because I don’t own any real property and for that very reason. I tried to make payments to them and they refused them and I refuse to relentlessly send money to a company that is just going to pocket it and pretend I didn’t send anything and still default my loan. What would be the point in paying thousands and thousands of dollars and it not reducing the debt what so ever and them still trying to sue me for even more in the end? The comment of Sallie Mae always having options for you is a flat out lie unless you consider default an option. It wasn’t an option in my case. Unless I had the $700 a month, I would go in to default. the other part of the forbearance and deferrment are, you are still accruing interest so after all the time I did that, my payments went up to $800 a month. So if I deferred them because I couldn’t pay $700 a month, what makes you think that in 6 months I’d be able to afford $800 a month??
Hey there. I’m going through the same thing right now. They are rude and finally I got smart! I started recording the phone conversations whether or not they wanted me to. And the time I did not tell them I was recording was when I had the best conversations! I posted the conversation on youtube sent all the CEOs CFOs and Sallie Mae name I could find on google search and told them all to go listen to their collections people. They stopped call for some time. The just recently started again but I filled a complaint to BBB. Told the BBB to check out my youtube broadcast and sent Sallie Mae and all their Excu. a copy of the complaint and I have not heard from them since. Good luck with everything. I’m right there with you! Please spread the word to all your friends and check out my broad cast on youtube.
Search for hexagon2007 on youtube.
Also if you want some advice out there let me know!! I’ve learned a lot from my own experience with them.
Hey Vic, thanks for commenting on this! What kind of stuff have you done to help you with this situation? Each time I talk to them it just ruins my day (sometimes the days that follow as well) and I can’t seem to make any headway with them unless I can pay $500+ per month. In the location I live with the income I have, that’s just not possible right now.
Suggestions for myself and anyone else that reads this?
Thanks!
If you do ever come across a Sallie Mae employee in a dark alley, call me. I’ll help you.
I had a baby and they made me pay for a forebarence even though it clearly states that taking time off work to have and care for a newborn is grounds for deference (forbarence you have to pay fifty bucks for each loan up to $150). I can only work part time right now because I didn’t finish school by two classes (and couldn’t take them when I was pregnant because of the labs and the danger it posed to my unborn child) and no one will hire someone who almost has a degree. Fortunetly, I have benefits for both me and my daughter, but I only have about 300 bucks left after my bills are paid each month. WE are living with family because we can’t afford to move out and with the rising cost of living are afraid we will end up in trouble if we do move out.
I explained this to Sallie Mae.
Four times.
I pleaded for help.
They sent my call to the forebarence office.
The forbarence specialist told me I should get a job full time to help supplement my income.
wow. I never thought of that! Thanks! let me go tell my boss I can work all the time! Oh, yeah, my 6 month old? she can watch herself….or I could put her in childcare which would cost more than I would be making, which is why I only work part-time to start off with…
They think everyone is an ATM. They put their card in you, punched in the pin and now they’re waiting for their money.
I found a great article on 60 minutes website about how Sallie Mae screws everyone, even tax payers, since when you don’t pay your loan, the government pays them. And since they own a lot of the top collection agencies, when the collections agency gets your money, part of it still goes to Sallie Mae. So the government pays them and you still have to pay them.
When will some one stop them!?!?!
ps-my payments have recently gone over 1000 a month, but they told me due to my credit history they can’t offer me a better payment schedule to reduce my payment….except to give me five more years, bringing my payments to barely over 900 a month. How could anyone pay that?!?! When I beg for help I get hung up on.
I just got off the phone with Sallie Mae after they called my house four times in a row in the past 10 minutes on a Wednesday night at 8:45! I am beyond irrate, I have never been so angry in my entire life. I can not believe the teatment Sallie Mae displays to their customers. I am $300 behind due to a bad commission check a couple of months ago. After working hard and receiving my degree in design, I struggled to build a clientele. A $350 payment for a student fresh out of college, alone is ridiculous, not mention to a designer who had zero business starting in a interior design firm. Their “employees” treat me like a criminal on the phone and badger me like I have never paid a cent. Something has to be done about this. How the economy is right now is stressful enough, being harassed by a company who screws us with high interest rates is maddening! Something needs to change, there are too many people out there dealing with this issue. My husband is meeting with the Attorney General to report this unfair harassment. Anyone in a bad situation or making an attempt to pay should be helped not treated like a irresponsible debtor. I mean, we all tried to better our lives by opening a student loan to acheive a higher education. How can a loan provider turn around and treat us this way. Help!!!
Please review the Sallie Mae contacts below and start an email campaign explaining their situation and the poor practices of Sallie Mae. Make sure you ask them to include a media source of any kind and if they have a lawyer or congress person to add that would be outstanding as well.
Lord Albert L
Chief Executive Officer
email: albert.lord@salliemae.com
Mike Walter
COO & Senior Director, Private Credit Collections
email: Mike.Walter@salliemae.com
Roy Mellinger
Vice President and Chief Security Officer
email: roy.mellinger@salliemae.com
Carol Rakatansky
Vice President and Assoc. Gen. Counsel
email: Carol.Rakatansky@salliemae.com
Eric Reicin
Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
email: Eric.Reicin@salliemae.com
Tom Joyce
Senior VP, Corporate Communications
email: Tom.Joyce@salliemae.com
Deborah N. Fahle
Senior Vice President
email: deborah.fahle@salliemae.com
Christy Marble
Vice President, Brand and Consumer Marketing
email: Christy.Marble@salliemae.com
Frank C. Hollister, IV
Senior Sales and Marketing Executive
email: frank.hollister@salliemae.com
Amy Brashear Miranda
Director / SVP Mid – Atlantic Sales
email: amy.miranda@salliemae.com
Laura Daly
Vice President, Credit
email: Laura.Daly@salliemae.com
Nancy Deck
Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing
email: Nancy.Deck@salliemae.com
Jan DeFalco
Managing Director, Brand and Consumer Marketing
email: Jan.DeFalco@salliemae.com
Chris Dwyer
Vice President of Sales
email: Chris.Dwyer@salliemae.com
Asim Walia
VP of Sales
email: Asim.Walia@salliemae.com
Jim Eickhoff
President & VP Sallie Mae National Sales
email: Jim.Eickhoff@salliemae.com
Suvendu Pal
Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis
email: Suvendu.Pal@salliemae.com
Marcos Bronfman
Vice President at Sallie Mae
email: Marcos.Bronfman@salliemae.com
Michael Hynes
Vice President, Leadership and Employee Communications
email: Michael.Hynes@salliemae.com
Brian Burgess
Vice President of Finance and Information Research
email: Brian.Burgess@salliemae.com
Lori Urias-Gehris
Leadership Development
email: Lori.Urias-Gehris@salliemae.com
Rick Robey
Vice President, Marketing
email: Rick.Robey@salliemae.com
Ramiro Fonseca
Senior Vice President
email: Ramiro.Fonseca@salliemae.com
David Leonard
Title unknown works with Roy Mellinger
email: david.leonard@salliemae.com
317-578-6704.
I can’t keep up with the late finance charges imposed on Sallie Mae’s billing practices. My bill arrives just before the due date and even if I turned around and sent the money in the next day’s mail it would still be late and then the next months bill would reflect another late charge.
Why don’t they send yearly coupon books out so that a person could send in their monthly payment before the due date and not wait for their monthly billing statement that comes just before the due date; but then again they couln’t rake in all that late pentalty money that is made off the poor struggling student or make all those harrassing phone calls all hours of the day and night.
@Dan – I would suggest finding the due date in the month for your payments. It should be the same day each month. Then, instead of waiting for your bill to show up, you can just send out a check ahead of time.
Sallie Mae will do anything and everything to get your money and screw you, don’t let them get the best of you.
Sallie Mae is the worst. Most creditors are happy to work with with people, but not Sallie Mae. They want their money, and they want it last week! They called my house continuously thoughout the day for weeks, even after having made the arrangments to pay them!
I guess you could say they’re lucky Osama Bin Laden didn’t take out a loan with them. I know. That was a bad joke, but you can’t honestly say the thought of it doesn’t make you smile just a LITTLE!!!
Yep, I’m going through this exact situation with Sallie Mae right now. They refuse to work with me in getting current on my loan and I will have no choice but to default on it. I’m in grad school full time and the loan in question is a private loan that I took out to pay for training at a place called Video Symphony–a terrible school, by the way. Well, this loan doesn’t qualify for deferment or forebearance so those options are gone, and I don’t have the money to bring this current. It’s a shame really. I’m willing to pay them something but they want it all right now. Their customer service reps are also very rude. I emailed them about it, but they obviously don’t care.
Hi, I am going through the same things. However, I co-signed for my daughter and while she was in school they were constantly harassing me. I had my daughter call the schools financial add office and the school would send Sally Mae latter after latter stating that she was still in school so why were they still harassing me if my daughter never stopped going to school.? I’d like to know this can they take my house or my car if my daughter can’t afford to pay them ???? Now my daughter is depressed and is constantly crying because she’s afraid that there going to take my house.
(SIGNED) DESPRET MOTHER
Hi, I am going through the same things. However, I co-signed for my daughter and while she was in school they were constantly harassing me. I had my daughter call the schools financial add office and the school would send Sally Mae latter after latter stating that she was still in school so why were they still harassing me if my daughter never stopped going to school.? I’d like to know this can they take my house or my car if my daughter can’t afford to pay them ???? Now my daughter is depressed and is constantly crying because she’s afraid that there going to take my house.
(SIGNED) DESPRET MOTHER
Despret Mothers last blog post..XHTML vs HTML 4.01, Which to Use
No, they will not take your house or your car. If your daughter is still in school just tell them when they call you and get the documentation from her school. If they keep calling you after the school has sent them the documentation, keep it on hand and when they call you again tell them you can fax proof right then and there.
IF they tried to get anything from you, it would be wage garnishment which doesn’t happen for a long long time. You have nothing to worry about.
Vic,
Your youtube acct is closed so I couldn’t hear the messages.
Is there anyway I can request that they only contact me via regular mail? The phone calls are ridiculous. God forbid you’re late on a payment cause they’ll charge you so many fees you’ll never pay it off.
I would be happy to consolidate at a higher interest rate just to get away from Sallie Mae.
Oh, and on Feb. 2008 an amendment failed because republicans voted against it. It would’ve allowed student loans to be written off in chapter 7 bankruptcy. Democrats overwhelmingly supported the amendment to the Higher Education Act Reauthorization.
Also, funny how Education Finance Partners filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in late Dec of 2008. I guess what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander huh?
I’m glad I found this page! All this time I thought S.M was my friend. I guess not. =/
I am having financial hardships right now and talked to S.M today about me not being able to pay them.
They offerred me a 7 month forebearance at $50 each x 2 loan =$100 fee.
I thought this was a great offer being that I wouldnt have to worry about it agian until 7 months later..but then I realize..if I told them i didnt have any money.which is true..what makes them think I will have $100 to pay as a fee?
Anyone know if they are able to waive that? What if I seriously cannot pay anything at all?
Really appreciate any response!
Thank you.
xautumnheartx@Hotmail.com
I hate Sallie Mae, they completely suck! I got laid off 6 months ago and no hope in finding any full time job, just part time making minimum, not enough to live and pay Sallie Mae, but they don’t care, they expect you to borrow, beg or steal. I wrote to my Senators and Congressmen yesterday to complain.
Hi there,
I’m trying to speak with people who have private loans with high interest rates who can’t pay them off. I work for a news organization, and we are working on a story about student lending practices.
Please e-mail me at yasmeenrental@gmail.com with a brief synopsis of your circumstances if you’re interested in speaking with me.
Thanks!
Yasmeen
Kim… This is also my situation, I too wrote Senators and Congressmen.
I just graduated and my loans are to start repayment next month, I dont have a job. I live in MI, so that pretty much sums up the whole employment issue, highest unemployment in the country. Not that I am against moving out of state but its not like there’s tons out there either. I moved back home to cut my costs until I could find something, there is nothing. I called S.M. to see what my options were, I want to pay my loans but at this moment I can not. I talked to 5 people in 1 day, supervisors are the worst to talk to! I told them of my situation & that I didnt want to wait until the loans were due to do something about it. All they told me was that I could put my loans in forbearance for 3 months @ $150! Are you kidding me! I told them that I didnt even have $150. I called them ahead of time and then they told me that there was nothing they could do to help me unless I come up with the $150. They contstantly threatened me that they would report this to creditors and my credit would be lost “forever”. They kept insisting that I could get the money “somewhere”… whatever that means?
The funny thing was they kept telling me of the hard economics times, like I didnt already know! This was the whole reason for calling them.
Oh I also forgot to mention my talk with S.M. about consolidation. They refused to consolidate my loans because as of may 2008 S.M. no longer consolidates loans for anyone. How about another way to make money off of the poor unemployed student in this economy! So instead of making 1 payment I need to make 3, which adds up to a larger payment each month!
Always always send a letter to the PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL
more letters, the better, thats where Sallie Mae is located
tell them about the company practices,
the AG, listens, has to listen to complains
also Better Business Bureau in Wilkes Barre, PA
This is to Kalila…
Yes, there is a possibility that that forbearance fee can be *waived*. It’s not necessarily waived completely, what they do is postpone that forb fee and then you are required to pay it on top of your next monthly payment, but hopefully by that time you’ll also be able to pay that.
As for the mother whose child is still in school, you can get an inschool deferment up to 48 months depending on what type of loan she has. Federal loans she should be able to do for as long as she needs, but, private loans are totally different.
Thank you, BS.
I ended up paying them $100 for the forebearance for the next 3 and 7 months.
Ok guys Sallie Mae is off the hook. They have decided to harrass even the references I put down on my original application. I logged in a complaint with the FTC and my state’s Attorney General.
I suggest we start calling Sallie Mae back every 5 minutes. I called them back today after they harrassed one of my friends. A friend who has nothing to do with my debt to Sallie Mae. Yes, like some of you I fell for the scheme to pay $50.00 or $150.00 for a forbearance that they would deny.
So beware this is another scheme to get money from us. I have sent 3 small payments that to this day Sallie Mae has not applied to my total debt. This is illegal (theft?) and what prompted me to file a complaint for SM’s illegal collection practices. Common let’s report them; everyone that is piseed should call the FTC and your Attorney General. Read on your rights on these websites go to the tab for Debt Colliectors in this website: http://www.ftc.gov for PA Attorney’s General: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov or call the Consumer Protection Agency at: 1-800-441-2555.
I am calling Sallie Mae back at 1-866-834-4183 whenever I get a chance every 5 minutes to let them know I am here!!!! That is no harrassment correct?
By the way their collectors don’t like to be told about Customer Service Skills and the debt collector’s at that number use names like Champagne? Common
I just received a phone call from Sallie Mae yesterday with a fast talking rep, who said how she could help me from going to collections.Drom roll please……I have never received one letter or bill except for solicitations such as credit reports and other junk mail.Of course she did’nt care to get to the bottom of it.She just wanted to know how I will pay.She mentioned a forbearance I told her I won’t discuss anything further on the phone I want postal mail correspondence.I faxxed the forbearance paperwork last night.
After reading here I don’t have much confidence in what I requested not to mention I received a few calls today and they could care less about me faxxing paperwork, and I had one say “Are you looking for a job? and I said “excuse me”, and she said “come on you can tell me the truth!”.
Livid to say the least after crying last night.I don’t fault a company becuse I owe money but I never recieved one statem they claim in the phirst conversation that I received emails, no I only received the same tree killing junk mail I got in the postal mail. Even waiving the late fees, and removing me from collections would help since I already told them I would pay something this friday but not all of it.
I’m still getting over the shock, I just graduated this December.She said the bills started in January.Huh, what happened to the 6mos?
I’m lost there.
Does anyone know who to see besides maybe a lawyer. I have been searching the net to find out.
Rubi
Okay, I have read all the stories and here is another one for ya. My mother cosigned for my son on a Sallie Mae Loan. She is 84 years old and has just been diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF). I have called Sallie Mae and explained to them the problems my mother is having and that their phone calls are upsetting her tremendously. I offered my cell number and asked them if they could just contact me until she gets better. All I got was “Too Bad”!!!!! Can you believe it? That’s too bad….they said. but we are still calling her!
If my mother has a stoke due to one of their phone calls I will own Sallie Mae. My son was only 10 days late. His note is outrageous and he is barely making it. They don’t care if you try or not. They don’t care if you are dying or not…they keep calling. And on top of it they don’t know how to be nice.
I hate them and I have contacted an attorney. They better back the *%#@ off. If I actually see any results from my attorney, I will be back to post. We have got to stand up to these leeches and let them know that the ecomony is horrible and we are doing the best we can. I would understand if we were not trying, but we are doing everything we can. I say we ALL contact attorneys and if they get enough letters, maybe they will back off!
Just spread the word…don’t borrow from Sallie Mae, EVER!!!!!!
“przmami
April 19th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Ok, first things first, when you got in your accident the first thing you should have done was contact ALL your creditors. There are options available for your student loans if you are in a situation where you cannot pay them. I personally know of two… deferment and forebearance. One of these would have been an option for you. Have you tried to take this route with Sallie Mae??? They’re calling you because you owe them money! They are a creditor, just like Captial One, American Express etc…. If you cannot make your payments they always have options for you. Instead of griping and complaining, try to do something to help yourself out. You said in your blg you can’t pay the other bills you have….. Take action and do something about it!!!! Those who don’t find a solution have no right or reason to complain about it!!!!”
LOL people like you should STFU Sallie Mae is nothing more than a predatory lending corporation that gets away with it because has been lobbying the government AKA MAKING HUGE DONATIONS. There are and have been many that have been trying to do something but guess what the majority of the government cares about $$$$$$$$$$$ not people’s rights. forebearance is a scam and you can only defer for so long making payments of 20% of income just to Sallie Mae or more due to misleading STUDENT AID departments at colleges receiving incentives for screwing over the FUTURE aka Students. so plz people like you should just lock yourself in a closet for the rest of your life. thx
oh and btw the Attorney General didn’t do anything but slap a small fine on Sallie Mae and tell them TO PRINT BIGGER about terms & agreement LOLLLL
And i’m sorry but i want more people to fall into sallie gay’s trap if the whole country falls into it there’s a better chance the government will fix it…because as it is its slim to none all those in the trap are already screwed and not going to be helped…or receive justice.
I lost my job just before the housing disaster. Finding a job was impossible, especially finding one that would pay enough to pay the bills. It took me 4 months to find a job, but during that time I ran completely out of my savings. So I called Sallie Mae (I had 9 loans through them) to get a forbearance because I didn’t have a job or any way I could possibly pay them aside from robbing a bank.
In fact I owed my bank money because of an auto withdrawl
I called Sallie Mae and talked with someone to help me get forbearance. I explained my situation saying that I have no money whatsoever. They go through the process of the forbearance and then she tells me I HAVE to pay them the $150 forbearance fee within the next 7 days or I get nothing. I told her that I had no job and no money period. I had no way to get her the forbearance fee in a month let alone a week.
She stated that I should borrow money from a family member, friend or get a credit card. They were completely unsympathetic. How am I supposed to get money in the next week to pay the fee so that I can put off paying for my loans while I am looking for a job? Even if I got a job that same day, I wouldn’t be able to pay the fee in a week.
It is true that I owe them money. But Sallie Mae should be sympathetic to people they lend to. Borrowers can’t pull money out of thin air and in situations where there is no way for us to pay, they should have an option to postpone payments. Oh wait, that’s what forbearance is for…
Way to go Sallie Mae.
Leave the country and take your skills with you. I’m a techie and I especially think all doctors, scientists and engineers should say Bye-Bye to USURY! Sallie Mae is nothing more than GOVERNMENT SPONSORED INDENTURED SERVITUDE.
If everyone with an outstanding loan abandoned the country and cited Sallie Mae as the cause, only then will the government care.
I’ve already made our escape plan, and there is nothing left to do but to implement it. Lest you think I am un-American, I worked for DoD for 8-years, went to Harvard for a PhD and after 9/11, called the Navy back and offered my services, working for another 18-months before quitting. I’m the daughter, granddaughter, wife and sister of veterans. I couldn’t love this country more, but I love myself most! Love yourself. You have the skills. Make the world a better place if the US (i.e. Sallie Mae) won’t allow you to practice your craft and be happy. God gave you that right. Don’t allow Sallie Mae to steal it from you due to a bad decision you made based on the false and misleading information they provided.
Next time they call, tell them you are recording the call and everything they say can and will used against them in a court of law. They will hang up on you!
I am unemployed due to the economic crisis. I didn’t get fired…I got laid off. That caused me to move back in with relatives and drop out of college.
Sallie mae wants $800 a month for 48k of debt. They will not consolidate, make lower monthly payments, defer, and late breaking news…
Sallie Mae no longer allows forbearance. So, I have no idea what to do. I’m going to go to a lawyer and take the longshot of proving undo hardship. People have written off their student loans in chapter 7 bankruptcy before and it has been documented. I might as well see if that works.
Let us know if you find out any information that could help. Thank you all for the comments to this post!
My mom knows a guy at work that said he got all his private sallie mae student loans forgiven due to some type of harrasment.
I’m going to be able to speak with him this week and find out exactlly what happened and I DEFINITELY will let everyone here know.
Really, lets put both of our BRAINS together, maybe we can do something. i have the same situation as most of these people. I’ve been to some many Anti_Sallie_may blogs and websites…I read most stories an i can defenetly relate to them..
Man, let start something….I’m for real…No Bullshit…
As most of you I am in the sam position with Ssllie Mae. Mine experience came as I was going back to school for career change and the school was able to get me a loan through SM. I was reluctant as I have heard of horror stories in the past, but this career change was important to me and I accepted the agreement.
Three months before graduation, I start receiving late payment notices! I called them and explained that I was still in school and have not completed my degree. they continued to ask if I could make a payment now. They also suggested that I borrow from friends, family, etc. I explained that was not an option. They didn’t care and wanted their money now. I contacted the school, which we completed a form indicating I was still in school. It didn’t matter, they wanted their money. I am working in my field, and making a low wage, I get by (barely). As you can expect, they aren’t willing to discuss options other than how much can I pay right now. I spent time looking for a PT job and another job all together with more pay to make the monthly payments. I talked to one of their reps today and my borrowed money has gone from $16000 total payment to $25000!!! WTF!! They told me today that I could settle for $16200, if I could make three monthly payments of $5400!!! Who borrows money for school and has $5400 a month leftover to pay a student loan? If I had that money, I would have never used SM! Then they felt they were being generous to offer me the option to pay $350 a month. Including my Federal student loan, that amounts to $550, which is 33% of my monthly take home. I guess if I don’t eat, walk to work instead of riding the bus, not pay my insurance bill, not pay my other utilities I might make enough to pay them.
Don’t bother with applying for foreberance, they have been denying people and charging you for you to fill out the paperwork and to say ‘NO’.
My next step is to seek legal advice and pursue this further. It is unfortunate, we want to pursue higher education and have a more fulfilling career but Sallie Mae wants to make sure that they get their hands on your wealth as well
Please make the effort to tell everyone that you know about your experience. Maybe if they have fewer people applying for their aid, they will be more willing to work with their current customers…..DOUBT IT! But TELL EVERYONE about your experience.
I am having the same problem. I filed a complaint with the AG of PA. Tom Cobbett. Right now, I’m trying to get out of the loan by finding another lender. I am looking at Primerica. They are the sister organization to Citigroup. Sallie Mae needs to be shut down.
Ok, I understand your frustration, these are hard times for everyone. While I have sympathy for your situations, there just a few things I must say. Firstly about the customer service, it’s a big problem at SM, I have complained about it myself and finally they started CS training. Also there are three sites where there are collections depts: Las Vegas, Muncie, IN and Newark, DE. The first two are the oldest and have terrible CS but at the DE office we started to change all that, really. Secondly, as you may or maynot know, SM is a servicer of student loans both federal and private, they don’t actually disperse them. Also, I am assuming the loans you guys are talking about are private loans. Private loans supplement what you don’t get in federal loans. Private loans are backed by a bank (PNC, Bank of America, JP Morgan/Chase etc), they are the ones who make up the rules concerning the different options with the loans, some charge a forb fee, some don’t, some give you 24 months of forb time, some give you 6, and they all set the interest rate not SM. They do have great programs in particular a new one where they can reduce your interest rate to 1%, so you actually pay down your loan and 9/10 times the pmt is lower. I understand the calls are annoying but instead of avoiding them (which actually increases the number of calls and causes SM to call your references) pick them up and talk with them a couple of times. I had a wonderful experience with a rep from the DE office, they really helped me. I hope this sheds some light on your situation. good Luck to you all, remember it’s always darkest before the dawn.
Sallie Mae/Pheaa/AES are misleading parents and sticking them with their childrens student loans by not offering deferments as long as the dependant child is in school, after 6mnths they start billing the parent, when the parent contacts them about a forbayence becuase their child is still in school thats when they find out that they have to be the one in school now does that make any sense? They trick you into thinking the loan wont come due to your child is out of school but in reality it will be due in 6mnths unless you the parent are in school. These people are loan sharks and ripping off parents everywhere! They have sent an income execution to my employer for almost double the loan amount and looking for 15% of my pay. If this company is run through are goverment there is something wrong here, thet are misleading parents throught Pennsylvania and obviously New York too!
Do what I did. I wrote to President Barack Obama through the white house website voicing your concerns towards this unfair conglomerate loan company.
hey yes i totally agree with you on sallie mae and how sorry of a business they run. After i graduted from college i had a decesent job making really good money but then the economy started messing up and i was not getting any hours so i had to quit my job and find something else luckly i found a part time job but i am making mininam wage and i cannot offord there 300 dollar payments a month on three differnet loans. All they keep on doing is sending letters saying they are going to send my account to a collections agency or get some attorney and i keep getting nostop phone calls all day from them.
i still get those calls..Straight to voicemail…I have a House phone….and they will never get that shit..
Well seriously, they can get an attorney, and report your credit, but if ur credit is already screwed up, then they’re not causing any damage that isnt already there.
Second, what are they gonna do in court? “Hi, yes, we Sallie Mae, want mr. john doe to pay 500 on each of his loans every month, even tho he only makes 800 on this shitty economy’s given salary”. 5 bucks says the judge will throw the case out of court of force sallie mae to allow you to make affordable payments based on your income. All you gotta do is make ur 20.00 payments and say “f you” with a smile
Also folks, for those of you, who are making a shite load of dumb payments sacrificing your health and such, just do what I do. Make 20.00 payments, even though they want 500 or 1000, every month, just 20.00 a month shows that you are TRYING to pay, and that they are just being greedy bitches. Pay what you can afford, not what they are nagging you for.