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Sallie Mae Bank
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3.2 96 Reviews

Sallie Mae Bank Complaints Summary

52 Resolved
44 Unresolved
Our verdict: While Sallie Mae Bank has an above-average resolution rate, there’s room for improvement. Investigate common issues reported by customers and understand how they were resolved. Be prepared to follow up on your queries if needed, and keep detailed records of all interactions.
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Sallie Mae Bank reviews & complaints 96

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2:11 pm EDT
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Sallie Mae Bank High interest rate and taking money

Sallie Mae loaned my son the first loan at 3.25% interest that lasted for 3 semesters. When we applied for $4700.00 with me as a co-signer with an excellent credit rating, they upped the interest rate to 11.25%. Which he will own $14, 700.00 for the $4700. They are getting federal assistants but are charging uncalled for interest rates. DeVry where my son goes only offeres Sallie Mae and signs people up as quickly as they can.

In July I paid the $4700 note off. Now I just have the one loan that I co-signed but when I sent then $300.00 in August they didn't apply the money to the loan that my name is on. I have called and e-mailed them about this problem and they say they will get it fixed but so it will be November and nothing yet. I told them that they cashed my check for August and took the money but didn't apply it to my only account. Now they want me to send them a copy of the check both front and back.

This is not a bank this is some kids playing at being a bank and causing problems with a lot of peoples money. The government needs to step in and straighten this problem against the America people out.

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Mona
, US
Feb 08, 2010 3:41 pm EST

I feel your pain I have three loans one at 13.25% and the other two at 10.25% I'm looking into a lawsuit against ITT TECH for entering my heritage as Caucasian instead of Hispanic in the application loan process and I'm going to sue Sallie Mae for the automated harassing calls.

www.bailmeoutfromsalliemae.com

Regards and good luck,
MonaSallieMae

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2:37 am EDT
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Sallie Mae Bank Awful customer service

I'm soon to be a postgraduate student off to Europe for my studies. I applied for a private loan through Sallie Mae many months before the start of my schooling. You would think that taking care of this ahead of time would have given me some room for "just in case something goes wrong." Unfortunately I had so many problems dealing with this company. First off when you call their customer service they sound satisfying with their innovative call back system so you don't have to wait on the phone, ...(discontent building), their call monitoring, and an option to give the representative a survey at the end of the call. When it comes to simple questions the customer service fulfills it's job. Once I started having real problems was when the unpleasantness began. Now I'm a real nice person. It takes a lot for me to get angry, and possibly if I went of my rocker earlier things would have happened. It's sad that a person has to become agitated to get something done. Basically all I need from Sallie Mae was a letter showing that the loan has been approved and accepted from my school. Sallie Mae told me I needed the school to contact them for this to get done. Okay fine, I did. Ever day after this I kept calling and they kept promising that I would get the letter and everything would be processed within 24- 72 hrs. of my complaint. The problem was every time I called the 24 to 72 hours started all over again. They kept telling me the same problems that I already took care of. Before this, I had applied for another loan to another University I was planning on attending but picked this other University instead. They didn't cancel the loan when I told them I was no longer attending that school. So that was another reason my loan was being delayed. Every time I called the customer service they said that it was being taken care of. They even went so far as to satisfy me by asking for a fax where they could send the loan letter. So I gave them one, and they probably weren't expecting me to have one. Upon giving this fax number they told me again that it would take another 24-72 hours for them to get the letter faxed to me. I don't know if the problem with the customer service is that it's overseas in the Philippines. Now I have nothing against that, in fact my parents are originally from that country, but they have no idea what they're doing and they basically lied to me everyday just to get me off their back. Finally I got through to someone higher up after having it up to here! She told me they needed my school to send some form they didn't recieve. She also gave me the most irritating news that nothing had been processed or done for all those weeks of calling. Not even one apology. I reported it to my school. My school got angry with them and asked why they didn't ask for the document sooner. Seriously! To this day I still do not have that letter in my hand and will now probably be late for my classes. Thank you Sallie Mae.

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KB584
Dunmore, US
May 29, 2010 9:43 pm EDT

Each month I send 2 checks to Sallie Mae, one for my student loans and one for my daughter's. Each check is accompanied with its payment ticket, each has the account number written in the memo section and each is sent in a separate envelope.

At the beginning of May I started to receive upwards of 10 phone calls per day from a number in Muncy, IN - they would call as early as 7:00am and as late as 10:30pm. I was on vacation at the time and while I was able to check voicemail, the messages that were left were either pure static or completely inaudible. As soon as I returned home I googled the number and was disturbed to see that it was Sallie Mae's collections department.

I called back and at that time I was told that my daughter's loan was delinquent for the month of April. A quick online check of my banking record indicated that not only was the check I sent received by Sallie Mae but that it was also cashed on April 20th, a fact which I brought up to the woman I was speaking to. I spent the following 2 hours rotating between speaking to this woman and being placed on hold, and as it turned out both payments were credited to my account. I was assured that the problem had been taken care of and that the money would be transferred to my daughter's loan.

Bright and early the next morning the phone calls started yet again and they have yet to stop. I've spoken to customer service reps and managers at Sallie Mae 15 times since May 10th, each phone call lasts on average of 1.5 hours and each time I'm assured that all is well. Yesterday I received notice that my daughter's account is, surprise surprise, not only delinquent for the month of May but that they reported it to the credit bureau. Sallie Mae once again put both checks toward my account. I've given up trying to be civil with them when I call and yesterday's phone call lasted 3 hours while they "figured it out". Apparently they didn't since I received 7 calls from their collections department today.

I'll be hiring a lawyer on Tuesday if this mess isn't cleaned up by then. All of the mistakes are being made on their end yet they reported US to the credit bureau! You have GOT to be kidding me! I truly believe that this company does not train its employees at all and seeks every way possible to obtain more money via late fees.

Backtracking just a bit, in August 2008 I had my account set to automatic debit and was aghast when I saw that they hit my account 3 times [for a total sum of just over $1, 200] for that month! When I called to demand the extra $800 they took out I was told, "Sorry, we take money, don't give it back".

If you're in the market for student loans please stay far, far away from Sallie Mae.

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xanxxx
los angeles, US
May 26, 2010 4:42 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I haven't had a change to experience SM customer service at all... cause whenever I called them I was transferred back and forth between automated systems until I lost patience and hung up... LOL...I simply consolidated my loans to get them out of SM's hands

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4:01 pm EDT
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Sallie Mae Bank Student Loan

I co-signed for a student loan in 2002. The borrower never paid the loan so I paid the loan off in 2007 to a collection agency they sent it to by the name of Progressive Financial Services. I would think if Sallie Mae sent the account to them they would be in correspondence with each other. We are in 2009 and Sallie Mae continues to send me bills, I've been on the phone with Progressive and NCO, I've faxed all the information proving that the account was paid in full. I just mailed proof to Sallie Mae that it is paid to the payment department. This whole thing is a hassle for them not to be organized enough to know that I paid it 2 years ago! Not to mention the loan was for $2500 and it went up to almost $7000. I settled for nearly $3900.00. I would appreciate it if they could get there act together. My proof is the check from the title company with the account number on it, the letter from progressive as proof of the settlement amount and the date I had to send it by, tracking receipt and number from the USPS as proof that it was received by the date required and who it was sent to and the person who signed for it. The check has cleared from the Title Company I dealt with. This is just ridiculous. I feel like my whole life I'm going to have to keep on explaining this account. I need help...who else can I complain to?

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cherilynn
, US
Mar 12, 2010 12:56 pm EST

I'm going to have to check my credit report. I just paid off my loans in full before I went into repayment, which I feel lucky and also bad for the next guy (I'm not rubbing it in; I totally feel for everyone who has to deal with Sallie Mae's bs). I honestly didn't want the loan and if my school director was more clear about what it exactly entitled and also gave me the option of paying the school in installments, I would have gone for the latter. I'm waiting for the money to post to my account, which the customer advocate said it would take 24-48 hours. The money was indeed taken out of the bank account so they are paid. Phew. I tried to pay online first and while we sat there waiting 4 days for them to process, I was still accruing interest. When they sent me an e-mailing telling me the bank account number was invalid, we were furious. One, there is money in the account and two, I entered everything correctly. So we had no choice, but to send the payment by check, with more accrued interest. I sent it certified mail so I would know when they got the payment. There was a payment posted to me account on the day they received it, but only for ~$100. We sent them a check for $6k. I thought they must be still processing the payment, but no! I got an e-mail this morning stating they received my notice that a payment was attached, but none was located. I lost sleep over this! I called the customer advocate and did not hold my patience over the phone because we have been speaking with Sallie Mae for more than a weeks time total, wasting our time, energy and breathe talking to people who aren't even located in the USA. Thank goodness this lady was very understanding and located in the USA. She even was like WTF? is up with your account. She didn't understand why they would send me an e-mail saying they didn't find my check, when they DO have it. She talked to a lady to sort out the discrepancies of my account and also the person who processed my payment. They do have the check and have the funds from the bank account. I'm really really really hoping this posts to my account by Monday so I can finally rest. I'm tired of their games! I was like How the heck am I suppose to pay you guys if you don't take it electronically or by check? I'd be screwed for life. I wish I did my research about Sallie Mae when I filled out the loan application. I feel like my school director didn't fully explain the loans like he was suppose to and just baits the students into getting a loan and giving them no other choice so the school can get paid ASAP. I just need to graduate and get the heck out of there and put school and this loan behind me! Sallie Mae needs to get their system sorted out 'cause their customer service is awful and you always get different answers. I'd recommend calling the customer advocate if you ever have any problems. http://www.salliemae.com/about/corp_leadership/management/advocate.htm
I'm hoping my credit isn't messed up over this. Good luck to everyone. We all need it if we get a loan from Sallie Mae.

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JokahJokahDeuce
Killeen, US
Mar 04, 2010 11:44 pm EST

I am in the exact same boat, i settled in August and it still shows on my credit report, i faxed all receipts and settlement offers to sallie mae and all 3 credit bureaus disputing this. No luck. Here we are in MArch 2010 and I havent gotten anywhere. This is so frustrating.

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egold68
Staten Island, US
Feb 21, 2010 6:44 pm EST

I recently settled my loans with sallie mae. The original Balance was 32k, I ended up settling for 13k. I've requested settlement offer letter, signed by one of the senior underwriters at the collection department. Upon receipt, I made a payment on 11/25/09. Nevertheless, the confirmation of payment never arrived as promised. I've made multiple attempts trying to get in touch with the right person who would be in the position to fix this. I've spoken to many different reps from the collection department, they assured me that the settlement was in affect and I should be getting confirmation of settlement shorty. Meanwhile the website salliemae.com showed that I still owed them balance of 21k, and the 13k was applied as regular payment. Eventually I found out the telephone # for customer affairs, where these issues are normally being take care of. Again, I've spoken with several different managers, reps etc... Every time I made an attempt to try to straighten this out, they fed me all kinds of b/s. Apparently the settlement was never updated, so I faxed the copy of the settlement to them at least 10 times. They kept insisting on the fact that it was never received, until I really flipped on one of the managers. Finally, the fax issue was resolved. Since then it took another 3-4 weeks of constant telephone conversations, with different reps and managers. One of the reps assured me that he was assigned to my case, and that he will take care of the issue by the end of the week. Apparently he said, he had been dealing with issues of the similar kind, where the collection department does not update info accurately and in instances of such they would have to do it manually. The last attempt was made on the 19th of February 2010, spoke to the same rep, Justin. Apparently he was notified by the collection department that that never made the offer, and that I agreed to make a voluntary payment of 13km despite the settlement offer that I had received and presented to them. In another words the settlement offer that was sent to me was not legit and now I'm obligated to pay the full amount. I contacted the person who signed the letter, apparently a senior underwriter, left a voice mail so far haven't heard from anyone. As far as I can understand, this is 100% fraud!. Can anyone provide any assistance? Any attorneys out there willing to work this case? I can use any help you guys can assist me with. My next step would be contacting the attorney general in NY, where I reside, and possibly filling a lawsuit against Sallie Mae, and possibly press criminal charges against the person who signed the settlement letter. PLEASE HELP!

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gsh
Revloc, US
Sep 10, 2009 11:34 pm EDT

Have you filed a dispute with the credit reporting agencies? The original account should have been listed as a charge off when it was sold to the collection agency. The collection agency would also be listing their account and it should be shown as paid. SLM is probably reporting late payment on some account. Depending on what is showing in your report(s) you may have to file more than one disputed item.

You may want to send a letter to your state's attorney general. Cleary explain the situation and include documentation.

If the situation devolves further into another collection, then you will have to also dispute that with the reporting agencies and the new collection agency.

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6:03 pm EDT
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Sallie Mae Bank Unauthorized Fee

I recently paid my student loan bill online and Sallie Mae had added a new option of 'immediate payment' which I selected just to get the payment over with. Nowhere on that page was there a mention of a $14.95 charge. Since I had over a week to pay my loans I wouldn't have selected this option if there was a fee associated with it. Of course this fee ended up overdrawing my bank account and assessing me with an overdraft fee. I called sallie mae and talked to someone who promised to refund the $14.95 in 2-3 days (this has yet to happen) but refused to touch the overdraft fee which is also their responsibility.

Now of course their page contains three mentions of the $14.95 fee but these are all new since I made my payment and the payment option has also been changed to 'rush payment'.

Am currently trying to recover my money - phone calls have gotten me nowhere, trying letters now. Anyone else have this problem?

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CyPontuo
Saint Petersburg, US
Sep 13, 2010 11:12 pm EDT

Similar problem. I attempted to pay off the entire loan in 2005, the operator gave me a number I had the bank who gave us a home equity to pay of debts write them the checks and 5 years late they still came looking for money and said I owed hidden fees. My opinion is that SM intentionally does not give borrowers the correct pay off. I wrote letters and constantly call and communicate the issue, they send me paper work with different numbers and different ways they applied my funds to "other" interest and fees. They never erase the problem and they own Student Assistance Corp . that acts as guarantor and collections and they harras and harras with constant phone calls saying I must pay. And as far as when the payments resumed to monthly payments, it was 2010 in January and I sued to use coupon booklets to send in payments, suddenly SM is saying they were contacting me with payment notices via e mail. We never found any e mails and in MArch2010 I got the delinquent late notices in the mail all of the sudden. They are slick and dirty legal theives.

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Sallie Mae Bank public service loan forgiveness

I was thrilled to hear that the government announced a loan forgiveness program for borrowers who work in public service (schools, public hospitals, libraries, etc). If your loan is paid in good standing for ten years and you are working in public service, the balance of your loan after 10 years is forgiven. That would take me into retirement.
Then I called Sallie Mae. They told me that since I consolidated my federal loans with them, I was not eligible for the program. The loans now belong to Sallie Mae which is a private company.
EVERYONE consolidates their loans through Sallie Mae. They present themselves, falsely, as a government agency, but are able to "opt out" of a government loan forgiveness program.
That's bait and switch and that's illegal.

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lanschutz
Iuka, US
Oct 19, 2009 2:40 pm EDT

I had a similar thing happen to me. I am a teacher, certified to teach math/science/special ed which are all teacher shortage areas. There are loan forgiveness programs that will forgive up to $17, 500 for teaching in these areas, when I filed my request with Sallie Mae, they denied it because I had consolidated my loans with them. I even asked before consolidating with them if it would affect my forgiveness program and they assured me that it would not.

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Sallie Mae Bank Harrassment, Run Arounds, Violations, Inaccurate Information, Constant Threatening

I’ve have several loans through Sallie Mae which helped pay some of my college tuition and fees. When you are in school they grant you deferments on all your loans. Well, I’ve started a new school. When I first enrolled I had two choices in financing. One was Leighman Brothers and the other was Sallie Mae. Beings my mother and I had issues with Sallie Mae in the past I didn't choice them and I used Leighman Brothers. So of course, as usual Sallie Mae started calling my mother and I back in December. I told them that I was still in school but I was now going to a new one. They said fine and emailed me some papers to have filled out by school and returned to them. I did so but the calls just kept coming. They would call me anywhere from 8 to 17 times a day. Every time it was a recording and if you waited you always heard a new person on the other end who would say something entirely different than the one you had spoken to before. I faxed my forbearance forms multiple times over a course of 3 months. Now they were telling me that my school was covered for their forbearance regulations so even though I was in school I would still need to be paying back my loans. I told them this was impossible for me or my mother to do at this time. I had just been evicted from my home, lost everything I had of any value including my car and I had no job and was on disability at the time. They said that wasn't their problem and if I couldn't pay then my cosigner would have to pay. I told them again that my mother has no job either. The lady said well someone has to pay or they were going to take legal action against my mother and I. They said they would put the information on our credit reports, place us in the default on student loans category and come after my mother’s estate and take whatever she had of any value in order to pay the debt. I was a nervous wreck! I said isn't there a hard- ship type of forbearance and they said no. Basically, they told me I either had to pay or they were sending it to their lawyers and they would be filing against my mother and me. I called and talked to several people; which always took 2 or 3 calls because I would be on hold and then I would get hung up on. Then I’d get transferred multiple times and get a different answer. Meanwhile these people are calling my mother and me daily. Everyday of the week! They called and harassed my mother to the point that she was crying on Easter Sunday! Yes, they called Easter Sunday as well. So, I was upset and called back and the young lady I spoke to was very ignorant and arrogant. I told her what had happened and that they were not allowed to be calling us on weekends let alone holidays and her response was, and I quote, " Well we are a third party collection agency and I can call you whenever I want to and as much as I want to!" I was in total shock! I told her, look, my mother is very sick and don't you or anyone else call and harass her the way you just did. Their response was, "that doesn't matter and I can do what I want to do because you are so many days behind on your loans." Now we come to May and my mother and I get a call from someone named Ed Marsilli who said he was handling my case. I spoke with him as well and asked him, ” how is it that Sallie Mae would finance my current school but won't defer my loan?" He said I don't know that answer. I told him I’m confused because when I enrolled at school Sallie Mae was my first option in financing, Salle Mae has my schools code in their list of schools when you apply for loans but you don't defer or give a forbearance while I’m attending this school? Again he said he didn't know why but he said that I could get forbearance but I just had to pay for it. I said ok, but also said I don't have a lot of money to spend and that I was unemployed and on disability. Ed said that was fine and all I had to do was pay $50 (fifty) and go online and sign up for auto payments and that would bring me current and then $52 (fifty two) would come out of my account every month. I said ok, that was reasonable but I would have to do it tomorrow because I couldn't do it right then. Ed said fine and we agreed to do it the next day. Well next day comes and I’m trying to get in touch with him and I can't. I had missed his call and was calling back the number he left and asking for his extension and no one would put me through to him. I emailed and everything and I couldn't get through to him. Everyone I would talk to would say they couldn't put me through to him but they could help me. Finally I threw in the towel and talked to a woman. I told her what Ed and I had discussed and she said that wasn't true. She said that I would have to pay over a hundred dollars to do forbearance and get my loans current. I told her I couldn't afford that and explained what had been going on. She told me to hold on while she talked to her supervisor because she saw the papers I had sent in and said that they should have gone through. After talking to her supervisor twice she got back on the phone and said, “Ms. Zimmerman you don't have to worry about paying anything because they put my forbearance forms in and I would be current from back in February. She said if anything changed that she would be there the next day, which was Sat., and she would call me. Well, she never called and neither did anyone else. All of the sudden we get letters in the mail from Sallie Mae saying I was delinquent on my loans and that they were sending my accounts to their attorneys! Now the phone calls have started again at the crack of dawn and go on all day. My mother and I are both at our wits ends. I have loans from another company and they offered me hardship forbearance! I didn't have to pay or even ask for it! So why it is Sallie Mae can't offer something like this. Please help me! I am so stressed out from all the calls, the threats and harassment! All my mother and I do is fight constantly over this because my loans have like doubled in price as well! They say we owe way more then we are suppose to or if you go by what are interest rate is the amounts don’t come out even at all! They have everything mixed up and messed up that we don’t know what to do anymore. It's not like I’m not trying to work with them or not talk to them because I have they just won't work with me. Then a couple weeks ago a woman called here and she said over the phone to my mother, “this phone call is being recorded for quality purposes etc." and my mother said well I’m going to record this call as well. The woman said well I’m not giving you permission to do so. My mother asked, "Well what is the difference if its already being recorded?" The woman refused to give her name or any information and just hung up. My mother wouldn't people to be able to hear how they are treating and talking to us and so when she talks to someone else she has evidence of a prior call and what she was told because you never get the same answer from anyone! I don't know how to make this nightmare stop. Please help us! I can't take the threats, the harassing calls and arrogant people, being treated like trash, inconsiderate ignorant reps that are very unprofessional and think they can "do whatever they want." I want this resolved and need this resolved. Plus, I want to know why it is they will finance my school and have it in their list of schools but won't defer payments or give me forbearance?

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Frustrated on the east coast
yardville, US
Mar 22, 2013 9:47 am EDT

DITTO
They say they can call every 5 minutes if they choose - they call it DUE DILIGENCE - we call it HARASSMENT - STOP THE MADNESS ...they need to be stopped and do business in an American way ...not beat a person down.

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dcody40
Eldersburg, US
Sep 17, 2012 1:08 pm EDT

And yes I know they are the types of loans you can't get away from, But I'm ready to start a war with these idiots.

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dcody40
Eldersburg, US
Sep 17, 2012 1:05 pm EDT

Wow, I'm overloaded after reading all of the complaints about our not favorite Sallie Mae, I thought I was the only one getting shafted.
My basic issues, Two kids, two different colleges and states, Sallie Mae transferred a few loans to dep of Edu, OK, they have all the loans numbered with there own system, one account number, Both of my kids are paying along with me, They constantly cross credit the payments into the wrong loans. My son did a 4.5 year program at Penn State, Daughter did a Nursing 3 year program in Maryland. She is paying double and triple payments, My son lost his job so he's paying with his unemployment checks, I'm solid on my payments, all done on time, Since the first repayment started. We get constant, delinquent payment messages on the manage your loans Sallie Mae website, even though each loan shows it's not due until next month, as of today we are 14 days delinquent, but we all made our payments, they also have added late fees showing in the history of each loan, on loans that have never been late, they promised to fix that, NOT, they promised to stop the robocalls, NOT, The promised to renames/number each loan broken up by each kid, so they can figure out what loan to make payment for, NOT. Some are nice sounding, but nothing changes, some are just rude as hell, especially the collection group, Wow, isn't there someone in our great country that can fix this problem, I'm so close to just going bankrupt and walking away from it all. It's the most ignorant group of people in one company that I have ever had to deal with. I'm in the market for a hungry tough lawyer that want's to make some money, I"m ready to go after these idiots, since our own government can't seem to get them undercontrol. I know, money talks. Well I'm about out of money and patience with these idiots at sallie mae.

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SallieMaeSucks
Los Angeles, US
Nov 20, 2009 8:40 pm EST

OMG! I completely agree with everything you have said, Melissa! The same thing has happened to me. You NEVER EVER get to speak with the same person and they are relentless with the calls. I'm sure the scam artists at Sallie Mae (like the above comment by nikkinosocks) get commissions when they get you to pay for a forbearance. Then two days later the calls start again. The best advice I can give you is what I did. Change your phone number. That will stop the calls. Take care of it online, that way you have a record of everything and they can't dispute it or say the person you talked to yesterday it was wrong. Sallie Mae student loans is a scam, just like the mortgage loan industry. I had a friend tell them I was dead. I refuse top pay them one penny.

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nikkinosocks
winchester, US
Nov 16, 2009 5:42 pm EST

Here is what you do: stop blaming everyone and everything else and buck up and take responsibility for your own actions. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure faxes were received, and forms processed. Sallie Mae is not the only person calling you about how delinquent you are. If you are delinquent, they can call you every day. You have 2 options to stop the calls: Make sure you are on top of your loan, or write a cease and desist letter. You seem like the person who won't take care of the situation, better start writing that letter now.

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Sallie Mae Bank forbearance

I borrowed money from Sallie Mae while in college. Now, two years out of school, they have been harassing the hell out of me. I was thinking, it's the economy, stupid.

They accelerated the repayment schedule, refuse to readjust the terms, and won't even let me make a partial payment. They want me to pay $500.00 a month... but hell, I only make $350 a week.

I know college kids get in a bind and need money fior school. I'd think twice before borrowing from Sallie Mae. They're crooks.

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Hatizua
Fountain Inn, US
Jun 02, 2010 9:50 pm EDT
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Sorry to break the news to you but when you borrow money from this company for a student loan and you sign the agreement you are actually signing your rights over to them. Therefore you belong to them you are their slave to do to as they will. You can send them a payment of lets say 300.00 each month to pay for your loan but they are not a regulated company and so the Government can not touch them or come after them nor the attorney general. They can take you so called "payment" of 300.00 and use it toward a company retreat or office party and not even put that payment toward your loan itself, they put itin a catergory like collections fee or forberance fee. Unless youcan somehow pay them 3 x the amount minumim each month you will never be free of them they have it fixed .

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tonia
Staten Island, US
Apr 29, 2009 4:44 pm EDT

The same thing has happened to me.I couldn't pay but I was told I can't put a loan in forbearance if it is late.I paid what i had too and submitted the form.In the mean time it was time to pay again and I didn't have the money so I was in default and told that I couldn't do forbearance because I'm late.I was late last month I told them.They call and harrass me every day.

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Sallie Mae Bank Excesive Phone Calls

My brother in law lived with us for 6 weeks last year in February 2008. When he moved out he never changed his address or phone number with Sallie Mae. We have been recieving (sometimes very rude)phone calls for him almost every other day via automated or service representatives. I have asked to speak with the manager atleast three times to complain that our brother in law doesn't live here and we don't know where he is. They promised our number would be off the list...never did. Today almost a year later we are still getting phone calls for him. Even though the last time I provided my brother in laws new phone number and address. We are still being called and promised that our number will been taken off their list.
HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! I was hung up on twice for requesting the manager!
I have a letter in route to BBB about this never-ending situation.!

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hpackard
Houston, US
Jun 02, 2009 7:53 pm EDT

Go get 'em tiger. Slap that BBB complaint on them. You must be a tough guy! FLEX those muscles!

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Sallie Mae Bank GOT FIRED FOR NOT HITTING GOAL

I WAS JUST FIRED FROM SALLIE MAE FOR NOT HITTING MY GOAL FOR 4 MONTHS. SALLIEMAE WAS A GREAT JOB FOR THE FIRST FEW YEARS...THEN SCOTT DEWITT TOOK OVER THE COMPANY AND IT HAS BEEN GOING DO THE TOILET EVER SINCE. THIS MAN IS A RELATIVE OF THE DEVIL. HE'S NEVER NICE TO THE EMPLOYEES...HE YELLED, LOOKED CRAZY, AND SAID VERY RUDE THINGS TO THE STAFF ALL DAY. THEN ON TOP OF THAT, SCOTT WOULD LOOK AT ALL THE WOMENS ### ALL DAY, AND IF HE THOUGHT YOU WERE CUTE HE WASN'T MEAN TO THEM...OH YEAH, AND IF YOU WERE IN THE MILITARY HE WAS COOL WITH YOU. HE MADE LIVES FOR THE EMPLOYEES AT SALLIEMAE VERY BAD. I GOT FIRED BECAUSE THERE IS A RECESSION, AND PEOPLE ARE UNEMPLOYED AND THEY CAN'T PAY...SO, I'M BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE AS WELL AS OTHERS BECAUSE THE ECONOMY IS BAD AND PEOPLE CAN'T PAY THERE (OVER PRICED) STUDENT LOANS. MANAGEMENT OTHER THEN SCOTT WERE EITHER LAZY OR THEY WERE SMART ### TO THE BORROWERS. I'M NOT SAD THAT I NO LONGER WORKING FOR SALLIE MAE, BECAUSE THESE PEOPLE A CRAZY, PLUS I WASN'T THE ONLY PERSON WHO GOT FIRED AND I WONT BE THE LAST. BUT, WHY KEEP HIRING PEOPLE THAT CAN'T HIT THEIR GOAL OF 1.3 MILLION DOLLARS...MEANING I HAD TO COLLECT 1.3 MILLION DOLLARS IN ACCOUNTS. SALLIE MAE IS STUPID AND I DO FEEL SORRY FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO JOB TO PAY THEIR LOANS BACK AND HAVE TO LISTEN TO ALL THE MESSEGES I HAD TO LEAVE. THAT PLACE ISN'T GOOD FOR BUSINESS. THE ONLY PEOPLE AT SALLIEMAE THAT DO HIT GOAL...(THEY ALL CHEAT). THEY LEAVE MESSEGES WITH THIRD PARTY INFO ON THEM. LIKE "THIS MESSEGE IS FOR JOHN'S MOM, KATHY I'M CALLING TO LET YOU KNOW THAT YOUR SON'S STUDENT LOAN WITH SALLIE MAE IS ABOUT TO DEFAULT, PLEASE LET JOHN KNOW THAT WE HAVE OPTIONS TO HELP HIM WITH HIS LOANS". THIS MESSEGE IS AGAINST THE LAW! BUT SALLIEMAE DOESN'T WORRY ABOUT CATCHING THE CHEATERS BECAUSE THEY COLLECT LOTS OF MONEY EVERY MONTH. WHICH MAKES THEM HAVE AN EXCELLENT BONUS WHICH GIVES THE SUPERVISORS AND SCOTT DEWITT A FAT BONUS...JUST THOUGHT I'D CLEAR THE AIR AND GET SALLIEMAE FROM MY THOUGHTS. I'M SO TIRED OF SALLIEMAE TELLING COLLEGES KIDS TO SIGN UP FOR A $50, 000 LOAN, THEN THEY TELL THEM THEIR PAYMENTS WILL ONLY BE $50 PER MONTH AND I KNOW THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE I'VE ALWAYS HAD ATLEAST 1 SALLIEMAE BORROWER CALL AND COMPLAIN ABOUT IT!

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MarshaA77
, US
Dec 28, 2010 9:24 pm EST

It's unbelievable that collection agents from Sallie Mae want us to feel sorry for them. There are hundreds of complaints online about Sallie Mae harassing people when nothing is due or even after they have paid their bills, and the BBB has an average of 500 complaints for Sallie Mae a year, most unresolved. The economy in the U.S. is tanking in large part because of predatory lending practices and outsourcing jobs to other countries, both of which Sallie Mae has in spades. Anyone who works for them is part of the problem. And let's be honest here: Sallie Mae is running a scam. They give premiums to school officials so that schools will push their students to get a loan through Sallie Mae. (And they are somehow ignored by the government despite complaints. One can only imagine how or why this happens.) Once you get a loan, they fudge dates to make payments late and charge fees, they lose payments by misapplying them and won't fix the error (and still charge you fees for their error), they try to get you to pay multiple times, they harass until you send them money even if you don't owe it, etc. Is it really a surprise to the employees there that their managers treat them like crap? They treat the customers like crap, deliberately, and you collection agents go along with it willingly because you'd essentially sell your soul for a job. As far as I'm concerned, a Sallie Mae collection agent has no business being surprised when they're treated poorly and unfairly.

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Vegas Girl
las vegas, US
Aug 31, 2010 10:57 pm EDT

I am so glad I don't have a student loan with Sallie Mae. LOL-@Scott Dewitt and Ryan Dement. They sound like real [censor]s. This is public posting so I wonder if they'll ever have a job again? LOL! If they were real tyrants then serves them good. The whole world now knows how they are. I guess nobody ever told them...treat people the way you want to be treated. Effing LOSERS!

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Megoddammit
somewhere, US
Jun 30, 2010 2:56 pm EDT
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[protected]

Direct non Indian line to the [censor]ers at sallie mae. Call and harass, call and [censor], call every 5 minutes if you can and waste their time which means waste their money.

Don’t give out your soc # or name, as they will ask. Just call and calm as possible, let them know what [censor]ers they are or work for. When they hang up, call again and do the same thing. It won’t knock out you debt, but it feels [censor]ing good

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Sickandtiredofbeingsickandtired
Las Vegas, US
May 20, 2009 10:45 pm EDT

I also work there and can agree with needdamoney, Gointhrudamotions and April. I'm not sure what world Unknown is living in. With this economy unless somebody has a job lined up or no kids depending on them nobody is walking away from a job. So lets get real! Honestly reading Unknowns post I doubt its a rep, sounds more like upper management. Nice try with the sprinkling of curse words and bad spelling. But I'm sure anyone from SLMA would know a rep didn't post that. Mostly everybody in that building hates Scott Dewitt and or Ryan. I myself have never witnessed the ### or tit watching but I hear from folks in the building they do.

I left HS behind many many years ago. I come to work and try to hit goal each and every month. I have no control of this economy (thanks Bush) and the fact that most of the folks are not working or their hours are cut. I can't blame someone who doesn't want to take food off the table for their family to pay a student loan. This is how ###ed up this place and SCOTT DEWITT IS: Some of the people that got fired recently had been working there for 2 or 3 years and making goal the whole time. Not only do you not get a bonus check, you get put on a verbal and you are in jeopardy of your base pay going down. Second month you don't hit goal you also don't bonus and are put on a written. If you hit goal the next 2 months at 100% your pay still goes down. You can only miss 1 time in a 4 month period. As for Scott's performance as a director he sucks! He talks soo nasty and rude to everyone. He is a little short man with a complex. He wields his power and ego like a sword at work I assume because he probably wears panties & apron at home. The whole place is unprofessional from Scott down to HR. HR sends out rude ### emails about etiquette and they don't know even know the first meaning of the word. They were overheard in the bathroom making fun of a girl that was crying because her pay went down! One of them said she was crying crocodile tears. Tears wouldn't keep her pay from going down so why the hell would someone fake that?

Reps send emails to Ryan about cheating that goes on and nothing is done. To think your parents told you growing up cheaters never win, but thats not true at Sallie Mae! Cheaters win and can take home big bonus checks. And for the record I'm not on the verge of being fired.

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kellyswoman
Cartwright, US
May 19, 2009 10:26 pm EDT

You can always go to the labor board and file a complaint against the employer, and you might include that you felt like you were being sexually harrassed by this guy. Good luck.

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needdamoney
phoenix, US
May 19, 2009 9:59 pm EDT

2 employees get caut falsiffing documantatn... only 1 gets fired, the other one is stil thier cuz she hits goal every month... its real, people

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unknown
las vegas, US
May 18, 2009 12:07 am EDT

In reguards to the first comment "I got fired for not hitting my goal". Are u serious? Get a life! Its a collection job not customer service! What collection can u work at and not hit your goal! I don't understand you people! If u don't like working there then go somewhere else. Las Vegas is full of collection jobs. Personaly I haven't had a problem with either Scott or Ryan. I love working there! Majority of the employee there are not there to collect. They are there to act they are in high school. If you just go work mind your business and do your job Sallie Mae is a very good employer. Who gives a ### if Scott n Ryan are lookin at ### n tits all day as long as u get ur paycheck every 2 weeks that's all that matters. Scott is a director and does his job well if you ask me you guys are really pathetic and need to grow up. Like I said if you don't like why do you continue to work there it just dosent make sence. Everyone is waisting there time reading and commenting about this. I felt I had to speak the truth. As far as the manager that was let go didn't she bring her kid to work? Allowed another collector whike on the clock to go drop him off? She deserve to go. She didn't take her job serous. Like I said I love sallie mae and can see myself there until the wheels fall off. You guys really need to grow up n get a life. Everyone that is complaining are probly on the verge of being fired or have all ready been fired. Like I said collection just isn't for everybody.

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Gointhrudamotions
Vegas, US
May 14, 2009 9:33 pm EDT

I've been working in the hell hole for a minute and "April" is right... Scott Dewitt is a true ###. He does not care about the employees he only cares about his money. There are many managers there and yep most of them are lazy but the one that was ok - he fired her too and that was stupid because that manager did at least take sup calls and even make calls. If it wasnt for the job market most of us would be gone already. Everyday it's a struggle to get up and go hell . It's always dark in there and if ain't cold its hot. That's how its been since Scott Dewitt took over Hell. Now he has a flunky Ryan Dement. He does everything Scott tells him. As a SCM he supposed to be running the floor but he don't he sits in his office and runs behind Scott all day long. You wonder why we are rude to the customers? Because we get disrespected by Scott and his flunky. And Sallie Mae is looking for a handout from the government? That's funny. If they really want it they would get rid of both Scott and Ryan and change things here. But then again we won't be here for long because if Scott stays and keep runnin things like he do then they will shut us down anyway. Oh one more thing. "April" was right about something else. Scott does look at assess but his flunky looks at tits all day. If you got either one of them then you don't have to worry about getting fired. But until my time is up just like everybody else i'll just get my paycheck on go thru the motions.

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Fionna
, US
Apr 27, 2009 8:30 pm EDT

I owe Sallie Mae $44, 895. I will be glad when I can pay them off and get them out of my life!

College is somewhat a rip-off. I picked a major in the IT field, which is a pretty good industry. Since I have left college, the highest paying job that I have held paid $31, 231 but I owe $44, 895. I will be eating beans and rice, rice and beans for a longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg time to get that paid off. I will not set foot into a school again for another degree unless the tuition is being paid in cash.

Degrees do not make you rich, but BROKE, depending on what field you are going into.

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kimoe
, US
Apr 02, 2009 4:48 pm EDT

So tell me something April... Do they have a trainging course in teaching the employees how to be ###s? Do they tell the employees that is a free-for-all, in speaking to the debtors in any fashion they chose. If I wanted to file a complaint against the reps, who would you suggest that I go to in/outside of Sallie Mae. Glad you got outta hell.

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Sallie Mae Bank horrible people who lie all the time

Right now I'm unemployed, looking for a new job, which is not the easiest thing right now.
Companies are letting people go these days, not hiring new people.

I admit, I've been very irresponsible for a while. My loan payment was 200 days late. But at the end of January, I made a payment (part of my past due amount) to make things right again. When I was making that payment, the rep told me,

"as long as you keep up with the monthly payment from now on, everything will be fine. Your loan will not default. Just keep making payments on time."

I believed that.

The VERY next day, I received another call from SallieMae.

The person was NOT AT ALL professional to begin with, very rude, and he told me that unless I make another payment right at that moment my loan will default. I told him the exact thing the other rep told me the day before, but that didn't matter.
Then I talked to his supervisor, and that supervisor woman threatened me that if I don't make another payment (2 payments in 2 days!) she'll report me as "UNWILLING TO PAY BACK THE LOAN".

Hello... I just made payment YESTERDAY! How does that translate to "unwilling" to make payment?

And then she told me that they are collectors, they don't know when my loan will default. The other rep gave me false information. And according to their GUIDELINE, either I make payment or she reports me and my loan will default.
(Hey, didn't you just say that you are just collectors and you don't know when a loan would default?)

I wanted to argue, but everytime I said something she didn't want to listen and kep saying that she will report me and my loan will default over and over.

So I had to make another payment.

Oh, and one more thing...
She said there's going to be a processing fee for making the payment. I asked if I can pay online right now. She says,

"oh, the processing fee for online is higher. I'll lower the fee to $7 for you now. Or if you hang up I'm going to report you unwilling to pay."

I argued that I remember online payment being free, but she gave me some ### story about the collection works differently and I can't make online payment because my account is delinquent, and yes, she will report me. (She mentioned reporting me at least 15 times throughout the conversation.)

So even though I know for SURE that online payment is free, I was forced to pay the processing fee as well.

I can't express how much I hate dealing with SallieMae reps. They lie to you, they give you false information, they harass you, call you 15 times a day with different area code and ### phone numbers, and they threaten you.

I know it's solely my fault that I didn't make payments for 6 months. I should've taken care of it before things became ugly.
But even then I don't believe I deserve that kind of treatment from the representatives.

I don't expect respect, but I definitely never expected to be threatened and lied to by these people.

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SLMtrap
Chicago, US
Mar 28, 2009 11:32 pm EDT

Jason, your message is not realJason, the tone of your message is not really necessary. This person stated that that they are unemployed. Do you seriously troll the internet to find people down on their luck and try to belittle them? If so that's pretty pathetic .

Whoami did not really give enough info to judge like you did. "Irresponsible" could mean that they had chosen to eat over paying a student loan or "my fault" is how they see the fact that they are not employed. Anyway you sound like a Sallie Mae employee.. anyone who has dealt with them in rough times could probably spot the tone.

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Sallie Mae Bank - Student loans

I have to say I am right there with all of you guys as well as far as sallie mae (the wicked) goes. I have been dealing with them 6 months after I graduated in 2004 it is now 2009 and I still have not come to any kind of agreement with them. I have used up all of my forbearance (which cost me $150, every 6 months, that does not go toward my loans or...

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Sallie Mae Bank - Customer Service

I have been receiving harassing phone calls for over 2 years looking for a "Robert Garcia" who is apparently deliquent on a loan. Unfortunatly I share the same first name with him. Most of the time the reps on the phone are very rude and hang up on me when I explain that there is no Robert Garcia at this number. I have called back multiple time...

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Sallie Mae Bank excessive calling

I want sallie mae to quit calling me. I do not have anything nor know anyone that has used them but still they insist to keep calling.

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answersneeded
cortland , US
Oct 20, 2009 4:22 pm EDT

I have applied for the new IBR program of course through sallie mae. All I have been getting while waiting has been 3-4 calls a day, and when I do talk to them, they act like they know nothing until they check my file about the IBR request. Then I get is i will continue to get calls since its on auto dialing and its done by computers. I told them if it can be put on a computer it sure can be removed. Then Im told it cant be.

I also told them every time i get calls i also hear from Higher ed concerning the account and when i explain to them about the IBR and what i have been told < still waiting on letter of acceptence which today i was told can take any wheres from 2 wks up to 3 months. I think its a stalling tatic by them > Higher ed tells me to call them and check into it. When I do call, i get the same old answer. Wish there could be help given or someone or agency who over sees sallie mae like the government has done with banks.

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QB7519
Chicago, US
Jul 27, 2009 7:03 pm EDT

If you are not using their services you can sue for harassment.

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Sallie Mae Bank Private Loan Forbearance

Last month, I requested a forbearance for my 3 private loans through Sallie Mae, in addition to my Stafford loan forbearance. I was told the $150 ($50 per loan) fee would be bucketed to my account and that my payments would resume in January 2009. It was a 3 month forbearance. The only reason I was requesting this was because my job downsized to part-time, and I am not making enough money to afford my daily medication or gas for my vehicle (i walk to work to save gas). I have been seeking another part-time job, in addition to looking for a full-time job.

Anyways, I was told this would be no problem, that the fee would be bucketed and that my payments would resume in January. Fine. I'll take what I can get. However, today, I received a call stating that I did not make a "good faith" payment, thus my forbearance has been canceled. But they are still going to tack on the $150. The good faith payment was to be equal to my monthly payment, as it was explained today. If I am paying a monthly payment, why would I need the $150 forbearance fee?

In addition, if you are NOT giving me a forbearance, you CANNOT charge me the fee. I argued that point with them, only to be hung up on by the female representative named Mia. I called back, and the male representative I talked to stated that I only owed $50, that only one loan forbearance was removed. How can that be, I asked, but he couldn't answer me. I asked to speak to a supervisor, but was told the problem would be forwarded, but he couldn't tell me when that supervisor would call me back. I told him that wasn't good enough and that I would keep calling until I spoke with a supervisor. After sitting on hold for over 5 minutes, a supervisor answers, and instead of listening to me, he kept interrupting and would even talk over me. I doubt he heard a word I said. I was so frustrated at him for talking over me, then talking down to me about how I am irresponsible in not paying the good faith payment (remember, the one that I just found out about today), that I eventually hung up.

I am wondering if there isn't another (good and honest) company out there that would consolidate my loans for me, just so I could get away from Sallie Mae. I am considering speaking with a lawyer about this because I don't believe they can charge me for a service that they failed to provide. Maybe a class action lawsuit will set them straight.

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Update by angry college grad
Mar 24, 2009 11:20 am EDT

UPDATE:
At the end of January, stuff finally gets sorted out (sort of), and apparently Sallie Mae mis-applied my payments for forbearance fees and instead of them paying the forbearance fees, they were credited as a payment, thus showing that I still owed a forbearance fee from 2006. Thus the reason my current forbearance could not be processed.

So this is what happened. I set up a payment for my current forbearance with Mark from the Pennsylvania office. This is scheduled to come out of my checking account on Feb. 23, 2009. Instead it is processed on Jan. 23 & Jan. 26, 2009, neither clearing my checking account since I did not have that much money in there. On Jan 29, 2009, it was sent through again, clearing my account that day since I just got paid. However, it took money away from my rent, which put me in a bind. However, my landlord was cool about it, and told me to pay him with Sallie Mae's money that was suppose to be paid on Feb 23. I had also made my regular monthly payment this month on January 15, as the forbearance I requested in November was suppose to end in January.

On Feb. 4, 2009, I receive a phone call from Heather in the Pennsylvania office, and she is Mark's supervisor. Apparently, I owed $91.66 from that "past forbearance" on which my payment was misapplied. She said that my current forbearance (which was "only bring my account current") would be canceled if I did not pay the $91.66. So I set up a payment with her for Feb. 15, 2009, to pay that fee in full. I was also going to have to pay my monthly payment that month.

Feb. 15 comes, payment is made, go online to pay my regular monthly payment, and lo and behold, it says my payment is not due until Mar 22, 2009! So I call Sallie Mae. Again, my $91.66 was misapplied, so instead of paying the forbearance off, it was credited to my account. Explained to them what happened, they said they would research it. A week later, I noticed that the forbearance fee has been lowered to $83 and some change. Again, I call back, explaining what happened. Again, "we will research this." Another week goes by- online now says I only owe $50. Again, call back, same answer.

March monthly payment rolls around, and I make it, but again, nothing has been applied to that $50. I figured they would cover their fees first before applying any payment to the balance, but I am pretty sure they purposely do not apply it towards forbearance fees just to prevent you from ever taking out another forbearance.

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Ewinnn
Atlanta, US
Feb 14, 2011 1:26 am EST
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I was told on the phone I have to pay $266.00/ monthly at 9% interest that never can change. I asked for a lower monthly payment because I only have a part-time job and looking for a full time. I have a car note and insurance. I also have a federal loan payment of 200/ monthly. Sallie Mae told me to go get another part time job and they can't make any modifications. I only make 8 dollars/ hour, 3 times a week. I need help!

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oscar
newark , US
Apr 26, 2009 12:48 pm EDT

FIRST OF ALL, NEVER COMPARED STUDEN FEDERAL LOANS WITH STUDENT PRIVATE LOANS BECAUSE STUDENT PRIVATE LOANS ARE NOT BACKED UP BY THE TAWPAYER'S MONEY OR BY THE GOVERNMENT OR EVEN B Y THE DEPT OF EDUCATION. I ALREADY CALLED THE DEPT OF EDUCATION AND ONE CUSTOMER REP INFORMED ME THAT THE DEPT OF EDUCATION DOES NOT HANDLE ANY TYPE OF STUDENT PRIVATE LOANS OR EVEN PARTICIPATED IN THE DEBT COLLECTIONG TACTICS. REMEMBER, A STUDENT PRIVATE LOAN IS TERMINED BY YOUR CREDIT SCORE OR BY SOME CASES A CO-SIGNER IF NEEDED IF YOUR CREDIT SCORE IS NOT SO GOOD. SO IN OTHER WORDS, THESE PRIVATE LOANS ARE JUST LIKE ANY OTHER CONSUMER LOANS BECAUSE IT REQUIRES A CREDIT CHECK AND ADDITION TO THESE PRIVATE LOANS, THEY ARE DISGUISED TO BE LIKE THE STUDENT FEDERAL LOANS TO TRICK PEOPLE THAT THERE IS NO WAY OUT. BUT THE ONLY THING THESE PRIVATE LOANS HAVE IN COMMON WITH THE FEDERAL LOANS THAT BOTH ARE HARD TO FILE IN BANKRUPTY UNLESS YOU CAN PROVE TO THE COURT THAT IT WOULD CREAT A ECONOMIC HARDSHIP BY VARIOUS REASONS WHETHER BY ILLNESS, DISABILITY, NO WAY YOUR INCOME WILL INCREASE BY THE NEXT YEARS, ETC. BUT HERE IS THE BEST PART THAT MANY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW. STUDENT PRIVATE LOANS HAVE STATUE OF LIMITATIONS AND DEPENDING ON THE STATE YOU LIVE IN, THEY CAN SUE YOU DEPENDING THE LAWS OF YOUR STATE, THAT WHY SALLIEMAE KNOW THIS AND CONSTANTLY HARRASSES YOU WITH LETTER AND PHONE CALLS AND INTIMIDATING COMMENTS AND THE FRAUD THEY COMMIT. GO TO THIS SITE, I RECOMMEND IT. ALSO VISIT TO THE FEDERAL TRADE COMISSION WEBSITE, GO VISIT YOUR LOCAL COURT HOUSE AND GET WELL INFORMED, AND FINE A LAWYER WHO DEALS CONSUMERS LOANS ON YOUR STATE • Calling toll free 888-FDCPA-LAW [protected]) ALSO VISIT THIS WEBSITE http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/collections/lawsuits/
AND THE BEST PART CONTACT THE DEPT OF EDUCATION. SALLIEMAE DOES NOT WANT THE PUBLIC TO KNOW THAT WE HAVE RIGHTS AND THAT WHY THEY GET SO DESPERATE TO FIND US. ALSO REMEMBER SOCIAL SECURITY CANNOT E GARNISHED BECUASE BECAUSE YOU OWE A PRIVATE STUDENT LOAN, UNLESS IF IT IS A FEDERAL STUDEN LOANS, SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS CAN BE GARNNISHED WITH THE NEED TO SUE YOU, HELLO THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE TOOLS TO DO SO OR UNLESS YOU CAN PROVE TO THE COURT THAT YOUR SITUATION AND HAVING YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK GARNISHED WOULD CREAT AN ORDEAL. ALSO ANOTHER FACTOR, IS YOU DON'T ANY ASSETS LIKE LOTS OF MONEY IN THE BANK, CARS, LOTS OF VALUALBE PROPERTIES, GUESS WHAT, DEBT COLLECTORS IS GONNA HAVE A HARD TIME COLLECTING FROM YOU. REMEMBER THERE IS A STATUE OF LIMITATIONS FOR THEM TO COLLECT AND DEBT COLLECTORS WILL DO ANYTHING TO COLLECT BY GOING THROUH YOUR CREDIT REPORT AND RUIN IT, CALL YOU LIKE 10 TIMES PER DAY AND EVEN AT YOUR WORKPLACE TO EMBARRASS YOU, SEND YOU FRIGHTENED DUNNING LETTERS, AND OF COURSE MOST OF THE TIME LIE TO YOU.

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asdf
asdf, US
Apr 01, 2009 7:56 am EDT

Get over it sallie mae has most the government in its pocket and not enough people in high up positions care.

Under Bush they took away consumer basic protection rights and Obama isn't going to fix it.

Sallie Mae is nothing but lying crooks who get away with predatory lending with a slap on their wrists and guess what NO ONE CARES...and nothings going to change.

GG ruin the future government^^

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frustrated
Columbia, US
Mar 14, 2009 11:01 am EDT

I too thought Sallie Mae was respectable. I have my federal loans consolidated through them and have not had any problems thus far with my deferment. However, it is a totally different story with the private side of the business. Today I just learned they have new people handling the private side. I don't know when this change took place.

Well hear is my story. I am the co-signer on my husband's private loan, and today I got a phone call from Sallie Mae saying his account is delinquent. We had been trying to get a forbearance due to unemployment since January and in February we thought we finally got one. To my surprise the last person we spoke to never processed the forbearance.

FLASHBACK
Now let me take you back to January. In January we sent the necessary paperwork to Sallie Mae and when my husband called them to make the $50 fee payment, they refused to accept his money. They told him that his private loan could not be put in forbearance. He told them he had it in forbearance before. The representative should have been able to check his account to see that he had a forbearance once before. So he got off the phone with this unknowledgeable person. Weeks later he talked to a representative who told him to re-fax the forbearance application. We did this and later called (now it is Feb). Prior to calling, my husband made a payment online because he knew that with their incompetence they would end up reporting a 30-day late payment on his credit report.

Of course when we called in Feb we were put through the ringer once again, but this representative finally saw that he can get a forbearance. My husband asked if he needed to pay the $50 fee but the representative told him there was no need since he made a payment.

PRESENT DAY
Of course we learn today that the representative from Feb was not correct in telling us not to make the $50 payment. The supervisor I spoke to today told me to re-fax the forbearance forms (this will be the 3rd time). I went ahead and paid the $50 fee. Hopefully they apply the fee to the forbearance and not to the monthly payment. This could still not be over.

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GeminiStars
Oneida, US
Jan 05, 2009 1:24 pm EST
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Ugh this really disgusts me. Sallie Mae did THE SAME THING TO ME this past summer.

I was 8 months pregnant, did not have a job, and knew that I was not going to be able to make payments much longer so I called in August 2008 and requested a forbearance for my 2 private loans and was told if I paid the $100 payment ($50/per loan) that I would be covered up until December 27th.

Well September rolls around and it shows that I still owe a payment. I called and asked why my loans were not put into forbearance when I had paid their $100 fee to do so. The lady told me that the payment only brought me current on my account and my loans WERE NOT put into forbearance like they had told me they would. Then she instructed me to pay ANOTHER $100 to put them into the so-called forbearance that would not happen. There was no way I was going to give them $100 for absolutely nothing. My regular payments were not even $100.

I really wish I would have not paid them the extra money. I always thought Sallie Mae was a respectable loan company and that is why I did not have a problem paying the initial $100 if it could have saved me from making a few payments until I got back on my feet. Obviously I was very wrong. I had no idea they did this to other people too but now it certainly does not surprise me.

ComplaintsBoard
A
1:51 pm EST

Sallie Mae Bank Unemployment form refusal, false credit reporting, %29 interest rate

SallieMae has received an completed unemployment deferrment form attached with all income documents addresse by myself (Arleta D. Richardaosn) and my attorney Mattleman, Weinroth & Miller on October 2, 2008 for a student loan of 10, 000.00. However Salliemae refused my September 1, 2008 online payment which I included in my unemployment deferrment file as well as has added 6, 000.00 to this loan.

However Salliemae has received my completed unemployment documents which was mailed by my attorney, yet continue to email me in regards of being 60 days in default as well as contacted the credit report bureau and report improper results. I have filed a complaint wtih all 3 credit reporting agencies who has removed Salliemae comments, SallieMae then reported an inquiry stated collection, again all 3 credit reports will be removed. This my compliant with US department of Education to resolve Salliemae misconduct of this student loan and place this account into unemployment deferment as they should have already did so.

In addition, I have a Salliemae mastercard which I also placed on accountsecure plus. However Salliemae moved the interest rate to %29 and refuse my last payment and report negitive again to credit report.

I am expecting the US department Education to resolve both matter for I am concerning ligitation against Sallimae.

I can be reached at email [protected]@yahoo.com or [protected]

Arleta D. Richardson

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12:55 am EST

Sallie Mae Bank Loan Fraud

When I was in College I survived with loans and a meager job. At my school the loan would be disbursed to the school and refunded to me. If the loan was registered you did not have to pay tuition as the school would wait for the loan. However, at my school 75% of the students live off campus and have rent.

Sallie Mae would not disburse the loan until months later...leaving you to pay the rent on your own. However they had no problem charging you interest for money that never left their hands during that time. I was one of the lucky ones, after weeks of the run around, I called up and pretended to be my cousin who is an attorney, I gave them the legal lecture of a lifetime. Nestrumental in helping me as someone "slipped" and informed me of the scam as they didn't agree withedless to say my school received the money the next day and I got the refund check for the rent on the next disbursement date (three days later). My school staff was very helpful, the filled me in on the scam because they didn't agree with it and felt I had the will power to fight and win. My friends weren't so lucky, some didn't see the money till finals week...but they paid 4 months of interest.

This was almost 5 years ago. I've heard rumors they are still up to this practice again. How can you charge interest on money that was never loaned...only promised. I believe the federal courts even interjected punishing numerous schools and Sallie Mae. This was all made possible when they got their dirty hands on the government subsidized loan program.

Shame on you people preying on student.

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8:04 pm EST

Sallie Mae Bank False Forbearance

SallieMae placed my loans into forbearance without my knowledge or consent, even though I've made my payments on time every month. When I asked the supervisor to fax me a copy of the form they claimed they had on file with my signature, he refused. They said they could only mail the form via regular mail. As a result of this involuntary forbearance, I was marked as delinquent on this month's payment, accrued additional interest, and lost the interest rate deductions I earned by making on-time payments. When I asked to have my reductions restored, I was told a request needed to be submitted to a manager. When I asked for a number and a contact so I could follow up with the request, I was told that was not possible. Additionally, some of my loans have not had any payments applied to the principal - only to the interest. When I called to ask why this was happening, I was given the explanation as to why interest accrues, but nothing more. I always speak with someone with a heavy accent, and as a result either do not understand what they are explaining, or they do not understand my questions.

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JasperCat
New York, US
Jun 12, 2013 3:55 pm EDT

I needed to adjust my student loan payment plan and applied with my loan servicer SallieMae for their Extended Graduated Repayment Plan. The first two years consisted of interest only payments and after that interest and principal with payments gradually increasing by approximately $30 a month every 2 years until the loan is paid off.

When I got my confirmation notice from SallieMae today the plan they put me in was not the plan I had applied for. They put me in an extended repayment plan with the first 15 months being interest then they jacked up my monthly payments by $100 for the remaining 28 years and 9 months. It's not anywhere close to the plan I applied for.

When I contacted customer service I got their call center in India and the woman I spoke to was totally unhelpful. Instead of resolving the problem by getting me into the correct repayment plan, she kept saying she re-did the math and the numbers they sent me in my notification were correct. I explained to her no fewer than 4 times that the math wasn't the issue, the payment plan was. She then said she'd file some sort of report for review and that I'd hear from them in 6-8 weeks. I'm not holding my breath.

I then called the Direct Loan Program to inquire about doing a Special Consolidation loan with the government because I want to get rid of SallieMae. The good news is it's possible. The bad news is there are only 2 companies contracted by the feds to manage student loan payments. Guess who one of them is...SallieMae.

Congress spends all this time messing around coming up with schemes for new borrowers when the real problems are faced by the people who've been paying their student loans for years at up to 8% compounded interest, and forced to deal with incompetent, inflexible loan servicers. Thanks for nothing congress.

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svv
, US
Dec 03, 2009 5:21 pm EST

Unbelievable trying to deal with SallieMae. Despite letters and telephone calls to SallieMae nothing is ever resolved. These folks are a SCAM from the word go. With representatives who can't speak English and a script to read from they are from hell. Don't try to work with these folks. They will NOT respond to written communication and will NOT let you record their conversations. Rude, obnoxious, and criminal. They put the mob to shame with their tactics.

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staylor624
Plainfield, US
Aug 28, 2010 8:22 am EDT

I have read the complaints on Salliemae practices and I too am a victum of their bad business practices. My son has delibrately walked away from his loan and I as the co-signer have picked up the loan responsibility the first time I recieved notice he wasn't paying. I have paid $9, 000.00 + dollars on a $20, 000 loan that in 2 years has gone up to $33, 000.00. I have hired an attorney to address this but I don't feel I will get too far with them. It is time for a class action suit against this institution because they are out of control with collections, fees and intrest rates. The FDIC needs to get involved also but this won't happen unless there is a collective effort from all of the people that have been scammed or taken advantage of by this organization.

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Salliefool
, US
Mar 22, 2013 11:16 am EDT

You will not resolve their issues but I want everyone to know some of their problems. The first person you speak with is always nice and then you are transferred once you give your information. Not all the time, but most of the time the person you speak with next is already arguementative and pissed off because the calls they get are people pissed because Sallie Mae screwed something up. The worst company I have ever dealt with. There are so many other companies to use, please don't do what I did and use Sallie Mae. Everytime you need to speak with someone you will be let down. I talked to Latricia in the ghetto (I know this because she said "I'm in the ghetto dawg"). I was then transferred to I think it was Alger, or Aljeer (English is definitely not his first or second language). I have been told lies when people don't know what the answer is, given the wrong pay date, the wrong forbearance end date, invalid credit card entry (put someone elses name with my credit card info, how that happens only god knows), a voided credit card entry that made my payment late because no one put a name on the card I used after I changed it so I had to pay late fees (i.e. they just ran the card without anyones name on it after I told them who's ever name is on the card is not mine and gave them my name), and not to mention sitting on hold for hours out of a day to try to find someone that has more brains then my dog. I have had the phone hung up on me by some lady who would not give me her name or code. I have never been put on hold so many times in my life with a company. For a while I thought they may just not write anything down and just agreee with you and act like they are doing things to your account, but I figures it out I think they write things down with crayons, that is why they can never keep track of anything. I am an attorney myself so I do not need anyone to contact me, but I will help anyway I can if you send me an email. Also, this isn't a big deal but everytime I call they have the wrong address for me listed so I don't get anything in the mail. I have given them my address twice and no one will change it. I tried to get email notices since they can't figure out how to write my address so they can read it (it is hard sometimes with crayons) but have never recieved one email.

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carol nino
,
Mar 28, 2008 8:35 am EDT

as I finished a private consolidation for my school loan, a flashing sentence appeared saying I was the 999, 999 person on the site and just won a $500 gift card. I clicked to claim my "free" gift card and selected Target. Then it said to click on any of the sponsor offers below. Then to follow the instructions on the next page to complete the offer. I picked a "free trial" from the choices and then had to give a credit card for $6.95 for shipping and handling. After that, it said an email would be sent to my email address with more information about getting the $500 Target gift card. When I checked the email, it sent me a a web page that "does not exist". Give me my gift card or get this scam off the internet. THis makes legitimate companies not trusted.

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SRuffino
South Boston, US
Nov 29, 2009 9:53 pm EST

I co-signed (two) student loans for my son who had (four) different loans with Salliemae. He has become a deadbeat and Salliemae is hoping to get me to pay for loans I am not responsible for. I suppose they think I will try to hound my deadbeat son for them. Problem is I have not seen him and couldn't help Salliemae collect from him even if I wanted to. They told me just to send my payments in and they will apply the money to the loans I co-signed for. I tried that last year and they applied my payments to my son's loans and sent me a letter stating my loans were delinquent. After months of phone calls and speaking to various levels of Salliemae employees, I finally got someone who showed me how to go online and specify where my payments went. After three or four months of finally seeing for myself where the payments were going, Salliemae decided to lock me out of the account because my son was not paying his loans. I was told I may not be able to get into that account again until it is brought current. I stated that my co-signer responsibility was current and they said nevertheless, until my son's other loans were brought current, the account is locked. To me, this does not seem fair. I would love to sue them for the aggrivation they are causing me in trying to pay off my responsibilities.

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kathy enyart
, US
Apr 13, 2009 10:53 pm EDT

I, m very upset with salliemae as i should of gotten my second installement mailed to me instead of sallimae sending it to ivytech. i still have not recived my check. and ifeel that some one need to be responsble and fix this problem. as i, m faced with having my credit reuend because of some one elses misstake. and i, faced with loosing my cumputer as well as repaying for a loan i did, nt reciveand al the money i have put on the cumpter. i feel that salliemae is responible for making sure that the loan is recevied by the recipent not the school. please help me with this matter and save my credit and my cumpter for school. Please email me at kathy, enyart@yahoo, com about this matter as soon as possible.

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bigwootcrab
DL, US
Feb 11, 2011 9:07 pm EST

SallieMae purchased one of our student loans and neglected to inform us in a timely fashion. We had allready submitted our payment to the previous loan owner 5 days before we got the letter from SallieMae stating that they had purchased our loan. In the letter from SallieMae it stated that there was a 45 day grace period during which our payments would be forwarded from the previous loan company (great lakes).
Fast forward to the next month after we have made our first payment to Sallie Mae and are still technically in our 45 day grace period. We get a letter stating we will be reported to the credit bureaus if we do not submit payment for the prior month (the payment we had paid before any knowledge of the loans new owner had been given to us). Now all payments were made in good faith and I use electronic bill pay through our bank so we got a copy of those along with a copy of the letter from Sallie Mae, we had the bank records signed and notorized by the bank manager and attempted to get in contact with Sallie Mae to rectify this. After 45 minutes in telephone prompt land we finally got to talk to a person (in some foreign land but still a person), we were given a fax number (which was wrong so we had to call back again). We faxed the info. After a week more correspondence stating non payment. Annother call and they stated they did not recieve the fax and that we would have to make the payment.
I do not know what to do from this point as we made the payment in good faith, we continue to make payments. It is very time consuming to talk to a person at Sallie Mae and I know it would be cheaper for me to double pay than to spend more time trying to contact them and in contacting a lawyer.

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ShonniT
Novato, US
Feb 18, 2009 11:00 pm EST

Sallie Mae in my eyes are liars, and I have had nothing but terrible customer service, I have been hung up on
by a salliemae employee, they have called me a liar, I have always paid my payments on time and for the last
5 months they have done nothing but harass me to get me to send a payment that was already sent two weeks earlier, and they have also been putting my payments in the wrong accounts. What really makes me want to
say a few unpleasant words is that I made a payment of $126.37 and after they recieved they turned my files over to their collections agency they called me and let me know that I needed to pay another $185.00 and $80.00 for the next payment. Sallie Mae would not answer their phones, finally they did. Itold them I wanted
that $185.00 back.

WARNING: THEIR COLLECTION AGENCY WON'T TELL YOU ABOUT ANY HIDDEN FEES.

I will never deal with salliemae again

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lele
boston, US
Apr 15, 2009 7:53 pm EDT

I am paying off my student loan with SallieMae. The monthly payments are due on the 3rd week of every month. I am always calling to make a simple request (that the payment due date is changed from the 3rd week to the 4th week of every month. They are always saying " Once we get your payment we can do that for you". So they get my payment and I call them back. Another person is metioning the same thing. Till this day they haven't changed the due date for payment. A lot of the time the people on the other side of the phone are so rude. About 10 min ago, I called and the person had a big accent. I couldn't understand what she was saying, because of her accent and she was speaking so fast. I politely asked her to speak slowly, so I can understand her.. Then she hangs up on me! - People on the other side of the phone, "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DO YOUR JOB, LEAVE." YOUR WASTING OUR TIME!

ComplaintsBoard
K
3:47 pm EST

Sallie Mae Bank Worst customer service I have encountered

I have had a student loan with these people for years and every time I call for something, I always get a rep that doesn't speak good english at all. That they have to repeat everything they say because you can't understand them.I have never had so much trouble getting through to someone, let alone someone who actually speaks english to the point that they only have to say the things once.

I think if you are going to have a really productive student loan company, you need to get people in there working that actually knows how to speak a little more than a slurpy amount of english.

I have also called a few months ago to have a coupon book sent to me to make my payments and I have never received one. I had to call several times since then and request the same thing. I don't know why these people can't get their stuff together so that when someone calls with a concern/question, they can talk to an American the speaks English...

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SALLIEMAESUCKSREALLYBAD
, US
Aug 26, 2010 1:22 pm EDT

SALLIE MAE IS THE WORST STUDENT LOAN COMPANY EVER!

Their customer service is HORRIBLE!

1. They do not speak ENGLISH!
2. They do not know anything about your account!
3. They call you 5 million times, and when u call them back, they had no reason to call you in the first place!
4. When you have a cosigner, its a HASSLE to get anything done!
5. This company does not know what they are doing!

If it wasn't for the short amount of time I have to get a loan, I would NEVER EVER NEVER EVER get a loan from them!

I had such a stressful week because of this stupid idiotic company. I will NEVER apply for SallieMae AGAIN!

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mrjbird1
Wilmington, US
Jun 22, 2010 3:53 pm EDT

I've talked to five different customer care specialists, none of whom have command of the english language. They are either from the Phillipines or Indonesia. One asked me what the difference was between regular mail and e-mail. No matter what you ask them, its like name, rank and serial number. Here's your due date, here's the amount.

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jetdr
, US
Apr 06, 2010 11:57 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Sallie mae allowed my son to co- sign my name to a $12, 000.00 loan (on line) without me knowing about it ( out of the country) until I recieved a notice in the mail 3 months later. They also told him the interest rate would be between 6 and 7 percent. When he got the payment coupons, the stated interest is 12.7 percent (interest only) for 5 years, amortized for 15 years after. Called customer service 10 times talked to ten incompetent employees.

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NathenS
, US
Nov 04, 2009 10:11 am EST

Ill be short here. I have paid Sallie Mae for years now and guess what, my balances is now higher than it was before I started paying back my loans! This is insane. At one point I had over 2, 000 dollars worth of "fees" added to my account. At this rate I will pay over 80, 000 on a 30, 000 loan. How is this right? How is this legal? Also, all these comments are correct in saying that no one at Sallie Mae knows what they are doing. Every single time I call I get a different answer to whatever question I am asking. Something has to be done, they have to be stopped.

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Manipulation
, US
Jun 22, 2009 1:03 pm EDT

Listen, I'd rather not go to school then use a Sallie Mae loan. Actually, I didn't go to school because of there ridiculous interest rate and HORRIBLE customer service.
The school I had applied for used Sallie Mae for a loan, the loan amount was for 25, 000. With interest the total loan amount was 75, 000, that's 50, 000 in interest!. My credit score at the time was 730, so it wasn't because of bad credit.
I called Sallie Mae to cancel my loan and was told I was all set. Well a month later i get a bill in the mail for 350.00, the amount that was expected every month if i had followed through with the loan.
This went on for approx. 3 months, with me calling the school and Sallie Mae with no "real" help.
To make a long story short, to avoid months of headaches, frustration and stress, (not to mention the fact that no one at Sallie Mae speaks english good) find another loan agency or bank to deal with.

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az mc
Seattle, US
May 19, 2009 3:14 am EDT

I have to agree that Sallie Mae is one of the worst loan companies I had ever the misfortune to work with. If not for my fear that my interest rate might be more than what's at Sallie Mae, I would try to find some other lender to consolidate all my student loans.

I had deferred my loans because I just couldn't pay right out of college. I started to pay my loans for a while, until circumstances forced me to defer again. Last year, I started to pay again, and after about a year or so of looking at my invoice and payment schedule, I stopped looking as my monthly payments would remain the same for another year. That's when the nightmare started.

My account was reported as delinquent. I ordered a credit report and was shocked to see that I was "late" in payment for Sallie Mae. I have set up an automatic online payment with my bank (not through Sallie Mae's website) to send monthly payments to Sallie Mae. So, why was my account late?

It seemed they've added a loan which was not mine in the first place. Collections called and harrassed me at home and at work about payments. I thought they could not harrass and embarrass me at work? They were obnoxious and rude as well.

In any case, I called Sallie Mae and kept on telling them that I need an explanation of why this new amount and Loan #5 was in my account. They told me that I should know since I made payment to it. I told them that I have two statements, one for education loans and the other for careertraining loan. The account number for both types of loans are the same. How would I know how Sallie Mae applied my payments to my account.

I made two checks (twice monthly) to cover both types of accounts. I assumend all the money was applied to both accounts as to whatever the payments to each type of accounts should be, and the rest, as I requested, would go towards principal.

It took 6 months before they could clear off the loan which was not mine. In the meantime, I had to take another forbearance because I can't afford the monthly payment plus all the fees that they slapped me for being "late" in paying (towards the account which was not mine).

I had a client advocacy from Sallie Mae to work with me. This only happened because I called my school to call Sallie Mae. I have never gotten any help from Sallie Mae without that first initial call from the school to them. My account was cleared and the late fees reversed and all the payments to the false account was placed into my loans as payment. My deferment period ended 4/16/09.

Silly me thinking I don't need to look at the statement/invoice while my account is in deferment. I knew I would have to make a minimum payment beginning 4/16/09 and already set up my bank to forward that amount to Sallie Mae to be paid by 4/15/09.

Guess what? Sallie Mae charged me LATE fees for the account which they told me to request deferment while they're fixing the problem of that wrong account. AND they even sent a notice of delinquency because they seemed to think I have not paid my loans, eventhough it was in deferment period.

The total Career Training and Education Loans monthly payment is $242.15, I make online payment of $243.00. But Sallie Mae did a whacky and weird payment application that my loans looked like I have not paid for one in a long time. So currently they reported me as owing $311.95. How is that possible when the minimum payment I sent covers the minimum payments and a little towards principal?

This is the second time around that Sallie Mae is screwing my life. I have called recently, faxed, email, all to no avail. I am seriously trying to look at other lenders and see if they would just give me a loan so that I could get out of Sallie Mae because I hate them.

The departments within Sallie Mae never talked to each other. The client services personnel or anyone there, never write down or insert any client comment in our files so that anyone who's handling part of my account would knowt he history/story/issue. The other department could not stop the collection harrassment call even while I was working with the client advocacy unit at Sallie Mae trying to clear off that false loan account.

Sallie Mae is a rip off, and an unethical company. The government should set up an audit for this company and also to witness first hand how rude and ignorant these people are. I honestly hope that the government audits this company, Sallie Mae, and also check it's business ethics. SALLIE MAE SUCKS.

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RBO
Glen Ellyn, US
Feb 02, 2009 9:05 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We were having the same problem. Yes, we know about "manage your loans" online. But what if every time you checked there was different or conflicting information? Late fees being applied to EXTRA payments that were made EARLY? This is what was happening to us, yet when we would call, after waiting on hold for up to an hour, we would get someone on the phone who knew nothing, and typically we would get several different answers. Finally, I saw on a Sallie Mae consumer-complaint web site, to contact our local congressman, which we did. We sent a certified letter to both the congressman and a copy (also certified, return receipt) to Sallie Mae. We also faxed the letter as well.
All of our issues were settled within the month, and even though we couldn't consolidate, my daughter was at least able to lower her payments to an amount she could pay (they went from $594 a month to $316 a month. The Sallie Mae person on the phone told us this couldn't be done. Hah!
Anyway, I recommend the same process. Be sure to send a "thank you" letter to your congressman as well as your Sallie Mae consumer advocate (you will be assigned one.) It will help to have this phone number handy for future questions!

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alison
,
Nov 10, 2008 10:53 pm EST

sorry you've had trouble with the outsourced customer service, but all your information is available at manageyourloans.com once you register an account, including a summary of all loans, how much you need to pay on each loan, and when the payments are due, as well as information regarding how to request and set up automatical withdrawals, deferments, and forbearances yourself. this should help.

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B
9:12 pm EDT

Sallie Mae Bank Added unsubsidized interest on subsidized loan TWICE- ignored dispute letters and phone calls

My daughter's school loan suddenly had unsubsidized interest added on to a subsidized loan. She wrote letters, including a certified letter with proof o delivery, asking for an explanation and that the charge be removed. Sallie Mae never answered one letter, which is illegal. The interest kept going up and because I'd had the same thing happen to me with ACS that cost me $500 I never actually owed, and I was too busy to keep after her to keep after them, I paid off the $200.00 with a letter from her disputing the actual debt. At least it couldn't keep going up until we had time to devote to hassling with them.

To my surprise, last year unsubsidized interest was added to her bill, AGAIN. She is in school with an in-school deferment, which shows up on her account, and it is a subsidized loan. There is absolutely no reason for that charge to be on her account!

Again, she contacted them to straighten it out and they have entirely ignored her. It is now up to $200.00 again. Unless I pay it, which will total $400.00 literally stolen from us (in addition to the $500.000 ACS stole from me for my school loan), it will climb higher!

I see that Sallie Mae was completely privatized in 2004, with no more relationship with federal government. That is when these problems started.

Sallie Mae must believe they will never be held accountable because they follow no laws regarding contacting students before adding fees or interest for forbearances and defaults (which they are supposed to do a specific number of times if three payments are missed, and if they did students would know when the company is making a mistake on their account instead of discovering it down the line), and they do not bother to respond to disputes at all, let alone within the timeframe the law requires!

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gsh
Revloc, US
Sep 10, 2009 10:58 pm EDT

I did not even think to look for that. My wife has numerous loans serviced by SLM. My wife returned for a bachelors degree but had to take a couple of semesters off. She had existing loans on in-school deferment and some of the new loans had their grace period used during the off semesters which then ended up also being on in-school deferment before graduation. So far everything is as outlined in the agreements. SLM never did update their record of graduation date despite a number of ways they had the info to do so including; an enrollment clearinghouse, replies to notification of repayment beginning, application of additional loans, the school's financial aid and registrar offices notifications. Well, each transition of status from grace, in-school deferment, etc. allowed for capitalization of accrued interest. Then, there was the erroneous early repayment status which was not being resolved before the new payment was due - twice (merely a coincidence to this post). The payment was made to avoid a late payment and associated fees. Those payments were not refunded despite being made with notice of dispute, but that is a small issue. The bigger issue is the associated capitalization of interest which should never have occurred. I never thought it would contribute greatly, but now I have to run some calculations. It also never occurred to me to verify that only interest from unsubsidized loans was being capitalized. Now with the poor job markets the loans are on forbearance with reduced payments, but the capitalized interest may now be contributing more than anticipated. If so, and some was capitalized earlier than permitted, then that equates to unjust enrichment. The correction would have been entirely in their hands. They have no incentive to make such corrections. They have plenty of incentive to NOT make such corrections.

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john
, QA
Oct 27, 2008 12:42 pm EDT

I recomend that anyone involved with Salie Mae take a look at these websites:

http://www.studentloanjustice.org/

http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/

One of them explains what happened to allow an altogther evil organization to gain so much power. The other one gives you an explaination of the things you can do if you are a victim of this blatently criminal organization. I wish I could say there's encouragment here, but there isn't. The best thing to do is NOT to use Sallie Mae. They are exempt from consumer protection laws and it is illegal for any other lending institute to compete with them. So once you have a loan with Sallie Mae, you can NEVER refinance with someone else. Just use credit cards to pay for school, then file bankruptcy. It is cheaper, faster and safer than using Sallie Mae. Or, be a resident of California where there is no tuition in their state schools.

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J
9:18 am EDT

Sallie Mae Bank Horrible company all together!

Sallie Mae is a horrible comapany all together. Customer service is probably the worst and no one knows anything. I wanted to pay off a loan which was over $20, 000 and they had the nerve to ask me why I wanted to pay it off and I should split the money up to pay other loans. Just today I called to speak to someone about a forbearance due to our economy and my recent lay-off. The lady informed me that they no longer did 6 months they decide how long you should have maybe 3 months manybe even two she told me. Who are these people? Do they have souls? She was the rudest person yet. They want you to pay a $150 fee to put your account into a forbearance...where does that money go? not my loan accounts! and now every 2-3 months! HORRIBLE COMPANY!

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jlb
Mansfield, US
Mar 30, 2009 5:31 pm EDT

Sallie mae has the rudes people why is the goverment letting them fleece us. Have we not been screwed enough. Low lifes run it

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john
, QA
Oct 27, 2008 1:31 pm EDT

I recomend that anyone involved with Salie Mae take a look at these websites:

http://www.studentloanjustice.org/

http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/

One of them explains what happened to allow an altogther evil organization to gain so much power. The other one gives you an explaination of the things you can do if you are a victim of this blatently criminal organization. I wish I could say there's encouragment here, but there isn't. The best thing to do is NOT to use Sallie Mae. They are exempt from consumer protection laws and it is illegal for any other lending institute to compete with them. So once you have a loan with Sallie Mae, you can NEVER refinance with someone else. Just use credit cards to pay for school, then file bankruptcy. It is cheaper, faster and safer than using Sallie Mae. Or, be a resident of California where there is no tuition in their state schools.

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