Sallie Mae

When we signed the papers, we knew that we, my granddaughter and I, would have to pay the interest on the loan, but it is so high. Our original papers stated that our interest would be between 0 and 5% and was fine the first few month. But by December, the amount went from $45.00 (I was sending in $200.00 a month to get it down fast for her) to now paying $178.00 a month with a 20 % interest rate! I have excellent credit and could not understand this. I called to be told that all first years get this rate and the it goes down.

This is a Parents Plus Loan. And I also noticed that every time they do a distribution to the school, they add on $500.00 for that benefit! We are now with Citizens Bank (much better) but by the time she graduates, I will have paid in excess of $9,0000.00 in interest to be told that it does not go any where since when she graduates and goes into repayment the interest rate is adjusted and she starts accumulating interest Ll over again! I could have gone to a loan shark for a better deal. I have written emails to the President and have not even gotten a response! Something must be done!

This has been going on since 10/11. They now are harassing me in that they call daily, seven days a week, several times a day, flood me with email, and letters. They are contacting my family.

I have always paid my loans monthly, two separate accounts and separate monthly payments. They put all the payments on one account making it appear I am defaulting on the loan. I have written them, talked to them, explained to them, etc. I am done.

No more talking to them. They want me to go to their website and fix it. I don't think so. They are getting payments and quite a hefty interest rate. They made the mistake and they need to fix it. It's that simple. Never would I ever suggest anyone take a loan with this company. I've even spoken to management who obviously do not care.

I have been making payments in recent months toward the principal balance of my student loans, which were recently taken over by Sallie Mae. Instead of these payments being applied to the principal, as I indicated they should be, Sallie Mae has been applying them as early monthly payments, spreading the amount over three or four months usually. I am making these payments so I can whittle down my principal balance and reduce the amount of interest I'll pay in the long run. But by spreading them across my monthly payments instead and keeping my principal balance higher for longer, Sallie Mae is making more interest off my loans. I contacted Sallie Mae, and they said there was nothing they could do. That was how they applied payments. This seems wrong on so many levels, but what can I do? They are already making tens of thousands off of my interest. How is someone supposed to make progress on their debt if they can't make payments on the principal?

I begged Sallie Mae for years to consider the fact that I was a teacher making low income, teaching those students in New Orleans behind in reading and math (Title One). They never listened to me and now are garnishing my meager salary so that I can barely pay rent and groceries. They have basically sentenced me to an old-England debtor's prison from which I can't escape. In the meantime, I am faithfully reaching out to those students in New Orleans behind in reading and math, those students who were rescued from rooftops and lost everything they had. Shame, shame, shame, on your corporate greed machine.

I have a student loan with Sallie Mae and my grandmother co-signed with me. I try to get the loan out of her name into my name and I also try to put it with my other consolidation. But Sallie Mae told me that I could not do either because it's a private loan. Sallie Mae also told me that the only way I can get the loan into my name is by going to a bank to take out the loan with them, and then take the money that I receive from the bank and pay them off. So, my question is, why do a person have to go through all those changes when Sallie Mae should have the means to allow a person to have their loan put in their name?

Also, today I took a look on my Sallie Mae loan account and noticed that they add a $25 late fee to my loan on top of interest. I have not been late on my bill in a long time and when I can remember being late, they never add a late fee to my bill. They just add the past month's bill and the next month's bill together including the interest rate. To add on top of everything when I defer my loans, Sallie Mae increases my interest rate from 5% to 10%.

This is almost 11% interest rate on the $7,000 student loan that I received in 2002, in which the final amount came up to $ 14,000 when I was able to start paying on it in 2009. Now, I have the loan down to little over $10,000 and they slap this new $25 late fee. I feel that this loan will never get paid off because Sallie Mae keeps adding new hidden fees. So, if possible, can someone please help? I need the loan taken out of my grandmother's name and also need a lower interest rate.

While a law student during the late 1990s I borrowed student loans. Those loans have not been paid and I have fallen in arrears on some of them. My problem is with Sallie Mae's collection practices. They are calling multiple times a day, every day. I have monitored the calls to get a sense of how egregious their conduct is. On average I am receiving 10 calls per day, starting at 8:00 am and going through the evening until about 9:00 pm. That's ten calls per day, every day. Yes, they call on weekends and on Federal holidays.

My identity was stolen 10 years ago and an account with Sally Mae was opened in my name and a loan has been taken out. I have been dealing with this now for 7 years. I sent all papers to them proving it wasn`t me and I was ensured this issue was resolved. Then in 2011, it was the same issue again. I was told I had to resubmit all papers again, which I did in Nov. 2011. Now I come to find out this morning that they stole my tax money of 7909 and some cent. When I called this morning, I was told that there were no papers on file and that I would have to resubmit all papers again. I told them that this was crazy and unbelievable and that I`m sick and tired of dealing with that, and that Sally Mae has been known for these issues. This person told me it happens to a lot of people and not just Sally Mae.

In October 2011, Sallie Mae had a glitch in there system and dropped my automatic withdrawal. I went online and reinstated the withdrawal but then got call after call that my payment never went through. So I did everything they told me to do; more checks over the phone and reset up the auto withdrawal. Next month, same thing, they didn't take the money. I get calls and late payments. I did this every month until December.

In January, they took two payments and said I had made a phone in payment which I had not done so. I have engaged in more fighting with Sallie just to get my money back. The representative said I could have my money in 24 hours, another lie. I called them again and got a completely different story. I told them I was recording the conversation they then got upset and told that is not allowed. So they can record ours phone conversations but we can't? Sallie Mae needs to be investigated soon. If anyone hears of an investigation I would love to help.

By the end of 2006, I decided to attend school at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Being from a single parent home, that was torn by divorce, there was no extra funds to send me to school. When I began enrolling, I applied for my FAFSA, and all federal loans, and also needed to apply for a private loan. Art Institute directed me to Sallie Mae. I could not be approved by myself, so my mother cosigned for the loan with me. I began school full time. Every 3-6 months, I had to reapply for a loan since our credit wasn't that great to begin with.

We were not able to apply for the full, or half of the amount of my tuition. After the first two times my mother's credit was no longer able to support me as a co-signer. and I was forced to ask my father, a man whom hasn't bothered to be a part of our lives, since before I was in middle school. This is the man I'm asking to cosign and help put me through college. Surprisingly, he agrees to help and co-signs for me.

By 2007, I was attending the Art Institute in LA, and was living on my with my boyfriend, who I met at school. By the time the loan, my father co-signed for, ran out, I was 2 years into a 3 year bachelor's degree program. When I went to apply for a loan, to at least get within six months of having my bachelor's degree, I of course was turned down, and at this point, even my father's credit was not enough.

Too many loan applications in a short span of time will do that, you know. In short, I was forced to drop out of college, because we could no longer afford to put me through school. 6 months later, I have a measly part-time retail job, and Sallie Mae starts their rounds. They wanted to start with something like $900 a month, which was thrice what I was paying for my housing, by then.

I tried making smaller payments, until one day, I was laid off. I called them, and asked them for a deferment, which would cost $100, which I didn't have, at that time. So my payments became late, until my boyfriend could loan me $100 to put me on deferment for hardship. Without my degree, I've bounced around from ** retail job to ** retail job, when I'm lucky enough to find one.

The better part of the last 3 years have been spent broke and unemployed. Sallie Mae does not cares. They just began calling my father relentlessly, which I suppose I should thank them for, because my father is only interested in how my life is going, when he is making a call about Sallie Mae. His hand was forced to make a payment, when I could not, to save his own credit. Meanwhile, Sallie Mae runs my credit once every month, to make sure I cannot move up ,unless I "pay the man" with money I don't have. I am pretty much their servant for life, for wanting to go to school, and make a better life for me, than my mother could. That's awesome.

I have a compilation of complaints from the rudimentary to the more complex. First, I have received billing statements from Sallie Mae for another person at my current address. It took nearly 6 months and 4 or 5 telephone calls to finally get that person who hasn't lived here removed--for at least 6 years, if ever. Secondly, I tried to get my address corrected by substituting an N for an M on the street address.

That took 4 telephone calls, a UPS stamp of my correct address and to rid myself of the wrongful tenant above on Sallie Mae correspondence. It seems as if loans have been in hibernation and after 2 years of dormancy they appear as a subsidized loan that I have no affirmation of their validity. Now, I have to go online to retrieve interest paid tax docs from Sallie Mae. Why don't they send them out? Is that another way they can milk the public out of a tax deduction?

I owed a debt that went delinquent, and I unsuccessfully tried to settle at $25,538.88. Sallie Mae/Allied Interstate said they would take $10,000 out of my account, if we could secure the rest. I told them only if we were approved for the loan, which we were not. I left a message that the deal was off. They took the money out any way. It is a shady business and should not be trusted.

I co-signed a college loan for my son back in the Fall of 2009. At the time, the company I had worked at for over six years ceased operations leaving me unemployed. I wanted to get a totally deferred loan for my son but Sallie Mae told me they didn't offer one.

I continued with Sallie Mae for the 2010 school year but told them again that I wanted a totally deferred interest loan given that I remained unemployed for almost two years. I started working part-time at the end of 2010 and do so until this day, however, my income has dropped from roughly 65K per year to 42K and it is difficult to make the accruing interest payments on this loan.

I left Sallie Mae for Wells Fargo this year when I learned that they had a totally deferred interest loan. Sallie Mae has tried to get me back as a customer since they now offer the same type loan. Here are my questions: Shouldn't Sallie Mae have given me some type of break in the process, given the extent of my unemployment and couldn't they have offered me a totally deferred interest loan in the beginning of this process? It has become difficult for me to meet the monthly payment on the two school year loans I took out with Sallie Mae so I wanted to work out a reduced payment plan. One loan officer there said that it would be no problem but never sent the documentation they said I would need to fill out so I could be given a $25 per month break on this payment. Why would they tell me that and not follow through.

When I called Sallie Mae back, they stated the other person was wrong to have told me that they could work with me to reduce the payment. Why do they not work together and know their own rules? What recourse do I have with them now because at my reduced income and the accrual of interest across two loans now it is crippling us financially. I can't continue much longer at this rate.

I went to school from March 2006, until November of 2006. I should have paid the school, but I was impatient. Anyway, I took out loans from Sallie Mae, and I thought I had six months to pay them back without interest being due, so I was able to get the amount of money borrowed, to pay them off completely. Anyway, they decide that this is not good enough, so they say that we still owe them $89, which my husband refuses to pay.

Yeah, I should have paid them the $89. Along comes 2008. I have very little income. They garnish $159 dollars in wages. You think that they are done. They got almost double the $89, count the thing as written off. Meanwhile, I don't hear from these people until 2010, when they decide to garnish my husband's wages, somewhere to the tune of $2,000.00.

Then comes my mistake. I looked up my account, and found out that I owe them about $450. We send them a money order for that amount, thinking it will settle the loan. I called them up a month later, and we still owe them $450 dollars. You would think that if the principal is $40, the thing would be paid off, you pay them $450, but no, the interest comes first, then their stupid collection fees, and then the principal, so you find out. I will not pay this company any more money. Not that I feel like I should have any reason to worry.

My credit sucks, because it went into default, which I don't think is a big deal, because I really don't agree to the whole idea of loans anymore. Sure, I may bounce from home to home in life, will never have a car, but at least I will never have another debt, because I'm sure that these greedy people have ruined my credit, and can never get another loan!

I called in November 2011 regarding large and high payment plans demanded by Sallie Mae customer service who were rude and insulting on the phone. Kelly ** received my complaint and called me to discuss. She worked out a payment plan for all of my loans in one lump sum and now, Sallie Mae is refusing to honor it and is demanding multiple payments.

I was lied to and can't believe there is no consequences for such horrible practices at a student financing company. I cannot believe they are not monitored or regulated by the state or federal government. I'm writing complaints to both my state representatives and the Department of Education. Someone needs to get Sallie Mae to treat its customers with respect and work with them, not against them.

This is a very long complaint and I would love to speak with someone as soon as possible regarding Sallie Mae. I have 2 private loans with them. In September of 2010, my fianc and I made several attempts to get my loans deferred and apply for financial hardships. They failed to get me this information until my loans were already past due (in MARCH of 2011 we finally received the paperwork). If they would've gotten me the correct information in time, I would not be behind over $5,000.00. Once I got the paperwork and my loans were almost in default, they informed me that they do not offer deferment on their private loans. I have attempted to make several payments towards my Sallie Mae loans and they have refused our payments. If we weren't able to pay $301.10 a month, they were not going to accept my payment.

Please, contact me ASAP. They are pushing forward to collections on my property (truck) as of tomorrow. We have attempted many times with Sallie Mae and there's no satisfaction anywhere. To the above post, my wife and I had to argue with a rep that could not speak clear English for over 30 minutes to get transferred to someone that could assist us. We finally had to hang up and call the 800 # (and wait on hold multiple times) until we could get someone that could understand us and speak clear English.

Let me start off this by saying that I went to a technical school from 2004-2007. The state of New York paid $25,000 of my $40,000 tuition. I have had a difficult time finding a job in my field since I graduated. I found a low paying job, not in my degree field. It doesn't pay anywhere near what a job in my degree field would pay. I was planning to get a job at the State of New York before they froze jobs. What makes matters worst is that I became a single mother in July 2008. I get no help from the father (lives in a different state that denies me child support). No help from the state. I am the sole provider for myself and my daughter besides the roof over our heads.

I have been forced to live with my parents since I left college. I have been paying interest because I can't afford my monthly loan payments. My repayment amount has quadrupled as a result of "interest". It's now $60,000. Before I obtained this job, I was giving Sallie Mae all of my unemployment and temp assistance. Every time I turn around, I am taking from me and my child to give to Sallie Mae. I can't even buy a home for my daughter and me or a reliable car due to Sallie Mae raping my credit score.

I have been trying to reach a Sallie Mae representative who speaks and understands English. I have called three times this morning, January 23, 2012, to get a payoff amount. I have been told 2 different amounts in a matter of 20 minutes on the same day. And the third person I spoke with hung up on me, because she said she did not like my tone of voice.

I was unable to make regular payments on my student loan until last year. Since then I have been very regular in making payments of $900.00 a month. Each time I make a payment, though, within approximately 3 weeks I get a notice from SM that I owe a huge amount extra and that this payment will keep me from going into default. I have paid over $10,000 to them above and beyond the monthly payments, and then three weeks ago they asked for another $7,000. I wasn't going to pay this without explanation. They put my account into default and when I went today to pay my monthly amount, the system wouldn't allow me to do this.

Sallie Mae interfering with Federally backed repayment options:

I currently have a number of federal student loans that are being serviced by Sallie Mae. I recently spoke to an agent to discuss options to reduce my monthly payments. At no point in time did the agent offer the federal income based repayment plan and it only came into the conversation after I mentioned it specifically. All of my loans are eligible to receive consideration under this program.

The Sallie Mae representatives gave me information that conflicted with information provided by the U.S. Department of Education, and they failed to be transparent about other details of the program (i.e. formula for calculating monthly payments, which is available from the U.S. Dept of Ed). For example the agent explained that there was no such forgiveness of payments in the Sallie Mae version of the income based payment option, which is a huge feature of the feature of the federal program that offers forgiveness after 25 years of making all qualifying payments.

Either Sallie Mae is failing to inform its representatives of the full details of the programs it offers, or it is signing people up to income based repayment options that are not associated with the federal program and thereby failing to offer the federally backed option to student borrowers. I think this should be investigated as all borrowers are entitled to enjoy the benefits of programs designed by the federal government. Private loan servicers should in no way be allowed to interfere with federal programs and withhold valuable information. I will contact the Department of Education directly in order to mediate because the failure of Sallie Mae to be transparent worries me that they will not honor the terms of the specific program. I believe practices like this should be investigated.

Sallie Mae has been harassing me with phone calls for the past several months. They said that my student loans have been delinquent for over 20 days. In a 30-minute period of time, both my parents and myself were called about the exact same loan. I deferred my loans because I am currently working on my master's degree from a credited college. I told them that I was back in school and I expect to graduate in 2013. The Clearing House has acknowledged that I am back in school full-time. Although I have been back in school since fall, they still continue to call me and harass me. How inconsiderate!

I have been trying to pay my loans with Sallie Mae for over a week. The reason for the word 'trying' is that they deleted the telephone numbers from their website. As I live overseas, the only way I can pay my monthly payment is via the telephone using my debit card from my Norwegian bank. Naturally, I rely on the telephone numbers listed on the website and when they disappeared for five days, it causes irritation. I already have to pay expensive fees to make the payment over the phone. In addition, I pay for the long distance phone call as their "International Number" is not toll free.

The frustration of wading through their automated system is getting unbearable especially when I can't even use the automated system to make a payment via telephone without the system rejecting my zip code. (I have a 4 digit zip and they require an American zip). I just wish that customer service was a priority and by that I mean human customer service which does not rely upon a computer script but that actually listens to the human customer.

I have just discovered that Sallie Mae is charging me late fees on a parent plus loan. I am currently enrolled in school and have been since 2008. So now I am wondering if this has been happening the whole time and if so, how I can get that money taken off my balance? Is this even legal?

I am currently concerned with the way in which Sallie Mae makes it impossible to up your monthly payment. I tried for several hours on-line six months ago. After finding many online paths that would lead me to defaulting or lowering my monthly payment but none to increase I called them on the phone. I spent at least a half an hour waiting. Finally, I spoke with a person and explained my situation. I simply wanted to double my monthly payment. They said it was fine and we confirmed the process. I hung up slightly annoyed but confident the situation had been handled. Because most of the emails I get from them are spam, trying to sell me credit, etc., I haven't been on their site since. Today, while looking at a tax form they sent me, I found they had never upped my monthly payment. Therefore, I have been paying off essentially only interest for six months and the amount I owe has only grown. There is no way for me to rectify this situation on-line even though there are fast and easy ways to lower my payment on-line. This practice sounds highly unethical to me. Thank you for your time.

I received a letter stating that a large Citibank student loan I have was being bought by Sallie Mae. I already have a small Sallie Mae loan with automatic payment from my bank. However, I never agreed to paying this other loan the same way. While they didn't just take the money from my account, they also did not send me any billing statements or payment books (not even through email).

Basically, 3 months passed, and Sallie Mae contacted me about being over 90 days delinquent on paying my student loan. I was livid, because I have great credit. It was completely irresponsible of them to never send me a notice or letter with payment options. One would assume that if you always got a statement in in the mail when the loan was with Citibank, that practice would continue when it is "bought" by another bank. I asked the person from Sallie Mae to send a payment book.

What did I get in the mail? Nothing! I just called to see when my payment is due. It's due in less than a week, yet I've received nothing in the mail. I'm totally disgusted.

I was a co-signer on a student loan 10/5/01 for $7,925.00 and instead of pursuing the primary debtor Sallie Mae intimated me into settling the debt. After going though my research for my upcoming Tax Court appearance, I have discovered Sallie Mae's aggressive collection techniques may have violated federal law and also fraudulently reported a 1099C three years after I settled the debt.

I have also found on the IRS website under Instructions for Forms 1099-A and 1099-C - Main Contents- Multiple Debtors: For debts incurred before 1995 and for debts of less than $10,000 incurred after 1994, you must file Form 1099-C only for the primary (or first-named) debtor. In addition, through my research I discovered that the student loans were forgiven due to the Chapter 7 case # 04-08579 filed by the school on October 1, 2004.

This has caused an ongoing IRS dispute since 2008 resulting to a Tax Court hearing January 30, 2012. I have incurred court fees, mailing fees, fax fees, and countless time to research and compile information to prove my case. This resulted in uncovering the fraudulent reporting of Sallie Mae's 1099C to reduce their tax liabilities as well as possible violations for collecting on a debt that was already settled or forgiven due to a Chapter 7 filed by the school.

Sallie Mae deserves no stars. They are by far the worst loan company in the history of loan companies. They do not care about you or anything except harassing you to give them money. They call me up to 5 times a day, telling me that my credit is being affected. Well, no! I owe them $40,000. Since the constant harassment for over 3 years and the depression that follows the ever lingering debt by this horrible company that refuses to help me out, I have decided that I would rather die than to give them a penny of my money. Sure, my credit score will be affected. Sure, I'll never be able to take out another loan, but I'm pretty sure I was ** since the moment I signed those papers.

I have done so much research, and to hear and read these horrible stories about how people get so far to paying it off, or think they pay it off and Sallie Mae grips their talons even harder and slaps them with a phony fee of some sort. This company is a life-ruiner, and I will not pay them. After the stuff they have said to me on the phone, I believe throwing my money into the wind is more beneficial than paying them. Take a loss of $40,000 Sallie Mae, you aren't getting a dime. I wish someone would file a class action lawsuit on these people for harassment.

They took an automatic withdrawal of $400.63 from my checking account to disburse to Brooklyn College CUNY. But they never submitted it to the college. The college ended up placing a BAR on my daughter's record until I sent an additional $500 to them immediately.

I woke up to a phone call from a collections agency that said my private student loan was a year overdue and delinquent. I was threatened with a lawsuit and told that "these things can't be ignored". I wasn't ignoring them, I hadn't heard from them in a long time. I explained my situation: in 2010, I had a psychotic episode while attending graduate school in Texas. I was first diagnosed as being Bi-polar with Psychotic systems and I was put on heavy medication that made me a zombie. When I went home for winter break, my mother was so alarmed that she decided I needed to see a psychiatrist. We finally found one and learned that I wasn't on the right medication. Six months went by. I was diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder, a form of Schizophrenia. I was unable to work, seeing a psychiatrist and a counselor, plus attending support group meetings at a local organization for people with disabilities. I tried returning to my old job, but I just couldn't function. So after about a month, I quit. I was able to collect SSI once a month for about $480.

When I talked to the man from the Collections agency, he reduced my payment but it was still beyond my means. I asked about a payment plan and he said there wasn't one available. If I didn't resolve the issue, they would present a lawsuit against me. Then he miraculously gave me a payment plan where I would pay down $2,300 and $200 a month. I can barely afford the $200, let alone manage to collect $2,300. My parents couldn't help. Their credit is shot. My mom was laid off from her job and having trouble collecting unemployment. My dad and sister were the only ones working up until recently when my mom was called back to work. They gave me until the 27th to have the money and set up an auto payment plan which I'm not very crazy about. I barely get any money as is and I owe for Federal Loans and for loans from Discover Student Loans. It is unrealistic for me to be able to pay back any of these at this point in my life.

The customer service was awful. I was treated like I was stupid. The man had no compassion whatsoever, and he ridiculed me for ignoring my responsibility to pay. I guess they'll just have to file a lawsuit against me. I really don't have the money, neither do my parents, and there is no one I can borrow from. They wouldn't gain much because I barely have any money, and I have no assets. I'm filled with concern over the whole thing. I am scared to call them back because they were rather hostile. I wish I had never taken a loan out with Sallie Mae. I'm learning that they are a crooked organization that mistreats people and lacks compassion.

After making my payment, and after that payment cleared, Sallie Mae still said my account was delinquent and that they would be filing my case with a collection agency. Despite my charge going through, they wouldn't recognize my payment until I called customer service and demanded that they fix it. "So you'll admit that Sallie Mae sent me a threatening letter in error?" I asked. "Please keep in mind that this call is being recorded and I cannot answer that question," the customer service representative responded.

I took out a loan with Sallie Mae in 2004 for technical school in the amount of $21,000. The school I went to turned out to be a joke and I could not get a job afterwards. Therefore, I could not pay Sallie Mae what they demanded and I did not have a means to begin paying until early 2006, at which point the loan went from $21,000 dollars to $31,000 because of all their interest and fees. I could never afford the monthly payment they wanted and I begged them several times to lower it. They always flatly refused and in fact went ahead and raised the payment yearly. Their due date has always been in the beginning of the month.

I've called over and over to have the due date changed as I couldn't pay in the beginning of the month due to my rent being due, but they flatly refuse so that they can continue to collect their late fees. I have recently lost my job and am expecting my very last paycheck in a few weeks. Last year I had $10,000 worth of unexpected expenses in my family and I had a baby. When I was initially behind 6 months ago, I called and tried to work something out with them, and they said that they could give me forbearance if I paid the two months I was already behind. If I had a way to do that, I wouldn't have been behind in the first place! They told me to find someone to borrow money from. As time went on I tried to make a payment here and there, but I can't catch up.

Now I have my last paycheck looming and they say I owe $1500. I called again and tried to work something out. They told me because of how many days the loan was late, they couldn't help me with the loan. It is always a new excuse with them. Then they transferred me to collections and they told me even though my income is now negative, I qualify for no programs. They told me to pay for 3 months and then 3 months from now call for a forbearance. That would make the balance owed just as high, and during forbearance they charge outrageous interest. So at the end of it, you end up owing them more and are in more of a mess. Then they told me to make half a payment now to buy me some time, but in 3 weeks I'll be in the same boat.

I am tired of being preyed on by this company. I want to pay my loan if they would just work with me, but they refuse to work with you and bully you. The last time I made a payment with them, they asked if the number I was calling from was my phone. I said no, but they continuously call the number anyway. Please, is there anyone who can help me? My credit is continuously taking hits because of these people. I make payments but the loan never goes down. I can't have a car or a house because of Sallie Mae.

Sallie Mae is purposefully delaying payments from posting in order to accumulate additional interest and force customers to incur late payment fees. If my grocery store on the corner is able to make an immediate withdrawal from my checking account at their register, surely Sallie Mae has the same capability for a payment transaction made on their website. If I make a payment today, it should post today! It is unconscionable. All those dollars made off all those delayed payments add up to a lot. Class action lawsuit anyone?

After dealing with a New Horizons Learning Center for almost a year (that's another story altogether) I had finally received a full refund. The payment was sent to Sallie Mae for $4200. At that time I had paid off some of the loan and owed around $3700. At first the school said they sent the check, but nothing changed on my Sallie Mae account. I checked and checked, nothing. The school sent me a copy of the cashed check and who it went to in Sallie Mae. I called Sallie Mae's customer service and told them about the issuepretty much useless. One person even told me that they didn't have an office in Delaware where the check had been sent to (also Sallie Mae's head office).

By doing some research on the internet, I found another Sallie Mae number (not listed on their website!) and was able to explain to someone my issue. 2 weeks later, an update was finally made to my account. However, even though I only owed $3700 and had paid over a year and a half of interest, and after the $4200 refund went thru, Sallie Mae said I still owed them $300! After calling the main customer support line, I was told by a "manager" that I didn't understand simple math, or how credit works and must pay them!

Again, I reached out to the number not listed on their website, and someone easily saw that when the refund payment had been entered, they only entered 2/3rds of it! The customer service is laughable at best, and for a "manager" to try and make me feel stupid when I was just trying to explain my situationunreal. Do not get a school loan thru them.

I made several late payments to Sallie Mae this year; these were quickly paid within a month including late fees. Ever since then, Sallie Mae has been randomly applying small late fees to my account in the middle of a billing cycle. There is no proper bill provided and no explanation given.

Whenever I contact Sallie Mae, they tell these payments are "partial late fees" from late fees applied from earlier billing periods. They provide no other explanation. I do not understand this, as I already paid late fees! They generally refuse to provide straight answers, and put more effort into obfuscation than transparency.

Whenever I have spoken to them, they assure me that the small "partial late fee" is the last late fee I will pay. So I make a payment. After it posts, another late fee pops up, again without explanation or a bill, and I receive the same convoluted and misleading answers from "customer" service.

Has anyway else had this experience? I refuse to make any more payments random late fees when my account has not had a late payment in over half a year (except of course my required monthly payments). So far, over a 3 month period, these random fees have totaled about $40. Not much, but over the life of the loan a big amount if it does not stop soon.

I took out three separate Sallie Mae loans from 2008 to 2009 in order to go to Physician Assistant school. Originally, I was provided a loan document stating that I would have to pay $568/month total for all three (even while in school) until 2013 then $1035/mo thereafter. About a month ago, I received a letter from Sallie Mae stating that my monthly loan payment has now changed to $1032/month starting January 2012. I was completely shocked. I just graduated and got a job. I have two other federal loans plus other debt.

I called Sallie Mae because they advertise that their plans are "customizable to meet the needs of their customers and can be lowered or adjusted on income." I was told that there was nothing that could be done for me. I explained to the customer rep that I can only afford the $568 that I had planned on paying for the next two years, that I want to be on time with my payments but would be impossible to do since they doubled by payments out of nowhere. This company provides no assistance or customer service. I feel that they want you to go into default so that they can charge late fees and ruin your credit. Here, I am telling them that I want to responsibly pay my debts off but am asking for lower payments (which they would profit from more in the long run besides!) or a longer loan period and the only answer I got was, "There is nothing we can do for you. You'll just have to be late with your payments."

I applied for Income-Based Repayment on the student loans that had come due. I called twice over the next two weeks to ask if my application had been processed. Both times, I was told, "Not yet." I received a letter 16 days later threatening collection action, as my loans had not been paid. I called again and was told that I needed to apply for forbearance to avoid the collection, so I did. I called two weeks later to check on the application, and was told that a hold had been put on the application processing, since it was within a window of 45 days until the next loans would come due. I was told to call back in one week to request that those loans be included in the processing.

I called back one week later and was told that my application had been denied because I had not filed taxes the previous year. I explained that I had not filed taxed due to insufficient income, and that I had been instructed by Sallie Mae to write a letter explaining this and include it with the application, which I had done. Then I was told that my application had been denied since I had not included proof of my income. I explained that I had been unemployed for several months at the time of completing the application, and that I had made that clear on my application. I have been told that my options are to start completely over with the application, or to call back in two weeks.

The consequence is that my Income Based Repayment period is not starting due to stalling by Sallie Mae. My loans are coming due, and I am facing the threat of collection action each time since my forbearance period is now over. Furthermore, none of these events are communicated to me by Sallie Mae. I find out what they are doing with my application only when I make calls. I am needing to make calls every one to two weeks, and each call lasts at least thirty minutes. Each time I call, I am told information that conflicts with what I have been told in the past.

I filed for bankruptcy this year, which was discharged in October 2011. I was advised by my attorney to contact Sallie Mae to resume payments. I called Sallie Mae, and was told by the CSR that my loan was in bankruptcy status, and that I did not need to make a payment until 2012. Two months later, in December, I received a late payment notice, and a $42 fee from them, because I failed to pay November's payment. I contacted Sallie Mae again, and told them the situation.

I spoke with Randall this time, who advised me he would waive the late fee, and to make my payment online on December 28. I did so on December 28, as I was told (again), and I find that the Sallie Mae website won't process it for two days, which means another late fee. This is just one example of many times I have been misinformed by Sallie Mae representatives, where I have to pay the price. I believe their business tactics are crooked, to say the least, and their staff is poorly trained and clueless. I cannot wait until this loan is paid off, and I will continue to tell everyone I know, "do not get a ;pan via Sallie Mae!" I have to pay another late fee, due to their misinformation.

A few days ago, I called Sallie Mae to tell them that I will be sending them a check for $126.01, because a family member had agreed to help me out. I initially spoke with someone who was somewhat respectful and understanding, but he transferred me to a "supervisor," who proceeded to rudely harass and antagonize me until I finally hung up on him.

I told this "supervisor" that they would be receiving a check, but he insisted that I provide them with my bank account number or the bank account number of the family member who was helping me. I told the supervisor that this was not an option. After he continued to persist, I told him that I wanted to speak to someone else or that I would hang up the phone. He said that I wasn't going to speak to anyone else, so I hung up on him.

This was simply another case of a bad person being employed by a bad company. Sallie Mae has no sympathy for it's customers just like this employee had no sympathy or respect for me. I wish something would be done about Sallie Mae, because it is an evil, evil business full of evil, evil people.

I had several student loans from Sallie Mae over ten years ago. Now, small amounts, a few thousand dollars between them all. I defaulted on these loans ten years ago, never paid them, Sallie Mae continually updates and renews the loans years after I received the loans showing that I had made payments which I never have. This action done by Sallie Mae.

This action done by Sallie Mae renews the loans and prolongs the statue of limitations and keeps these negative accounts on my credit report for over ten years. Now, when the statue of limitations says it can be there no longer than seven years. These loans from ten years ago still are affecting my credit and showing a later date of delinquency. As a result, they are still on my credit report even after ten years when the statue of limitations says they can report no more than seven. I have disputed this with credit bureaus with no help.

My son is in the navy training camp right now, in IL. Sallie Mae will not let me (his mother) put him in forbearance and pay this till he is able to pay his loan. All they said was fine we will put him in collections. I just sat and thought about how a person or company can treat another person like this, when he is trying to do something good. Sallie Mae is not treating people fairly. They use the power over giving bad credit rating as a tool. My son is trying to serve his country. Is this how the young men get encouraged to help out their country? What is wrong with people? The person who called me today was very rude and with a no care attitude. I know I am not the only parent seeing this.

I am currently unemployed. I have been writing to Sallie Mae multiple times since the beginning of September to request a deferment/forebearance form. However, the company refuses to provide me with this form. I can not make any payments on my loan right now. I do not want my loan to default because this company is too lazy to send me the form that I need. This is not the first time I've had a problem with Sallie Mae. I usually have to write them 5 or 6 times before they will even respond to my letters.

After completing my PhD in Education, I lost my job due to a lack of enrollment at a local college. I have been paying on two Sallie Mae Excel Graduate loans since graduating in February. I missed a payment in September and the phone calls started then. One day, a person would call and I would explain that I was unemployed and they would be nice. The next day, someone would call and rudely tell me to go work at McDonald's, rake leaves, etc. I have told them repeatedly that I would make payments as I could; but seeing how they wouldn't allow me to go into forbearance until after I lost my job and missed a payment and then they wanted $150 to file that forbearance - there was nothing I could do.

I made a partial payment in October, November, and now, yesterday. They called me 2-4 times a week; one time being nice - next being rude. The straw was this evening when Kimberly called me and informed me that they were not accepting my $50 payment due to it was not the $700 I was in arrears (they applied it to my accounts). She informed me that I was going into default and they've been threatening this for two months and my credit score would go down. Why is it that Sallie Mae will not work with me and yet the Federal loans are all in IBR and are within my means to pay?

I have asked Sallie Mae repeatedly to lower my payments or to work with me. I have also now told them that being able to pay my house payment is more important than making the full $300 payment to them. I received harassing phone calls, threatening lawsuits, threatening to send to collections/credit bureau, refusing to take payments and yet taking them anyhow via their online site.

I have a 100% service connected disability which was confirmed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. As such, my federally insured student loans were forgiven by the Dept. of Education in 2009. Just this week, Sallie Mae placed a $120+ late pay on my Equifax credit report on a loan that was paid by the Dept. of Education over two years ago.

Sallie Mae's action caused my credit score to drop significantly which in turn raised the cost of borrowing money for an auto loan I am considering as well as my credit cards. I have contacted the Dept. of Education since they paid off the loans in 2009 and expect the late pay to be removed but I would suggest everyone that has had a bad experience with Sallie Mae tell 10 of their friends and family members about their experience. Sallie Mae, in my mind, is evil at the core. I am considering a law suit against Sallie Mae if that is what it takes to clear the late pay. I see no reason to suffer seven years of adverse credit responses because of their incompetence.

I've been out of work for 12 months. I was able to get my federal loans into forbearance, and was hoping to work something out with Sallie Mae. However, since they are a private loan company (as the rude call rep repeatedly reminded me), there is nothing they can do to help me out, besides lower my payment by a whopping $25. I was also asked repeatedly, whether I was even trying to find work. Their customer service reps mirror their company policies: rude, and lacking any shred of compassion.

In 2006, I co-signed for my daughter to take a course at Johns Hopkin University. The loan was $10,000.00. In 2011, we still owed $10,000.00 so we decided to pay it off. No money was going to the principle and the loan was not getting smaller. On July 23, 2011, we sent two checks to Sallie Mae which totaled the balance of the loan. They began to call 3 and 4 times a day harassing us saying we still owed the money.

No one could tell me where the payment went. It took until November of 2011 to find out through our bank who traced the checks to find out that the money went to Great Lakes to pay another loan which my daughter had which was not due until she had finished a course of study at an on-line school. That money was not due and I had not co-signed for it. The account number for the co-signed loan was on both checks.

I am not rating this experience because it has been less than worthy of even a half star rating. Let me further explain...

I entered into college in August of 2005. My parents are a less than attractive candidates for co-signing or paying for my tuition, I had to find alternatives. I was eighteen, of course my credit was nonexistent. Anyways, I was led to Sallie Mae, who sounded as though they would take anyone. I had to obtain a co-signer for my first few loans and build personal credit on my own. The school I attended was rather pricey but the reputation was well worth the struggle. Besides, it was portrayed by every source that college would land me the better job and life I always wanted for myself and those around me. So I took out the loans.

Now, graduated, I find that I must repay these loans six months after graduation, which I find unfair due to both the unemployment rate as well as our country's current economic status, but I digress. So May, I graduated and I landed a mediocre job in July. After settling down in the position and figuring out my income I decided to call Sallie Mae and find out what my payments would be come December. I spoke to a nice lady who informed of their payment structure. She explained that each loan I took out, totaling 6 (when I built my credit up, I started to take out loans per semester) would have a separate interest rate and those rates and loans would have their individual monthly payment and all those individual payments would be added for a total monthly payment.

Now, I have a problem with this, but it gets much better. The total in mid-August was $865/month. It is now December. I called last month to put my loans into forbearance, because I am now at a part-time position and knew in August that $865 in addition to my federal loans was not manageable. They proceeded to tell me my loans are now $1,200/month (roughly). However, after putting them into forbearance, they informed me that my next payment is in three months, due to economic hardship. I paid $150 to put them into forbearance (which did not go towards my loans, it was more of a penalty to put them in that state) and my returning payment in March would be $2,000!

I know I am the one who chose Sallie Mae, however I am just a middle-class student who had no way of going to school on anyone's dollar. Sure, I regret the fact that I did not choose community college then proceed to a university but still I stand by my decision of trying to better myself despite my family's less fortunate state. My parents do well to hold a roof over my head and even live comfortably, but despite that lifestyle, I wanted to be able to provide for my family like they did for me. Having nice Christmases despite any troubles that may arise (which there was always something with a car, house anything that became costly to my parents around the holidays) they still tried and gave us a nice holiday, but I wanted to try and strive for less struggle. I wanted to be able to provide even for my parents, not a new home or car, but maybe a vacation or new appliances as a thank you. Now I am thanking them with the probable lifestyle of having me as an expense in their home (which they are very understanding and can provide) for the next umpteen years.

Sallie Mae has ruined any future I can have as a result of my degree, yet the only thing they can't take from me is the degree. With the unemployment and state of our economy my chance at any job is harsh, not enough experience, too much experience and the chance of living, just living would require $40,000 a year. Yeah, unfortunately for me, I also had to work during college to commute there.

I guess my point is more or less, don't use them and if you're a parent, please do whatever you can to steer your children in the right direction where they can live after college. I am not saying pay for them, because I know it's hard, but research your options and their options before making a decision. I hear a lot of good things about Nelnet. My parents did all they could for me but being the oldest, they were desperate and I appreciate all they did to find me a way. I just am very disappointed that Sallie Mae took advantage and will continue to do so to me, my family and future students.

I was contacted from Sallie Mae saying that they were trying to contact me, so I said for what? They said because I owe them money. I said, "No, I do not. I don't even have a loan with you." They then said that they obtained my loan and that it was in repayment. I said how I am still in school full-time and have a 3.8 GPA. They then said I wasn't in the clearing house. I said. "What clearing house? They said a database that indicates if students are in school full-time.

I contacted my school, they informed me I was in the database, that it was Sallie Mae, that they would give the sealed forms to send them months later and my bill is still in repayment instead of in-school deferment. They constantly call me saying I owe all hours of day starting every hour on the hour. I want it to end and I want another loan company to take my loans.

Help! No one in customer service will help get this loan in an in-school deferment. It's as if they want me to pay my loan and go to school. I haven't even graduated. Sorry for typos, etc. I am tired!

Where do I even begin? I have a 3 years of college loans with SM and 1 semester of law school loans as well. My government loans are totaling roughly 51K and an additional 70K in private loans. Ultimately, when your undergraduate education costs $30k/year, this is what I have been faced with. I graduated in 2007 and quickly faced the realities of the economy in the fall of 2008. I have consolidated the government loans but they have informed me my private loans are not eligible for consolidation.

For two years, I have paid $432/month without missing a single payment. For my law schools loans, I am making another payment of $348/month. Needless to say, it is very difficult to make payments of nearly $800/month. In October, I sent in my 1040 and Nelnet loans information to reapply for the income based repayment for 2011-2012. On October 14th, I received email confirmation that my form had been received and would be processed. This never happened and on November 24th, I began to receive phone calls that I was delinquent on my payments. This evening at 10:15 pm Eastern, I received a phone call informing me I was delinquent in my payments and they want $103 today. I had to inform them that I am still waiting for my income based repayment plan to update my monthly dues. She obviously had no clue of this. She offered me a solution of 1% interest only payments which would be $435 on my private loans. Then I would have to pay my government loans, which could be in the range of $250-$350/month plus the $348 I am paying to Nelnet.

How does anyone expect to afford these payments unless they live rent/mortgage free? The woman's response to my situation was "nobody forced you to take out these loans for education. At some point you need to hold your own responsibility." She proceeded to tell me she doesn't have a college education and speaks very well. I suppose this is considered successful in today's society, debt free and can speak well. If I could go back 8 years I would obviously do things differently.

I filed for a discharge of my student loans due to total and permanent disability several years ago. Recently, I filed for a VA loan to fix my home and I was denied because my student loan was in default. I was told that the loan was discharged and I also never received any letters or calls to indicate that there was a problem and I was in default. I spoke with Steve *** at the Default Resolution Group 800-xxx-xxxx and he told me that there was a company that was contracted with to handle the discharges and that that company was not performing correctly and they were let go.

During that process, my paperwork was lost and my discharge was never completed. They do have all the calls documented. I just spoke with a supervisor, Roger ***, at the same number to try to get this problem fixed and he said there was nothing I could do to expedite the process and get my credit cleared. He did not even apologize that it was their fault all this happened and now I can't get a loan to fix my home. I understand that I now have to fill out the paperwork again but they should at least remove me from default status so I can get my home loan. An apology for causing me all this grief would be nice too. They've really messed things up. My home is in need of repairs and now I can't get a loan because of this.

In 2007, I had began to make payments on my account via automatic draft. Due to the economy, I could only afford to pay the interest. I had gotten some bills paid over the years and wanted to raise the amount to which I had been paid to hit the principal so I started contacting Sallie Mae inquiring how to do this. Starting in the summer of 2010, I have talked to at least six reps and two supervisors telling me I would be able to do that over the phone. I put the request in and they apologized each time and said it would post on the next account.

Each time my payment would post, nothing would happen. So I began emailing them through there website. I have shot them several emails for the past four months and have yet to even get a response. Well, my payment finally went up $30, even though I requested a different amount. It was at least something to push toward my loan. Well, two payments have gone through and nothing has been applied towards my principal loan balance. I have now contacted them by phone eight times and have been disconnected each time.

I am a co-signer for an individual whose account is in good standing. Regardless of this, I received automatic calls from (877) 905-4527 at least ten times per day. I have tried on three different occasions to contact Sallie Mae and have asked them to remove my number from the automatic call list and on these three occasions, I was told that there should be no reason why I am receiving these calls and that the calls would stop. On two separate occasions, I was told that it would be corrected by supervisors named Kerry and Brandon; it has not.

My last call prior to filing this complaint was today at 4:50 PM. I was told by a representative named Amanda that she would read through the notes on my account which required putting me on hold. After waiting ten minutes, I re-dialed the number and discovered that the office had closed for the evening. Is this their idea of good customer service?

I am tired of receiving harassing phone calls for no reason. I own a business that requires focus and these calls are extremely disruptive. Any suggestions?

Absolutely, the worst company for any student loans. All they want is to collect late fees and deferment fees.

I curse the day Sallie Mae bought my Chase loans. I called today to have the amount auto-deducted from my account raised, so I could pay off my loan sooner. After trying every option pre-recorded, nothing suited me. So I pressed "0000" to get an operator. It then told me I would be charged $15 to pay over the phone. No. So I went back to the main menu, and started over. I finally was able to press "0000000000", to get an operator. Let me mention here, every time I was on hold, there was dead silence.

I couldn't decide if my call had been dropped, or if I was still waiting. Anyway, I finally got a live person. Her first language was clearly not English. She told me the new amount would show up on my next bill, but she also said something about it having to be approved. I asked her, "So does this have to go through an approval process, or will it just show up on my next bill? " Her answer: "yes". I told her I had just asked two separate questions. Again, she said "yes". So I asked again, and she started reading a canned response, about the best was to contact me. I called her on it and said she was just reading queues and not answering my questions. Silence.

I asked to be transferred to someone who could better help me (a.k.a., knew English). I got another person, her supervisor, different nationality, but still, English was second language. At first, I thought she knew what I was asking, but then I asked her about this "approval" to pay more. Shouldn't they jump at this? She just kept repeating that she couldn't tell me the exact amount today over the phone. But "I am telling you the exact amount!" I wanted to scream. Alright, whatever. I dropped it.

So then I asked if the extra I am paying will go to principal, and not interest. I didn't get a straight answer. I think she understands less than I do about loans. She said I have to pay interest first. I told her that if the money goes to principal, my interest will decrease, therefore, I don't want to pay more than I have to. She said I would pay it off sooner. Oh really? Is that what happens when you increase your monthly payments? She didn't get it. I just gave up at that point. We will see what happens on my next bill. I want this applied to my principal! I was on the phone for about 20 minutes. With Chase, this would have taken me 2 minutes. I miss them. Sallie Mae sucks.

I received a "welcome letter" from Sallie Mae in late September stating that my Citibank loan would now be handled by Sallie Mae. I had autopay set up with Citibank, and the October payment had already gone out, so I called them up to ask how that would be handled. I was told it wouldn't be an issue, and that it would be transferred over and just to start with payments to Sallie Mae the following month.

Well, life gets busy and time rolls around to when I would have paid Citibank when I realize, we have never gotten any additional correspondence from Sallie Mae like where to send a payment, due date, etc. I called them up, and sure enough, my account was now 5 days delinquent. It turned out that they sent the statement to an email address that I no longer use.

I was told it was no big deal, since it had just transferred to them, and they allow 90 days for such incidence before reporting them. I was also told that I could go online to make a payment or mail it to them, and then I could also set up auto payments with them online. I chose to make an online payment. It processed, but then when I tried to set up auto pay, it told me my account was still delinquent. I thought, "Ok, I need to give it a couple hours."

Again, life is busy, and I forgot about it until two days later. I went back to set it up, and it was still showing as delinquent. I check my bank account, and the money was withdrawn the day before. So I called Sallie Mae again. I was told, "it can take up to a week after a payment is processed to post to the account." I can understand that if I mailed a check to them. But I processed it online. It really takes a week to link them up from an online payment? So frustrated and it's only been 2 months since I first heard of them.

I took out my first Sallie Mae (SM) loan around 2005/ 2006. I believe I have 4 loans total with SM (all of which are private). When I first took out a loan with Sallie Mae, I asked if I would be able to consolidate my SM loans with my federal loans. SM's reply was yes. When I eventually consolidated my loans, SM would not release my loans. I now have three different lenders as I continued my education after consolidation.

I have since completed my M.S. degree and was told that I lost my grace period. My first payment was due 2 weeks after I completed my program. This is beyond ridiculous. Every time I call Sallie Mae, I am told something completely different than what the first person told me. I called in October to apply for an economic hardship. However, I was told this service did not apply to private loans. I then asked about forbearance because I had one loan that was past due according to their records, two in deferment, and one in a grace period. The first person told me that I could apply for forbearance. He then gave me contradictory information about applying for forbearance. So, I asked to talk to a supervisor. I had to talk to two supervisors who told me that I didn't qualify for forbearance. I have over $40K in SM loans, I work part-time, and I am a single mother. I then called back, spoke to someone else, and qualified for forbearance.

When I called back a few weeks later after receiving a bill for over $800 for past due loans, I was told that all my loans were past due. I called another time, and was told completely different than what I just reported. Why can't SM get their act straight? I cannot afford to pay back my loans right now, let alone pay for SMs monetary mistakes. As I read everyone else posts, I can see that I am not the only who has issues. I also never received notice that I could not consolidate my SM loans with my federal. Something needs to be done about this. It is apparent SM has major issues with service, professionalism, and everything else. I also stated, "I guess I have to make a choice between feeding my family and paying back my loans?" The representative said pretty much. What kind is customer service is that? I also would not put 1 star, but had to!

I took a loan out last year then switched schools and called Sallie Mae. Depending on who you speak with, you get different responses. They never explained that I had to take out a new loan to switch schools. I logged in and made my monthly payment on time but they never explained I now had two separate monthly payments but only one showed up on my account to pay.

This year, I am trying to get a loan and Sallie Mae has reported me as being late for $75 and it is not allowing me or my co-signor to get another loan even though we rectified this confusion a long ago. They would call my co-signor and threaten legal action and say she was going to lose her house, etc. all for $75.00. Today, a gentleman called her telling her she did not qualify to be a co-signor. She has well over $500,000 in assets plus stocks, bonds, savings, etc. and when she tried to explain this to the man, he kept cutting her off saying, "I don't care about that" and he ended up hanging up on her.

We are writing you to request your help in securing our money back from Sallie Mae. While the amount may seem trivial ($2,000.00), this event has hit us during extreme financial hardship and what Sallie Mae has done is just plain wrong. Sallie Mae applied our $2,000.00 payment to the wrong account. The department handling the account is incredibly rude and Sallie Mae refuses to correct their error and has simply kept our money. Despite this, we continue to make monthly payments against the subject loan.

Recently, Sallie Mae has been making harassing phone calls stating our payment is late, even though I have proof from my bank that the payment was made. I associate Sallie Mae with the U.S. Government (inferring trust), but have recently learned that Sallie Mae was privatized in 2004. Clearly, they are operating unchecked, destroying hundreds of people's credit, making harassing phone calls and threats, and simply and illegally taking money. I am shocked and alarmed to find literally hundreds of complaints with Consumer Affairs about Sallie Mae with very similar situations to mine (see attached). Please take action to stop this abuse by Sallie Mae. You are our last hope.

The background for this issue follows: Louis ** secured a career training loan from Sallie Mae in January 2005 in the amount of $15,000.00. Edward ** (brother of Louis **) co-signed for the loan. At some point, Louis ** quit making payments to pay-off the loan and could not be contacted (his location is still not known). Thus, Sallie Mae pursued payment from Edward **. A $2,000.00, payment was made to Sallie Mae in the fall of 2009. Sallie Mae applied the payment to the wrong account, even though the correct account was noted on the check.

Sallie Mae refuses to correct their mistake and apply the loan to the correct account. We are asking your assistance in getting the $2,000.00 back or getting the payment applied to the correct account. We are also asking that Sallie Mae reimburse or adjust the correct loan account for any interest or late fees applied to the account as a result of this mistake. Details associated with this issue are below.

A phone call was received around July 16, 2009 stating that payment by Louis ** against loan ** was late. No additional information could be obtained on the account (e.g., account history, other loans secured by Louis **). Sallie Mae cites privacy act as rationale. A payment of $838.70 was immediately made to bring account to date. Sallie Mae verbally indicated the balance was around $3,000.00. We were unable to contact Louis **, although we tried using all available means (phone numbers on record, mail to address on record, etc.).

In November 2009, we were told that a new account had to be set up for Edward ** attached to the loan that was co-signed (account number **) to allow the co-signer to obtain information and to make payment. That account number was given as **. Dennis ** (brother-in-law of Edward and Louis **) then paid an additional $2,000.00 on Edward **'s behalf, citing the given account number on the check. However, Sallie Mae applied the payment to other loan accounts that Louis ** had evidently taken out, but that were not co-signed by Edward **. Since the $2,838.70 in payments was close to the $3,000.00 originally indicated as being outstanding, and because we did not know if Louis ** had made additional payments, we assumed that the loan was paid-off in full or nearly paid-off. No statements indicating the status of the account (amount billed, balance owed, etc.) are provided to the co-signer by Sallie Mae, even in this circumstance where loan default is an issue.

From November 2009 through December 2010, no communication was received from Sallie Mae. And Sallie Mae was unable to provide copies of any such communication. In January 2011, a payment demand notification dated January 21, 2011 was received in late January, threatening court action and garnishment of wages. No other communication was received from Sallie Mae notifying Edward ** that there was an issue with the account. In February 2011, Sallie Mae was contacted immediately after receiving the letter to arrange for payment. We spoke with Ian ** from Sallie Mae's collection agency. Back payments totaling $401.23 were immediately made on February 1, 2011 to bring the account current. Ian ** would not provide any explanation as to how the $401.23 in back payments were calculated, or how the principal balance of $2,561.58 was derived. But he did state he would remove late charges associated with the payment.

An account history was ordered from Sallie Mae on February 1, 2011. The account history indicates that the $2,000.00 payment made in November 2009 to pay down the balance of account ** was not applied. This resulted not only in an inflated balance owed, but also resulted in accrued late payments and interest that should not have been applied. In addition, a $100.00 late payment was charged regardless that Ian ** indicated that this would be removed. In March 2011, Valerie **, spouse of Edward **, spoke with Christopher (identifying number **) of Sallie Mae's collection agency to resolve the issue.

Christopher indicated the following: (1) Citing company policy, Sallie Mae will not reconcile the account as the payment is older than 6 months; (2) Sallie Mae will not provide copies of any communication reportedly sent to us; and (3) while the records indicated that Ian ** had agreed to remove the late payment charges, he would have to call us separately on this issue.

No star would be best or a negative would do. You simply cannot work with this company. I co-signed on a loan for my son. Being a single mother and wanting my son to attend college, it was the only way we could do it. What a mistake! My son took a semester off and volunteered in another country to help them with a project in his field of study. Well, because he did not graduate in 4 years exactly, Sallie Mae is wanting the payment in full.

They are contacting my son 20 times a day when he is in his last year of school and working three jobs. When they cannot harass him, they call me and harass me at work. Each time, you speak with someone different and are given different amounts that you are owed. You send a payment and they don't apply it correctly. They asked for an amount to stop the calls but do not stop the calls. They are loan sharks and do not care how they get their money or by what means. Who is going to stop this? We are willing to pay back what is owed, but I simply do not trust sending any money to these people.

I have never taken out a loan with Sallie Mae nor will I even consider it. My fiance took out a loan from them about a year before we met (6 years ago). They have started calling my phone threatening me early in the morning. I have explained to them that this is not his number but they can call his, since it's in their records and all.

From what I understood, the lady's name is Wynita. Well, Wynita was told not to call my fiance's work by my fiance; therefore she is not allowed to call there anymore, although she tried threatening this. She yelled at me the entire time without reason. I tried to calmly explain to her, in a pleasant tone, that he works 6 days a week and when he has time to deal with her phone calls I will make sure he does so.

I doubt she heard that because she yelled the entire time. There needs to be a number to call or email to send complaints about certain reps to. Harassing people that are not involved in their scheme is terrible. Luckily, I laugh at idiots, it didn't have an impact on my day what-so-ever. Thank you Sallie Mae, I will bash you to everyone I know just because your customer service is so disgusting and I will do it with a huge smile on my face.

I have been using Sallie Mae for about a year and a half now and am just starting to realize how terrible my situation has become. Every year, I have to re-apply for a loan for school instead of adding on to the previous ones, the way the government loans do. I started noticing that my payments seemed quite high despite the fact that I opted in on the Smart Option Student Loan thing. I work as a server 6 nights a week and go to school full-time. They require me to pay $100 a month right now which is already ridiculous. I pay for each loan separately every month and there is nothing you can do about it. They don't offer consolidation and I don't know what else to do. I barely make anything and if I am already paying them $100 a month in school, I am terrified about how much I will have to pay when I graduate. It just isn't right and I feel like there is simply no one I can turn to.

I can hardly make repayments and now I am considering dropping out of school altogether, simply because, I don't know what else to do and it just seems like there is no one to turn to and no one to help.

As a single mother in nursing school with no family contribution, I took out student loans. I did very well in college, consolidated all of my loans in 2006 with Sallie Mae and went on to a master's program. My large Sallie Mae loan was supposed to be deferred while I was in school from 9/2007 to 9/2009. I began seeking employment in 6/2009 and quickly realized there were no jobs for new graduates during the recession. In 11/2009, I submitted an economic hardship deferment request to Sallie Mae and all of my graduate school lenders as well. I continued to diligently seek employment from 6/2009-2/2011, at which time I decided to go to medical school since I could not get a job as a new graduate advanced nurse practitioner.

In 8/2010, I received a letter from Sallie Mae stating that my loan had defaulted. I did not receive any correspondence from them until this notice and it was already too late. I immediately called Sallie Mae and discovered that they had in their computer system that I graduated from my master's program in 6/2009, but I did not graduate until 9/2009. The customer service rep I spoke with said that if I can submit proof of my actual graduation date, then Sallie Mae would repurchase the loan and clear the default from my record. I promptly had my school submit proof of my graduation date to Sallie Mae. After verifying the documentation was received by Sallie Mae, the rep told me my loan needed to be reviewed prior to repurchase. This took many months and ultimately ended in a denial with no legitimate reason. They still have not updated the computer showing my actual graduation date.

Additionally, they said they never received my request for the economic hardship deferment, which I have a copy of. I believe that my loan was in deferment, then suddenly it defaulted due to Sallie Mae's error with my graduation date. During the many months of debating and submitting appeals to Sallie Mae and the guarantor, the defaulted loan has gone to collections and my life is essentially in ruins because of it.

Sallie Mae holds two private loans that I had to take out when finishing my doctorate degree. I graduated in Feb. of 2011 and made two payments on one loan and then lost my job. The 2nd loan came due during the past 60 days. Sallie Mae has refused to work with me in getting a financial hardship forbearance. On 2 different phone calls, they refused my offering to send in what I could and said it wouldn't make a difference, I'd be in default. Then another phone call and a rep said I could pay whatever I could. The cosigner on the loans is my husband, who is now disabled and receives Social Security. I want to work with them to get this taken care of, but they insist to do anything. I would have to bring both loans up to date and then seek a forbearance and pay the $50 feel for both loans.

For the past several months, I have been attempting to work with the Customer service representatives at Sallie Mae regarding my Private Student Loans taken out in July 2005. During these past few months, I have contacted Sallie Mae ten different times to assist with an error on my account that was caused by the customer service department. To date, my account has not been corrected and returned to a manageable status.

From the start of my loan repayment term a year and a half ago, I have been an outstanding customer with no late payments. Payments for both private student loans were auto debited from my checking account on the first of each month for over a year with no issues. On August 11, 2011, I received an email correspondence indicating that I had a new student loan document waiting for me to review. After reviewing the memo sent from Sallie Mae, I immediately contacted the customer service department to inquire about my loan accounts. The following is a summary of what occurred.

I contacted Sallie Mae customer service on August 11, 2011 due to the fact that I received a notification from them indicating that a forbearance that I requested had been approved. I knew this must be a mistake since I had never contacted Sallie Mae in the entire year and a half that I had been repaying my student loans. When I contacted the customer service representative, he indicated that they received a call from me (the week before) with a request for forbearance on my loans. I proceeded to explain to him that it could not have possibly been me who contacted them since I clearly had not and asked that he research a little further to find out what had happened.

After several minutes of waiting on hold and several questions from me to assist him in his troubleshooting abilities, we finally discovered that one of my student loans had a co-signer on it which happens to be my aunt. After several more questions from me on how or why my aunt would call in to Sallie Mae concerning my account, it was discovered that my mother was actually the one who initially called Sallie Mae and requested the forbearance on her private loan. Further research into my account revealed that since my mother and my aunt had once shared the same California address, the representative who worked with my mother confused her student loan with mine. I was shocked as to how something like this could happen. The only similarity between our loans are the address of my co-signer, not the name, social security number or date of birth. This brought up another question.

When I called the customer service center to inquire on my loan, I was required to put in an account number or my social security number and date of birth. How was my mother's loan ever confused with mine when we have completely different addresses, social security numbers and date of births? This is a very serious privacy and security error on Sallie Mae's part. There should have been increased security questions and protocol to prevent this type of mistake. This mistake by Sallie Mae caused my student loans to be taken off of automatic payment deductions through my bank and my website loan management to be shut off. When I asked the representative if I could have my loans reinstated through auto deduction, the representative indicated that they would take care of it immediately and my account would be back to normal. The representative told me to go ahead and send in payments for both loans through the mail this month and that the next month, my bank account should be auto debited for the remaining monthly payments.

On September 5th, I checked my bank account to see if my September payment was deducted. It had not been taken out. I proceeded to call customer service again to find out what happened. After looking at my account, the representative indicated that my loan was now on hold due to the fact that I had filed bankruptcy. Shocked, I proceeded to explain to her that she must have the wrong account because I had not filed bankruptcy nor had I requested the original forbearance that caused this entire mix-up to begin with. One thing that I would like to point out is that during this entire time, I never received any correspondence from Sallie Mae indicating changes to my student loans.

At this point, I was beginning to think that something was very wrong with Sallie Mae's customer service department. After one hour on the phone, two representatives and a manager later, it was discovered that my aunt in California, who was a co-signer on the loan, had filed for bankruptcy during the month of August which I was unaware of. The manager proceeded to explain to me that due to the fact that my aunt was a co-signer on my first private loan, this affected my entire account. When I asked how my aunt's financial incompetence could affect my loan's good standings, the manager indicated that it did not matter that I was an outstanding customer or that I personally had not filed bankruptcy nor that I was willing to keep my loan payments going to remain in good standing. My account was inaccessible.

Frustrated by the entire situation, I asked the manager to give me a payoff quote for the first student loan that my aunt had been a co-signer on. I also inquired that if I was to pay off that one student loan that was attached to my aunt, would my remaining loan be put back to good standing? The manager indicated that yes, my remaining loan would be put back to good standing and I would also be able to re-enroll for the auto debit program. Wanting nothing to do with my aunt's poor financial management, I decided to pay off the entire loan amount that was connected to her. On October 14th, my payment was deposited into Sallie Mae's bank account. I waited one week after the funds were deducted to contact the customer service department again and inquire if my account had been cleared. I also wanted to see if my website privileges had been re-instated.

After looking at my account, the customer service manager told me that everything looked in order on her end and asked me to try to access the Sallie Mae's website during the weekend to see if I had the ability to. After trying several times unsuccessfully, I contacted customer service again to find out why I was not able to log on to the website. Upon researching my account, the representative indicated that I would now have to wait 30 days after my payment was posted for the account to close and release the history associated with the loan. With so many options to choose from when deciding on student loan funding, I am amazed that such a large loan servicing company has proven to be so incompetent.

As a good standing customer, my first inquiry should have been sent to a higher priority department to handle and should have been resolved immediately. Instead, it was up to me to debate with the customer service representatives and self-investigate what happened on my account. I will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and several loan consumer advocacy groups in the hopes that others will not have to undergo the same frustrations I have had endure.

I've had nothing but a hard time when dealing with Sallie Mae. As I read in other comments, they never seem to give me the correct amount that is owed and when I pay extra the funds are never applied correctly. To top it off, I'm paying on a loan where the school closed before I was able to finish. Doesn't that result in some type of breach of contract? Not for Sallie Mae. So, now I am stuck paying $10,000.00 for an education I never received. I am so sorry I ever got into this mess.

I took out a Heal loan while going to school through a bank. Sallie **** bought my loan and the nightmare began. I borrowed around $9,000. I have been making payments of $100-$250 per month since around 1998. The interest rate on my loan has fluctuated between 4.25% to almost 8%. My minimum payment has fluctuated between $35 to $50 per month. Each time I send in a payment, I would ask if any amount I payed over the regularly scheduled payment would be applied directly toward the principal balance. I would write this on the check, on the payment slip and on an enclosed note.

Not one time did they applied the payment correctly. They would just move my next payment due date further into the future. Every month I would have to call and argue with someone who kept telling me that it wouldn't make any difference in the amount I paid at the end or when my loan got paid off. After years of this ridiculous hassle, I gave up. I continued to send in extra payments with notes, but became so stressed out fighting that I stopped calling. I just want the thing paid off.

Despite following Sallie Mae's instructions every month since June 2010 for extra payments that I want applied toward principal and not to advance the due date, I have to call or write them to correct their error because they continually advance my due date, thus pre-charging me interest instead of applying all extra payment toward the principal. Yes, they correct the error (at least I think) after I spend a lot of time on the phone and emailing them. However, I believe that five months of the same error is no longer incompetence but a deliberate act.

Please investigate and see if other consumers who are trying to apply extra payments toward principal are having the same experience. I believe this may be a pattern of unscrupulous behavior on Sallie Mae's part.

Like everyone else, I only put one star because you had to put at least one. Otherwise, I would give them negative. When I found this website and read through the comments, I found that my experiences with Sallie Mae sound exactly like everyone else's. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but you make a payment agreement with them. Like clockwork, in 3 months you get calls every day from different reps not only telling you that you are behind when you're not, but by different amounts. I had one say in a hateful way, "Where did you get that figure from?" I asked her if she thought I made it up or pulled the number out of the air.

You make the new payments and 3 months later, you start getting calls again. I find out later, each time, that they have messed up, which you knew anyway. But they say they can't fix it or perhaps they can if you send more money! But it keeps happening and they notify the credit bureau, even though you're sending money and it's their screw-ups.

Well, I've had enough. I just filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office and we'll see what happens. If it's okay with this site, I would like to recommend that all of us file a complaint with the PA Attorney General. On their website, one of the possible actions they may take is "where there are a number of complaints against the same business, the Bureau of Consumer Protection may file a lawsuit in state or federal court seeking relief on behalf of consumers". Maybe if everyone files a complaint, they will also see the pattern that Sallie Mae uses and force them to stop, fix their "mistakes", or file a lawsuit if necessary.

I am in school deferment right now and they still proceeded to take an automatic debit from me. Their customer service rep confirmed this prior to the payment being made and said it was "too late" to stop. Mind you, this was 5 days before my payment date. They then said my only recourse was to request a refund, which they would "create a case for" immediately. After 4 unsuccessful phone calls and 3.5 weeks later, I still do not have my refund that was promised within a few days. I am a struggling student and cannot afford to make 2 student loan payments right now. Furthermore, I feel that there is a serious lack of communication as they are obviously outsourced in India and only seemingly read off their script while trying to "help you". I'm beyond frustrated right now! Worst customer service I have ever received.

I would never give a star but because I have to, that is the only reason for a one star. I had a horrible experience w/ Sallie Mae and hate that I had no say in where my loan went. My loans like most were with Citibank until they decided to sell all of their federal loans to Sallie Mae in Sept. I had two loans with Citibank and could make extra payments on whatever loan I wanted to due to the fact they were extra payments and that Citibank had exceptional customer service.

I had only $800 left on the smallest loan when the loan was sold to Sallie Mae. I called to let them know of my intention to pay it off and that was what I was going to do before it was sold. They said that everything would stay the same. Yeah right! I have been with Sallie Mae for 2 months and have had nothing but problems and been lied to. They informed me tonight that the policy is that they apply extra payments at 83% to big loans and 17% to small loans and there is nothing I can do about it, that I just have to deal with it. So basically they want to drag out the payments on my loans so they can maximize the most return for their pockets not worrying about what is best for the consumer. I am beyond frustrated with this organization and truly find it disgusting that Sallie Mae is able to take advantage of hardworking Americans.

I was denied deferment and I qualify for the 24 months left for economic hardship. They also have an undue hardship deferment that the lady told me I was qualified for but denied me the right to apply. She stated, "We don't allow you to, unless it is the last resort." I don't make a lot of money and they want $525 a month off of a $2,000 income with 3 kids.

My elderly, bedridden father (in a nursing home) was fraudulently added as a co-signer for two college loans for my niece (and his granddaughter). These online applications were full of lies, including what his monthly income was/is. These loans applications were accepted by the loaning institution and now my father is being harassed for payment since these loans are now in default.

A police report was filed, fraud kit sent into the loaning institution, and extensive written evidence and documentation as well. Their investigator, unbelievably, determined this is a "he said/she said" case and dismissed the allegations and my father continues to be harassed for payment.

I have requested an in-school deferment from SallieMae. I have done everything they have asked. I have emailed and called numerous times. I am getting harassing collection calls. I have been enrolled full-time prior to missing a payment. I cannot make them grant an in-school deferment. Do I just wait until my credit is trashed before I get a lawyer involved?

Please disregard the single star, it was necessary to submit the form. Apparently, they purchased my roughly $40,000 student loans from Citibank at some point in the last year or so. I have no real clue as I received no paperwork regarding the said purchase. Soon after finishing school, I got divorced, pregnant, lost my home, my job (unemployed for 13 months) and filed bankruptcy. Now, Sallie Mae told me that my $40,000 in loans is now $82,260.06. How did that happened? I told them I would never in my lifetime be able to pay that off. Do they understand the state of the economy? This is beyond ridiculous. I'm a single parent trying to make ends meet. We barely have the roof over our heads, food and clothing. I have nothing left. When I die, will they go after my children for this debt?

I was unemployed back in January 2010 and moved to live with my parents until I found a job. Unsuccessful at finding employment, I went back to school in May 2010 till February 2011. Before going to school, I had up to 27 calls a day from Sallie Mae about my loans and even paid small amounts they suggested so they would not put me in default. As soon as I finished school, I was still unemployed and the school's student assistant team helped me with unemployment deferments on my student loans.

Sallie Mae was included and I got a letter from them stating the deferment was in place but a few weeks later, they began harassing me and threatening default status again. I was told no record of deferment was ever given and that I was not eligible for my "private" loan. So I was told by the Sallie Mae rep to try to make payments monthly in an amount I could afford to forestall default. I did in March 2011 one month after I finished school.

I made $50.00 a month payments on the private student loan against the $91.00 and change monthly charge. I received numerous threatening letters even though I was paying something. I did not have a phone for them to harass me on. I have gotten a full time job in September 2011 and started to pay $100.00 monthly against the $91.00 and change actual monthly payment and I'm still getting threatening letters demanding payment in full or I will be in default.

My original loan balance was $3373.00 and I am told they want $8223.36 immediately. Can they keep threatening me? I angered them with my other student loans carried by them I consolidated all my loans with Direct Loans or it would have been much worse. I was signed in the class action suit against Sallie Mae but never heard anything about it.

For a few months, I sent in an additional money by paper check following the directions on the SM website to apply extra money to my principal. They are now taking this extra money out of the account, via electronic debit, without my consent every month and I can't get them to stop. They have my approval to take my regular monthly payment out via EBT, but I was sending them additional money by paper check, not EBT. So they are getting paid twice a month from me now - once for my regular payment and once with this additional payment. Of course, this additional payment was never applied entirely to the principal, only in part. Because why would they play by their own rules? If I can't get this straightened out tomorrow, I am canceling EBT from my account altogether and I will see where that gets me. They have handled student loans for me since 1995 (no, not the same ones - one set was paid off, then I went back to school) and it was only in the last few years that things went downhill with them. I used to recommend them highly, and now they are just a nightmare.

Sallie Mae is simply among the worst organizations! My loan was bought by Sallie Mae (transferred from Citibank). Sallie Mae falsely accused me of not making a payment to Citibank and increased my interests rates and hit me with late fees. I contested the claim and provided proof of my payments to Citibank. I am very responsible and never made a late payment in my life. Sallie Mae refuses to acknowledge the evidence I provided. I even got Citibank to call them and confirm that my payments were always made on time.

Sallie Mae has horrible customer service. Representatives and supervisors refuse to take ownership of consumer's problems. They recommend written correspondence and then don't acknowledge receipt of documents. I have a feeling that my case will take a very long time to resolve (probably in the courtroom) and will likely cost me lots of time, money, and resources. If you can help it, stay away from Sallie Mae!

I had to select a rating, and that would be zero. But this transmission would not go through without a star. So please, disregard the star. They do not deserve it. I have paid my student loan off last year, 2010. I am needing the 1098T from Sallie Mae for the years 2009 and 2010. I have been requesting them via telephone since June 2011. It is now October 20, 2011. I have called more times than I can count. And I have spoken to numerous supervisors who stated that they would fax me these documents from between 4 hours to 2 days. I still have not received them. What can I do? The problems I guess is I should have never paid them off, because I was a day late in making a payment. I was charged a fee and notified immediately that I had not paid.

Sallie Mae and the Department of Education are ripping people off. Even if a person makes the monthly payments, and many people cannot due to the unemployment crisis, the interest rate is tacked on the balance at a horrendous rate each month.

My son, an unemployed PhD.D has nine loans: private, Federal and Dept of Educ. He needs a forbearance or deferment for all but one which I co-signed and make the payments on monthly.

We try to communicate frequently with Sallie Mae in order to eliminate confusion about what the latest bill is and address the numerous letters that come to our home. It was during the summer that I talked to Sallie Mae, getting a detailed status of each loan and making arrangements either for payment, forbearance or deferment. This was a mere two to three months ago. Today, I compared the preceding balances to those quoted today.

The federal loan interests are not as bad. The others are no different than dealing with loan sharks. It is criminal and I am angry and disgusted. Even making regular payments, there is no way an indebted student can ever catch up aside from winning the lottery. This is usury at its worst, next to those check cashing businesses, which also exploit people.

Sallie Mae is impossible to work with. They will not stop calling my 90-year old father, saying he is a co--signer on one of my student loans. I tried explaining to them that he was just a reference and should not be listed as a co-signer on the loan.

No matter what I say, nothing seems to matter. Who is going to listen and do something with all these complaints? No one is willing to invest and find out what is happening. This leads me to believe, does anyone care and where is our government in all this? It's time for someone to wake up and take care of this monster that is going after people in a cruel way and lying about amount due.

I told them that I was in the middle of bankruptcy as well and they weren't to contact me during it, and yet they continue to do so. I understand that my loans are exempt from bankruptcy but still, they must refrain from contacting me during this period. It is my understanding that the government officials' families do not have to pay student loans so I guess I have my answer as to why they are not doing anything about this. It doesn't directly affect any of them. We can bail out large companies that commit fraudulent acts, but we cannot help people with student loan bail out. Why?

My mom's parent loan is through Sallie Mae. It was initially 9 grand. They "claim" that if she agreed to a deferment, her payments would go up. Now she, well, I owe 11 grand. There's no way she would agree to pay more money to any company, especially since I have to pay it. Two weeks later, today, we got another statement in the mail saying we owe a total of almost 20 grand. I don't understand how this company can add interest during a deferment that lasts until May of 2012! It'll take me about ten years to pay off the 20 grand and I will never be able to own a car or move out of my mother's house, at least not until I'm 32 years old anyway. If someone is reading this, can you explain this to me in any way, or tell me what to do about it? Please email me.

Think very hard before you get a loan through this company. It all sounds great--money to help finance your child's education. You borrow a reasonable amount and you can afford the payments. You are thinking about your child's future. Learn from my experience. I borrowed $10K twice for two semesters for my son. Eight years later, I still have an outrageous balance. I have been paying the required amount every month but only interest payments while he was in school. With an original loan of $20K, I have paid back $22K and still have a balance of $14K. This company takes advantage of good wishes, hopes and dreams and exploits them. Save your money and then pay for school, don't give it to these robber barons.

Sallie Mae continues to call my home at least 8-10 times a day. I have been paying on my student loan and making payments that Sallie Mae said was due. Today, I received a letter stating that my account was six months past due. So, I called regarding the letter I received today, a representative told me that I was a month behind on my payments. I explained to her that I was told by a representative earlier this year that I needed to pay an amount to bring my account up to date because of an error on my part, and now this representative tells me I'm still behind a month.

I have been paying on this loan for at least 4 years, and it seems that they will not work with anyone to solve a problem. This is the worst lending company of all time and something needs to be done to protect those who make efforts to pay and get harassed continuously.

I applied and was approved for a consolidation loan. Part of the agreement with the consolidated loan company was that I continue to make payments until they have paid off the loan. On August 2, 2011, Direct Student Loans paid my Sallie Mae balance in full. However, on August 8, 2011, I logged in to make my customary payment to Sallie and paid them the $159.00 I was scheduled to pay. A day later, I called to check on the consolidation loan at which time I learned they had paid Sallie Mae off on August 2, 2011. I contacted Sallie Mae several times, with the last call ending with the Customer Service rep saying a refund had been sent out a week prior.

A week later, no refund. I filed a dispute with my bank, who in turn refunded my money and contacted Sallie Mae, who in turn refunded the bank their money. I am now receiving statements from Sallie Mae that I owe them $159.00. They said the payoff was for all the loan amount except the $159.00. Yeah, right. Who would give a partial payoff amount? The payment I made on 8/8/11 wasn't predated, it was made on the day I sent it so they wouldn't have known on 8/2/11 that I was going to make a payment. So reasonably, why would they give a payoff quote for everything but the amount I "overpaid" them 6 days after they received the payoff? I have spoken with them and requested this to be resolved and they keep sending me notices that I owe them. That's harassment and fraudulent. They are trying to scam more money from me and I want to file a complaint about this. Thank you.

Harassment, deception and abusive conduct by SallieMae have escalated to unacceptable levels. We have all of our documents as well as evidence of insurance premiums charged on these student loans, however the employees will not explain how to file a claim or offer any direction on how we can file the claim for the insurance which covers 85% of the principal balance on student loans. They continue to call and harass us, and as soon as I bring up the Insurance they begin to yell and I have even been cursed at be there employees.

I happen to be the VP and Chief Loan Officer of a Bank and I know that this is against the law as well as consumer protection acts. I am in need of some legal assistance to get to the bottom of this matter and truly feel that a class action law suit is warranted against this unlawfully, unethical company and there deceptive lending practices.

In January of 2007, Sallie Mae cashed a check I wrote them in the amount of my monthly payment of $248.56 for the wrong amount. They cashed it for $248.00. Then they charged me a late charge. I called them, waited on hold for hours, and finally got it straightened out only to have the exact same thing occur again in December of 2007. This time I notified my bank, Washington Mutual, which then deducted the check from Sallie Mae and told them to deposit it again for the correct amount.

As far as I know, they did, yet they continued to charge me a late charge for their error. I wrote them several times, called them only to be left on hold or connected to an operator who could not speak intelligible English, and I even emailed them numerous times, all to no avail. In the meantime, I have continued to pay $248.56 every month on time without fail. In fact, I have never missed a month nor have I ever paid late. However, the check I sent for October 2011's payment of $248.56 was cashed by Sallie Mae for $74.24. Again, I called, waited on hold, and was finally connected to an operator who refused to address the issue about which I called. Instead, she tried to say that I had not paid my payment in June of 2009. If that were the case, why were they just now claiming that? I could not get her to look at Sallie Mae's egregious and repetitive error of cashing my checks for the wrong amount. Now they want to say that they missed a check, which I have proof of paying, and refuse to address their latest error.

After being told specifically that she was not allowed to call my employer, Mrs ** keeps calling my place of employment. She has harassed and threatened me. I am filing a complaint against Sallie Mae and her.

Simply put, they are out for themselves and refuse to work with students who have defaulted on private loans. They are not in it to help students. They mention on their website and their collection agencies website that they are the ombudsman for students, but it's just not true.

If you showed minus stars (-), I would be better able to answer the above. I feel that I have been brow beaten by this company's representatives. For six months now, I have taken names and IDs of all representatives of the Sallie Mae company I have spoken with. I continually advise them of the fact that their company is billing me for funds that were taken by VCU in grave error! I told them that a third party is investigating this erroneous charge ($3500 plus). And for them to continually call my home/cell 4, 5, and 6 times a day is not only arrogant on their behalf, but harassing as well. I will keep trying to let justice prevail. In the meantime, I am delighted to have found this site in order to file an official complaint.

My loans are being repaid through Sallie Mae's automatic withdrawal system. This has worked fine for a year. Two weeks ago, I called to see if I could schedule the payment to be made on the next day. The person on the other end of the line said yes, it was not a problem. I was not told that you need to do this 10 days in advance. The payment was made on the usual day and resulted in an overdraft. But wait, that's not all. I was then billed again the next day! I was billed twice. My rent check has subsequently bounced. I called on Monday morning, first thing. I was told I would get a refund directly deposited into my bank account. When that did not happen, I called back. They said that they were sending me a check. How am I supposed to pay my rent?

Sallie Mae purchased my student loans from Citibank. This has been a horrific experience. And as a borrower, it appears we have no recourse with these crooks. We have no choice who services our loans. It's no wonder these people don't give a ** about their customers. This needs to be changed! I took my loans out with Citibank. I was never late and never missed a payment with them. I had even earned the 1% interest rate reduction on 4 of my 7 loans through Citibank.

I was laid off in May of this year and called Citibank. I did the paperwork and setup the deferment. That went smoothly. I went back to work and notified Citibank on 9/2/2011. My loan statement cycles on the 27th of the month. So, I was informed by Citibank on 9/2 that my next regular payment would be due 10/20/2011 instead of 9/20. It was because the billing had already cycled for Sept. Then, the problems started when Sallie Mae got involved. Sallie Mae took my loans (3 on 9/7 and 4 on 9/8) based on the letters I received. In the loan letters they sent, they immediately increased the interest rate on 4 of my loans by 1%. I called Citibank. Per Citibank, Sallie Mae had agreed. And they are supposed to honor the interest rate discounts their customers had prior to Sallie Mae purchasing the loans. As of today (10/4), they have not fixed this.

To top it off, they said I was late and had a payment due on 9/20. Citibank had specifically informed me that due to the statement cycling date, the next bill wouldn't be due until 10/20. If Citibank had said I needed to make a payment on 9/20, then I would have done so. However, I am confident that it would have changed nothing.

Sallie Mae said they mailed a bill on 9/23. This is a total fraud. The bill they sent was dated 9/23 but wasn't postmarked until 9/27. I have saved the envelope as proof of this. The statement date on the bill they sent is 9/23. So, these idiots generated the first bill (3 days) after 9/20 and mailed it 1 week (7 days) after 9/20. Even in an ideal world, if I got the bill and mailed a check back to them by Friday (9/30), it would still be impossible to avoid a late fee. It is my opinion that Sallie Mae did this deliberately in an attempt to charge late fees to increase their profits. This is the very reason that Citibank said my payment after returning to work was going to be due 10/20. Doing business like this doesn't give anyone a chance in hell to be able to pay their loans on time. I am appalled at the audacity of these people. Unless the borrower (me) screws up, I expect the lender to honor the terms of the loan I had with Citibank.

At this point, they have done something, but I don't know what yet (as I don't have a copy of whatever new bill this is). Now say I have a payment due on 10/20, but it is higher than the dollar amount it should be. Thankfully, I do not use online billing/payment etc. for my student loans. This has helped create the paper-trail. And since Sallie Mae has so royally messed up my loans, I have no intention of ever letting them handle anything electronically. There is definitely something to be said about having paper copies as proof of what has transpired as opposed to verbal or electronic methods.

I have spent hours on the phone trying to talk to people in India that have no idea what an interest rate is or how they are even calculated. I have been disconnected over and over again, honestly more times than I have been able to reach a person in India. I tried again today (10/4) to call them. I got disconnected twice after going through their stupid phone tree, which says it knows who you are by your phone number. It asks you to put in your SS# and then puts you back into a different phone tree which. Since it already knows who I am and it confirmed, it shouldn't (but it does) ask for your zip code! I couldn't waste anymore time with these people as I had to get back to work. And I had spent 20 minutes trying to get through between the phone tree and the hold times.

Given the level of service I had received with Citibank, if something like this had happened with them, I would have confidence it would be resolved. I have zero confidence in these crooks. And it appears we have no recourse as borrowers. I expect Sallie Mae to honor the terms of the loan I had with Citibank. If every loan servicing company has the right to change the terms when they buy the loan and we have no choice who services the loan, how are we (the borrowers) supposed to have a chance in hell of coping with this? Is there a way besides paying off and refinancing the loans at a higher interest rate to ditch these crooks? Based on all the comments on Sallie Mae, I expect to descend further into the depths of hell with these crooks.

They increased my student loan payments without providing any type of payment schedule or disclosure form. They simply changed the payment without telling me why or providing any information. And they took it right out of my checking account. When I called, they could provide me with no information as to why they increased payment on a loan I've been paying on since 2004 with a perfect payment record. I cannot understand how it is acceptable practice to change payments without full disclosure, especially on a Federal Student Loan.

I have tried to work with Sallie Mae. Now, they are threatening to sue me. My thing is, I told them I was out of work 1 1/2 years. I lost my house and I was about to lose my car. I am working, but it is only temporary work and swing shifts. I am not making the money I used to, but they insist on calling me 10 times a day. I know I owe the money and believe me, I want to pay them but these companies make it impossible. They want you to get an education but the jobs are not paying enough to be paying student loans and trying to live. Someone has to come up with a better plan for people.

I would just like to know how anyone is expected to pay off a student loan with Sallie Mae ever! I borrowed $22k in one year and $5k the next year, so that I could afford to pay for my daughter to go to 3 years of college to become a dental assistant. Times were tough. So, I borrowed that much to help pay her car payment and car insurance for the 3 years she was in school. I have since paid on time every month for a total of $6,223.34 towards the $22k loan. Now, my balance is $33,800! And on the $5k loan, I've paid $1,475 and my current balance is $7,500! After paying almost $8k towards a borrowed amount of $27k, I would even be happy if they kept $7k and my balance would now be $26k. But instead, my balance is a combined total of $41k. Is there any help out there for us 50 something year olds who get sick every time I think about the money? I have given to this company and the balance keeps going up instead of down.

On July 27,2011, I signed up for a three month payment plan to get my past due account up to date with a Sallie Mae representative, even though a previous representative, who I spoke with a month before, had already signed me up for this plan and took my money. I was told the previous representative must not have put it in the system correctly.

This time, I wrote down all the confirmation codes and tracked my account. The plan automatically deducts scheduled payments from my bank account for three months.

Every day since July 27, 2011, I have received 7-10 phone calls a day from Sallie Mae, beginning at 5:30 am PST.

When I answer, a representative tells me that I owe $X on my account, they would usually quote a price around $945. I then provide them with my reference numbers stating that I am on the three month payment plan. After this, they realize that I am in fact on the plan and my account is up to date. They say, " I do not know why we are calling you." This has happened at least ten times.

Each time I ask to not be called anymore, but they insist it is a computer glitch. Today, September 22, 2011, I spoke with Charles, a representative from Sallie Mae and we went through the same routine mentioned above. After determining that my account is in fact in good standing, I demand to not receive anymore phone calls nicely and firmly. While I am speaking, Charles cuts me off and says, "You're being very nice. You just keep being nice. Bye now. " He then hung up.

Is there anyway to stop these calls and this treatment?

Why is this company still being allowed to target college students, particularly minorities? Sallie Mae is full of ** and should be shut down after their antics with the bail out! In any case, I made it clear we did not want Sallie Mae's loans or help and both Wilberforce University, my son's school, and University of Phoenix, my school, told us our loans were not with Sallie Mae. And that they did not associate themselves with Sallie Mae.

So can someone please tell me why they are being allowed to maliciously destroy mine and my son's credit for no reason? They turned him over to a company called Student Assist for collection of a student loan he allegedly defaulted on, when in fact my son and I both are still in school. How stupid is Sallie Mae organization and its employees?

In addition, false documentation was provided to us via mail indicating my son and I ironically took a medical leave. When I presented the alleged documents to Wilberforce University, my son's school, and University of Phoenix, my school, it's not even their documents. And neither school ever sent such information, indicating it is confidential and they can only advise Sallie Mae that the student is on a leave or has taken a break.

When we question Sallie Mae where my son is concerned, they say the documents are not false and where I am concerned, they indicate I have no loan with them. So why the ** are you sending me bills, dummies?! And where my son is concerned, he has not taken a break other than summer break because the school Wilberforce University does not offer summer classes. Idiots! I believe there are enough complaints to warrant a class action law suit and we are seeking an attorney who is up for the task!

I will personally do all the leg work, find complainants that will testify and bring evidence to the table. In addition, provide documentation of fraud, which not only is a federal offense on so many levels but mail fraud as well. People, let's band together and fight this fight. They can only lose and I'm willing to see Sallie Mae's failure to the end with pleasure!

My husband co-signed for two student loans ($2000 each) back in year 2007. The minimum payments were $12 a month. We allowed our nephew to make payments, but in addition, I and my husband were paying $100/month. We already paid $3500, yet we kept getting delinquent notices. We called the customer service fifty times, only to get the runaround, and we were told that they applied the payments to the highest interest rate, regardless of who the co-signor is.

This is absurd! Why in the world would I be interested in paying another co-signor's loans? They had us fax all our bank statements showing proof of payment (we used banking online to send payments), and they still have not reapplied our payments to the applicable loans we co-signed for. I want to sue them in order to force them to apply the monies we already paid. Is this possible? If not, what avenue can we take to get this resolved?

Sallie Mae and AES are horrible and greedy companies who prey on struggling students, and then slap them with a million dollar bill later after their outrageous interest rates have racked up. These private loans have ruined any hope that I had for my daughter's future. Of course, because I can hardly make ends meet, I will now be unable to help my daughter in college and she will be forced to take out loans and continue the vicious cycle. Thank you, you piece of ** U.S.A., for spending billions of dollars fighting other country's wars and letting your own people suffer here.

In 2008, I took at a private school loan for my daughter, who is profoundly dyslexic, to attend a specialty school. The interest rate was a bit high, but I was also desperate and didn't want to have a co-signer (why should I need one, I was debt-free and had recently bought a house). I've never missed a payment and though I've paid in almost $4000, the principal has only been reduced by $250 dollars. I've paid in almost half of the original loan value!

I've tried to pay more, pay early, etc. The website changes so often that it's impossible to stay ahead of their diversion tactics. Early on, I went in and set up my account to pay more each date so that it would directly reduce the principal. But they changed my payment without my express written consent and reduced it to the minimum due, more than 6 different times. And low and behold, the place on the website to go and change it myself was gone. Talking to them on the phone is a nightmare. No one speaks English as a native language. The three times I've called and asked to speak with a representative or call a station that is located in the United States, I've been blown off after hours of trying to get in touch.

I really wish someone (Newsweek, The Times) would do an in-depth look at their business and deceptive practices.

Now, they want an additional $1600 for the loan interest despite the fact that they never sent any statements.

We believed that the loan had been paid in full and six years later are presented with a loan that is about to go into default.

It is outrageous. I don't have a problem with paying the loan, but I have a huge problem with being asked to pay an additional $1600 when I never received anything which lets me know that the loan is still in existence and accumulating interest.

Currently, there is no way to pay down a student loan principal via the Sallie Mae website, as you can with nearly every other loan. If you pay more than your amount due each month online or by mail, they apply the surplus to future payments and not the principal by default; thereby, continually collecting interest from you on your interest. The only option Sallie Mae provides is instructions to mail your payments to them with written instructions on how to apply the payments.

When I do this, however, either previously undocumented interest arises precluding me from paying off a principal entirely, or they apply it to my next month's bill, despite my specific instructions to the contrary--thereby, continuing to collect interest on the loan. I haven't calculated it yet, but this has probably cost me a few hundred dollars in interest over the course of my student loans. If one were to multiply this by the number of individuals currently holding Sallie Mae loans, the money would be quite significant.

Not having an online method of paying principals, applying payment surplus to future payments rather than principals, and the inconsistent and unreliable outcome of mailing payments collectively add up to unfair and intentionally deceptive business practices.

Sallie Mae changes things consistently from one person to another and month to month. I am now being charged for past late fees when I was told that if I set up an automatic payment it would be all taken off.

I made arrangements with Sallie Mae and their collection agency, Integrity, to pay on the private loans balance $11,367.13 because they said that I couldn't get forbearance on those loans. However, I was supposed to be set up on forbearance and tried to tell them that. At any rate, I lost the battle and I pay monthly to Integrity. The Sallie Mae loans are lumped together totaling to $40,096.36. Those were the only two loans per Sallie Mae--the private loans through Integrity and the Sallie Mae loan, lumped together on forbearance.

So, I checked my credit report and I saw Sallie Mae defaulting my loans. I called them and they told me that there is a default on a loan totaling $25,803.84! I don't have no loan in this amount. The customer service rep is trying to say that this is sitting on my account. Where did it come from? They are lying and over-charging people and there's nothing we can do about it. Who do I call? How do I get this rectified? Then, they have the nerve to put it on my credit report! I need help and I don't know where to turn.

I have had to deal with your untrained, uninformed employees for the past 10 years. I have had to struggle with the same issues every 3-4 months. Literally, I have to talk to 4-5 people to get my issues resolved. All I want to do is make my payments on time, but your employees give me the wrong information every time. I follow their instructions, and then I get charged late fees. I call again, make another payment, follow more instructions, and the same thing happens. Every time, the information changes. Every employee I speak to tells me something different. I'm tired of dealing with people that don't know what they are doing. It's not right that I have to make the same call for a month just to make a payment, and then have to pay late fees.

My payment would not have been late if I was allowed to make the payment on my first phone call. I have tried to make payments over the phone with a person, but they are always applied to the wrong account. And then, I have to again go through the process of calling a lot of times just to be able to get the situation resolved. In regards to this last instance, my father and I called together. We were assured that I was authorized on his account, so that I will not have issues making payments again (as I have had for the past 10 years). Today, I called because I can't log on to make the payments and they tell me I'm not authorized.

A few months ago, your employees told me everything was taken care of. Now, I have to figure out a way to get a hold of my father, so that we can call together and try to fix this situation again. In the mean time, I'm not sure when I will be allowed to make my payment. And I will probably be charged a late fee because once again, I was told everything was taken care of, and it is not. I want to get this resolved, so that I can make payments and not have to make a dozen or more phone calls. I would like to speak to an employee that knows what they are doing, so I don't run into the same situation in a few months. Unfortunately, it seems that training and having capable employees is your companies last priority.

They are reaming me with interest! They take my whole payment of $437 and $43 of that goes to principal. I borrowed $30,000. By the time I'm done paying them, they will have $109,000 from me! That is insane, so I'm not paying it. I'm done handing over money to them!

I got a Sallie Mae loan in 2005 when I decided to go to school online to get my AA degree, something I thought might help me move up in my career. I also received a loan through Great Lakes -- both I was connected with through the school itself.

Great Lakes was a terrific company to work with! My husband and I lost our home, went bankrupt, moved and have barely been surviving since 2007. Great Lakes offered a deferment of up to 1 year - not once but twice!

Sallie Mae started harassing me! I was able to finally get a payment of around $112/mo for 1 year, but when the time came for us to try and apply for a low income housing loan, I found that all deferments allowed (and paid for) through Sallie Mae showed up on my credit report as not being paid! Fortunately, we were still able to qualify for our loan.

Now, my payments are over $225/mo. Apparently, the gentleman I spoke with and lowered my payments to a reasonable level failed to let me know that this was for a limited time only. I mean, charging this sky high interest rate of 13% -15% or more.

I was out of work for over three months and the wolves have been at our door. I recently made a $25 payment over the internet to them and will continue to pay as I can. I spoke to a woman at Sallie Mae and when I told her I simply could not make the $225/mo payments, that I know I owe the money, I was told already that there was no more forbearance left for me. She told me that she could get my payments lowered and then she informed me that I could get them lowered by $40/mo! What? How is a payment of $190/mo much better than $235/mo? She might as well told me that they were now a million dollars a month! I then told her that I no longer wanted to be contacted by phone regarding my account and that I only wanted to be contacted via mail - to which she said she would note my account.

Now, I do not answer the phone when it shows Sallie Mae is calling. It is always a recording. And these calls start around 8am go to 9pm and I receive anywhere from 8 to 10 calls a day on my home phone. I get more calls since I asked to be contacted by mail only then I did prior.

I have done credit and collections in the past and to think that they are allowed to get away with this type of harassment is deplorable! I know I owe the money, I am just asking for some help in getting it paid back to them.

Sallie Mae is calling us daily asking for my daughter, Richelle, who has student loans with them. We tell them that she does not live here yet they still call twice a day. Even when I tell them not to call and that they have the wrong number, they still do. Richelle says she is making her payments on time. What is our recourse?

Coming from a disadvantaged background, I grew up with nothing but I was always pretty good in school. So when it was time to go to college, I had to pay for everything myself. When I took out my first student loan at 18 years old, I wasn't thinking about, "how the ** am I going to pay this back?" I was just excited about school and now that I have graduated, Sallie Mae expects me to pay $1,400.00 a month for the said student loan.

I am now 24 and unemployed because of the lousy economy, desperately searching for a job. There is no possible way I would be able to pay that. Even when I did have a job at age 24, who would be able to make that kind of loan payment? The worst part is that Sallie Mae would only allow me to take a private loan out for my funding, which has resulted in a $1,300 a month interest only capitalization (that's how much interest is being charged on top of my loan a month). I feel like I have been scammed and backed into a corner with no way out. I don't want to default on my loan but I really have no other options.

I have called Sallie Mae countless times and most of them seemed not to care. They only told me that I "had to pay" and there was nothing that they could do. I feel that Sallie Mae has these types of loans to scam young college goers into paying them back for the rest of their lives without a second thought. Once I am forced to default, they will have ruined my life before it even begins. I wish I had never gone to school, which is a horrible thing to think. But dealing with this has been so stressful. Sallie Mae is a horrible company for putting young desperate students through something like this that hindered them for the rest of their lives.

Over and over again, I have made two separate payments for the two different loans that I have with Sallie Mae. They constantly credit both payments onto one loan and start the phone calls to both me and my cosigner. Now, they are telling me that I missed the July payment completely. I have sent the copy of my statement to Sallie Mae three times. The latest letter I received from them basically states that they can't read my statement to see that Sallie Mae has taken out both payments for July.

Whatever you do, do not take out a loan from Sallie Mae. My experience with them has been hell. I went to school in 2006 and didn't graduate. I ended up having a baby and having to be on bed rest. So clearly, I wasn't working. Sallie Mae then started the ugly calls morning, noon and night. A few years have gone by and I made payments. I am a single mom and some months are better than others. When I would ask for a deferment or anything, I would get the rudest people.

I once had a lady tell me that I should consider getting another job to take care of my responsibilities. I was so angry, I work full-time as it is. A few years into payments, I decided to go back to school. I will never borrow from them again. My classes started and Sallie Mae was notified that I started classes. By law, my loans will be deferred. However, I may make payments if I choose to. Well, they continued to withdraw from an account that I did not authorize. They withdrew a full payment on a card that I made a payment on previously and did not have scheduled payments on. How can they do that? How can they withdraw from a card I didn't authorize them to? This place is a loan shark. I feel like I have them breathing down my neck all of the time. It's awful. They are my biggest mistake.

In March, my daughter needed $1,700 to pay for her apartment fees while in college so, we applied for a SM loan with me as the co-signer. We were denied because of lack of information and the fact that I was not employed. Two days later, we paid cash for her apartment. Sometime after August, we received a bill from SM for a past due payment on a loan for $3,000 (now $9,000). We did not sign any loan papers and didn't need the loan after all. Any money my daughter received came from the college (FAFSA and grants).

They keep calling and insisting that we "electronically" signed for a loan. I told them that we did not get a loan from them. I have asked for proof of this but they have none. They are calling several times a day even though I have told them to stop. They say that they will not stop calling and will keep harassing me. I'm sending these complaints to every congressman, representative, etc. that I know so they can see what SM is doing. I have a mark on my credit report because of this matter.

Sallie Mae bought my loan from Great Lakes, which I did not agree to and was unaware of until I called Great lakes about the code change from my checking account. I am sending in more than my regular payment and I have never been late and they keep changing my loan to make it last longer than from the beginning. Who is Sallie Mae? I am a Desert Storm veteran and a two-time Iraqi Veteran. I think they sponsor the Taliban with all this money they rob the people with. How can someone not help at all?

I am a BFA graduate as of December 2006. After graduating, I found myself unemployed for one and a half years looking for a job in my field of study. To no avail, I finally ended up at a public transportation company which is nowhere near my field of study.

When my student loans from Sallie Mae were scheduled to be repaid, I of course needed forbearances and pricey deferments. All of which were paid. Then there was no more money to give them. Sallie Mae then started calling my home phone and cell phone hourly for weeks on end! They were not willing to accept anything but a $1,400.00 per month payment no matter what my financial status. I can't tell how many different abusive people I spoke with regarding my situation. It was like talking to a wall. They couldn't comprehend that I couldn't afford those monthly payments or any monthly payments while being unemployed. They told me to borrow money from someone! How would I be able to borrow $65k from anyone with marred credit from Sallie Mae?

Since all of my past dealings with Sallie Mae and being employed part-time since September 2008, I have religiously paid them $150.00 per month. I have had the loans sent to collection agencies and receive threatening letters from them, but also continue receiving confusing correspondence from Sallie Mae saying I'm 60 days past due, 30 days past due, defaulting, etc. There is no order in their mailings and have even been sent forbearance forms per my request that I never even requested! They have even been mailed financial statements showing how much I make and where my money is going. Sallie Mae continues to be relentless. They won't even answer my written correspondence requesting where my $150.00 is being applied!

As of four days ago, I have received a court summons. Now Sallie Mae is suing me for the balance of my loans! Threatening to garnish my wages and likely will for the rest of my life. At age 48, this is the last thing I want to have happen, but have been told it's the process.

I can't understand the nonsensical business practices of this agency. Does it make common sense to jeopardize someone's employment in order to get a loan paid? My employer won't approve of this garnishment and then where will Sallie Mae be without any payments. My credit has been marred so bad that I can't even get a better job. How does this make any sense? I thought they wanted more money? It sounds like they just like employing people who enjoy making life unbearable/miserable for others.

I beg anyone thinking of going back to college; Don't have any lending done through Sallie Mae! You will be screwed for life!

I've been unable to obtain a career in a field in which I studied. It's not because of lack of skill or talent but because the institute that I attended taught me programs that became obsolete on the same semester of my graduation. I've kept my student loans in forbearance for quite some time, and recently had applied to extend the forbearance of the loan I hold with Sallie Mae Services. I faxed them all the information they had requested, along with a request to be notified once the application cleared.

I was not notified that the loan forbearance was denied until nearly three months later when the late fees had stacked up to nearly $1,000.00 and they requested that I pay the amount in full immediately. I paid the amount of the loans but not the amount of the late fees. I requested that the late fees be removed because Sallie Mae had not notified me of the denial of the forbearance application, but I was denied yet again.

It was time to make a point and show Sallie Mae Services that if they truly wanted to go head to head with me that I wasn't going to roll over and play dead. First, I sent an inquiry to Sallie Mae asking if I were allowed to send them multiple checks over to pay off the late fees on my loan while also mentioning that I did not feel the late fees were fair due to their lack of correspondence. I received a "yes" answer, which gave me permission to make my payment using multiple checks. I went to my bank and upgraded my bank account to one that allows me to receive and write unlimited checks at no cost to myself.

I have ordered over 14,000 checks and I am postdating them for the beginning of next year. Each check is written out for one penny. You may be asking yourself why I would want to write out so many checks for a cent a piece in order to pay off my late fees. The answer is simple. All business have to pay a check processing fee for each check that they receive and the cost of those fees is always more than one penny. Once I have written penny checks for the bulk sum of my late fees, I will ship them to Sallie Mae with a thank you letter for their email correspondence stating that I greatly appreciate them allowing me to pay my late fees with multiple checks, and may continue to do so with the rest of my loan payments. If it were to cost Sallie Mae one penny per check to cash each of my checks for a penny a piece, they would be breaking even and not actually receiving any money from my payment. However, it is highly unlikely that they will only be paying one cent per check and in turn will actually be incurring a loss by cashing my payment.

Sallie Mae has already granted me written consent allowing me to make my payment with multiple checks, and if more and more people would follow my lead, I believe they would have no option but to clear the debts of those who have gone to the trouble of paying their debts in this manner back to zero or otherwise suffer huge losses in processing fees that far surpasses the amount of the payments being made.

Sallie Mae has forced me to fight back and its unfortunate for them. I'm more intelligent than they had given me credit for. I will include in my shipment of the multiple checks, a letter stating that by not accepting my payment, I will be left to assume that they have decided to clear my debts back to zero instead of incurred the cost of processing fees of one cent per check. I requested to receive my "thank you" letter nonetheless stating that my debts have been paid in full.

The final step in my actions against Sallie Mae is to spread the word of the method I'm intending to use to make a point. Sallie Mae can knock us down, but they shouldn't expect us to not get back up and start pushing back.

I applied to Sallie Mae and was turned down several times. I went to Wesley College in Dover. My parents paid several thousand dollars out of pocket. I only went to Wesley for two semesters and have been making payments directly to Wesley. I just spoke to a man who told me I owe $7000 to Sallie. I asked him to put it in writing and he said no.

I want to explain how I could owe Sallie Mae when I never received a loan from them or finished school.

I have a large amount of student loan debt. I have not graduated. I work a full-time job, and have a daughter. I barely make enough to pay mortgage, daycare, bills, and have anything left for groceries, gas, diapers, etc... I have paid Sallie Mae $150 countless times for the 3 month forbearance just to get a break from the harassing phonecalls. They start calling right after 8 AM and will continue 8,9,10 times a day until 9 PM. They call my co-signer the same amount of times. I am completely fed-up.

We recently lost our home in the tornados that hit our state. I told Sallie Mae the situation. That we couldn't do anything to our home for 3 months, that we are living in an apartment, our expenses have sky-rocketed, and income has gone down due to loss of time at work. They did give me ONE month forbearance at no cost, and told me they would mail out forms for me to apply for a hardship deferment. I never received the forms, and they won't fax or email the forms. Long story short, they have reported me and my co-signer to the Credit Bureau. I feel horrible, but I can't do anything. The payment is over $400 a month....that is more than daycare! I need advice. I am trying to find some way to consolidate or refinance. I have to get out of this trap. They are ruining me. I will gladly pay my payment on time if they will just give me a reasonable amount.

Sallie Mae raised my interest and put interest late fees on top of that after I asked for a deferment and after we went on disability. I was charged $50 to defer for 1 month then they added late fees on top of that. Horrible company.

This company contacted me by phone in March saying if I I would pay $390 for four straight months, my debt with Sallie Mae would be done. I agreed.

I paid $390.00 on March 1, they gave me the transaction number 110228, March 16,2011 and was given transaction number 110315, April 22,2011 with transaction number 110421 and May 17,2011 with transaction number 110516. I paid as agreed then today I received a bill for $556.14.Their integrity financial partners mission statement states that 'trust is integrity operating principles, support the management team, established history of performance excellence'.

They said if I pay those four payments of $390, Sallie Mae would stop their horrible 1% daily interest on my unpaid balance. What a lie!

I graduated in 2008. Well right before I graduated, I had to have a cornea transplant. My vision in my eye was not up to par. I called Sallie Mae and told them to defer my loan due to surgery. They charged me 150.00 for the deferment, which is just crazy. Then in May of 2009, I had to have my other eye done. So now, I have them both done. Well needless to say, I had to defer due to surgery. In Feb of 2010, I lost my job. Now I have been unemployed for a year and a half. They will not help me. They said I should have not taken out the loan, and I told them they should not be crooks.

Now I have a torn ACL and meniscus in my knee. I don't have insurance, so I don't have money anyway to get my leg fixed. And they want money? My husband is trying to pay all of the bills, but we just don't have the extra money they want each month. I can't even get insurance. If I had known what the monthly payments would have been, I would have never gone back to school. This is the craziest thing I have ever seen. Don't get loans from Sallie Mae cause they are cold hearted. We as people did not know the economy was going to fall and now we pay.

This company is more like a con or loan shark than a student loan company. They sent out a bill and I paid it. They did not mention that the bill was for one of three loans. Instead of applying the payment to the loan that the bill was for, they spread it out over the three loans. This made the payment for each loan less than the minimum payment, making me late. They then charged me $25 for each late fee. I made the full payment the next month for all three loans. They then took that payment and spread it out over the three loans toward the earlier shorted payments! They then took what was left and applied it to the next three payments, which shorted those payments incurring another $75 in late fees.

I have incurred late charges before due to billing but this company is ridiculous. I would suggest that you tell everyone you know not to use Sallie Mae. Pass it on! Do not use this company for anything!

I graduated university in 2009 and had continued taking some class in order to pursue a grad degree. Things changed last year when I lost my part time job and I have been searching for jobs. I even left Michigan where my home base is and have been working to support my self. Couple months ago I recieved a call from Sallie Mae harraising me about my loan. After a brief argument, it was decided that I pay them 150 and my loan will be defurment for then next 3 months. Ironically I got a call from Sallie Mae again following month claiming that my loan is passed due by 2 days and that my account is going to be sent to collections if I do not make another payment of 150. After going back and fourth, I made a stupid payment for 150 again and was told again this time that now your account is on Defurment as the last 150 was covered to pay for previous balance.

As of yesterday just a month later, I have started recieving calls again from Sallie Mae asking for another 150 to defurment my loan. I work part time currently and am pursuing to attain a full time position. Sallie Mae is a company that is out to ruin people.

I am sick and tired of their customer service reps who are rude and I honestly think that they take your money that they like to lable as the fee and keep it in their pockets.

I would really appreciate any help of advice I can get from anyone here who is experienced with Sallie Mae's practice and know of a legal way of resolving this issue.

I have been paying on my student loan faithfully for several years; it is taken directly out of my bank account. I recently had a $2000 cut in pay and am having a hard time making ends meet. I received a letter from Sallie Mae stating that my payments would be increased. I cannot pay any more than I am paying right now. I called them sure in the knowledge that common sense would prevail and that they would agree that I could continue to pay the $50.08 that they have been collecting every month.

They said NO that I would have to pay the increased amount due to the timing of the end of my loan. According to Sallie Mae, I agreed to pay off my loan within the next nine months; I never heard of Sallie mae until I received this letter. I did not agree to anything with them. My loan balance due is $486.43. We are quibbling over $33.21 and 1 month. So instead of paying off my loan in the nine months they say I agreed to, I will pay it in nine months with a partial payment of the $33.00 on the tenth month. But Sallie Mae says NO, I must pay the increase so that I will pay off my loan early.

I cosigned a student loan for my son in 2007. He graduated, but has not found a job, so I have been making all the payments. I have documentation that I have made every payment on time. Sallie Mae has continually harassed me despite the fact that I sent them a cease and desist letter. They have put a blemish on my credit saying I am behind. I have sent them letters, with the proof from the bank that all payments were made, and they still say that I am behind. This is all because I make electronic payments.

Sallie Mae's left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. They take my payment every month and divide it between all my sons loans, and tell me I never sent a payment. I think that illegally, they are using my money to pay loans that do not have my name on them. I have tried over and over to get them to fix the problem, because it is on their end. The phone calls keep coming, email, even with a cease and desist order.

I am very upset with Sallie Mae student loan. I recently lost my job and tied to get forbearance for 3 months or until I find another job. The customer representative told me that I have to pay $150.00 to apply for forbearance! What part of "I have lost my job and I don't have money" they didn't get? I asked to speak to corporate office, but the male with accent told me that he is not allowed to give me corporate office number and that corporate office does not speak to customers. Every time I call, I get customer representative from another country. Last time I spoke to Vincent Long, but I am not even sure that it is his real name.

Anyways, what kind of company does not have corporate office or manager I could talk to?

I was told that I have to pay $150.00 for 3 months forbearance, because they are private loan company. I am a international student and I am trying to keep up with my payments and good credit history. Sallie Mae doesn't cooperate with me. I have another private student loan, which accepted my forbearance without any fees for 6 mos. If I knew that sallie mae are screwing people like that, I would never apply for this loan.

I have cosigners and I don't want to let them down, but sallie mae makes it impossible. All I asked is to give me a break for a couple of months! I lost my job and now I have to suffer because of this ignorant company.

Is it even legal not to have corporate manager to help customers? How come there is only one number we can call and that number is in INDIA or Philipines (I don't know) with people with phony names? I never even once spoke to a person without accent! Now I don't know who I can contact about my loan forbearance. There is only one number and corporate office is not available to help us. If anyone have any advise on how I can get to Sallie Mae corporate office, please let me know

I went to school in 2003 to 2007. Each month, I made my payments on time, so when I missed one, they put me into default on my loan. I got a paper in the mail stating that I have to pay in full. Two days ago, I got a paper stating that if I cannot pay the balance in full, they are offering a monthly repayment plan.

When I called the recovery department, they said that I have to pay in full before I can make payment arrangements. Is there anything I can do.

I was directed to use Sallie Mae for private loans to enroll in college beginning in 2005. This was the best choice I was told, since "I am attempting to pay for school as an independent student, and would not involve my parents." Sallie Mae approved my loan applications and financed a good portion of my education. The interest amount attributed to said loans has reached astronomical amounts. Due to personal matters, including bouts with anxiety and depression, I medically withdrew from college for a few semesters. I continued to work, however, and I still did not reside with my parents. I always had an apartment; I never lived on campus or with my parents.

During these hard times, Sallie Mae continuously called excessive times daily (sometimes 10+ calls before Noon.) demanding payment IN FULL. My grandmother co-sgned on loans, and they threatened to take her house and any assets she may have, if she did not pay them IN FULL. I argued with Sallie Mae for YEARS attempting to reach an agreeable payment schedule. Never at any point did I flat out tell Sallie Mae I could not or would not pay them. I just could never afford what they were asking: ($700+/monthly). That was more than I was paying for rent. I re-enrolled in school and will graduate in the Winter of 2011. I set up a payment plan with Sallie Mae that adds up to approximately $350/monthly. While enrolled and taking classes, Sallie Mae ignored my deferment status (which they suggested), and reported negative payment statuses to Consumer Crediting agencies, continually lowering my credit score.

My son has a student loan, and he is a full-time student. This is supposed to be deferred while he is in college full-time. He began in 2005. I have a tuition assistance loan along with him and was protected under the deferment (as well as SCRA, while his daddy served full-time in Iraq 2007-2008). Last summer, out of the blue, I received a phone call at 9:00 at night, and on a Sunday morning, from Sallie Mae. I told them his loans were deferred, and he would begin paying on them when he graduates in 2012. Right after that phone call, letters started flying in with unbelievable amounts and compounded interests with both of the loans.

I did not give my cell phone number to them but I called in to talk about my loans. They put my number that I used to call them into the system. I told them I was not giving my number and that they were not allowed to call me. Well, I have just received calls. I told them it is my cell phone and not to call me again. What do I do? I know they are calling me illegally.

I had taken out a loan with Sallie Mae so that I could go to college. I should also add that my fiance also took out a Sallie Mae loan, and that I co-signed for him. We have been having economic hardships, as I moved in December 2010 for an employment opportunity. Therefore, I had to pay rent and a security deposit for a new place, and I paid a lot of money to heat my new place during the winter, as it is very drafty. My fiance remained at our last place of residence, as we had planned to wait for him to get a job before he moved down here. However, his car broke down and we could not afford a new car. So he moved to our new place, and he was unemployed for a few months. He JUST got a new job. I haven't been able to make my student loan payments because of my financial situation. I realize that I'm at fault for not attempting to make a payment, as it is my responsibility to pay Sallie Mae back for the loan. However, I think it is evident that my financial situation has not been most favorable.

A few weeks ago, my parents, with whom I no longer reside, told me that Sallie Mae left a message on their answering machine saying that I need to contact them soon, or my account will be out of their hands. I immediately contacted them, gave them my updated address, and made a payment to them over the phone. I told the representative that I did not want my parents contacted because I no longer reside there. I also requested that information be sent about the amount overdue, and about how to get my loan put into forbearance and she said that she would send the information to me. However, I have not received anything from Sallie Mae yet.

Yesterday, I got a call from my parents, and they said that they there was a message from Sallie Mae, and they had left the same message as before. I was appalled because I had just made a payment, and it had not even been a full two weeks since my payment was withdrawn from my bank account. Today, I contacted them, and I first addressed the issue about them calling my parents about my loan and leaving messages regarding the state of my account. The representative asked if they co-signed my loan, and I responded in the negative. She then seemed to brush off that complaint, and said that she needed to forward me to my "account manager".

I was then forwarded to my "account manager", who seemed rather friendly and respectful. I then asked him why my parents were left a message when I just spoke with someone about my loan account a few weeks ago and had made a payment. He then asked me if I was asking about my loan, or the one I co-signed, and I told him I was concerned about my loan. He said that he was the account manager of my fiance's loan, and forwarded me onto someone else.

The next person I spoke with was very rude. She told me that my account was way overdue, and that I had to start making payments of about $367 for the next four months to make my account current. When I told her that I cannot afford to make those payments right now, but that I could pay small now and then kick it up when I'm done with my car payments (which end in September), she said that I had to pay that money by the end of the month. When I asked about the payment I made a few weeks ago, she said that that payment does not show on my account, and that it was credited to my fiance's account.

First, I find it appalling that I made a payment to my fiance's account without my knowledge, as I thought we were discussing my own account. Second, I'm appalled that they keep hounding my parents, even after I told them that I no longer reside with them. I am also troubled that they left a message regarding the status of my loan, even when I told them that I don't live with them. Lastly, I find it offensive at how they treat you over the phone, and that even when you are trying to make an effort to get back on your feet and catch up on payments, they use their scare tactics to try to make you pay more than you're able to.

Dealing with them has caused me a lot of grief and stress, and I was left feeling powerless with regard to my financial situation. They just seem to lack a level of understanding and compassion for those who are really struggling to make ends meet. I'm baffled with their conduct, and am nervous about having to deal with them for many, many years while I try to pay back these loans.

My Dad and I co-signed on two loans with sallie mae for my son. He has tried to keep up with the payments. Sallie Mae is calling my parents all the time, finally they told my dad that they would take a settlement on the loans if he would pay them off, he agreed to that and settled to pay for 85% of the loan, they told him to deposit the money in his bank account and they would withdraw it. They would not send him anything in writting. My son at this time worked out a payment plan with them for his loans.

A couple of days later they called him at work and said he had to make another payment he argued with them that he had made his payments and was current after almost an hour the supervisor got on the line and said "Oh we just wanted to say that we called to tell you we rejected your Grandfather offer and yours!!! IS this legal? I told my dad to not deposit the money in his account until he had it in writing what they agreed upon. Can anyone help or give us some advice?

Regarding student loans, Sallie Mae is also very abusive to their clients and they need to be regulated as well. So please check into Sallie Mae complaints online and help those people.

Educational Credit Management Corporation in St. Paul MN, GC Services in Houston TX, Columbus in Ohio, and ACS Affiliated Comp Services in Long Beach CA also have many complaints reported against these companies mentioned above. Please regulate these companies or shut them down for not following FDCPA laws. They are embezzlers, tax fraud, scammers, con artists, federal felons and also grand Larcens to the max. Please don't let them get away!

This also involves Sallie Mae. They are making over the top calls, to me and my work. I called Student Assistance Corp. back, this Jeffery answered and would not give the address. He said he would continue to stalk me. He and the others constantly make threats saying they are going to get their money, no matter what, and they are operating as such, acquiring ridiculous fees. Someone needs to sue these people, Sallie Mae and Student Assistance Corporation, and hold them accountable. The government (which is us) bailed them out and they are trying to make money. This needs to stop!

I've also found my computer to be being under attack constantly. I believe they have hackers working for them. They gather lots of personal information, which would allow them to go untouched, pretending to be me or others that have e-mail accounts etc., and disrupting everything about me and others' lives. It's organized crime without a gun.

Sallie Mae added 30% penalties in late fees, and collection fees to my student loan. Is that legal? Do I have any recourse? They have since sold my loan to nelnet. Thank you for any suggestions, or information.

This was the WORST customer service experience I have ever come across. I was looking to apply for a student loan and decided to call to do the application because I had a few questions. The first lady (unfortunately I she never provided her name) was rude and kept cutting me off every time I tried to ask a question. Halfway through the application I was fed up with it so I politely asked her if another representative could finish my application. She got very quiet and asked, "Why?" I simply told her I would just prefer to finish up my application with another representative. She then got very quiet and HUNG UP ON ME!!!

I was furious! I then called back to try and put in a complaint and finish my application and got a gentleman on the line. He was nice, however I could clearly tell he kept talking to someone else in his office. He would mute his line for 10 seconds at a time and when he would un-mute it, I could hear them laughing. I cannot be certain of course, but I have a feeling he was laughing about me with the previous representative who hung up on me. He ran me around in circles with the application and kept asking me the same questions over and over and over. I was so fed up with it I told him I would do it later. Based on this experience though, I will never do business with Sallie Mae, EVER.

I am a graduate of my school with an associate degree of applied science using a few different student loans. But one has come to my mind and my family's headache about repaying my loans. I have borrowed only a small amount of money under 7,000 dollars at a est 7% interest rate. Now, I have a good credit of repaying a lot owed money like chase, credit card companies. but Sallie Mae is the worst right now to me cause it is ruining my credit score of stating that I have a due that was pasted for 15 days. Now over the past two weeks, I never receive any letter of a payment needed to be paid. Only received was everyone else asking me to pay back. In my life since I graduated school, I've only received one letter that needed to be paid to Sallie Mae. after that, I did not receive any more letters until I got the letter of a due being pasted. Everyone else from chase and my credit cards are sending me monthly bills and Sallie Mae only sent me one overall.

My family had received monthly bills from Sallie Mae when I started my classes. They only received only 4 bills until they got a phone call saying we were 3 months pass due. Only my dad and I was signed in loans.

To anyone who is planning on using Sallie Mae, don't. They are a joke at reminding you to pay your loans and will ask every member of your family (they did it to my grand parents) for money like loan sharks.

I had a student loan in 1984. In 1999, during my divorce, I found out that it was still unpaid. The original loan amount was $2,500. I immediately contacted National Payment Center (NPC) and asked what I could do to pay this now $5,000+ with interest and fees off. I set up a repayment plan in which I had the payment automatically withdrawn from my account monthly. After making 9 consecutive monthly payments, the fees were to be waived and 1/2 the interest deducted. Sounded reasonable and I did my part. When the 9th month was upon me, which I was looking forward to, I received a letter indicating that my loan had been "sold" to SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae). Yes, "sold."

NPC made a nice profit off of my loan that made up for the promised waiving of my fees and 1/2 the interest, because my new balance with Sallie Mae was now over $6,000 which was more than the initial amount at NPC, and 9 monthly payments! I was shocked that this could even happen. I mean, I never bought a car, got down to the last few payments and had the bank call me and say, "Hey, we just wanted to let you know that we sold your car loan and now your new balance is $25,000 when you were down to 2 more monthly payments of 299.00 or something." This is outrageous.

They never sent a statement. I wasn't making online payments and had no way to follow my payments, no receipts were ever given. It is all very backroom,

As bad as Sallie Mae is, I must say I was even more appalled by the lack of interest or help available. I contacted Senator Specter's office. Senator Don White's Office, The Attorney General's Office, and they either immediately dismissed it or said, "We will send you some forms to fill out." (Do make some paper airplanes with them because we just do not care. Okay, they didn't say that last part, but I sure felt it loud and clear. )

There is a very interesting dynamic at play here. When you are an average person and you have a debt, even if you are in the process of making it right, you are just a deadbeat who did not have the foresight to better manage your money or your life. But if you are a bank, a corporation, the government is happy to find a way to help you out. By taxing me, who is paying a $2,500 loan over and over?

Now my daughter who has a 4.58 GPA is looking to go to school. I applied for her Parent Plus Loan. I was denied. I make $83,000 a year. Aside from this loan and my bankruptcy in 2005, my ex-spouse split with the state the money from our house the 401K, sold our furniture and I raised 2 girls on my own and filed since he also left me bills. I worked very hard, made something of myself and paid my bills. In 2008, when they said that I owed the over $4,000, I made a mistake. I took a stand and said, "no more", and stopped paying (and tried to get someone involved in investigating them). Specter, White, the Attorney General , Gloria **, various agencies, the ACLU and even the press did not seem to care. I feel that my civil rights are being violated. I am being extorted and it has caused harm to my girls and to me.

I recently reviewed my credit report after being denied, and there is Sallie Mae listing me as 120 days past due. Funny that the amount they listed was $2,500 and not the $4,000 + they told me. I have been paying on this loan. I set up payments with ECMC once it became evident that no one was going to help me out. I am down to $1,500. I intend to pay this last little bit off with a full payment before they can resell it and start at a nice high amount again. I contacted ECMC because they were also showing up on my report and they said that they would take care of it since it shouldn't be on there. I am in fact in good standing and even have my Title 4 rights now reinstated which means I can qualify for federal loans. The representative at ECMC told me to call Sallie Mae and have them remove the negative report from my credit report since I am not 120 days past due. I don't even have a loan through them any longer, but after 3 hang- ups and talking to 9 different individuals in India I believe (Go America), I was told that they cannot remove this and that it stays on my report for 7 years!

I thought only the bankruptcy would stick on my report that long. I have really no debt, just this $1,500. I pay in cash and have a great job. I am responsible.I represent a company, yet I spent the afternoon trying to reason with a mental midget at Sallie Mae who did his best to try to make me feel like a loser. I just want this removed from my report so my daughter can go to school and we are not using Sallie Mae to fund her education. I would actually sell a kidney first!

I co signed a Sallie Mae loan for my niece. Well, my niece decided to drop out of college so the loan came due. Long story short, she has not made any payments on the loan, is not talking to me, and has moved. I get phone calls day and night within 2 days of the payment being past due. As far as I know, they have made no attempt to contact my niece. I have asked for proof of this to no avail. I have even provided them with her new address (via her mom) and phone number. But they will not change anything because I am not the primary borrower.

When I ask why they are making no legal attempts to collect from her and hold her responsible, their response is that I signed the loan and am equally responsible. That is funny! I do not get the benefits of writing off the loan payments (I have been making the payments). I do not receive any statements in the mail (apparently it is illegal to send 2 bills for the same account). I cannot get any deferments or forbearances because I am not the primary borrower and the list can go on and on. How is that equal? I want to find an attorney to help me. I feel that Sallie Mae is not being equal when trying to collect their money. I want to keep my credit in good standing. But who is going to hold the primary borrower responsible? Shouldn't they exhaust all their options with the primary borrower (ex: garnish wages etc.) before going after the co-signer? What are our rights? Now after reading some of these complaints, even if I did pay it off (if I could), they would try to find some reason that I would still owe money. There has to be something that can be done. This is nuts!

In 2002, I went to a heavy equipment operator school. I got a loan and co-signed with a private school loan with Sallie ****. This was not a government student loan. Just after coming back from school, I had an auto accident and I couldn't work for 6 months. I also couldn't pay the loan they offered but they let me buy it out in 2005 for $2,100. I did that for 3 payments of $700 but I lost all my stubs. Now, a credit agency is saying that it is almost $13,000 and it's $6,000 on my credit report. It says on the school's website that they do not have government loans for this school. These people have been messing with me and my co-signers for a credit of 10 years trying to hide behind the gaze of a government backed loan. Help! I'm trying to straighten out my credit.

This debacle starts a little over two years ago when my wife was about six months pregnant with our second child. Up to this point, I had been paying Sallie Mae using the automatic withdrawal from my checking account method. Things were going well. Unfortunately, my wife's boss started to realize that with a baby on the way, my wife was headed for some maternity leave and he would have one less employee for a few months, so he fired her. I only mention it because I believe that it is important. Our finances got a little tight and I had to switch to paper billing through the mail. It afforded us a little more time each month to make the pay. We struggled and were on the verge of losing our house, so I requested a deferment of my payments.

After my deferment period had expired, I didn't receive any bills. When I called to inquire, I was informed that I owed some money due to missed payments and, of course, there were some late fees associated with that as well. I asked how this could have happened. I was told that I was responsible for mailing in my bills because I was now on the coupon' method of repayment. I informed them that I had not requested the coupon option and would prefer to go back to receiving my bills in the mail. Sallie Mae's customer service department could not figure out how my account was switched to coupon payment. I spoke to several different members of Sallie Mae's staff on multiple occasions (monthly) and the problem was never resolved, despite the fact that they had assured me each time that it had.

A short time later, I contacted Sallie Mae to try and find a solution to my problem of not being able to make a particular payment on time. I was waiting for a check to be mailed to me. I had not received it yet and I was unable to pay my bill at that point. When I spoke to a Sallie Mae representative, he assured me that I could avoid the late fee by switching my due date to a later date in the billing cycle. He proceeded to switch the dates for me. Later that month, I was informed, via a barrage of phone calls, that I was late on that month's payment and there were some additional late fees as a result. It seems that the due date switch cannot take effect until the next billing cycle, negating the reason I had the switch made in the first place. My customer service help' failed to inform me of that. Of course this error, his error, resulted in fees I had to pay.

My next phone conversation with Sallie Mae was concerned with trying to get my account back onto paper billing, again. For some reason, my representative could not make this adjustment. They suggested that I use Sallie Mae's online payment option through their website.

Frustrated with all of my previous attempts to resolve this situation with customer service, I was willing to try anything. I went to the website and created an account in an attempt to pay my bills online. I reviewed, checked off and paid every due amount I could find on the web page, associated with the billing groups on my account (the website is unable to display them all on one place, apparently). Still, a month later I received a volley of phone calls indicating that payments were missed and, you guessed it, additional fees were due.

Adding insult to injury: Feeling financially overwhelmed, I decided to apply for an income based repayment plan. I tried to fill out the documentation on Sallie Mae's website, but I was confused by some of the wording of the questions and opted to fill out the forms which I downloaded from the same site and just fax them in to the number provided. I never heard from Sallie Mae.

Having no real alternative, I had to call Sallie Mae customer service for some help with this new issue. I called during the week, during normal business hours (I have learned to never call after hours or on the weekend, since the help' available at those times is even less adept) to try and find out what had happened with my submission. At this point I had also learned to never talk to the standard Sallie Mae staff, since they could not solve any of my issues. In fact, they tended to make matters worse. I immediately asked for a supervisor, thinking that this will enhance my chances of success. In addition, I have started asking for names, full names. Corey **, if that was his real name, was the supervisor I was working with.

The first thing he said was "Wow, your account is a mess!" He then proceeded to ask me when I filed the income based repayment documents. When I told him that I wasn't really sure, he gave me a hard time, indicating that I should know that information. I made a guess off the top of my head as to when I submitted the paperwork. He rudely piped in and informed me that it was actually a month after the date I had given him. I could not figure out why he would ask me for the information if he had it in front of him, on the computer, all along.

Feeling like I was being verbally reprimanded, I asked him if he remembered every date associated with forms that he had ever filled out. He very snidely said to me: "If it's important to me, I do it and I remember". He then indicated to me that I had filed for income based repayment online and no action was taken since the form was incomplete. I told him that I that I was aware of that and that I had filed a second time with a fax. He told me that no action had been taken since the paperwork was not received. Feeling extremely frustrated, I asked him to send me the paperwork, via the mail, again.

It's been over two weeks and I have still not received my income based repayment documentation. Obviously, Corey had not followed through on his responsibilities. I wasn't sure whether Corey ** job wasn't important' enough to him or if he was just a liar, but I wanted to call and find out. Seeking some measure of accountability, I called Sallie Mae and asked for Corey. I was put on hold while he was located. I sat on hold for 48 minutes. At that point, I hung up in frustration. Had I not done so, I would probably still be on hold, waiting.

In my desperate search of Sallie Mae's website for some answers, I came across an interesting quote which is sited as being a Sallie Mae slogan. It reads: "Customer Service is not a department, it's an attitude". As a customer, I didn't really experience a great deal of service, but there was certainly a fair amount of attitude.

The solution: Despite all of this, I am still willing to try and salvage this situation. If Sallie Mae is at all interested in making things right, this is what I propose. (1) Repair my damaged credit rating. All of these issues have lead to late and missed payments, none of which are due to any errors on my part. In addition, I have exerted considerable effort in trying to rectify the situation to no avail. Therefore, I do not believe that I should be penalized for them. (2) Waive all outstanding late fees associated with late and missed payments. Again, these fees are directly associated with my inability to work with a competent member of the customer service staff and as a result, I do not believe that I should be penalized. (3) Return me to paper billing. Just mail me my bills, all of my bills, clearly indicating the amount (s) owed for all of my billing groups.

I believe that these are very reasonable requests and my argument is well founded.

I was never told my deferment would end while I was still in school. I had a deferment until 2007 then was in repayment until 2008 which I paid. I even negotiated terms to pay what I could actually afford. When I decided to go back to college, I applied for another deferment and was granted one originally until 2013. Here it is May of 2011, I am still enrolled in college full time. I have been laid off from full time work and now only work 16 hours a week. And Sallie Mae collections starts emailing me and calling me to tell me that I am two months late and need to pay immediately. When I question them, I got told to send in a school certification. I asked why I got treated like I am an idiot and was given the same answer repeated over and over.

I have now applied for a deferment twice and been denied twice for "reaching the maximum deferment time." Nobody told me there would be a maximum and I am still in school until at least December so I am very confused. I have even tried a voluntary forbearance and the guy who helped me apply, customer service agent from Sallie Mae, said I should be granted an in school deferment and that I easily qualify for one. I desperately need help sorting this out because I honestly cannot afford to pay them back right this second but after I am out of school and working definitely, but not right now. My family is still trying to get back on our feet after my husband lost his job in January of 2009.

I received a letter that my son's school loan was being written off as a debt. I am the co-signer. The letter said they were open from 8:00 am - 9:00 pm so I called and I called and I called and the date to call by goes past, and I called yesterday 7 numbers! Today, it was 4 numbers. Finally, someone said they couldn't help me. I had to call the number I had been calling. What also is upsetting is early last year, I made an agreement for them to take money out of my account. After 3 months, it stopped. I called but no one could help me or send me papers, etc. What do I do?

What is resulting is a debt in my name when I am trying to find out and settle this. I acknowledge they have tried to call me and when I realized that my son defaulted on his obligation, and I started calling them, but nothing.

Pay us your money and just go away. That's what one of their senior managers told me when I tried to settle my account with them. What a bunch of low life's. I had to wait until the end of the month to pay them because that's when I got paid. I called Sallie Mae's toll free number on Saturday (866-812-4251) but the offices were closed. I called that Monday, and was told that I could not settle on our original agree terms because it was too late. I told them that I tried to call but their offices were close (I have phone records to prove it). The manager (his name is Jeremy) said that's not true and they were open. The number I should have called was 866-573-9891. How the ** was I supposed to know? It's best that you stay away from this company. Something wrong with their business plan (I think that's why the dept. of educations is taking over all their loans. The government has figured out that their incompetent).

We have requested several times for a payment reduction form from them and they refuse to send one. It has been several months and they have late fees and harass us several times. I had counted in one hr, they called 4 times. How many times can you explain something to them? If they refuse to send the paper work to your house to fill out, what are you going to do? They tried to put the wrong address on a bill and I still got it. I told them that was spelled wrong; these are very sneaky tactics to do, to say they mailed something out buy putting the wrong address on it . They threaten on the phone when they call, they have no respect to the person they are talking to. My husband can talk to them some days and some days they will not talk to him, considering that I have made request for him to be added several yrs ago. They refuse to do what government law is on student loans.

They never told me that I had a late payment from 2007, no letters nor email correspondences. I have an auto-pay set-up so that every month they just deduct the agreed amount of monthly payment. I went online to check the progress of my new income-sensitive repayment plan submittal and saw that my current amount due was more. I called and they told me that I had a late fee. To pay it over the phone would have cost me money so they said I could pay it online which I did. I checked and saw that my payment was taken but not applied to my late fee so I called. They said it was applied to my interest and they would fix it to go towards the late fee and it would take 4-7 business days.

Well, it has been a month and I am now on-hold with Sallie **** because it wasn't done and I am being told that all payments made go to interest first before late fees and that I have $4,000 in interest but they will try again. I am on an income-sensitive repayment so tell me where I am going to pull $4,000 dollars out to be able to pay my late fee. I am also thinking that my interest due is also going to increase so I will never be able to pay my late fee and they will keep reporting my late fee to the credit agencies thus affecting my credit. This is so absolutely ridiculous.

Half of my loans due are now all due to interests. I accrued them when I got sick and had to put my plans on forbearance until I got better and then was able to work and have an income that would allow me to pay back my student loans. If I had known when I was in college that I would be at the mercy of Sallie **** for my life, I never would have gone. Dealing with them is impossible and I just cannot bear it on my own anymore. I am sure that I am not the only one they are putting through the ringer like this which is so morally corrupt. They need to have their business practices investigated.

Sallie Mae charged off my loan. It says account written off on my credit report, cleared from their ledgers and assuming government help. It went through several debt collectors since over several years. I filed bankruptcy recently and Sallie Mae has contacted me saying that since it could not be included in the bankruptcy, they have placed it back in repayment. Can they legally write off an account from their ledgers and then add it back?

1. Every month when I make my regular payment, I also send an extra "principle only" payment in which I designate (in writing) which loan the money is to be applied. My complaint is that Sallie Mae does not honor my requests. They even use my principle only payment (without my permission) for interest payments. I feel like I am being punished for trying to pay down my student loan. 2. I applied for a partial student loan forgiveness program for Special Education teachers yet I was denied by Sallie Mae.

In 2002, my mortgage company required my spouse and I to consolidate our student loans with Sallie Mae, our loan provider. Since this time, we are now divorced and no longer own a home. But Sallie Mae refused to separate our student loans despite our divorce decree, stating Federal overrules State. However, Sallie Mae does offer a new start loan together. In 2006, Congress no longer allows couples to consolidate student loans but failed to grandfather in those of us stuck in a consolidation loan.

Despite many pleas, requests, and discussions with Sallie Mae, I am still stuck with my ex-husband's loan of almost $100,000. I am more than willing to pay on my loan, but why should I still be stuck with his on my credit rating?

I need your help because I have done everything I can, but hire a lawyer which I can't afford. When my son was in college, I co-signed a loan for him with Sallie Mae. My son then joined the army, he took care of his obligation and sent them the military deferment papers. So far, so good. Well, not so much! My son was deployed in Iraq last year for 455 days. Within one month of his deployment, Sallie Mae began calling me and depending on who called, I was told: They need his contact information, I gave them the information for Fort Hood where his unit is stationed and where his wife and child live. They asked for his orders, okay sent. They said I have to pay, not happening! I have written to them and told them to stop calling. I have written to my congressman

When I told them to call his wife at Fort Hood, they told me "well, maybe she doesn't have the authority to talk to us on this". I informed them that while he is deployed in a war zone, she most certainly does have the authority! I told them to file papers and have his pay garnished, they said "do you know how long that would take?" Seriously, it is not my problem! They call 7 days a week from 8AM-9PM. He is not a deadbeat, he is serving our country in Iraq.

My wife and I have raised 3 children, put them all through college and are now living paycheck to paycheck just to keep up the mortgage payments. I, too, was in the army. I served in desert shield then desert storm, only to be told they didn't need me after 18 years and let me go as a Major with an honorable discharge, but without a pension and benefits. Now, I have to deal with this. I don't know what else to do and they have made it clear that they will continue to call me until they get paid. This is beyond harassment. Our stress levels are high enough with my son in Iraq and now we have to deal with this on a daily basis. Please, what else can I do?

Sallie Mae didn't respond to any written requests for deferment since September 2010 until November 2010 when they sent economic hardship form to me. This was after I wrote long-term unemployed, which requires the unemployment form for deferment. I have sent a congressional inquiry to get this company investigated for continued mishandling of finances and cost of financing (the rate was made 8.5% after being shown in writing 4%). I want everyone to send letters, emails, and telephone calls to their congressmen and senators. This is to ensure that Sallie Mae is thoroughly investigated, and loan process is brought back to simpler and lower rates for students and parents. Also, this is to bring the education process back to learning, not being swamped with huge, outrageous interest and "private" loans to be banned from the process. This is where Sallie Mae has shown the most financing fraud, similar in all ways to the mortgage fraud brought out in public!

I was enrolled in Income Based Repayment (IBR) in 2010 because my student loans exceed my current salary. On December 12, 2010, I received an email from Sallie Mae telling me that my IBR payment plan would "expire in approximately 90 days", with instructions on how to renew. But Sallie Mae did not give me 90 days. My IBR plan expired on January 1, 2011 raising my once manageable payment of $210.00 to over $600.00 in less than 30 days. I even sent them back the requested renewal form within 15 days. But they told me I could not re-enroll in IBR until my past due amount (the $600) plus the late fees are paid and my account is brought back even. I could not do that in the time they requested. And now I have late fees accumulating. They received an additional form I faxed to them on January 20th, 2011. I was informed that it would take 3-4 business days to process. When I called today, January 27th, 2011, the form was still not applied to my account. Every time I call Sallie Mae, I get a different answer from that representative. And no one seems to want to help me get my payments under control. I have copies of the correspondence and bills from Sallie Mae.

I have sent multiple applications to work out a repayment plan with Sallie Mae along with all supporting documentation requested (e.g. proof of income, tax returns, W-2's). I have attempted to make a repayment arrangement since August 2010. Each time, they tell me that I need something different or I am missing documents or the application was completed incorrectly. However, a representative from their Student Assistance Department told me that she had reviewed my file and that there was nothing wrong with the application or the documentation that I sent over time and she didn't know why they denied my request for the repayment plans that I requested. She even said that one note said that I didn't submit my family size on the application but she could see that, in fact, I did.

I believe that Sallie Mae is working to set me up for failure as each time I call, they tell me something different, and they tell me about policies that they do not have in writing and that are not written on the application forms and then tell me that is why they denied my application form. I am not in default but if they keep doing this, I will be in default due to their negligence.

They are also charging me for loans that are on my credit report which they do not have promissory notes for and that I did not borrow. They say that this is the interest that has capitalized over the years and has now become part of the principal. Well, that amount is equal to the amount of the loans that were initially taken out (25k) and that doesn't include the interest. I don't believe these practices are lawful or ethical. I want to repay but it seems that they are playing games so that they can make me go into default to have a reason to begin to garnish my wages for an amount that would be far more than I could ever afford and cause me to not be able to live.

Something needs to be done about these practices that they are implementing. Their own staff told me that there was nothing wrong with the documentation that I sent in and she did not understand why they keep refusing my payment plan, and of course, when I spoke to a supervisor, she said that wasn't true and they don't hold applications on file more than 30 days. Is there a record retention law of at least 7 years or does it not apply to them in this category? I need help and justice! Thank you for looking into this matter for me.

Sallie Mae "accidentally" debited my bank account without my permission. I called and they admitted they made a mistake. But they told me that I have to wait 7 business days for my refund. I don't find it fair, although they might think what small insignificant amount it is. It is my money and they did it without my permission! I recently graduated and I need every dollar in my account, because it's my money!

Today I called to speak with Sallie Mae regarding my accounts. I spoke with a representative named Trina, who was rude--she called me a liar. I requested to speak with her supervisor; she refused to allow me to speak with her supervisor, and she hung the telephone up on me. I called again and I spoke with representative named Kevin, and I requested to speak a supervisor. He wanted to know the nature of my problem, and refused to forward me to a supervisor until I submitted a payment. I told him that I was going to make a payment, but I would like to speak with a supervisor. He again requested to know the nature of my problem before transferring me to a supervisor. When I told him that I had a customer service issue, he responded, "We are not the customer service department, we are the collections department. So, what do you need to speak with a supervisor about? "

I responded that I have an issue with the company's customer service, and I need to speak with a supervisor. He denied me the right to speak with a supervisor. I requested several times, but I was continuously denied the right to speak with a supervisor, unless I was willing to pay my bill. I again informed him that I intend to pay my bill, but I would like to speak with a supervisor. He denied my request and hung the telephone up on me. I called again and this time I got customer service representative named Fredrick. I asked him for the telephone number or the address to their complaint department, and he said, "um", and placed me on hold, then hung the telephone up on me.

I called again. This time I spoke with a customer service representative named Charles. I requested the address or telephone number of their complaints department. He provided it to me. He then stated that my account was outstanding, and he gave me a different amount that was past due on my account beside what I was previously told. During our conversation, he told me that I needed to bring my account current, and I told him that I would, after I spoke with a supervisor. As I'm getting off the telephone, he told me, "Your account is in collections and it will be ongoing in collections."

For the last month, I have been receiving calls from Sallie Mae seven days a week, two to three times a day. The calls start as early as 7:00 a.m. and stops as late as 8:50 p.m.

I have been on an automatic payment plan with Sallie Mae for several years. Each month, the payment is deducted from my checking account by Sallie Mae on the 15th. This month, January 2011, no attempt was made to debit my account but rather they sent me a notice through their e-correspondence center that I was delinquent and also that my payment was being increased from $160/month to $430/month. They are asking me to pay $600 to clear the delinquency when they have not even tried to withdraw the payment. My checking balance never goes below $1000 and my bank and Sallie Mae agree that no attempt was ever made for the payment. They sold me on the automatic payment idea because, "You will never have to worry about late payments." If I had not been on their website looking for my 2010 tax forms, I might not have noticed this until they reported this error to the credit agencies. Back in 2008, they reported millions of customers as delinquent to credit agencies just as I was buying a house. It screwed up my credit score for a month until they reversed their error. It looks like they are at it again in January 2011.

They are claiming I am delinquent and asking for nearly $600 to clear up my account. That is nearly 4 times my normal payment and also threatening to report my "bad credit habit" to credit agencies. I have done nothing wrong and they are using their intentional mistake or error (I can't be sure) to extort money from me. I have no problem making my payments each month automatically, but they have not even tried to withdraw the funds.

I co-signed for my daughter's loans and I'm being taken to court for wage garnishing. From the onset of the payback period, Sallie Mae has been unreasonable with any negotiations that we tried to make to get the payments that my daughter could handle. They refused any adjustments and I encouraged her to just pay what she could while we worked on resolving the problem.

Needless to say, nothing was resolved. Although they were getting something, one of the loans went into default. If they were taking what we sent and putting a little on each loan as they said they were, then how did this happen? Also, as much as we requested consolidation, why would they not offer it to us until after the loan defaulted?

Her loans started in 2003 and the loan that defaulted was from 2005. Is that because it was the higher loan (which, by the way, has now more than doubled)? Now, because I'm the co-borrower, they are trying to set the payment amount according to my salary instead of negotiating with my daughter. They've illegally called my job and harassed me. I am fully aware that the loan has to be paid, but why should it be at the expense of causing hardship on me and my family? I contacted them and like what they have been doing to so many others, they refused to adjust the payment to something we can afford. They were ridiculously unfair.

I feel that Sallie Mae loans are a "set-up" scam, taking students and parents for granted. When is someone going to challenge their wrong-doing and check their records? I would not recommend them to anyone. They are constantly sending mail to my youngest college student and I just toss it in the garbage as soon as we get it.

Times are really challenging and people are losing homes and jobs. The children are moving back home in an effort to survive and Sallie Mae can care less about any of it.

In 2007, I took out a Career Training Loan with Sallie Mae for $4000. The tech school I went to have no other options for financial aid and pushed hard for students to do a loan through Sallie Mae. It was a terrific mistake. The loan terms indicated that the loan would not need to be paid until 6 months after graduation. Unfortunately, while this tech school took 18-24 months to complete, Sallie Mae thought it took only 10. At 16 months, I was told I had to start paying the loan back. It was a fight to convince them otherwise. I finally convinced Sallie Mae to correct the length of my attendance at school from 10 to 18 months.

It is now the end of 2010 and I have discovered that Sallie Mae did not correct anything. Instead, someone put forbearance on my loan for several months and, therefore, using most of my eligible forbearance time. About 2 years ago, I filed for 6-month forbearance and was approved. There was a charge added to my principal balance but otherwise the forbearance went smoothly. When I asked for an extension, I was turned down but without a reason being filled in on the form letter. I called the U.S. office I had called before but it was disconnected. After weeks of investigating online, I finally decided that office no longer existed.

The regular 888-2SALLIE number had representatives that could not help (nor understand) me, so I gave up trying to find out why my forbearance was refused. Due to losing one of my 2 jobs recently, I applied for forbearance again in early 2010. My application was ignored. I tried again with a letter; also no response. After a third try on November 2010, it was approved on December 10. I received an official letter telling me so on December 20. On December 27, I began to get harassing calls from Sallie Mae telling me I was delinquent. Knowing this wasn't right, I checked my online account. It suddenly said I was delinquent, being reported to credit agencies, and now owed late fees. There was no forbearance on my loan anymore and no indication what had happened to it.

As an aside, I should note that Sallie Mae charges late fees for no reason. They delay processing and I have about a 50% success rate in getting these fees removed. The delay also causes their system to register me as late and Sallie Mae will call both me and my relatives listed as second contacts on my loan immediately when this happens. That's why with this current problem, I called Sallie Mae immediately because I didn't want my relatives harassed again. The first person I got seemed confused and she seemed to notice immediately that there was something weird going on with my account. I was disconnected. (Again, I note that over 50% of the time I am on the phone with Sallie Mae, I am disconnected and have to call back.)

I got a second representative and told them the situation. This representative was confused, gave conflicting information, and wanted to argue with me. I'm not even sure he was looking at the correct loan. He told me the forbearance had been "canceled" 2 hours after it had been approved. I told him I had received no notice of this, and he said that it didn't matter. Before I could ask what he meant, he continued by saying the forbearance was denied because I was out of forbearance time. That's when I found out it was because they had used my eligible forbearance time when I was still in school. This was done without my knowledge.

He also said my current forbearance was canceled because my co-borrower had not signed the paperwork. I do not have a co-borrower and told him so, at which point he laughed and called me a liar, claiming he was looking right at my forbearance application. I asked who the co-borrower on the account was, and suddenly he couldn't tell me. Then he said I had to pay them $50 as a "forbearance application fee" and once I did, the forbearance would be approved. At this point, he began to push hard for me to give him my checking account info for that $50 to be withdrawn immediately. I asked how they could process forbearance when I was out of forbearance time, and he couldn't answer.

I asked about the co-borrower business, and suddenly he said that didn't matter. This whole time he was pushing for my checking information, and I refused to give it to him. I told him I would deal with the situation online, thanked him for his time, and I hung up. I paid them online and sent them an email demanding the late fee be rescinded immediately. I will be sending them snail mail as well, complete with the same information I am reporting here. They will also get a copy of the letter I am sending to the BBB in complaint.

This resulted to about $100 in late fees that were due to their delays in processing. (It was $200 total, but about $100 were eventually removed when I complained.) Loss of eligible forbearance time. Loss of cell phone minutes (approximately a $50 loss over the course of this loan) and harassment by Sallie Mae every time they erroneously believe my loan payment is late.

I thought I was going to school to better my education for my children. So I signed up for Southwestern College. Everything was fine until I got really sick and missed one week of classes. I had a doctor's note and I even made up test and passed exams. I started working two jobs so I was not able to start back right away. They told me when I had taken out the loan that if I left at anytime, as long as I returned back to school, I would not owe until after I finished college.

Well, some months later, I was getting mail stating that they had sent my loans to a creditor. To put the topping on the cake, I had GED classes that they were not even making important to attend.

So now, I can't go to any school due to their loaner who won't budge a bit for small payment amounts. I would like to go back to school but I cannot because Sallie Mae will not take my loans out of default. I am really hurting at this point because I can't find a job and my family is in debt. I would at least like to go back to school that will make me feel a lot more confident.

A few months ago, I went into a financial aid office to fill out a FAFSA for a new school. That's when I found out I was in default. I've been trying to get in contact with Sallie Mae since October of 2009 because I was in another school at that time and was trying to get an in-school deferment. Long story short, I had my (now former school) send faxes to Sallie Mae. I mailed letters to each department at Sallie Mae, emailed and called them.

Every time, they gave an excuse of not receiving it or told me to send more information. As time passed, they started harassing me, calling everyday all day even when I was still in school in Ohio. They told me that I was going to go into default and I needed a forbearance. I signed it and sent it. When I called, they would say they received nothing so they kept sending forbearance forms for me to sign, but never helped me. I would sign and send them (when I would call, they'd give me the runaround ).

This went on about 5 or 6 months until I found out I was in default about three months ago. So when I was in the financial aid office for the new school I want to attend, we were there almost two hours trying to find out were my loans were because each Sallie Mae representative gave us a different number to call, transferred the call or just would hang-up. They all kept passing the buck saying they didn't know anything. I honestly don't think I should be in default because I did all I could. They wouldn't help. I knew I couldn't pay it because I was still in school. If they weren't so busy harassing me, they could have helped me. I wouldn't have needed a forbearance or been in default if they would have done there jobs when my school faxed all the information in October 2009. I'm still very young. Why should I have to suffer not being able to go to the schools I apply to or in my future buy the house or car I'd like to because someone else neglected to do their job?

They are trying to reach a person by the same name and keep getting me. I have verified SSN, DOB, schools and everything to prove that it is not me they are looking for. I was told the other day that the supervisor can remove my phone number from the "unbuzz". But I swear, I just received another call from them. How do I get this to stop?

Aside from the harassment, etc., which is so typical of Sallie Mae, I was finally able to consolidate my federal loan with them into my federal loan through the government. Thank God. While I was waiting for direct student loans to disburse, I had to make a payment to Sallie Mae.This happened back in September. Sallie Mae was overpaid by $48. They have refused to refund the overage to me. I have called; I have been given the runaround; I have emailed. Isn't this illegal? How long can they hold on to this overpayment? For all the times they called me 12 times a day over a $5 late fee that accrued because they didn't post my payment immediately (really, I sent the payment on time, they posted the day after it's due, assessed a $5 late fee, then call twelve times a day because I'm in default for $5). I want my money from them, even if it's less than $50. What a wretched company that preys on kids fresh out of high school.

My student loan payment is $130.63 which goes on my two loans, one subsidized and the other unsubsidized. When I send in $200 payment and I ask them to put $130.63 towards my payment and the extra $70 towards my principal, they never will. They divide the $200 payment and pay equal amounts on both loans (principal and interest). I've called on several occasions to ask why they're not applying my payment the way I've asked and they give me some formal rhetoric.

I've even sent one check for $130.63 for my monthly payment and a second check for $70 to go towards the principal and they take the two checks and make them one amount of $200.63, which they apply on the principal and interest of both loans equally. I'm trying very hard to pay my school loans off quickly but I'm not being allowed to do so through Sallie Mae. Is there anything more I can do about this? At this rate, Sallie Mae will not allow me to pay off my student loans early. This could cause a financial crunch for me in the future. I thought paying off my loans early was a good thing; instead I feel like I'm being penalized for trying.

Please see attached letter that I posted on the web. This is in response to a recent letter that I received from EdFund informing me that my student loan is two months delinquent, and that I need to pay immediately as well as pay a penalty fee. I am a very busy widow with four children. I work full time as a Transition Teacher for the Soledad Unified School District. I could not find work in the Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo area, so I moved away from my extended family. My oldest son currently lives in Idaho with my mother because this area is plagued by gang problems and he did not feel safe here. Despite the pain of separation, I guess I am relieved to be employed, but only make enough money to pay rent, utility bills, buy gasoline and food for my family. I don't dare call Sallie Mae because I have been through this before. They will not lower my payments so they are manageable for me.

I took out student loans to complete my education. I went back to school prior to completing paying the 1st student loan. I graduated in July 2010. I have been paying on that loan and sending the money to an Atlanta address that I was told to send it to. I have only received one statement prior to this. I have been paying and they are cashing my checks. Yet, I am still being harassed and told that I am behind. Come to find out, someone at that company has given me wrong information. I have no idea where my money is going.

On a weekly basis, I repeatedly receive harassing phone calls within days of talking to someone regarding my account. It appears that the communication, follow through and knowledge by among their phone staff is inadequate and incompetent. I have spoken with numerous people, some more knowledgeable than others, regarding my loan repayment options. Each time, the person demands I make a payment before reading the notes/discussions on my file. As you can imagine, this can be cumbersome and frustrating of having to repeat the previous conversations over and over again. In one of the most recent conversations, I was told that someone would follow up with another department regarding my income based repayment application.

A few days later, I received another harassing phone call about making my payment. Upon request to speak with a manager, I was transferred to a senior account manager. This senior account manager said the person I spoke with did not follow up with the IRS handling department as she had stated she would do to process my application. Also, after discussing my forbearance letter with the same senior account manager, he adamantly proclaimed that I did not receive any recent forbearance because I was not eligible and that I should send in any documentation verifying my statement. I faxed in this statement on Nov 26, 2010. Since then, I have received two phone calls and spoken with four people who adamantly proclaim I was not eligible and did not receive any forbearance.

On Dec 3, 2010, I spoke with another senior account manager. He originally stated that I did not fax any information for my new unemployment application which was sent on Nov 26, 2010. I told him that I just confirmed it was received through another account manager. He continued looking and then stated I sent in the wrong forms. I debated with him that I sent the forms through an electronic fax account, and I can see the receipt and forms that I sent. He stated he needed a minute to continue looking at the documents received on my account. He located the correct documents I sent and advised me to resend them with a new date. For the record, most conversations are handled this way.

Please note that during my forbearance period, approximately two months, the phone calls stopped. Once the phone calls resumed at the end of my forbearance around the 11th of October. I spoke to a representative who stated any past due balance would be added to the back of the loan. As per the forbearance letter, "You must resume making monthly payment at the end of your forbearance." I have made my monthly payments for October and November. This past week, I received a coupon book indicating my new payments would begin December 4, 2010. The representatives harassing me state I have a past due amount and of course, never received forbearance.

I cosigned on a student loan for my sister, in agreement that I would be released after two years, as long as my sister made 24 consecutive, on-time payments. Those were the only stipulations (which she adhered)! After 10 phone calls, I have yet to be released. Sallie Mae changes their story every minute, different representative, different story, guaranteed! Sallie Mae is in breach of contract that I made with them. I am determined to be released from this loan as it is my contractual right. P.S. Do not every get a loan with Sallie Mae, unless you want to be screwed over and waste your time fighting for something that is already yours.

I am seriously regretting my education right now. I have been out of school since January but I am finding that it may not have been worth it. I was only able to find a temporary position and I am being overdosed in work that I am not being paid for. I am not making any more than I did as a student worker, and I have a degree!

My loans have troubled me and I was able to have some consolidated and thus payments have been lowered. Unfortunately, Sallie Mae shows no mercy. They never sent me any bills and they just have them on my online account. I am now delinquent two months and they are threatening to send me to collections on the 30th. I have called several times, even before receiving a delinquent notice, to try and make arrangements. My payments are $300 a month and the only thing they offered was a payment of $222. I had just told the person I spoke with that I was completely tapped financially and she offered no help, just a $88 lower payment. Then, if I pay $150, they will grant me a forbearance for the months I am behind but then next month, I need to pay an additional $150 or I will be in default again. The only response I received was sorry, it's a private loan so there really isn't anything we can do. Really!

I understand that I took out the loan, but lenders need to be realistic. I am trying my best honestly but times are just not what I expected when I started school in 2004. All I need is a payment plan and I have no problem paying Sallie Mae but $304 a month is just not it. I do not know any graduates at this time who are making enough to begin their life as an adult and make loan payments. I am fighting just to find a job and making a decent amount in this economy overall.

I am severely stressed. I am now choosing between car, insurance payments, food, bills, other loans and Sallie Mae. I feel like I am in between a rock and a hard place.

I've been making (more than double the) payments on a student loan since February 2010 and after June's payment, they capitalized interest on my loan and charged me an insurance premium. When I called them, they can't tell me why I got charged the insurance premium or why my loan got interest capitalized. I pay more than the interest each month and actually are paying down the principal. I was on the phone for over an hour and talked to 2 different people and they still can't answer my questions.

I have been paying three separate Sallie Mae loans for the last two years. They refuse to combine the accounts, so I have three accounts due at separate times a month. I send each payment in a separate envelope, with a piece of paper with the account number, name, etc. When they get the payments, they pay all of the $150 on one account and then start calling me for being late on the other two. I am very very frustrated and they have been no help.

When I attended college, my father took out a student loan through Sallie Mae in order to pay for my education. He said that he would be responsible for paying it if in return I would agree to work during college and help him keep the loan amounts down as much as possible. I kept up my end of the bargain, working three jobs during college, and when I graduated he kept up his end, paying off the students loans in August of 2008, the year I graduated. I thought that was everything, and that I was good to go. I was wrong.

In January of 2009, I was contacted by a Sallie Mae representative who was extremely rude and told me that I was overdue on my student loan payments and that if I didn't pay immediately they would note me in default. She said the total amount was $7,000. I was a kid fresh out of college trying to make it on her own. I didn't even have any idea why they would say I owed money, let alone have seven grand to pay. I explained to the lady that I was under the belief that the loans had been paid off, could she tell me why she believed that I owed the money. She couldn't; she just said she saw that. I asked her to provide a proof of my signature, telling her that if I did indeed owe the money, I would pay it off as best I could. She said she would send the request down the line, and I should receive the signature in a couple of days.

Six weeks passed, and no signature, but the harassing phone calls started. They were bothering me day and night. Most of the time, I would let it go through to voicemail, but every once in a while I would answer and again demand a proof of signature, and be told the same thing. I could expect to receive it in a couple of days. I never got a copy of that signature.Then, in February of 2010, I started receiving extremely harassing phone calls from a credit company called DCS who explained that Sallie Mae had turned everything over to them, and that I now owed $16,000 as part of the late fees. I explained to them the situation, and they said they would contact Sallie Mae. I can only assume they got the same runaround that I got because they couldn't give me a straight answer for months.

Finally in September they were able to provide me a copy of the promissory note, and I was able to (with the help of my wonderful and blessed parents) pay it off. (The promissory note was actually a FAFSA form that every student at my college was required to fill out in order to attend the college. Apparently the college took the loans out in my name is the best we can figure) Again, I thought that was that and good riddance.

Now, I recently went to apply for a home loan because I'm ready to move on and start a family. The person who checked my credit informed me that not only is the delinquency on there (which I knew it would be) but apparently Sallie Mae reported the delinquency three separate times: one for each year of the loan. So now I have three major delinquencies on there, denying me the ability to get a home loan, and all because the people at Sallie Mae are rude, inept, and completely without any knowledge of the field they work in and unwilling to help. My credit is shot because of this horrible company. Rest assured, when I have children and they go to college, I will be searching desperately to find an alternative to Sallie Mae.

I paid off my son's student loan 3 months early. I am being hounded 13 months later for no payment. I have faxed proof and sent copies of them cashing my final payment check and they still hound me for the money of the last check. These people have also affected my credit reports and I will battle back and battle back. Sallie Mae is corrupt and need to be corrected! Credit report hurting my refinancing of my house! My credit was 807 and now is 550. Thanks to Sallie Mae!

Unethical "late fee" charges appeared on my Sallie Mae account. This has happened to me at least 4 times in the past. It has been difficult for me to prove this issue, but I believe that this time I have a "screenshot" that will help in any case. Sallie Mae tends to have discrepancies on account information online, and then "late fees" are applied to my account. When reporting this to them with my proof, late fee charges remain. Recently, I logged on their website on 10/15/10 to view my account because my payments are scheduled for the 17th. My payment due date showed 11/17/10 for a total of a little bit over $1000. On 10/20/10, my account showed as being delinquent (3 days) with a $0.00 "late fee". It seems like "Sallie Mae" did not show a value over $0.00 because the due date actually showed 11/17/10 and did not know how to apply it.

I saved that screenshot as proof! I logged back on 11/02/10 and now my account showed a delinquent status of 16 days but with a "late fee" charge of $175.00. How does this immediately change? How are they able to charge a "late fee" for a due date that posted incorrectly since the first place? They claim that the due date was 10/17/10, however, that did not show. In the past I've also been charged "late fees" after submitting my full payment as shown on their website. However, it seems that a new loan kicks in for payment, and since the payment was less, I was charged a late fee. Again, how were the late fees applied if they are the ones that do not show the correct total charge when submitting an online payment? I am interested in any "class action lawsuit" to put the pain and suffering in "Sallie Mae's" pocket as they consistently do to me as a consumer. Thanks!

I pay by autopay from SallieMae's website. I make my payment on time or early to avoid interest charges. Everytime the deduction leave my bank account, there is about a 4 day time frame from the time is applied to my SalliemMae loan. For example, last month the $412.63 cents was deducted from my bank account on a Monday but was not applied to Sallie Mae until Thursday.

I incurred an additional $21.46 cents in interest costs. What happens to the money when it leaves my account? Who is earning interest on my money for those 3 days the funds are "in transition?" I called our state Attorney General and they are investigating. Who want to incur extra interest when my bank account shows the funds were paid on one date but not applied until three days later.

I have a student loan with Sallie Mae from the early 90's. The loan was around 8,000.00 dollars. I enrolled to Southern Tech College. The first semester of school, I was activated into Desert Storm. When I returned the school, said I could not start until January. While I was waiting to start school, the school filed bankruptcy.

They never refunded me the student loan I was unable to use. My 8,000.00 loan is now 20,000.00. I have tried to contact senators & sent letters to (3) presidents explaining my story. I had to put my education on hold to serve my country. The school accepted all my loan but when they filed bankruptcy, never offered to refund me the money. I feel anytime a school** you when your serving your country someone should work with you. Sallie Mae has denied me a public hearing and has always sent me letters. I feel like they do not want my story to be told and I have heard they have done the same thing to other people in the military.

I have been married for 19 years & have 2 children. I feel like my children will suffer from this. I have read other stories by people with loans from Sallie Mae. I feel like they are very sneaky company that has screwed alot of hard working Americans.

My daughter took out a loan from Sallie Mae with me as a co-signer. We took the loan from them with the understanding that she would pay $25 a month while she was going to college and then pay it off when she graduates. When she got to the college, tuition was increased so my daughter had to call Sallie Mae to get an increase on the loan. Sally Mae tried to get some information from me, but I was in the hospital on a Ventilator and was unable to talk. They said that was fine and would go ahead and increase the loan.

At no time did they indicate that they would change the terms of the loan altogether. Instead of receiving a bill for $25, in October I received a bill for $69. The letter said that we would pay $69 for two months and then it would double to $139 for 58 months. I called Sally Mae and the gentleman told me that he would look into to the mistake and would call me back. He told me that if I pay the $69 and the rate is $25 a month, I would not get the difference credited so to wait until they get this resolved. I would talk to Sallie Mae everyday for a month trying to get this resolved and each time, they would read the notes and tell me that they are working on resolving the issue.

While that is going on, I'm still getting two calls from Sallie Mae everyday saying I'm overdue on my payment. Yesterday (11.12.10), I talked to an account representative named Kiley (not sure of the correct spelling of her name), and she told me that this is the loan that we have and agreed upon in writing (even though all of this was handled over the phone while I was in the hospital), and if we want the terms changed, we have to get the college to return all the money and re apply for a different loan.

She rudely told me that if we didn't pay the $69 immediately that we would be in default with the loan and would go to collections. My daughter went to her financial aid office to get their loan returned back to them, but the college wouldn't return the money because it's past the 14 day grace period. We are now stuck with a loan that we can't pay because the monthly payment is too high, and all of this is based on hearsay that we changed the terms of the loan which I know we didn't.

The collections department of Sallie Mae referred to as the recovery unit and I made an agreement to pay $50 a month on a private loans. What is important to understand is that I called the collection department of Sallie Mae because I received a phone call from a lawyer's office. I assumed this call was related to student loans. I later found out it was a collections department related to my ex-husband.

At present, I understood that the issues with my student loans in the collections department had been resolved and a payment arrangement was agreed upon to keep it from going to the lawyers. It was a fluke that I discovered my loans were sent to lawyers. This agreement was reached because I explained to the Sallie Mae representative that I am making three loan payments for $120 for three months until I am able to consolidate them in three months. There was no agreement that I pay a downpayment or anything to this affect. I have also made an agreement with student loans to pay $340 a month on already consolidated other student loans.

I called and spoke with Michael in collection department at 1:15 pm on 11/11/10. I asked him about receiving a phone call from a lawyers office. He then told me that my loans had gone to lawyers dept. I explained to him that I had a payment plan and that those loans should be called back as this was breaking the agreement that I had made with this office. Michael told me that the people I had made the arrangement with were no longer in the office. He gave me a number for Portfolia management * *** *** **** which does not work.

I asked to speak to his supervisor. He at first told me that he was the account manager so after several attempts of asking him, he gave me to Max ***. Mr. *** told me that there should not have been any payment arrangement made for $50 on the amount of my loans. He placed me on hold to look at my account. I explained to him what I was doing as far as consolidation that I could not afford to pay anymore than agreed upon. He also mentioned the whole department had been let go. There was an argument that insured in which Mr. *** told me that there was no such payment arrangement.

See attached agreement, and credit card account number I made payment too. I told him I was trying to be responsible. Mr. *** reported that I wasn't being responsible and told me to look into the mirror. He made caddy remarks reporting that there was no payment agreement. He yelled at me several times for me to speak with the companies lawyers and hung up. I called back asking to comply with previous arrangement and to give me his lawyers phone number. Mr. *** proceeded to speak slowly that my loans were no longer in his office. This was an extremely stressful call. I asked several times to speak with his supervisor and he refused. I have the credit card number that I had paid the last $50 and an agreement to say when the next $50 is due. I need help from some type of consumer advocates in order to make them comply to our agreement. It has been broken

Sallie Mae has been giving me trouble since I graduated. I thought it was mostly me until I read all the other reports on this site and learned that they really are as money hungry and sketchy as they appear to be. I am grateful that I was able to attend and graduate from my college but not at this expense. I admit that I did not really know what I was doing when I signed up at 17 years old and I wish I could be done with Sallie Mae but it looks like I will have to continue dealing with them for a long time. I have to pay both my loans and my parents' loans for my years at school so I make payments twice a month to Sallie Mae.

Last year, they suddenly announced that they had sold part of my loan to the Department of Education dividing each into two, making 4 loans that I had to keep track of and pay monthly. Then some months later, they changed the site and said that they were semi-combined again. The Sallie Mae site and phone service is inconsistent and changed so frequently that it is difficult to keep track, get questions answered or find any information. It seems like they deliberately make it complicated and impossible to reach a representative. Last month, when I tried to pay off my loans, their site kept failing and telling me that the information had not gone through. I did not want to be charged late fees so I tried a couple of times but was afraid that the payments were indeed going through and that I was being charged multiple times so I waited a few days and checked. It still had not gone through so I tried again.

About 2 weeks later, I tried to use my debit card to pay for something and kept getting an error message. After making sure that it wasn't the actual card that was at fault, I called my bank to see what was up and they told me that I had overdrawn my account. I asked how that was possible because I had recently deposited a paycheck. They checked my history and said I had spent about $1000 dollars on Sallie Mae when my usual payment amount is about $200. Sallie Mae had taken each of the payments that the site had said had not gone through and hadn't even put it through that I had paid them at all. They cleaned out my account and didn't even stop to ask if that was what I wanted or notify that the loan had been paid. But that's not all. I had to go through a several phone representatives before I could find out what happened and then had to have my father call them again because they would not let me make decisions because the loan was under his name even if it was my bank account. He eventually got them to send back the extra money because at that point, I could not even pay for gas or food.

After 2 weeks, I still had not received a check and as it was a large sum that I did not want to lose so I called them to ask. After the usual round of pressing numbers and being put on hold for 10 minutes, I reached someone who told me that the check had just been approved and mailed out. I asked if should I need to, they would cancel the check and resend it if it never arrived and the representative said, "Yes, you can order a stop payment, if you'd like." The wording of which led me to believe that they would charge me for it. This week, more than a month after the initial over payment, I called again because I still had not received anything and the next loan payment was due and I did not want to give Sallie Mae any more money until I had it back. The first representative after making me repeat back all the personal information told me again that I could not have access to my father's loan, even though I had all his information. I asked to speak to a manager because I have had it with them and he said sure, put me on hold and then hung up.

I called again and the second representative was more cordial and let me access my parent's loan without a problem but then proceeded to tell me that the supervisor who was conveniently not in had not approved of the check and that it had not been sent yet which is directly contradicting the earlier phone call. I told her this and caught her in a lie but she said she was sorry for the misunderstanding but that it was being processed. I asked if I could at least put the payment on hold because I didn't want to give any more money until this was resolved and she said actually until it was cleared, they were taking the loan payments out of the extra amount anyway.

This all leads me to believe that they have no intention of giving me any check. They already have their hands on the money and aren't going to give it back and no matter that it was their mistake. I am at least glad that it hasn't been lost into a black hole of cyber space but from what my father has told me, Sallie Mae has pulled similar tricks on him in the past and they later said that these months had not been paid off and charged him again effectively losing him the money. I don't know how to deal with this any further. I really can't believe that this is a legitimate business that people still use. If there was another way, then I would totally go for it, times are hard enough without Sallie Mae.

After paying over the amount that they asked for the next day, I got harassing phone calls asking for more money. They called me over twenty times a day and now have begun to call family members and people I do not talk to anymore trying to get money. They found those number from an emergency contact sheet I filled out for school. Now, I am out of a job that I had for six years and am struggling to find a new job. I have told them my story a few times and they refused to defer my loans and just keep saying to me that I need to find other people to get the money from.

They have also got very angry at me after I asked a question and the miss I was talking to had hung up on me. My interest on my loans keeps going up in price and I have no way to stop it.

I will be the first to admit that I should have better understood every inch of that Sallie Mae private student loan when both I and my mother signed it, 6 years ago. I am not one to blame, but our society needs to educate people about debt and loans and everything it entails, especially if it thinks it can run on credit

I took out a private student loan 6 years ago to attend a baking and pastry program in San Francisco. I had no credit and the school options were limited. I believe I received a very small grant, and one federal loan, but the majority of the tuition, $24,000, needed to be covered by a private student loan. Well, at least that is what information was offered to us. I was 20 years old and really did not have a clue, so I couldn't even tell you if other options were available at this point.

Anyways, my mom wanted to support me. So she co-signed on my loan with the understanding that I would pay it off. When I graduated school, I took advantage of the 6-month grace period and delayed my payments. Then, when re-payment time came around, I found that my payments were nearly $500/month! I was in shock and called Sallie Mae. The nice lady on the phone assured me that I could just defer my payments for 6 months. So I did. And I did again, in the next 6 months as I still could not afford to pay rent, feed and cloth myself, take care of my health and pay $500/month in student loans. This was not including the federal loan payment I had, too. This went on for some time, until Sallie Mae told me, one day, that I had used up all my forbearance and deferment time, and that my loan had doubled. Now my payments were close to $800/month and I had to pay now!

With their dazzling customer service representatives, and their even more amazing supervisors, making one want to kill one's self after spending all afternoon trying to "work something out" and in the end coming to a conclusion that you, the borrower, are clearly just an unfit person if you can't pay such an insane amount of money. I started ignoring their phone calls. I know, this was stupid. But Sallie Mae has no soul, and it is very difficult to speak to a soulless thing. Trust me. Try it. Or not. Cut to the chase, I wound up finally getting someone last year, 2009, who told me about a new program they had for these difficult times then, after I basically yelled at the poor guy, he very sternly told me that I shouldn't sign up for this program and that my loan would still grow and I would be in the same boat in 6 months. As I did not want to default on a loan my mother had co-signed on, I took the program anyways.

It's their 1% interest loan (my loan is close to $63,000 now), and my payments were close to $300/month. Doable, though not ideal by any survival means. So, I was on that and paying monthly, and enjoyed logging on to Sallie Mae's website to see that I was actually paying off my loan! Super slow, sure, but if you see your money chipping away at the mountain, you suddenly feel like a king. Then 6 months rolled around and I waited for Sallie Mae's threatening phone calls once again. They didn't happen. And when I logged on, I saw in the loan re-payment map, my 1% interest payments were to last for some time! I was stoked. I had thought it was just temporary, but it seemed that it was permanent! Then one year after I had signed up for the special program, my mother called to let me know that she received a letter from them saying that I had finished this special re-payment program and my new loan terms would begin in November.

So I logged on to my site and tried to find that loan re-payment map I had treasured so often, only to find it missing. Seriously, missing. The re-payment map was no longer there. It was like my loan re-payment did not exist. And now, I just received an email from Sallie Mae letting me know that my payments would now be close to $600/month.

The fillers for this story are details of horrible correspondence, multiple bills with different outstanding loan amounts, letters typed from what seemed like a home typewriter, with no letter head, threatening phone calls to both my mother and I, and harassing phone calls reaching the numbers of 20-25 times in one day. In short, Sallie Mae, I'd love to pay my loan off. I would. But you never made an opportunity where I could reasonably do so. You hiked interest up, tossed deferments and forbearance around like candy in the beginning, neglected to educate your borrower about the outcomes of doing this and provided absolutely the worst customer service I have ever encountered. Like I said, I know that I am responsible for this. But it just never made sense to me that you would chose to ** people rather than work with people so that this money is paid back to you.

It's almost like you think we're out to ** you! And you've got your hands over your ears, your nose up in the air and your eyes to your very own god who's letting you know that, 'No, no, Sallie Mae. You're not The Devil, no.'

We have been paying our Sallie Mae loan each month, adding additional payment to the principal. I received a payment coupon from Sallie Mae, saying that my payment dropped by ten dollars. For the last two months, I have sent slightly more than that amount. Within the last two weeks, I have been subjected to hourly calls from Sallie Mae saying that I owe them $12 and it is 27 days past due.

I made the payment electronically and they continued to call. I asked them to stop calling and was told that they were calling my cell as a courtesy to me, so that my credit report was not affected. When I asked if they could stop calling or only call once a week, I was told that the only way that they would stop calling was if I sent a cease and desist notarized letter and they would stop all communication with me. They are calling my cell, my husbands cell, my husbands work and relatives--all for the $12 that I already paid!

I have been a Sallie Mae Customer for over a decade. I could not believe the level of harassment I have experienced from this organization who consistently changes my payment terms, interests rates, due dates and then calls hysterically from 8am-9pm. Despite making arrangements, multiple representatives call myself and my cosigners everyday with varying payment due amounts and dates. I have spoken with multiple supervisors about the harassment, inaccurate information provided by their customer service representatives and the fact that I receive approximately 15 letters a month from them with differing information and at best I have been offered a watery apology.

Before 24hours are up my phone is ringing again. The last conversation I had with a representative to fix yet another error (they have misapplied so many payments in their favor, I cannot help but believe they are doing it intentionally) and I was told but I quite ignorant representative "Maybe you should just pay your bill. I don't know what happened but you need to pay some more." After requesting to speak with her supervisor, I was rudely hung up on. I have read hundreds of consumer complaints all over the web regarding Sallie Mae. How do they continue to be allowed to operate in such rude, illegal, hostile and harassing manner?

I happened to make a stupid mistake of co-signing a student loan with Sallie Mae for a relative and ended up having to make payment because that person went bankrupt. Sallie will continue sending the bill to him even though I informed them that I am paying for the loan, and I will only receive late payment and late fee notice. I have requested to have the bill sent to me or at least get an email notification to remind me to pay for it on time to avoid late fees instead of the borrower who is nowhere to be found.

However, they refused to do it and give me the excuse that the system is not set up that way. They let me have access to an online account that does not allow me to set automatic debit each month or even schedule the payment ahead of time and tell me that I have to remember to log in every month to pay and there is no other way around it.

I am a working mom, and I can't remember every thing; that's why I have a reminder set up for everything and sometimes I can't do it as scheduled because things happen with kids. The customer representative and manager that I talked to were both completely not helpful. I have asked to get the late fee waived until they said they will send me a form in the mail to do automatic debit (they never did the last time I talked to them).

I was so fed up with the bad customer service and how their system is set up to get people's money on fees, I ended up paying off the loan that same day so they won't get another dime on interest from me again.

Don't borrow from SM, if you do, pay it off asap. These people have no idea how to do business and don't have common sense. I wish I knew more about my rights as the co-signer because I don't believe that it's okay to send the bill to someone else when one is taking over the account and the responsibility to pay for it.

I am a full time student, and have been for approx. 6 years. At one point my university had a shift in their accreditation, so in order to remain in school I had to seek out a private loan for awhile, that's where Sallie Mae came in.

Long story short: since that time 3 years ago, I remain a full time student, although was laid off from my non profit organization position earlier in the year. I contacted S.M. immediately, they sent me an unemployment packet to fill out for relief of payments temporarily, or so I was told. For the next several months, every rep I spoke to told me something different I needed to do, I followed all their direction, only to be told when I would follow up: "The last rep you spoke to gave you incorrect information. "

Months go by, then suddenly everyone with S.M. is on the same page now and all say my late fees are kicked in and I am now in serious trouble and owe thousands in late fees alone. I have not been able to find work, I had to move out of my apartment, my daughter had to go live with her dad because of my situation. I am going deeper into debt with each month, trying to survive with a babysitting job here or there, it's a nightmare.

Sallie Mae offers nothing, refuses the 20 a month I offered to just show good faith or possible stop some of the bleeding with this loan. They are insulting, unprofessional and offer absolutely no options when someone is a product of this state's economy and hits serious hard times.

So many people in this state and country are suffering in this economy, losing everything. How can a company like this be allowed to continue ruining lives that are already falling apart, it just doesn't seem right to not have any available options for people who have good intentions but are in a temporary financial crisis.

I am worn out. I don't even want to type this, because I've sung this tired and overplayed song time and again to so many deaf ears. My wife and I have loans for both her and myself. She's out of work, and I found out last week, I'm making 75% of the average starting salary for my career field. We have two kids. I'll fill in the blank even though you already have. We're in over our heads. I defaulted on my Sallie-Mae loans in February. About May, I got a call from the company National Collegiate Trust. For the most part, they have been quite professional. I worked out a deal with a gentleman (he truly is) there, that was hard for me to make, but I could shuffle things around and make it work. The deal eventually worked out to a monthly payment of $250, and after $750 was paid, the interest would be frozen and no longer accrue.

Literally days after I made my payment up to a $1000 total, per our agreements, I was called by National Enterprise Systems, demanding the full balance of all loans. They said they had no records of payments. They have harassed my wife, and they have harassed me for two months now. They said they would be willing to settle for $50,000, which is less than half the balance.

That is a great offer, if my credit wasn't already trashed over this to the point, I can't get a loan for that amount! My family is already tapped out for other obligations, and I don't know anyone with $50k laying around. I had been working two jobs for a month and a half, and expected to have some money saved up that I could put toward this end, but ended up needing to pay down my electric and gas bills, and to fix problems with my car that I couldn't put off any longer.

This guy wanted nothing of it. It is disgusting. I am disgusted that people suggest I should pay my loans first before fixing my broke down car, or before my household necessities. When my brakes are grinding because the pads are worn off, because I haven't been able to afford changing them, it is beyond time to change them. I was actually told, literally, not two hours ago, that if I left my brakes go long enough to get worn down, I can afford to let them go a little longer to make a student loan payment. I'm paraphrasing of course, but I'm not creative enough to make this up! And that just scratches the surface!

They would sooner see my house in disrepair, and my car broke down in my driveway, and me out of a job, then come up with a reasonable payment arrangement. Their philosophy is, "Let's get as much as we can, now." How is this legally acceptable?! This is unbelievable. And this is just the stuff that I have the patience to type! I have lots of notes. That little box down below that says "do not" want an attorney to contact me. You need another that says, "Please have an attorney contact me!" Please, please call and email. Anytime day or night, preferably after 9pm, because these loan sharks don't call after then, and I'm more likely to not ignore it. I'm praying to God for a little hope.

I returned to a graduate program at Webster University and my payments (which were via EFT) were deferred. I opened my bank account this morning and realized that Sallie Mae had drafted my account for a full payment; thus, I will bounce several auto payments I have set up.

I did receive a letter in the mail of the EFT change, but I just received it today. The draft occurred last night. The letter was created on 10/17/10 and the draft was for 10/23/10. I did not receive the 10 days notification that is required by law via the EFT Draft legislation. If I had received it, I would have stopped the payments as I am currently enrolled in school and the status should have been deferred. I will bounce several arranged payments and incur multiple late and bounce fees.

I am 6 months ahead on my student loans but Sallie Mae refuses to credit me and instead have applied all the monies to my principal. I have asked them repeatedly to correct this bookkeeping error, but they refuse and hound me constantly and charge me late payment fees. Who can I go to for help?

According to Sallie Mae, I was 2 days late on my new student loan. They started calling my house several times a day and not leaving messages. When I finally spoke with them, they told me I was late and owed them $32.37 2 days. I pay my bills via auto pay from Citibank and hadn't looked at the latest statement where they raised the amount from $32 to $64 (a new disbursement), so I had sent them $32, but had not sent them the additional $32 and that's what they were calling about.

I told them I would send a check, but since it hasn't arrived yet they continue to call and this afternoon called during my sons nap and woke him up. How can they call multiple times a week, for a bill that's only a couple days late and only $32? I've paid off all my other loans (undergrad and Business school), in full and have perfect credit. Isn't this what the credit card act was supposed to stop?

I have a loan that keeps bringing my credit score down. So, I requested all the paperwork for it because it was not mine. They sent me a signature page for a loan application that had been written in after the fact. Information for consolidation on a loan I didn't have.

I talked to the fraud department and they could not provide me with the company the loan had been consolidated from. Nor was there any of the typical loan information like financial information. So, I requested that they do an investigation because it was not mine and they refused. I have no idea where this loan came from I wasn't in school and had not had any loans through Sallie Mae or any other organization at that time. More importantly, I was never notified of this loan and it just sat there and collected interest since 1994.

My credit score continues to go down every month because the original loan was $4848 and now it's almost $12K. Since this is considered a revolving account when they get past the 45% of the original value it has detrimental consequences to your credt. I need help!

I have several Student loans with Sallie Mae. I was placed into default due to a lapse in education. I chose to go back to school, and I had to get a Temporary Hardship Forbearance. I then received my in school deferments, and I began school, got my loans, financial aid, everything went as planned. Then, 5 months later, Sallie Mae defaulted me, and sold my loan. Mind you, this was in the middle of a semester.

When they sold my loan, they did not give my information to the guarantor and now I am in default and I am going to lose my spot in my classes, and as a result will be losing my job and home. Sallie Mae is a company that operates outside the legal system, and I hope that they get all that are coming to them. I sit on the phone with these people for hours every day and not only do they not help, every person I speak to gives me a different answer to my request. The issues that are caused are an inability to complete my education, the inability to work, and due to no financial aid check being homeless.

I have been out of school for a year. I put my loans in deferment 2x. I have now been trying to pay my student loans back to Sallie Mae, but no matter how much I give them, it is never enough. They constantly call me on my cell phone up to 10 times a day. They even call on Sundays. There has to be some law to protect us from being harassed on Sundays and at work, especially when I am paying on my loan.

I received a letter in Dec 2009, that there record showed I'm a cosigner of a student loan for $4648. So, I called them and they said to file a police report for ID Thief. I did after the Army training I was involve, I was interviewed and the officer didn't find anything but suggested to go local court. Sallie Mae will not listen, and ignore my plea. They are going to default on my Home and two cars now. They don't care. I have completed numerous affidavit's and still I'm liable for a loan that I never signed.

I am a disabled senior and have not been to school in over 40 years. My highest education is a high school education. Sallie Mae has been harassing me for over a year now by calling my cell phone constantly day and night 7 days per week concerning a student loan for an Hispanic individual. I can't even pronounce the individual's name, let alone spell it. I have contacted Sallie Mae on dozens of occasions trying to get them to stop these calls. I owe them nothing nor do I know the individual they are calling my phone for.

The representatives that answer their (888)272-5543 number (after several minuets of prompts) just say, "Okay, we'll remove your number," and hang up before you can say anything else. The calls do not stop and have gotten worse. These Sallie Mae representatives know they are harassing the wrong individuals but they don't care. They are not really trying to collect anything. They are just trying to keep a job. By having a number to call every day that is a working number, keeps them dialing and in a job.

Their activity is interfering with my health because of my illnesses. I have periods during the day where I must medicate and rest after medications. Needless to say, these calls are interfering with these periods in a massive way. One representative thought it was big fun to call me back all day after I told her my condition which was I was ill and being medicated and to please stop calling as I needed to rest. She laughed stated, I was a liar and that she would call all day long if she liked and proceeded to do just that.

If there is anyone reading this that can help, I implore you to do so. Sallie Mae is breaking the law and because they are involved with the government they are being allowed to do as they please to anyone. Even people who have no dealings with them. What private industry corporation would be allowed to do this to people and get away with it? This is the government, so who will stop it? This is wrong, wrong, wrong and I am too ill to fight on my own.

I graduated from a well known culinary school a year and a half ago. Since then, I have not been able to land a job. I am currently working two part time jobs and making $15.00 per hour. I am working maybe 20 hours per week and constantly looking for a more secure position. My husband has been unemployed for two years now, and it has been a big struggle to make ends meet.

I have $80,000 in student loans, and my payment on that would be well over $1000 monthly. I can't afford to make the payments, so I have been paying $100 every three months for a forbearance. I called them yesterday, to request one, and they transferred me to the collections department. My loan was delinquent by 12 days. The woman I spoke to told me I would have to pay $1359.52 before I could apply for forbearance. I tried to tell her I didn't have that type of money, and she got very angry with me and said, "You have $64,000 worth of loans!" I told her that I knew exactly what I had in loans! I asked to speak to her supervisor, and he wasn't any better. I ended up hanging up on him.

I called back and got a woman who was very helpful and granted me forbearance after going over a financial statement with me. She said we need to work on a plan that will allow me to start making the payments.

I am so upset by this mess. When I went to school, my husband was working in the computer industry making $3200 per month. I figured I would land a great job when I got out of school, and we could easily make the payments. Who would have known that the job situation would become what it has, with so many jobs lost or outsourced? This situation needs to be addressed by someone with some influence! Innocent people should not be bullied by these lenders. My husband has student loans out as well, and they call two or three times a day regarding his account. Believe me, we would both rather be working and be able to pay back our loans, but with the circumstances being what they are, I feel that this company needs to take a step back and look at the whole situation, and try their best to help instead of hinder.

I have extreme emotional distress caused by this company. When I spoke to them yesterday, I was in tears, trying to explain our economic situation to them. Trust me, the job situation is not our doing!

In addition to endless hours of telephone transfers, lack of customer assistance, and unimaginable frustration in my quest to simply re-pay the loan(s) for my children in college, I have been repeatedly locked out of my online login account with Sallie Mae. When Sallie Mae transferred one of my loans to Department of Education, my original personal information with Sallie Mae, specifically my birth year was contaminated on the original Sallie Mae account making it impossible for me to make a payment online. After 10 phone calls and three faxes, that information was finally corrected.

This fall, Sallie Mae announced that there would be a single login account for Both Department of Education and Sallie Mae loans, so I was asked to create a new password, which I did in August. In September, I could not access my account, so with a customer service representative, I was asked to complete a new password and was able to make payments online. October 1st, 2010, once again, I could not access my account. I logged in to the Personal Information page which has not changed in 6 and 60 years and I received a red note that the information was incorrect.

Friday, October 8th, I finally connected with customer service and told that my browser, Safari, along with Firefox and most other were incompatible with Sallie Mae's login site and I should be using "Explorer". This was after the first representative, a young woman, walked me through the login steps as though she could see a screen as I repeated ad nauseum the steps I know by heart. When she asked me a question about what I was looking at, she confessed to be doing a "companion login", just talking me through the steps. I am an educator who daily navigates Power School/Power Teacher online desktop management and grading. I am not an idiot and I have never felt more patronized.

The representative then announced that my browser was the cause of my inability to login. Really? The browser I've been using for two years and Firefox, the browser for the other four years? I asked to talk to her supervisor who was "Tracey"; it was confirmed that it was a browser issue, Safari was not compatible and I would not be able to pay my bill online and on time Friday evening. When I became insistent, emotional, creeping close to frustration hysteria, Tracey said she would allow me to make a telephone call payment without a charge. She returned me to the first representative whom I asked if she was looking at my account. The reply was yes. I asked her to clarify which account and she changed the response to, "Oh, I'm looking it up." I asked her to not tell me one more "telephone" lies.

I finally was able to pay my bills. I just spent some time looking at the complaints posted online and the BBB of PA. Clearly, this incident is typical of how Sallie Mae does business. How does the government and the Department of Education justify doing business publicly with such a firm?

My husband and I have a private loan with Sallie Mae. Because of our financial hardship, we were given a reduced interest monthly payment. However, it required us to allow Sallie Mae to directly withdraw the money every month. The second month our payment was scheduled, we were billed twice. None at Sallie Mae could explain why, and it was a nightmare to correct. Sallie Mae finally issued us a refund check exactly one month later. They also told us that our payment for the following month was cancelled.

Money is incredibly tight in our home, so we did not argue with this. The payment was skipped as promised, and another payment came out the following month. In spite of the fact that they took out another payment, they started sending collection forms for the month that they cancelled the payment. I was on the phone with them dozens of times over this "missed payment" that they cancelled themselves.

They sent a request for review to their advocacy department and declined it. I have been harassed by their collections department, told that unless I start making an outrageously high monthly payment, I will have to go to court. They volunteered to give us a month of our our payment. We did not cancel any plans. We want to make our payment, but cannot afford the ridiculous amount they are trying to force us to pay.

At this point, court seems like a relief over dealing with their collections. I was belittled, insulted and falsely accused by the representative. I've done nothing but just try to make my payment. But Sallie Mae says I am no longer eligible for the low interest plan because of my "missed payment."

I decided to go back to school to further my education. Not knowing anything about loans or anything of that sort, I fell into the hands of Sallie Mae. My loan advisor poorly informed me and kept telling me not to worry. I made $800 a month to live off of while in school and was also paying for tuition while in school. They presented this "alternative loan" to me saying I wont have to pay anymore while in school and not to worry about the interest rate because it won't be high.

I am not facing interest rates of 13.25% and my loans have doubled. I now owe close to $50,000 in private student loans owned by Sallie Mae. I try to call to get some options but am offered nothing. I am told time and time again there is nothing they can offer me. I feel as though I am being backed into a wall here. I fear I may never be able to live a normal life as a result of this.

I am a single mom of three children. We all know the cost of raising just one kid, so the cost of raising 3 is just high. Not to mention the cost of living and necessities. I am a middle class working mom who makes too much to get government assistance but not enough to cover the outrageous prices of everyday living. I have to pay for daycare to come to work and they take a big chunk of my check leaving me very little to work with. I pay for daycare to come to work and have to work to survive. It makes no sense.

When trying to explain all this to Sallie Mae, they completely ignore me and keep saying, "I am sorry there isn't anything we can offer you." I feel like I am almost forced to go into default but fear doing that as well. I do not need my wages to garnished but cannot afford to make the payments they are asking me. With high interest rates, I will never be able to pay off these loans. I will forever be in debt. I almost regret getting a higher education due to the financial nightmare that follows. I am also afraid to encourage my children to go further in fear of them falling into the hands of Sallie Mae and the financial nightmare.

We need help out here. If I had $50,000, I would gladly pay Sallie Mae so they could leave me alone and I can finally breathe. Maybe then I can finally try to think about owning a house or something of that sort. I can finally move out of the two bedroom apartment I am forced to stay in due to not being able to afford anything else.

I was convinced by AIU, Buckhead that I would do great getting a loan from Sallie Mae that I could get that degree that would get me a awesome paying job. So I went ahead thinking, "Well, if the school says it's a good program surely it is." Did I mention I was young and stupid then apparently? I was told that my monthly payments would be $300 a month round about. I was fine with that thinking once I get my degree it will be easy to get that awesome paying job. Well, once out of school, that job was not easy to find. I finally got a job where I can survive on. My student loans have been $1200 a month since I got out of school. I was shocked, went into default almost struggling to pay any money I could working more then one job.

Every time I made a payment which was coming out of my account automatically, they would disperse the money into the wrong loans. Then I would get late fees and mean calls. Each time, I would have to spend hours each month calling and saying you took the money from my account in the amounts you guys set up. How am I late? This has been happening month after month for like five years now.

I get all these late notices where I was supposed to be caught up based upon what the Sallie Mae reps said. But then their system or accounts payable department don't know how to do anything. So I have to call every month to sort this out. I have a hard time talking to the same person twice. They don't keep notes on what each other talk to me about. So I now have about five years worth of notes taken monthly that I have to keep with me and my credit is still bad because of them reporting stuff that is false. And every time I go to show my notes on who I spoke with what they said and when nothing ever gets done. You can't fight them on anything.

My credit is horrible because of this company even though they have been taking my money out of my account auto debit for years. Plus I send in extra money each month trying to pay down the loans. I have proof of everything. But no matter who I speak to Sallie Mae is too big to fight apparently. It is sad. I would not recommend anyone use this business if you have a choice. I personally have not had one good thing come from this.

My son went to school over in Avon Dale AZ. While he was there attending UTI, we had a student loan through Sallie Mae. We were told that payment would not start until after graduation. Well that was not the case, the payments started that month and were not the amount we were told they would be. I have asked several times for Sallie Mae to send me itemized copies of the loans due to the fact I can not account for $8,000.00. They stated we took out for a loan. I want signed copies and would like to know also where the money is going that was taken from a direct deposit.

I am working part-time and have been unable to find full-time work. Our state has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, but Sallie Mae seems to be oblivious to this and does not want to work with us. When I demanded to talk to a supervisor, I get the runaround and never talked to anyone. The customer service people are robotic in that they never listen; they just tell you that you need to pay. When you complain about not receiving a booklet or record of payments made, they blow you off or say that they sent it to you and imply you must be lying, yet they have difficulties in pulling up the information. They are forcing me to seek legal counsel because of their caustic ways of dealing with customer.

The government promotes people to go to school and take on these loans and then throw their hands up when they can't find employment which they implied was available - talk about a double standard.

Sallie Mae should be removed as a viable lending institution for student loans because, as one of commenting people clearly stated, they are no better than loan sharks. I got $600 plus payment which I can't make based on my income and this has place economic and emotional stress on my family which in turn had eventually affected my health.

Sallie Mae started asking for their money after I was out of school for six months. I was in boot camp and then I went to training. I explained that to them; however, they didn't adjust it. So the day I finished taking classes full time, I had to pay Sallie Mae. They have no programs to help people after there forbearance period is over. They threaten to garnish my wages. I ask them what could I do; they told me to borrow money from someone to pay them. I applied for this loan as a 19-year old. I had no idea how this worked when I applied. I guess at 24 years old I am paying for it, almost $500 a month. They are trying to affect my credit score, which is going to make it even harder to find a job. Thank God I don't have children. Guess I might as well get two jobs just to support myself and pay Sallie Mae.

I am disabled and applied for total and permanent disability of my student loan in 2008. I was granted the disability from Texas Guaranteed in 2008 for a portion of my student loan. The remaining balance was sent to the Department of Education. Once they received it, I went on a 3-year deferment. During this 3 years the Department of Education requested an updated Dr. form and said the original had to be sent to Sallie **** and then it would be forwarded to them. I did this in November 2009. Sallie **** never forwarded this form.

In December 2009 I had to file bankruptcy when I received my discharge June 2010. At this point, when my discharge was received Sallie **** re-instated my loan even though my 3-year period does not end until June 21, 2011 at which point, my loans would be discharged. I have now spoken to over 20 customer service representatives and 5 supervisors at Sallie **** explaining the mistake that has been made. I have provided them with copies of the Dr's form, their paper work stating I am in deferment until June 2011, and all paper work from the Department of Education. I have provided it six times now. I have been told that it has been received. I have even been told I was never granted my disability. I have been told something different every day. They keep saying they are investigating this and cannot give me a time line. Yet they call every day sometimes 3 times a day. And every time I am on the phone with them for at least 2 hours trying to get them to forward my papers to the Department of Education and begging for them to correct re-instating my loan.

I have explained my financial position and the fact that I don't get enough from SSI to barely live on. They will not assist in resolving this issue. They have even told me to stop faxing them because they have enough papers. Also I have found out that during this 3-year period Sallie **** is not to be charging interest on loans which they have been more than happy to do. I even provided that documentation along with statements of the interest and all statements show my next due date of June 21, 2011. I truly need help with getting my paper work to the Department of Education and getting Sallie **** to realize that my loan should not have been re-instated after my bankruptcy when it was on a deferment for total and permanent disability prior.

I am a cosigner on a student loan, which went into default and with confusion with my own student loans. Sallie Mae failed to send me mail to indicate the co-sign loan was in default. Out of no where, I received a certified mail indicating that my loan was in final default. I immediately call Sallie Mae and speak to several customer service reps and they all informed me it was a mistake because their system showed that I was up-to-date.

So as most people do, I believe them! A few weeks later, I get the same certified mail. So, I call again (frustrated of course) and start asking more questions. Such as, if you're telling me everything is up-to-date then why am I still getting these notices. Again "customer service" tells me its a mistake. Not to draw the story out but I had to call back three more times before they finally had someone with the intelligence to tell me it was a co-sign loan. Meanwhile, they are hitting my credit! After finally getting someone to help me clarify the situation, she (who I'll leave nameless) told that she would update the system to make sure I get all communication involved with the co-sign loan.

She also informed me that I can get a letter indicating that I did not receive proper communication about the loan. Needless to say, she left the company before I got that letter! So when I called back yet again (now over 10 hours of phone calls) to get the letter, they tell me they will submit the request for the letter and it will take up to 7 days to receive it. I called back again to confirm the request was submitted because their customer service is horrible and they say they are going to do things and never do them! And now they are telling me that I can't get this letter! My credit had 6 hard inquiries that would have been handled from the first letter I receive but I got the runaround from customer service who couldn't figure out why I was getting these letters. So now my credit has to suffer for their mistakes. Not fair at all! Sallie Mae is absolutely horrible!

I borrowed $5,500 in 1995 to help pay tuition. I hurt my back and was unemployed for years. I went back to college and graduated in 1999 and have been paying them ever since. I still owe Sallie Mae $14K and by the time I'm done paying them. I will have paid over $50K for borrowing just $5,500. They harass me, calling my cell phone 5 times a day, morning through night every single day of the week! I'd rather be dealing with a Mafia Loan shark than these crooks!

The call center is in India. The Indian representative was not helpful at all. I could barely understand her English and she was rude. She did not understand that I wanted to pay my loan online but I needed my password reset. She refused to do this and passed me over to phone payments (another Indian representative). I waited for 15 minutes between phone transfers that I hung up. I will have to pay by mail just to prevent finance and late charges from accumulating.

"Hi, this message is for Chris B. Junior. This is Nick from Sallie May student loans. If you could, please return this call as soon as possible as your father, some place in my office for review. I do want to help and assist you with this. I have been able to create several options but they do expire throughout the month. Yes, my name is Nick. I'm your account manager here from Sallie Mae student loans. It is in your best interest to return this call back immediately, so I can go over some options, to try to help and assist you with this. Thank you."

This is one of the many messages I am receiving night and day. The problem with this is I do not know this person they are calling for. I have told them on several occasions that Chris B. Junior does not live here and I do not know him. They don't seem to believe me and at this point, I feel like I am being harassed. My daughter has a loan through them and has been making payments. I told them that also. Is there anything I can do to stop the calls? They are relentless, calling night and day.

Sallie Mae has lost another check. At least last time they found it. This time they did not. I had to stop the check. And the person who swore that it was not them who lost it this time also swore that they would leave a note in the system, that if I called back after stopping my check to make a payment, they would waive the fee for making a payment over the phone. I spent my entire lunch break asking why I am being charged a convenience fee (even after they told me they would not charge me) for them losing my check, for the second time!

I always pay on time, and every other bill gets to its destination on time, except Sallie Mae payments. So their solution: sign up for automatic payments. So, they can clean out my bank account and then swear it wasn't them! If anyone else would like to take my measly $16,000 debt, I would be glad to pay exorbitant interest rates to someone with the courtesy to fess-up when they lose my check, instead of charge me convenience fees for it!

This is in regards to a student loan that I purchased approximately $1,995. I paid the loan completely of 7/28/2005 along with other payments made previous to this date. In Nov. 2008, the company sent me payment coupons, which I figured to be a computer glitch. They have sent it into their collections company EdFund, which advised me to file financial hardship and deferments until this matter has been resolved. Now they have put a tax lien through the treasury department and have put this on my credit report. I have expressed many times that this is an error, to no prevail. They are trying to charge me late and interest fees on top of a loan that has already been settled.

I have payment arrangements made with Sallie Mae, and make monthly payments on time. However, they continue to contact me on a weekly basis, and tell me my account is in serious trouble, so I contact them, and they apologized, and said it won't happen again, but it continues to keep happening! This is a real strain on me, emotionally and physically. Please make them stop the harassment!

These people do not care about customers. All they care about is money. Sallie Mae is the worst choice for student loans. Their customers support **. When you are talking to their customer representatives, they are always hiding the customers the truth. It won't take them a second to make your life a living hell. I will suggest not to deal with these people, talk to another lender.

I made two student loans in 1988, and two student loans in 1993. Sallie Mae is the service provider. I cannot not pay-off the loans, due to servicing issues, like Sallie Mae purchasing loans from banks such as Chase, and replacing the TCF loans. Sallie Mae purchased two loans from Chase in 2005, and now I am being garnished for the loans, because I refused to pay them off. I lost my job in 12/2007. I have a contract position which pay less than unemployment, and now I have a garnishment on my check. I have bad credit, and I am suffering a hardship.

I was late with a payment as I did not receive a payment book and forgot. I sent the payment out with a $20 late fee. Sallie Mae continues to call almost daily 2-3 times per day to collect even though they tell me on the phone that the account is current.

I have called service. The customer service people do not speak English, so it is hard to get your point across. I've asked repeatedly that they reset their password and log on to manage the account and make payments. They would not do it unless I pay $50.00 for a forbearance or $14.95 to pay by telephone. Paying on the internet is free to do. They are distorting the American people who want to make payments on their loans. The account is now over 90 days past due. They are destroying my son and the cosigner of the credit to get extra money from borrowers.

I am unable to access my account information for Department of Education Federal Loans. Sallie Mae recently split these up, and their link to check the account, only brings up error code 20219. I am unable to determine the status of the loan. I am also unable to determine monthly payments and due date.

From the point of entering into three student loans with Sallie Mae, I had been told that once the loans were in repayment, if I paid promptly for 24 months that the co-signer could be removed. I spoke to numerous representatives over the repayment period who all confirmed my eligibility, told me the date I was eligible and what steps needed to be completed to have the co-signers removed (a form needed to be completed). When I couldn't find the form on their website, a supervisor mailed it to me after confirming my eligibility, as none of the customer service representatives could find it. As soon as I received the form in June 2010, I completed the request and mailed it back. A week later I received a form letter stating that 'my loan program was ineligible to have the co-signer removed.'

I called Sallie Mae and now my account was flagged that my loan program was not eligible and I was told that the loan documents did not specifically state that the co-signer could be removed. I asked how did I even know about the program, the terms, or the form needed had it not been for representatives from the original application and all customer representatives confirming time and time again that I was eligible and the date I could make this request. And how would I know that it needed to state in the loan documents that this program was eligible when the representatives told me it was and the loan documents did not state that it was not eligible either? All of those customer representatives verified over and over my eligibility, the date, and the process, yet now even though there are records that I did call. There is no record of 'why I called' and only now is my account flagged that the program of my loans is ineligible. I consider this blatant misrepresentation and I would have never agreed to adding a co-signer had I not been assured that they could be removed.

I recently paid off my wife's student loan with a lower interest loan from my credit union. I received nothing from them in writing indicating the loan was paid off, even after going through a very frustrating phone call in which they promised to provide paperwork.

Also re: my student loan. They underestimated my payment by 25%, I assume to maximize interest. My payment jumped dramatically in the finale year, once they made the extra interest. I guess they don't have access to amortization tables, or maybe they're just a corrupt gov agency. Thanks for reading.

Sallie Mae has repeatedly been negligent in applying my student loan payments to the correct loan. I have 3 loans with Sallie Mae for my daughter's tuition. Even with the 3 separate loans, I have only one account with Sallie Mae which encompasses all 3 loans. I have been instructed to, and have been making payments to Sallie Mae via my online banking service. I was informed that the loan payments would be applied to all 3 loans every month. Sallie Mae has repeatedly failed to make payments on all 3 loans.

Therefore, causing loan no. 3 to go into a default status. I have paid $4275 since March 2009. Sallie Mae applied payments to only 2 of the student loans; and no payments were applied to loan no. 3 over a 10-month period. Sallie Mae allowed loan no. 3 to go into default and I am now aggressively being pursued by Pioneer Credit Recovery. I did not receive any notification from Sallie Mae that loan no. 3 had not been paid. And the only notification I received from Pioneer Credit Recovery was a letter in the mail stating that my paychecks were going to be garnished unless I immediately pay $2241, and then be required to pay an automatic monthly withdrawal payment of $183.

When I received the letter from Pioneer Credit Recovery that my paychecks would be garnished, I called and spoke with Kim who demanded (and threatened) that I immediately pay $2241. I attempted to explain to Kim that I have made payments to Sallie Mae. I asked Kim to call Sallie Mae and she stated there is nothing they can do for me now. I personally feel Kim never called Sallie Mae as she had me on hold for only about 2-3 minutes (and it takes longer than that just to get through to Sallie Mae's automated phone system). Kim continued to threaten me unless I pay the $2241.

After speaking with Kim, I called Sallie Mae and spoke with Rodrique who stated that one of my loans was paid in full, and the other loan was so over-paid that my next payment is not due until April 17, 2011. He also stated he did not show any record of my loans being in default. At this point, I requested to speak to a supervisor. And Lauren gave me the same information that Rodrique had given. Lauren stated she did not show any reason why loan no. 3 never had any of my payments applied to it. She stated she would send my account for "investigation/request that funds be reapplied". Lauren states Sallie Mae would have to purchase my loan back from Pioneer Credit recovery.

Lauren stated the investigation would take 10-15 business days. I made a follow up call to Sallie Mae a few days later, and after speaking with Marvin, a supervisor named Cora stated she would expedite my "investigation"; and that I should call back in 3-5 business days. At this point, I still do not have any resolution to this problem; and I have not received my $2241 back.

I have all but emptied out my back account to pay the $2241 to keep my paychecks from being garnished. My credit is completely ruined. I have been emotionally and physically traumatized due to the stress of this situation; and I have had my economic stability threatened. All the while, I have made regular payments to Sallie Mae.

I enrolled in Morse School of Business and obtained a Student Loan which was sold to Sallie Mae. The original date of this loan was 1996. I had it in forebearance while in school. I ended up not finishing school because I was sick and hospitalized, during which time the school failed me on all courses. A year later, the school went bankrupt and out of business. (Part of my loan agreement was that I could return to school since it was "paid.")

My problem is with Sallie Mae. I have been paying on this loan forever. The original amount was $14,959.55. I now owe $15,960.91. I do not understand since the paper they just sent me said I have paid $13,938.39 in interest and only $4,111.17 in principal. How is this legal? And they are charging me a rate of 9%! Technically, I have paid this loan off already and yet I still owe them over $15K! I am furious. I did put the loan in forebearance again a few months ago because I have been unemployed since 9/12/09. I paid them as long as I could. I have lost my home which was sold under a short sale and all of my retirement and life savings. I do not understand how this company can get away with this.

They consistently apply my monthly payments to someone else's account. In turn, I get nasty phone calls and late notices. When I take the time to send copies of cleared checks etc., 60 days later, I get a letter of apology. I could accept this happening once, but two, three times in as many months, it is not acceptable. When I call customer service, I am on hold for a minimum of 30 minutes and transferred to many departments. Someone please help me.

Have asked for an audit of my account numerous times - their formula for what is being paid toward interest and what is being applied towards principal does not compute. Also, did not send a coupon book to me because I am ahead on my payments, and, cut off access to my computer acct! I had to call and request a coupon book (which I was told the request takes 7-10 days) and, made them re-instate my password so I could access my acct! What is this? Who do they think they are? I have already had my acct. audited once - they had to reimburse my account over $200 due to the interest not being figured correctly. That was from 2003 to 2006. The Sallie Mae servicing co. is a rip off. In 2003, I owed $12.000. In 2010, I still owe over $8,000!? I have even paid extra and started sending my payments in earlier to avoid more daily interest.

My mother co-signed for my student loan with Sallie Mae for the amount of $6,000, one time. On her credit, it states that she co-signed for all my loans, which is completely untrue. Whenever my mother and I call, they say that it is a mistake and they will have it removed from her credit but they never do.

I have asked Sallie Mae time and time again to lower my monthly payments; they have not. I ask them if there are any options available to me and they say no and they make threats. One time, I told them I was going to get a lawyer involved and the man said, "You have money for a lawyer and not your student loans?" I asked him what his name was and he refused. I am over my head with bills, especially student loans. I am fresh out of college with no good paying job, nor a job in my field which I owe all this money for my degree. Please help me.

I am about to default ob my student loans because they are not offering any solution. The money I do try to give only really hits the late fees and high interest rates.

As for my mother, her credit is impacted because it states she owes more debt than what she does and that she has loans that she doesn't have. Her credit score number is negatively impacted by these false accusations and ultimately at a number it shouldn't be at and Sallie Mae has done nothing about this.

After paying on my 10 Year student Loan for 10 years, I still had a balance. I reviewed my payment history and found that the payments that I made ahead were applied incorrectly causing the loan to grow bigger instead of being paid off early. I called them and spoke to someone in India that could not help. He claimed that I had been taking forbearance, when in reality what I had done was to pay those payments ahead of time. I made a total of 16 payments ahead of time over the life of the loan.

I called them again and was told to file a formal dispute, which I did. The response from Sallie Mae was to send us a payment history and say if there were additional payments, not applied, to contact them. They did not address the issue of how the early payments were applied.I then sent them a certified letter, in which I explained the problem again, but never received a response from them.

I have had to pay additional payments adding up to around $1,000.00.

My daughter had student loans thru Sallie Mae. During my daughters senior year of college, she was hospitalized 3 times. She managed to graduate in December. In February of the next year, she was hospitalized again and at that time she was declared disabled and started receiving SSI. When this loans were taken, we did not know this would happen. She makes 600.00 a month and Sallie Mae wants over $300.00 in student loan payments. My daughter is a disabled mental patient with a brain tumor.

We have asked 4 times for the forbearance papers to waive the payments for awhile or at least lower the payments since she is on a fixed income. Their website says this packet is available. Each person says I didn't ask anyone in this department to send the papers then they are never sent. The harassment is unbearable for my daughter. They have called 3 and 4 times a day. The other night she was so upset she asked me to talk to the guy from Sallie Mae. When I asked the caller to send the forbearance paperwork, he said I was just trying to get him to feel sorry for me. We need help.

I have been hunting for an attorney to stop the harassing calls and messages from Sallie Mae. I graduated 14 years ago at age 59. I paid off my other loans and have had trouble finding work to continue paying on my Sallie Mae loan. I, also, have run out of 'deferments'. At age 73, I am so ineligible for work that I am humility. But, I am also getting extremely stressed by all these phone calls from Sallie Mae. Yesterday, I phoned them back and told them to "take my Social Security check" - just to get them off my back.

They said they cannot unless my loan went into default. So, they are sending me paperwork to fill out for monthly payments. Don't these "people" who I can barely understand with their accents, connect with each other? Or can't they 'understand' each other?

Since, I thought I was making payment arrangements they would stay off my back. Oh no! they keep coming after you. The government is scary. Please do not get a Sallie Mae loan unless you are already wealthy or have rich parents! I have neither. Plus my degree had not done me any good as I ended up volunteering over the years, more than my work (payment) history, just to get 'noticed' so I could get a paying job. Good Luck to all you youthful dreamers. There are no jobs out there! Especially for an old woman.

Why is there so many complaints towards Sallie Mae, Sallie Mae's collection Practices, Sallie Mae's unregulated Loan fees from taxpaying consumers? Yet, there has been no help from the government or Consumer Affairs. There are complaints from 2006 to date, and the problems with Sallie Mae are getting worse.

What is the point of posting to consumer affairs, if Consumer Affairs is not going to be an advocate for us? When will the people of America, who tried to better their lives by going to school and wanted to pay back their loans, get the help they are screaming out for?

Sallie Mae is reporting my loan origination amount as my limit, so all of my accounts show over the limit from the beginning. I tried to get them to remove the "Credit Limit" and they refused. As a result my credit score goes down every month! So anyone who opens a loan with them from that day forward, it reports negatively to your credit. The more interest that's added, the more negative it is to the individual especially if it gets over 50% of the original value.

Concerning Sallie Mae: Back in November of 2009 I had to file Bankruptcy due to divorce. I was told I could not file against Sallie Mae since it was a Student Loan. That was fine, I would make the payments. This Year (May2010) I lost my job. I tried to file a deferment on the payments due to the loss of the job. We went around in a circle telling me I could file for a deferment once all was said and done, I did. Today August 12, 2010 I was contacted by Sallie Mae and was told I could not file a deferment but could only file forbearance.They told me I would have to pay fifty dollars per loan per month with a maximum or $150 a month. I ask if I don't have a job, how do I pay $150 a month? I would be able to make the payment if I could do that. They stated that it is $80 less than the payment so would make it easier. So what can I do if I can't make the payments? I lost my home and everything else, what can they take? Our government, we, bail them out and they want to punish me.

I've been out of work for over a year and half and just recently got a job. Today (Aug 6, 2010) I go to work and my manager gives me this letter. I opened it up and read it. It was from Sallie-Mae who is going to take my whole paycheck and on another sheet of paper, it says that if I don't do anything about it, I would have to go to court and deal with it. This upsets me because well, there are no one hiring around here and no jobs are opening and then Sallie Mae wants to do this.

Before I moved from SC to WA state, my mother tried to make a payment a long time ago with them but they kept on getting very rude and want the full amount. So my mother said no and then things just got very rude over the phone and she just hung up on them because she will not deal with it. At this moment, my future wife is having problems now with her back so I'm the only one who is working and making house, land, cable, internet, and grocery all by myself on so much. I get paid every week and Sallie Mae (USA Funds) wants to take my paycheck away from me to pay off the 6k plus loan. They need to show some kindness. Yes, my fiancee filed an I&R for the insurance companies but still, it doesn't help to make payments and that's going to be bad just because I don't get many hours. I might only get 10hrs to 12 hours a week.

Tell me how you can afford everything when you're off for 4 days and making $8.65 an hr?

I took out a private loan with Sallie Mae in September of 2007 for about $20,000. Now at 3 years later, they are telling me if I choose to pay off the loan my pay off is around $37,000. I entered the job market at the height of the economic crash and from the day I stopped working Sallie Mae called my house and cell phone in 5, 10 and 20 minute intervals from early in the morning until after 9 at night.

They don't offer a deferment plan for private loans. You have to pay $50 for 3 months. When I was finally able to start paying, it was only because of a rate reduction plan which they refused to originally offer me.

I had a customer service rep set me up for payment and when I look in my bank account, they've taken a double payment. First, they tell me that there wasn't a double payment. I had to go to my bank who agreed that there it was as plain as day. Then, I was told that the money wasn't taken out originally because they received a notice from my bank saying there was no such account.

I call back a day later and another rep is telling me the funds weren't in the account and were never taken out. Mind you, this entire time there are two payments showing deducted from my account.

When I call back again. I'm told to print a copy of my bank statement and send to them so they can see for themselves. I do, fax it over and hear nothing. When I call back to follow up, ironically I speak to the same man who originally set me up in the program. He has no clue what he's talking about and breaks out into a hysterical laughter.

Later that evening, I call back after my nerves have calmed down and speak with the first sensible intelligent person there. She reviews everything and admits that they had taken my account/routing number down incorrectly and when the other girl called, saying the bank said, "Account didn't exist and I gave her my debit card #, she mistakenly entered it twice. She must have tried to cancel the second one, but it had already gone through and my bank was holding the funds to give to them.

Meantime, because they thought they had canceled it, they were telling me they never took out the money twice. The intelligent customer service rep admitted she had worked in banking for 20 years before losing her job due to economy and having to come work for Sallie Mae so she understand the whole mix up and was able to get it cleared for me.

During that time, I had to borrow money from other people to cover my bills because I had other automatic payments set up for car insurance etc. that were due to come out but Sallie Mae had taken the money.

Now thinking all of that was resolved, in June 2010 they took out the payment with no problem. About a week or two afterwards I start receiving calls about how my account is 127 days in default. I tell the lady "No, you took out a payment just fine." She checks, says, "Oh" and hangs up.

On July 2010, I call because I switched my bank card and wanted to update it with them and what do I first see when I log into my account--"Your account is 127 days delinquent." I ask on the phone whats going on and they say they kicked me out of the program because one of my payments hadn't gone through because the bank account showed non-sufficient funds.

I try telling the guy that he's probably looking at the original payment and explain how Sallie Mae messed up and had to fix things and put me back in, and he says, "Well, I see your last months payment came out fine, so I just have to set you up again to enter the program.

Pretty much everything I said went in one ear and out the other. I ask why is it still showing delinquent? He never answered. Additionally, Sallie Mae has been charging me late fees for all of their mistakes.

He admits this and says, "Well, I can talk to my manager, because all of your payments show they were taken before the due date and you shouldn't have the late fees, but since I'm not the manager I can't tell you anything. Why is it even up for debate? Why am I having to wait and see if Sallie Mae is willing to remove late fees that occurred while their trainees were making mistakes with my account and it is all documented?

Icing on the cake. I ask if I'm going to have to go through this each time I attempt to make my payment (which he never answers) and I question if I'll have to go through the 6 month/3 month trial period and he says, "Yes, but the good news is we're letting you back in" (although they never should have taken me out) "The only difference is, You'll just have to wait for us to update your credit report."

So while they are playing games with my account and making me pretty much sign up for the same program each month, my credit report is looking as though I'm not making any payments and is showing delinquent, and although technically my 3 month trial period is over, because they keep knocking me out the program and re-entering me, each month is as though I'm starting new in my 1st month as a delinquent account holder.

My daughter applied for a SallieMae student loan several weeks ago. I was the co-signer. Her application was accepted and her school notified that money would be forthcoming. Then the fun started. Weeks after acceptance and notification, we received a second notice that we must sign a revised agreement. The notice did not say why the agreement was revised (complaint 1). I called to find out and was told that the school changed my daughter's status from full-time to half-time. We called the school and were told no such thing occurred (complaint 2). I called Sallie Mae again to let them know about their error and was transferred to an office handling applications. The recording on the phone said that the office was closed; that it is open only from 8 am EST. It was 9 am (complaint 3). SallieMae is incredibly incompetent.

For the past year, Sallie Mae has been saying that I have not been paying my payments. I have to constantly send in copies of my bank statement (the statements are actually my son's checking account as he pays the bill) showing where the payments have been made and never posted to the account. After about a month, they fixed the problem until the next month when it starts all over again. I have had this account since 2003 and never had any problems until 2009. They charge me late fees and contact the credit bureau stating that I do not pay these bills.

In September of 2009, apparently, Sallie Mae sold off several of my student loans to the Department of Education without notifying me. Recently, they started calling me stating that I was past due, even though whenever I log into their site, my loans are current. Apparently, I had to create another log-in and then I could see these loans, totaling $11/month. They could have sent me a letter.

I returned to school as single mother of 3 boys, trying to better our lives, and leave dangerous situations behind us. I got a Tuition Answer loan from Sallie Mae to help cover the difference in school costs and living expenses while I was in school. After I graduated, I was unable to find work and still am unemployed. I received the paperwork for my loans via USPS mail forwarding. I contacted Sallie Mae concerning my loan and explain my situation and spoke to so called supervisor named Lucifer which refused to give me his full name and even spell it and hanged up on me because I was still asking him question about my deferment or forbearance options.

His last words was call us back when you have better income to pay for the loans than he hanged up leaving me hanging on the phone. He was not pleased because I kept asking him about my loans and the options since they already said I was behind on payment. They wouldn't even lower down the payment because I didn't have the proper income to accommodate the payment so they didn't submit my payment request. They prefer that you are behind and that it affects your credit. I think that's why a lot of student don't even bother calling them or make payment arrangement because they give you the run around and makes it so impossible so that you get frustrated dealing with them and let it go diligent. I even send them paperwork that I was below the poverty income and was receiving food stamp and rent assistance. They still refused to help even after showing to them proof of my circumstances.

For three months, they sent out mailings, saying that they had no information for me, but they were calling me multiple times a day and talking to me the whole time and verifying the information about me the whole time. I even explain to them that I had to disconnect my phone because I couldn't pay for it. The worse part, the letters that they sent out, had my correct mailing address on them and notified them of every change.

And when I complained to Sallie Mae about what happened, the representative told me that if I had just gotten a job and paid my bills, that wouldn't have happened. I didn't have any opportunity to come up with the deferment fee, which only last a few months. Now they are calling again, and can't understand why I can't find work, or pay over $500.00 a month. I'm willing to do anything for work, and they can't even do what they are paid to do.

If I were able to add up all the time I spent on the phone dealing with their poor excuse for representatives, there are not here to help students with their education loans their only here to make it more and more difficult for student to even borrow money from them. This will be the first and last time I borrow any money from Sallie Mae. They really need to re-think their mission statement of helping student because they don't do nothing just make it worst on the student that even tries to make any kind of payment arrangement with them. Time that would have been better spent searching for a job, advancing my skills, or spending time with my special needs children which I have 2 of them. I wouldn't recommend Sallie Mae to any student what's so ever they need to make better ways to help student then what they say they do.

They should not be in business providing loans to students because the really not here to help student with their educational needs they here to suck you dried and don't even care if you are about to be homeless they are only worry about their payment that you owe them. I can understand if I am lying about my circumstances but I did provide them my resources and that I was below the poverty line because I send them letters of my food stamp. They should not be in business especially there are a lot of student that are just beginning their first year in college and really don't know what they are getting themselves into. I believe that the committee that reviews these complain sure take us more serious and do something about this company so another future student don't have to go through the circumstances that I am going through with them.

I am an adult first year college student dealing with Sallie Mae. I had an old student loan I was paying on from them several years ago. I also now have the first year disbursements behind me. They have suddenly started calling me demanding that I sign a forbearance agreement for past due payments for loans that I put into deferment last summer when I decided to return to school. This is the whole catch. If I sign a forbearance for the past 11 months then they get to recapitalize the interest and stick it to me on the back end of the loan.

This is all money that (according to their own agreement) is supposed to be in a four year deferment while I am in school. They call me about every two months to try to "Help" me by telling me that I need to sign a forbearance. Everytime I tell them to get their crap together and then they go away for another two months. I can easily see how our kids are getting totally ripped off by this company. I am older and understand finance enough to know what they are doing can't possibly be legal. I will be contacting my financial aid office this fall to see if I can switch to a different lender. They are definitely a "buyers beware" company!

Sallie Mae discharged my loans when I filed for bankruptcy and is not claiming my co-signor owes them. They are dischargeable in NYC and have requested several times after my discharge that they be transferred over. This caused extreme stress and emotional distress!

I have loans thru Sallie Mae. I just found out about 3 months ago that they sold half of my loan without ever telling me. When I called the new loan place, they said they were putting it in default for never paying but my loans were all in deferment with Sallie Mae. When I tried to defer my loan with the new company, they sold my loan to another company. When I found out about them selling my loans again, I was never notified in anyway that it was being sold again. The new place said they didn't have my information yet and to call back later that week.

I called every 3 days for 3 weeks each time being told that they didn't have my information yet. Finally, I got a hold of them and they said they sent my loan to another place. When I called them, they said it was in default for my not paying on it in the last 3 months. How can these people get away with this kind of stuff. I'm trying to pay them back and they just want to put me in default. Help!

My boyfriend wanted to attend an IT (computers) school. The only loan company they dealt with for students was Sallie Mae. He signed up, and needed me for a co-signer. Even before he graduated, he started making little payments, just to get ahead. Then once he graduated, his payment was $300.00 a month. Fine, he was paying it just fine, never missed payments.

This past March, he got laid-off from his job. So we started making partial payments. Well it's been 7 months now and our savings is used up and he still is unable to find work. So he called to see if we could send $50 a month. The little rude jerk on the end had the nerve to ask why my boyfriend wasn't working, then took it so far as to say, "You probably got fired for misconduct. " Really? Is that appropriate? Then I called the following day to see if he qualifies for a forbearance. They said no, because his account is behind. Well, hello, we know that, that is why we want to do a forbearance.

Then this little witch actually said to me that I should go out and get a part-time job. She said, "Can't you go out and babysit or something?". Really, who do these people think they are? If it is a choice between rent and food, and making the full payment on my loan, what do they think we are going to do? They call both of our phone between 2 and 3 times a day, including Sundays.

It's not like I am saying "Forget you, I am not paying at all". I just want the payment lowered until we get back on our feet. The way those so-called customer service reps speak to people is deplorable. I am glad to see people are putting their complaints online. And I encourage anyone who is having problems with those heartless people to file complaints with anyone who will listen, including your congressmen/women.

I cosigned a loan for a student. I am to pay back such an enormous amount two weeks after the student had the amount applied to his tuition. The interest was enormous after only two weeks. Why on earth is this "group" still in business? I am sure I am not the only one who thought this was an aid for students like Fannie Mae. This seems to be fraud at its very best.

I became disabled and couldn't pay my loans. They reported me to the collection agency and they harassed me so badly that I refused to talk to them. The collection agent arranged a one-time payment of $167 and I was able to come up with by selling some personal property on Thursday.

The very next Friday, he called me demanding more money. And when I told them that I refuse to talk to them because of the way they were treating me, they threatened me with garnishment. Later, I found out that its illegal for them to do that. Then, this one girl lied and told me that if I make a payment of $167 a month, it will go towards both loans.

One month later, they called me denying the original offer, telling me that I have to make another 100 a month payment. I asked them why did they lie, and they said they don't know. And that if I didn't make a payment they'll force me to pay. That's $267 now total that I have to pay. She also lied and said that my account would be marked as current, but they left it as delinquent, and I incurred more charges. I don't think that is legal is it? Let me know. I've been forced to make payments several times a month. And they are charging me late charges and interest that shouldn't have been taken.

After graduating from college, I received a letter telling me that my student loans would begin repayment soon. The next correspondence that I had with Sallie Mae was that my payment was overdue with no bill that came telling me a due date for my first payment. I paid my first two payments at the same time and yet again I get no bill or correspondence to make me aware of the next due date and amount. Sallie Mae has since called me multiple times (2-3x a day) and when talking to them and asking them to send me a bill, I get the response "Bills are sent out to convenience you". Then I also get the response "I will mark down that you are unwilling to pay". Which I am not unwilling to pay. I am willing to pay, I just want a bill to come to me that says I owe X amount by Y date. As a result, Sallie Mae charges me late fees and expects me to make large payments over $500 without receiving a bill notice.

I have almost $200,000 in loans with Sallie Mae. Only my small private loan is in repayment. Yet they constantly apply my payment to the whole thing, then my private loan gets late fees, then I have to call and get it fixed. It happens every month since November. I've talked to supervisors to see what I can do to fix this. I've followed through with their suggestions, yet they continue to ** it up. I called and got it fixed again today. It never fails.

I obtained a medical consolidation loan from Sallie Mae while finishing my medical residency training. According to guidelines set forth by the lender, I was able to defer all loan payments while in training. Very excited having completed training in 2006, I started my first job and was eager and excited to pay back my student loans. I began paying my loans off on time and at a rapid rate. So rapid that I was paid ahead by over a year. Around the summer of 2009, I received notice that I was paid ahead and my next payment was not due until 9/2011. I thought that I should take advantage of this and continue to make monthly payments to lower my principal and overall amount that I would pay back.

After paying on this loan for four years, I decided to check on my loan status in an attempt to pay off the loan in full. After researching my principal balance, it seemed strange that I had not made much of a dent in my loan. That prompted me to call customer service where I was informed that in 2006 I had been enrolled in an interest only payment plan. I have never enrolled and would never enroll in such a predatory repayment plan. I felt very betrayed and hurt by Sallie Mae as a company and felt that this was purposefully done to receive additional funds from me.

I consider myself responsible and grateful for the medical education that I was able to obtain with the assistance of the loans and wanted to pay them back as soon as possible. I feel taken advantage of and have submitted a request that they change my interest only payment option to a conventional payment option which they have done. I have also submitted a request that they apply all past payments to a conventional payment plan and recalculate my principal owed so that I can pay this loan off and be done with Sallie Mae, that request is still pending. I am very discouraged and disappointed with my attempt to do the right thing and repay my loans on time and ahead of time.

Sallie Mae is supposed to promote education. But it promotes illiteracy by employing illiterate people who do not have the foggiest what they are doing. I applied for a student loan and they dispersed it for 2009. But they decided to cancel the 2010 loan because they did not have my ID. What happened to the one I gave them for 2009? Anyways, after making a hundred calls to them, they still refused to do any thing about it. But they offered me SMART loan. I researched it and it is actually a damn stupid loan. Why? Because they will charge you interest while you are a student. They want a piece of your flesh. Are you not a wild shark? I am glad the Federal government finally held them by the neck and threw them in the ocean so that they do not do this any more. I just wish them bankruptcy!

I, as a parent, allowed a credit check/loan approval to be ran on me so that my daughter could attend the college of her choice. When, a few months later, I received an offer of a loan from Sallie Mae, I turned it down. I signed the paperwork rejecting it and returned that to them within the stipulated time frame. I started receiving bills and my daughter went to her financial aid advisor at the college with them. He told her it was a mistake on Sallie Mae's part and that our paperwork denying the loan had been submitted - not to pay any attention to the bill. The bills continued to come, she went to the advisor again. He double checked the paperwork, assured us that our end was in order and once again, told us to disregard the bills.

I then started getting phone calls from Sallie Mae. The financial aid department at my daughter's former college seems to have undergone a complete overhaul and the old advisor is no longer there. No one seems to be able to help us. This has gone on for approximately two years, during which time my credit rating has been ruined by Sallie Mae. I no longer answer the phone when they call because they refused to believe that the consumer could be right and tried to back me into a corner regarding payments on a loan that I refused to take. I don't know of anyplace to turn. Unfortunately, I did not copy the loan refusal before sending it.

They have contacted friends from my church as well as family members all over the states, trying to track me down. I have also been told that they can garnish my bank account. My husband left our family, didn't pay what he owed to me and the six children I was left to raise. That has gone through courts and we have enough to live on now, but not if Sallie Mae can actually take from my bank account what they feel I owe them. Is there any recourse?

I have asked several Sallie Mae representatives to send me a copy of the contract I signed and they won't. I now am facing garnishment as a co-signer on this loan and need the contract so that I can assist in the collection process against the applicant. Why won't they just send me a copy of the contract? I'm losing upwards of $26,000!

I am attempting to obtain any assistance with fighting Sallie Mae Financial. I took out a student loan via Sallie Mae in 2002. The loan was for a sum of 16k plus dollars. By the year of 2004 the loan was paid to the tune of 18k inclusive of the accrued interest. At this time and as per Sallie Mae, the 18k was the full loan pay off amount without prepayment penalties, which is something they claim not to have. The check was executed via the company GMAC and sent directly to Sallie Mae financial. GMAC did not take my father's word for the pay off amount; they confirmed it by contacting Sallie Mae directly and it wasn't until that the check executed.

As per Sallie Mae the pay off amount until 7/6/10 will now be 4k and change and if beyond, then the pay off will be 6k and change. I recently have been harassed via telephone and mail with threats of placing negatives on my credit and possibly my Dad who co-signed and later requested the pay off via GMAC. They claim I am 52 weeks late on a debt that I never incurred.

I have paid off the loan 6 years ago and they are now trying to collect on additional interest they claimed should have been attached at the time of pay off. Is there a statute of limitations on something such as this? Or any options for me/us at all? I have seen numerous negatives about this company online and most say that this company is very difficult to fight. Sallie Mae has since placed an outstanding debt on my and my father's credit. I have disputed this relentlessly and each time it comes back as valid and confirmed. As per Sallie Mae there was yet another 1k and change that was owed following the loan payoff that I am still accountable for.

The meter has been running from 2004 according to them and has reached 2k and change. I am a mother of 3 newly separated with no extrinsic financial help to pay this debt beyond my salary which is already accounted for. There is now a phony debt on my and my father's credit, how can this be allowed? We are being harassed with constant attempts to collect. I managed to scrape up a payment to send to stop the harassment but it will never end until this is made to go away.

I've reached out to Sallie Mae and no one seems to care that I am being hit with a balance that is $1672 higher on my outstanding balance than I owe. Maybe emailing all of you guys will get through to someone before I start contacting every media outlet and anyone who will listen about what a scam this company is. Let's break down the math to make things really simple.

How is it that my total amount standing, when every payment of interest only + additional money towards principal has been made, and my total amount standing is still higher than my Outstanding Principal Balance even after $1672 has been paid towards principal (again, according to your records) and supposedly applied to the principal balance plus all interest every month has been paid too? Where on earth did these numbers came from? So not only am I paying more in interest each month than I should be, but magically, there is almost $2000 in additional charges on an account that is not delinquent; does not have late fees, has all interest paid plus some each month and every month since my loans went into repayment.

In addition to my actual balance being corrected, all of that extra money I put forth towards "interest" each month that actually should have been going to the principal balance should also be corrected. I found a number of their VP's email addresses on the web and emailed them. I've sent in two requests to be contacted with an explanation to no avail.

I took out a loan of $6,000.00 in mid 2005 from Sallie mae with an interest amount of $1,012.02 making the total amount to pay back $7,429.13. I deferred my payments for almost a year and while making some miniumum payments along the way. I started making minimum payments dec 2006 of $61.00 and now they are $112.00. My outstanding balance is $6,028.37. I have paid $2,930.00 into the loan. I don't understand how or why my balance is not decreasing? I have been paying for 3-4 years... that is terrible. Any bill is a hardship but I took out this loan to further my education and it has not helped in any way. It is just adding to my debt and seems to be a money pit with no end.

I thought Salle Mae was taking in consideration that people are still not working. Sallie Mae would be treating people better.

Like so many students, you sign the financial aide papers not really understanding them, but expecting no issue because you've been told "...getting an education is the most important thing you can do...you want a good job, then go to school" Well, I'm an attorney, graduating from a no name school, but with big time school debt. I thought passing a bar exam would suffice to demonstrate to employers that even though I did not come from a top school, I still new my stuff. I was wrong.

Now, I find myself strangely unemployable. Even with a couple years of practice under my belt, I could not get hired for a human resource job with Uncle Sam. I didn't even get an interview as they stated that I was not a priority. Needless to say SallieMae is knocking hard. I have been paying out $150.00/3 months to keep the sharks at bay while I have been trying to find employment. I spoke to "Andrew" who said,"It's not our fault that you have indebted yourself with a mortgage, car ect." To which I explained how my debt is so huge over $126,000.00 that there is no house and the one car I owned (which had no bells or whistles not even automatic windows) was destroyed in a tornado in 2008. I also mentioned that while I was employed as an attorney they had no problem taking $1000.00 a month.

Also, while I was employed as an attorney my starting salary was $35,000.00 by the time I left I was making $65,000.00. I had to leave my job so that my husband and I could file for bankruptcy because we could not afford rent for a one bedroom apartment, pay our students loans (because he too is an attorney starting salary $32,000) our credit cards (that we used to supplement while in law school) and eat. I have applied and applied and applied to all types of jobs...nothing is turning up. If SallieMae dings my credit, I will throw the towel in for good because employers (especially Uncle Sam) won't consider deliquent loan holders for employment.

I spoke to SallieMae about some lower payment plan, the best I could get was to pay interest on one loan a month alternating each loan and that would somehow keep it from going deliquent, but it would also never allow the debt to go down as each month I would accrue late fee (by the way Andrew did not disclose that latter fact). I grew-up in part in a trailer, I believed if I did things right, worked hard, I could have a better life. My advice to people with children in my lower socio-economic bracket, tell your children they are great as they are ... go to the library don't go into debt over education. Oh, and by the way has anyone mentioned that all our student loans are insured and that once you don't pay/are found delinquent they get to cash in, as well as go after you the debtor and basically collect twice on the debt?

I have been recieving calls the past few years. I graduated in May 2007 and still have been unable to find a job in the field I went to school for. I have been working min wage jobs for as long as I can remember. Today I got a call from a young rep from this lovely company told him I am unemployed and seeking new employment but unfortunatly the job market isnt what it used to be. I am trying to keep a roof over my head which is getting harder since i dont qualify for unemployment in my state right now. He proceded to tell me that its obvious that I dont care about my bills or I would already have a job.

I have only been out of work for 2 weeks and my savings has been spent on rent and utilites. I no longer have my car havent for 2 yrs because I cant afford one. Sallie Mae prays on the less priviliaged and now I owe almost double then what was loaned org. I didnt have a college fund my parents didnt save for me like they did for my sisters and brother. I have been on my own and now I dont know what else to do.

Lost Job. Mailed SallieMae executed economic hardship deferment form to stop automatic student loan payments from being taken out of my bank acct. SallieMae rec'd my form, but went ahead and took $717.59 out of my bank acct. two days after recieving the form. They told me it takes them 14 days to process the form.

This company takes advantage of poor students who are trying to get ahead in life. I am in my medical residency with over $125,000 loan burden and struggling financially. Every single year I have to file for economic hardship forbearance. I mailed in my W2 form, my bank statements, my student loan statements to show that I cannot afford to make my monthly payments.

The customer services agents on the other end of the phone are completely incompetent. They are located in India or other parts of the world, and are telemarketers. They read off a script and are completely useless in terms of helping you or giving you information. They hardly speak English and never have correct information. They can never find the application or documents that I've mailed in. I've called every 2-3 weeks to see if my application for forbearance is processed and I speak with some person who is clueless, and they give me some new excuse or some new paperwork that I need to fill out. Meanwhile the interest on my loans continues to capitalize.

I was laid off from my job in February, and at the same time went on disability for a degenerative back condition. I filled out a deferment form on line immediately. A few months later I called Sallie Mae, they said they never received the form. I asked again for a form to fill out. They sent the wrong form. I then asked them to change my account from online only to billing by mail, as my online account was proving useless. I never received a bill by mail. Months later, this week, I called. They had an address for me that was 5 years old! I had moved twice and had changed the address with them in writing both times.

I called back this week and asked to speak to a supervisor. None was available. I asked them to have one call me (at the same time I asked them to have Sallie Mae STOP calling daily for collections). The phone rang just now and it was ANOTHER Sallie Mae collections person. he was so pushy I ended up using foul language and hanging up on him. I wish this nightmare would stop,. All I want is for my billing to come in the mail. Is that too much to ask? I am really trying to focus on my recovery, and can't get up to answer the phone every time they call, sometimes several times a day.

I graduated from college a little over 2 years ago. After graduating I had a job but had to move. Since then I've been barely making it by. There are NO jobs in many places. So I was able to pay Sallie Mae 4 forbearance fees but then those ran out. They then asked me for $900 a month! I have a job as a substitute teacher and I make less than $800 a month. I tell them and, of course, they don't care. They tell me I can pay interest only but that is $600/month. How do they expect anyone to live with $200 in their pockets? IMPOSSIBLE.

They call me for months, never leaving messages from various numbers multiple times a day. Clearly that is harassment.

So today I get a letter stating I am going into default as of 07/01/2010 for the amount of over $86,000. The school year is ending so I will have NO job this summer.

There are many times where I regret going to college because of this. I was 20/21 when I started this mess and I didn't know any better. My college told me I would have to leave if I didn't get the loan from Sallie Mae so what was I to do? I would LOVE to make payments but I simply CANNOT.

It's simply sickening that an American company is allowed to treat people like this. It also disgusts me that anyone can go crazy with credit cards and file for bankruptcy and it's all cleared away.... but I'm a good person, I work hard but I don't have parents to help me.

Sallie Mae is terrible--all of the agents with whom I spoke told me that they did not have a designated customer service brach. Well, I checked the BBB wesite, and yes, Sallie Mae does have a Customer Adovcate Unit.

I have been strugging with Sallie Mae for three months and this is the only course of action that works. Yes, it is time consuming, but I am convinced it is one of the only ways to resolve your issues unless you seek help from an outside source.

If this doesn't work, fortunately my sister-in-law is a corporate laywer!

On April 28 I scheduled a payment as I normally do for on line billing. On May 3rd I opened a new bank account. I went on the Salliemae site and updated my bank account information hit update. Well to my surprise they still deducted from my old bank account which cause me a 35 dollar overdraft fee.

When I called they confirmed my change on account however because a payment was pending on the old account it took from the old. Again there were no warnings to this and again no notifications. Their web site doesn't even show you want account is on file. I simply asked for my 35 dollars back and they refused. Oh yeah there is no policies letting you know of this either

I made a private loan in 2007 for 16,800 with a repayment schedule of 170 month that will total about 31,0000. My balance is 14,000. I requestd for a new term of 36 month which would bring my payment up to $421. The interest would 5.25 daily!

It wasn't clear to me when I made this loan that the term would be as such. I already paid about 4,000 in interest. I never thought such term like this existed. I think this is unethical and unfair.

what can I do?

This has gone on since January and within a weeks time I have received 6 letters that completely contradict themselves. So I don't know if my loan is in deferment or not. I have tried calling and can never get anyone who speaks English and knows what they are talking about what so ever. I cannot believe that a company as large as Sallie Mae is run so poorly. This had been a huge stress on myself and my family because we cannot afford payments right now and now I'm not sure if I can continue school or not.

My credit has gone down the tubes. I am getting my wages garnished and I am about to lose my house and everything else I own becuase I cannot afford this loan. I never could. But they kept saying that we would have to pay until my son was out of school for 6 months and then it would be turned over to his loans and concsoldated into one. This has not happen with him and they want 700.00 a month. He hasn't got a job in his field and is working retail just to make ends meet. So now what do we DO!

The representative confirmed that the signature had been forged... electronically forged! He continued to tell me an electronically forged signature is legal and has been for ten yearts. This is insanity! How can this be legitimate? They are supposed to be sending me a fraud packet. I'm gonna lose time from work to file police reports and get things notarized. In any case, besides the blame I place on my son, I hold Sallie Mae responsible for allowing him to acquire this loan. Is there anything further that can be done?

I pay them on time every month. I have 5 different loan number with them. They always misapply my payments. They only apply my payment to one of my five loan numbers so it always looks like the other four are behind. I asked them how to avoid this situation. I was told to send e-mails explaining my payments. Despite me taking my precious time to do this, they still apply the full payment to one of the five loans. I'm paying late charges on other loans that should not appear to be late. I've tried numerous times to resolve this with them. I've given them a breakdown of how every payment I ever made should have been applied. It doesn't make a difference. Nothing ever gets done about it. I just had a representative call minutes ago and she hung up on me because she didn't want to deal with looking into the account.

I had been calling for three months trying to obtain my state refund check that was taking. During the time I was calling, different customer service rep gave me different answer and I am tried of going this the money was took in error and all I want is to send me my money. I shouldn't have to go through this when the money that was taken didn't belong to them in the first place. I don't even have a loan with them no more.

I have spoke to over 20 peoples and have made numerous e mails showing proof of the payments that have cleared my checking account. It has been over 30 days and still nothing has been done. I have made the payments and because they have posted them, I am receiving delinquent notices, extra interest and late fees. The customer service department is a joke and the supervisors are just as bad if not worse. What does one do when the company refuses to apply the payments and you have mailed them the proof from the bank.

Recently, over the holidays, I rehabilitated my loan and have been current up to date. Since last month, I have started to get Final Notice letters. I don't understand why this is happening. Neither did the operator I was speaking with. Besides this new tactic, I still get about 15 calls a day. I don't really know because I don't have any credit to begin with but 7 years out of the country should do it to clear them out of my life.

On Tuesday, 04/20/2010, a man identified himself as Dennis, Sallie Mae's collections manager, directed me to fill out the Economic Hardship Deferment document that he would e-mail to me in 10 minutes. He added to return the completed document within 48 hours. I never received the form.

I called Sallie Mae having to wait 10 minutes on hold and a customer service representative hung up when I asked for Dennis, collections manager. I called back and after holding again, a CSR M. was difficult to speak with. Most of the CSR's speaks very broken English and a communication barrier is so real as soon as they answer. M. would not connect me with Dennis; she would not answer any of my questions due to her script that she was running through. It was as though I was speaking to a machine. I was disconnected again while asking consistently to speak to the collections manager Dennis.

While searching the web I found an Economic Hardship Deferment form for Sallie Mae, filled it out, attached my last paystub and fax it with a cover to ** and to the attention of Dennis collection manager. No response from anyone until I called Sallie Mae on 04/26/2010. I immediately asked for a supervisor and the male on the other end of the line refused to connect me with a supervisor until I told him why I wanted a supervisor. I told him I was contacting the federal government and exposing there tactic of business that Sallie Mae is permitting to happen.

A supervisor come on the phone immediately and stated his name was supervisor Dennis. I reviewed the past several days with him and asked him why he never faxed me the deferment sheet. He stated he never spoke to me before and someone is using his name. I recognized his voice and told him that I spoke to him and what he directed me to do. He put me on hold and come back, saying he found my documents and would submit them to the Finance Department and I should call in 24 to 48 hours and ask for him so we can discuss my Economic Deferment. I don't even know if I will ever be able to speak to Dennis again.

I made a $200 payment. They cashed it. It cleared my bank account. They did not post it to my Sallie Mae account. I called for 2 months, asking about the check. I sent a copy of the check and bank statement. I kept getting the runaround. Still, no amount has been applied. They told me to wait 4-6 weeks for processing. I called, and now they are telling me 4-6 weeks, and they will refund me. I have called 2 to 3 times a week for 2 months. No money has been applied to my account, and no money has been refunded to me. They show me as 2 months late, and it might affect my credit report.

My husband stupidly co-signed a loan for his son for $4k for a school loan. I had told him to never do this but he did it behind my back. Now, the son refuses to pay it. I paid over $800 on the loan, hoping his son would start paying something. Now, my husband has lost his job and they are calling us everyday, often more than once. Letters and threats come constantly. They threaten credit reporting but it is on my husband's report now. How long can they do this to us? We are 60 and 65 and have our own bills to survive.

We had a FICO score of around 800 and this has ruined our credit. I am 65 and have retired but we are in danger of losing our home now. This is making me very sick and the stress over the last year or two is more than I can even deal with anymore. I have to go on meds just to deal with the harassment. I am so depressed!

I took out a Sallie Mae loan for my son, back in 2006. I made the payments on it, until he graduated from college, of which he set up direct deposit to pay on the loan. By doing this, he received a 0.25% less on the loan (6.375 - 6.125). After 36 consecutive payments, a 1% discount is made off the loan, lowering the rate to 5.125%. My son was making the payments religiously. Last year, I went back to college to get my MBA, paying cash, and Sallie Mae gets a notice from my college (they have to do this by law), and puts this loan on deferment. My son was not aware, because he has everything set up on auto-pay.

Once we realized this, we called Sallie Mae, and asked them to stop the deferment. In the meantime, Sallie Mae had accrued over $2,000 in capitalized interest. We were sick. Here, my son was paying on it, and they stopped taking the payments out of his account. In January, I called and told them to stop the deferment. They did with the 1st payment in February, and by March, they had put it into deferment again. When I called to tell them that I do not want this loan in deferment, and do not put it into deferment, unless I personally ask them, or put it in writing. I also stated that I wanted something from them in writing, to stop the deferment, and state that they would not put this loan into deferment again, unless I request it.

I got a letter, and it stopped the deferment but in big caps the letter states, "Sallie Mae reserves the right to modify or discontinue loan programs at any time, without notice". I was furious. Back in Aug 2009, our outstanding balance was $38,371.43. Now it is $39,943.88, of which Sallie Mae has earned $2,584.18 of capitalized interest, by them deferring my loan, anytime they want. I am still in school, and my school has to inform them each quarter by law.

Sallie Mae automatically puts it in deferment, and I can not say, write, or do anything to stop them, and Sallie Mae, instead of helping those to pay them back, are hurting us by charging more interest, without permission. This is not fair at all. It stopped our consecutive payments, so now there are 19 more payments to make to get the extra 1% off. Sallie Mae accrued $2,584.18 of capitalized interest. This is not fair at all. Please help.

My student loan payments have been processed incorrectly on multiple occasions. I pay well over the minimum payment and always on time. I have nine loans altogether and specify the extra money (over the minimum payment) to be applied to the loan with the highest balance/interest accrual. Sallie Mae (against my clear request) has applied my payment to specific loans at their discretion, leaving other loans unpaid yielding a delinquent status. I have called multiple times and have been assured that the problem has been fixed.

I have been making payments precisely the way that the Sallie Mae representative advised me to in order to pay down my higher interest loans in a shorter period of time. I was told to write in the memo of the check specifically how I would like the payment to be dispersed and to also include an index card/loose piece of paper with the disperse instructions written on it as well.

As of yesterday, my account continues to be in delinquent status. I called again but have severe doubts that it is rectified or that it will not happen again in the future. They make the billing process virtually impossible to understand; even the requested "itemized lists" do not contain any specific comprehensible data. In addition to this, I was told that my "minimum payment" (clearly printed on the bill) is not enough to cover all my loans. So good thing I have been paying more than the minimum payment. I was also told that paying online may reduce some of these mistakes but I am not willing to give this company any of my banking information. Something does not smell right with the practices of this company. Please investigate!

I have had this account with Sallie Mae for several years. I graduated in 2004. Since then, I have had numerous problems. I made payment on account over the phone, gave my bank account number. The rep read back the number, however, entered the number wrong and payment did not go through. I did not find out about this for 6 months and was made to pay penalty for their mistake. I have made payments and not had them posted or registered on time and got notified that we have "missed" payments.

They have been harassing my father who is the co-signer on account. Calling 4-5 times a day! They have made false claims, i.e. told my father that account has been placed in collections but I am current. Also, they told my father that they had spoken to me and claiming that I had told them to contact him. In fact, I had told them to not contact him.

One representative was insulting my brother when they were speaking to him. When you call to speak to a supervisor, one is never available. They call our house on near daily basis even though we are current on payments or have made arrangements for the month. We are told we are on automatic list to call and that they are not aware of reason for call until they look at file. When asked about paying off loan, we are told that if we pay off loan early, there is a penalty and it will be reported negatively to credit bureau. I have lost or misfiled confirmation numbers for payments.

I was attacked badly in 2001 (raped, set on fire, and beaten almost to death). This is cake walk to get over versus what Sallie Mae has done to me. I started to go to International Academy of Design and Technology in Orlando in 2003. I told them that I wanted to start over in a career that would be able to help me and others like me. I had been in the medical field for 4 years and made OK money. They said, I could make more. They encouraged me to try out the college and I did! Sallie Mae was the nightmare I woke up to.

So now, I am going through two battles: the Guy who tried to murder me and the one of Sallie Mae. Guess which one is worse? I didn't get a job right away like the college promised (97% job placement assistance promised, that was a joke). I know what it is like now to beg for food just to feed myself. Though I know i had a roof over my head, no job. The calls started, they went to my parents, then to my old bosses, then to family and friends. They have ruined me exceptionally when I am facing the other fight. The degree was only suppose to be $30,000 and now it is $55,000. How? No, I can not borrow the money, no I can not move, no, I can not pay my debt, no, I can not just...

Please understand, just like all of you, I wish for this money everyday to pay them. Instead, I get harassment, letters of default, calls to everyone, again like others mentioned, they have my number, address, and I try to make arrangements for payments I can afford. They are not willing to help. I told them that I will be laid off in June to October. I finally get a job and almost two years later, I face layoffs like a lot of you! By the way, did I mention when I did land this job they did not except my degree, so I don't get the money that the college said I would get. I make just enough to get by. I can't afford $500 plus, which is almost half of what I bring home.

Now, the worst part off the story is... I lost my Uncle Garret 6 months ago to cancer at the age of 41. He left behind a beautiful family. Sallie Mae has been calling her 2x or 3x a day for about a month. She is left to raise 3 kids (youngest is 6, 12, oldest 14) and run a company and she is still in mourning. I received a letter from Sallie Mae's lawyers to settle for half the amount. I only had 5 days to respond and had to pay it in full. Who has that kind of money anymore. I just don't know what to any more. That is why I am writing this message. There is more to come as I still face these battles... my rapist is facing justice, why isn't Sallie Mae?

I have co-signed a student loan for my son eight years ago. My son has lost his job over a year ago and is unable to find work. My husband is 78 and in ill health. I am 72 and on the brink of a nervous breakdown. We are living on a yearly income, which is considered poverty level. My husband has a small property to sell and wants to use that little money $ 40.-- to pay off the loan. The original loan was $ 42.000. Now it has risen to over $ 51.000 due to late fees, interest, etc.

Sallie Mae claims not to have a settlement department and my type of loan does not qualify for settlement. No further explanation given. It is like ramming your head against the wall, amounts to psychological warfare, and money extortion. We do not want to walk away, but are honorable people fallen on hard times. We want to settle but Sallie Mae will not hear of it. My husband wants to settle the loan.

These people are impossible. Yes, my son did borrow money from them and yes, he does owe the money. His first payment was due, he has moved out of the country, which I made them fully aware of and just recently got a job, which I told them as well and I verified that they had the correct email address to contact him. I co-signed on 2 of the loans and made the first payment for my son, it wasn't even 30 days late when I made it. They call my house 5 and 6 times a day. I have told them all the above information 3 times, which they actually read back to me and say yes and they apologize for calling.

Now they call incessantly, just a few minutes ago I told them again, the lady said I didn't call you it's done by computer, what a smart individual. I told them to stop calling me that they had all the information on my son and that I had made the payment for what I owed and if I owed anything else, to send me my bill, which as a cosigner I am entitled to before I make a payment. She told me the calls would continue, unfortunately, as the computer did it?! These people should be dragged through the court system and to congress for their crooked dealings. The interest rate on these loans is ludicrous, they give kids money and make it easy for them to do, which they do as they are desperate to go to school. Little do they know they are going to get screwed in the long run. How many people have committed suicide from this B.S. They are worse than the IRS is and this is only my son's first payment.

They then stated that me and my ex husband co-signed, which we have been divorced for almost 8 years and my ex husband never paid a dime nor co-signed for anything for my son's education. They have contacted my sister to ask her if she knew where Linda C. was, which when I spoke to them, specifically told them I was married back in 2008 and my name was now A and to please change it. They are impossible, I have read so many nightmares about these people, it is ridiculous, why haven't they been investigated and stopped?

There was payment in the amount of $2,000 from the account of ** and ** written on our Capitol Federal Savings account that was sent via check in late October 2009, intended to be our payments for the entire year (until October 2010). On November 3, 2009, that check was presented for electronic payment from my account and was immediately transferred into a Sallie Mae bank account.

To date, that $2,000 transfer has not been credited to my account with Sallie Mae. Although I have contacted Sallie Mae via 26 faxes and over 20 phone calls, Sallie Mae has not been successful in crediting my account with the missing $2,000 that was electronically taken from my account nearly five months ago. I am getting frustrated and tired.

Now, Sallie Mae is calling my husband bi-weekly at work and at home demanding payment for our "past due" account and have marked our account in forbearance. There is no motivation on their part in find this missing $2,000 or they would have found it by now. I have provided a certified letter from my bank showing the date, amount and the electronic transfer information that should have been needed to trace down this money.

What recourse do I have?

I took out student loans for all of my college and trade education. Payments started October 2001. In the past two years, I have fallen on some difficult times, divorce, unemployment and have been unable to make my payments and got forbearance or deferments. I recently got a new job and asked for an income-based payment plan, which allowed me to have lower payments until my income is such that I can afford the regular payments. From the beginning of the application process, this experience has been a mess from them losing my application to being given inaccurate information as to completing the application to being told the wrong start date of my payments.

I recently signed up for payments to be take directly out of my checking account in the amount of $71.00 per month. I received a letter from Sallie Mae last week, 3/29-4/2/10, stating that the first payment would be taken from my account of April 1, 2010. I have been monitoring my checking account for the payment to be taken out and to date, it has not. So I went on the Sallie Mae Servicing website to check my account to find that they have not taken the payment out of my account and are charging me late fees ($53.00). I called customer service. Of course, I did not get a CS representative from the US, which wastes my time because I have to ask for them to repeat everything that they say because I can not understand them.

I asked why the payment was not deducted from my account. I was told that they could not find my bank, then I was told that they did not have the correct bank information. I then asked to be transferred to a US representative because I don't have time to ask that each sentence or question be repeated because I can not understand or hear what is being said. Because I was at work, I was unable to wait for a US representative to come on the line (I waited over 20 minutes on hold). Because of all of the mistakes and delays in my "paperwork", I have accrued large amounts of late fees and interest, aside from the immense frustration that I have had to endure. So even though you receive paper confirmation of the arrangements, it still does not matter because "they" don't do their jobs and I pay for it.

Never ever get a loan through these people! First of all they don't send me statements in the mail when they are due. They wait until the payments are late to send me a statement. Then when I request a statement, they send it to me after my due date so I end up late. I think they purposely make it difficult for you to make payments on time. Then when your payments are late they will harass you 3 to 4 times a day until they receive payments no matter how often you've told them you've sent out the payment.

As for their website, that's a joke. They called me and told me my payment was three days late but the website was stating I was 33 days late. When I called to straighten that out, not only did I get hung up on three times, but I found out that my 33 day urgent delinquency was due to 2 pennies! Are you serious? You are gonna harass me over two ** pennies! These people make it impossible to pay them back. I can't make my payments and applying for deference or forbearance just makes the life of your loan longer. So I will make payments when I can make them. What are they gonna do? Sue me? I have nothing! I can't find a job and I don't own a damn thing.

So never use Sallie Mae and if you already do and you are having trouble like me, good luck to you and I mean that sincerely.

I've been trying to lower my monthly payments with Sallie Mae based on my income. First, they sent me to the website where my account does not exist on their records neither does my SSN. Then I speak to an Indian lady who spent 30 minutes on the phone. The only action I needed was for her to send me the income-sensitive repayment forms (which are not on the website).

I got the forms, filled them out and stated that I needed to pay about 5% of my gross monthly income. I got my booklet with the wrong payment amount. Called and spent 20 minutes with an Indian guy who I did not understand and could not help me. He transferred me to his "supervisor" which was an answering machine stating that they were closed. No opportunity to leave even a VM.

I applied for a career loan from Sallie Mae as they were the lenders on record for my school. I received the loan with a co-signer and the loan was dispersed to the school. The loan payments were to be $10.00 a month until I finished school. Without any warning, the $10 payments escalated to $300 while I was still in school and unemployed. By the time I found out about the escalation of payments, I was delinquent in payments and Sallie Mae collection department 765 area code called both me and my co-signer relentlessly... all day and night!

I went online and applied for forbearance, they told me I did not qualify so I asked them what I qualified for, they said nothing which I later found out was a lie. This was in December. In January they said we could qualify but they needed a letter from the school stating that I was a full-time employee, they received that in January. Again they never informed me they received the information they needed and the loan terms were to revert back to $10. Of course that did not happen. Finally in March I spoke with a woman by the name of Carlene at ext. 52041, she told me that I could only qualify for two types of reductions; a reduction in principal or the $10.

As I am not working, I opted for the $10 payments for the next 11 months. I had this conversation the first of March at which time I was told in order to get this change in terms, I had to make a payment of $300, I did. I was told that I would receive a letter with the change of terms, to sign and return. I did. Although I requested this change of terms in January and was told that they were rolling back the other payments because my original request was from January, they did not! They breached their agreement and I spoke with 2 managers, even a manager in the department that processes the loan terms.

Sallie Mae employs the rudest, ill-mannered, unprofessional and incompetent people they can find. Every dreg of society works here. I had someone tell me that I had no choice but to deal with him. I had another representative tell me that I should pay my bills and yet another told me that if I reduced my payments to $10, I would have to pay more later. Duh! Now they want to give me financial advice, please just get my account right and stop threatening my family and the co-signer with going to the credit bureau and making false reports.

I have been trying to apply for a forbearance now for over 3 months. Each time I send them the requested information, they then deny it for a different reason. I have now fax to them 5 times exactly what they need and they still have not process my request. My credit is in jeopardy and I feel that Sallie Mae is not assisting me . When I asked them to escalate to a manger, they said they cannot do this and hung up on me - this happened 3 times. I cannot stand dealing with them and need assistance. Please help if you can. The damage is my credit is in jeopardy due to their lack of working my request in a timely manner.

DaVon, son. Shavone, mom. I am authorized on this account. Sallie Mae is harassing my son about payment on a student loan, but on several ocassions, we have called and stated that we have not received any correspondence and ask that they send this information to the post office address not the home address. There is a reason for the post office box (not getting my mail or getting other peoples mail). The school has this address as well as the student loan service.

DaVon wants to pay his bill. but Sallie Mae is not responding to our request to send correspondence. On 3/6, DaVon talk to someone, but did not get a name and related this issue, on 3/17, Shavone talk to Jennifer and related the same issue address, and on 3/25, I spoke with Everett and he stated he, I (Shavone) was not authorized, and then on that same day, DaVon talk to Cindy and told her to add Shavone to this account and also related the same issue; correspondence.

We have not received anything after we were told they will send correspondence to the post office box. Today is 3/29 and we have received nothing. They are harassing DaVon on his cell phone number, but are not listening. I have not talk to a supervisor or manager; we did not request to talk to one. Can you help us get what we are asking for? Also we do not have an address for them, so therefore, they never sent anything to the home or post office box address.

When they call with the harrassing, they stated your credit will be ruined and that is not fair for someone who is trying. DaVon will not make payments online, he does not trust the payment method. Please help and tell Sallie Mae to stop with the harrassing calls. Thank you and also send the correspondence.

Our son used Sallie Mae to obtain several student loans. On two of the loans he had cosigners, one with his father and another with his mother (my wife). I recently tried to refinance my mortgage only to realize that my credit score is in the toilet because our son is 3 payments behind on our loan with him. In talking with our son's account manager at Sallie Mae I was told that he could only talk about our loan, not any of the others. He also said that our son had not sent him any money since he had been working with him on catching up his payments. In talking with our son, he said that he had sent money to this individual, and that he had instructed him to apply the moneys that he had sent to the two loans that had the cosigners.

He did this because he could not pay on all of his loans, but was sensitive to the need for him to be first responsible to his parents so that our credit would not be negatively affected. It turns out that the Sallie Mae person has lied to me, and not only that, but he did not do as he was instructed by our son. Our son made it clear to the Sallie Mae account manager that he wanted the funds to go to these cosigned loans, but the Sallie Mae person applied the moneys (all of the moneys) to the accounts that did not have cosigners. Personally, I think what he did should be illegal. Note: I do have this person's contact information.

I got a Sallie Mae loan in 2005. At the time of the loan, I thought I was just getting a loan to go to college. Well, Sallie Mae informed me that I was getting a Tuition Answer Loan and that I needed a co-signer. I had my mother co-sign for the loan. At the time of getting the loan, we were never told or given a promissory note or a disclosure not. So we had no idea that this was a private student loan that is compounding daily interest according to Wall Street. When the economy hit rock bottom a couple of years ago and insurance premiums hit record highs, I was not able to pay for my student loan. So my wife called Sallie Mae and tried to apply for a police officer forgiveness loan since I am a police officer. She was told that we could not do that because it is a private loan. While she called the Congressman's office and the Department of Education to see what our options were to find out there was nothing that we can do because it's a private student loan. Well then I went to an attorney and tried to file bankruptcy on this loan and I am told that I cannot do this because it is a student loan. Keep in mind that I have been told it is a private loan!

So I have been talking with Karyn O with the customer advocacy department at Sallie Mae and try to get questions answered. To find out my wife was correct when she said that this loan was given under deceit and deception and that we were never given or signed a promissory note or a disclosure statement saying that we would this loan compounds daily interest according to Wall street. This is fraud! Also, for the last four years, Sallie Mae has never sent us a 1098 so that we can claim the interest that we have paid on our taxes. When I asked Karyn with Sallie Mae customer service advocacy department, she told me because Sallie Mae did not know what we were using the money for that they did not send us our 1098 to claim the interest on our taxes. Wrong answer. The check was made out to me and the school so how can they even say they did not know what the money was used for. Correct me if I'm wrong, that's why it's called a Tuition Answer Loan. Just another way to scam consumers!

I have called my Congressman, Congressman Carter, and have demanded that this kind of deception stop! Sallie Mae is taking advantage of many Americans that are just trying to get an education. Then the big kicker is that Sallie Mae was talking to my wife instead of me without giving my written or verbal consent. That is against the privacy act. So how many other Americans has Sallie Mae given student Answer Loan too without a promissory note or a disclosure note and now you owe double from what you borrowed? We need help and stop Sallie Mae from defrauding consumers and Americans that are just trying to get and education. Sallie Mae customers receiving Tuition Answer Loans need help and stop them defrauding Americans trying to get an education!

They are constantly calling me at work several times a day. I have asked them to stop. I am overwhelmed with medical bills and other issues right now. They refuse to talk to me or work me on any kind of payment plan. The people that call are very rude and demanding. My supervisor heard me talking to them this morning and wanted to know what was going on. Very embarrassing. They refuse to send anything in the mail. It is all phone calls to my work. They also call at all hours of the night. Please help. I have had to move because I could not afford to live where I was staying. I want to make payments but I want the phone calls to stop. I am just a records clerk. I do no make a lot of money. I am becoming ill from the stress. My boss is becoming suspicious. I am afraid I will lose my job if this continues.

Upon graduating from school, I owed approximately $28,000. Two years later, I still owe $28,000. I have had my loans in forbearance for about six months, because I am unemployed, but after paying for a year and a half, and still paying interest, my loans have not gone down. Where is the money going? I get statements, sometimes, that tell me I only paid $5.87 that month. I call and get someone who barely speaks English. When I try to explain, they tell me they are transferring me to a different department, and hang up on me. Every time I try to get online, it tells me my password is incorrect, or I need to contact them. I contact them, and I get transferred, and hung up on again. I have emailed them, and asked to have someone call me, who speaks English, and can actually help me.

A foreign person calls at the most inconvenient times, and tells me to call if I'm having problems. I don't know what to do. I have no idea what I owe, or where my payments are actually going. Is there someone I can talk to? I can't get straight answers, and I can't log onto my account. Can someone please help? I am currently part of a class action lawsuit against the school I attended, that Sallie Mae is the leading loan company. I was encouraged to borrow as much as I could from them, and told not to consolidate my loans. If I don't get this straightened out soon, I'm going to be paying until I'm dead.

I was reviewing my entire loan transaction history with SallieMae online. I took out a $12,000 loan in 1993 at 5.5% interest with a 1% origination fee. It's been so long I can't even remember who the original lender was. SallieMae took over the loan a few years later, when the outstanding principal was about $8,000, with interest remaining at about 5%. When I add the total repayments made to SallieMae to date, they are nearly $28,000. $20,000 of which was applied to principal and $8,000 to interest.

I will admit that I do not clearly understand these repayment terms; but they seem egregious to me, to put it mildly. I called SallieMae and requested a fluent English-speaking representative. I spoke with this American citizen and she could not explain the terms to me either. Can someone please explain to me how SallieMae can apply $20,000 principal and $8,000 interest on an $8,000 loan at 5.5% and yet leave me with over $5,000 left to repay?

There has got to be an illegal component to this scenario but I do not have the information to combat SallieMae. It sickens my stomach to think how a company could make billions with this kind of blood-money, and still report financial losses and demand Federal (i.e. taxpayer) bailouts. Someone help. Please. On a larger scale, lenders like this are what contributed to our current economic crisis. Admittedly, some people who took out loans were ignorant and/or greedy. However the predatory lending practices of these financial institutions cannot be excused.

In October 2009, due to personal financial constraints, I phoned my student loan service provider, Sallie Mae, and officially renegotiated student loan repayment terms enabling me to remain in good standing about this financial obligation. A 2-page document I received from Sallie Mae dated 10/7/09 clearly defines the new payment schedule agreed on by both parties, including a lower monthly payment for eight consecutive months, beginning on 1/15/10. Hard copy and/or faxed/scanned copy of revised loan repayment schedule is available upon request. This document states "this schedule replaces all previous schedules for these loan(s), and does not include any past due amounts. All of the terms of your original promissory note(s) still apply".

To be certain, I phoned Sallie Mae on 10/21/09, and again on 1/12/10, to confirm the reduced payment amount due on 1/15/10. Both Sallie Mae customer service representatives, with whom I spoke assured me of the accuracy of the revised loan re-payment schedule, and assured me that the new, lower payment amount would be automatically debited from my personal checking account, as were my previous payments under the previous/original repayments schedule.

With this data from Sallie Mae, I planned and implemented various bill payments in January 2010 from my personal checking account. On 1/22/2010, I received a notice from my bank dated 1/19/2010, that my personal checking account had been overdrawn, and that the line-of-credit feature with my account, including a $10 service fee, had been activated to cover debts claimed on my account. Quick research revealed that the Sallie Mae Student Loan payment amount had been charged to my account in the higher, previous (now defunct) scheduled payment amount.

I immediately phoned Sallie Mae, spoke with customer service manager, Ansley, and absolutely insisted that Sallie Mae correct the error they made in billing for my January 2010 loan payment regarding the newly negotiated repayment schedule on my loan. My claim includes a $10 compensation from Sallie Mae for the line-of-credit service fee my bank charged to me, because of Sallie Mae's billing error. Upon my repeated insistence, Sallie Mae reversed the appropriate portion of overpayment on my loan in January 2010, but is now refusing to compensate me for the $10 bank fee charged to me because of their error.

My formal request for the $10 compensation was made in writing to Sallie Mae on 1/22/2010 as per their customer service manager's instructions. Sallie Mae's written refusal to compensate me for the $10 fee, is stated in hard-copy letter to me dated 2/22/10. "We cannot refund your bank fee of $10.00, because we did not make a servicing error on your account". The 10/7/09 hard-copy document I have from Sallie Mae defining revised payment schedule is undeniable proof that Sallie Mae did, in fact, make a servicing error on my account in January 2010.

My current request for simple, direct, dollar-for-dollar compensation from Sallie Mae for the $10.00 cost, I incurred because of Sallie Mae's loan servicing error is truly a reasonable customer requirement, given these circumstances. I respectfully request assistance in obtaining the indicated $10 compensation for costs I incurred because of Sallie Mae's error. Thank you in advance for your anticipated help. Feel free to contact me should you require further details. If you are unable to assist me directly with this problem, please direct me to whatever agency oversees, and regulates student loan service providers, such as Sallie Mae. Given my experience, I feel an obligation to follow-through to a satisfactory resolution, so that other student loan customers are not subjected to similar circumstances.

They will not process my in-school deferment, even though I and my school have given them the information that they need to do so. Now they're calling me and my mom constantly about me being past due when I really should not be. They have told me before that they had the information that they need, but today they tell me that my school needs to fax yet another enrollment verification. This is frustrating because I've done everything they've asked and they are harassing me when I'm trying to do my school work next to my preemie daughter's isolet in the hospital's NICU. I'm extremely stressed by them and cry constantly because I can't get them to leave me alone. Why can't they be competent and process my deferment?

In 2004, I took out a school loan with Sallie Mae. I was not able to come to an agreement on payment amounts. My income of social sec. had dropped due to the death of my husband. My daughter was making limited income. Sallie Mae turned the account over to a collection agency, in fact, there have been many collection agencies calling us. At present time, I believe it is with this company FMS services.

My daughter has since lost her job due to downsizing and I have been in and out of the hospital many times over the years. My hospital and doctor bills are overwhelming me. The last snow and ice storm we had has caused leaking in my garage fastened to my house, and a storage shed in the back. I do not have the money to repair them. My question to you is, is Sallie Mae still considered the primary lender or can we take bankruptcy on this loan? On my credit report I last received in May 2008 and I thought they had written it was a bad loan and had written it off. I cannot find the report but will keep on looking.

I submitted my payment two days before the due date. I received an email receipt validating and thanking me for my payment immediately thereafter. The next time I logged into my account, it said I am a day late on payment and have a delinquency status as a result, and that the negative ramifications this will have on my credit are imminent.

I'm waiting on the phone for 35 minutes now, hoping someone behind the smoke and mirrors will pick up the phone and remedy this mistake! Throughout my dealings with Sallie Mae, I have contacted them via their email form numerous times, and never once received a reply back! Why then, would they have an email contact option at all, if they don't intend to check and respond to customers they claim to care about, but are truly out to rob and cause stress to? The customer service is terrible, flat out terrible. I wouldn't recommend Sallie Mae as a lender/guarantor to any financially needy student hoping to procure a decent education. Find anyone else!

I took loans out with Sallie Mae to go to college. The school I attended, Katherine Gibbs, was a terrible experience and they did not help me find a job and I am looking hard. I try so hard to explain my situation to Sallie Mae and see if they would work with me on an affordable payment plan but they want me to pay about $300 a month on top of my bills. Other people I know only pay $50 a month. I talked to so many people at Sallie Mae and nobody has the right information about anything. Nobody that works there knows what's going on with anything.

I had to move out-of-state and away from my family and friends to try and go back to school because I can't take out anymore student loans because of Sallie Mae and I still can't find a job and all they do is harass me and my grandfather, who co-signed for me and no matter how many times I try to work with them, they say that they can't lower the payment. So I can't pay them at all and my credit is so bad.

Sallie Mae is pure evil. Their information all sounds so easy and good to young college kids right until you sign the devil's contract. Then the rest of your life is ruined with fees and interest. They absolutely have no care or heart, but just greed. They do not work with you, they only work to suck the life out of you before you even get a chance to find a career. I'm dying to consolidate my loans and they are just uninterested because if I can't afford their massive interest amounts, they get to charge me more fees!

I so wish someone would have explained this better or at least notified me that Sallie Mae is such a terrible company. If anyone finds a way out, please, please let me know. Thank you.

I am having challenges paying on my loans because I have been unemployed for 16 months. SM would only give me a 4-month forbearance and that ended in September. Unfortunately, I had my bank account compromised this month, so I had to close my bank account and open a new one. I haven't received my new checks yet. I have explained this daily to a Sallie Mae rep for the past 2 weeks. All I am ever told is that I will keep getting the phone calls until I can give them my account information and take care of the matter (I am only 36 days overdue). Trust me, if I had the info, I would give it to them just to make them stop calling me.

So, today at 8:11 am, I got a call on my cell phone. I kindly explained to the girl that I am waiting for the bank to open at 10 and I will try to get resolution today. She reminded me I can go online and make the payment and even postdate a payment, but she will document the call. I also removed about 4 phone numbers that were over 4 years old, which I have done monthly with Sally Mae.

At 8:45 this a.m., I got a call from Sallie Mae on my home phone. I was probably a little more short-tempered because they have to ask all the questions and verify that they are only speaking to the account holder. I told the girl that I had already talked to someone today and I would appreciate them only calling me daily. She apologized and said that there must have been an error in their system and that I should receive no more calls.

At 9:15 am, they called me on my cell again. I kept asking to speak to an account supervisor and the girl wouldn't connect me to one until I went over everything with her first. She was so rude and didn't even apologize for the disruption of my day. I only wanted an apology because what they are doing is harassment. She kept calling me "ma'am", which is so condescending and rude when I asked her not to do that. I finally just said, "I don't want to talk to another inept agent. Please connect me to your supervisor." She put me on hold for 9 minutes, got back on the phone, and said I would have to speak with her only. And when I started to speak, she hung up on me.

After that, I was ticked off. In 1 hour, I received 3 calls and they admitted that I shouldn't have received the calls because of problems in their system. My mom calls me because they called her to say that I was unreachable and possibly avoiding speaking with them and she is freaking out. That was done out of retaliation! I only owe them $156 and they are calling my family members?

So, I called the customer service number. I went through the verification questions and asked to speak to a supervisor. I got Cory on the phone, who is a senior collection agent. His supervisor is Chad. Guess what, they don't have to give out their last names! I wish I had a job where I could be rude and obnoxious all day and never be accountable for that! The first thing out of his mouth was that if I paid my bill on time, I wouldn't have to speak to them. Thank you moron for stating the obvious! Then, he told me that they can call me constantly during the day to do their "due diligence" until the bill is paid. It is harassment! He refused to even acknowledge or apologize that there was a problem because "I am the cause of all my own problems". That was his brilliant customer service! Well Cory, I hope you love your job because you do it well. You are rude and misrepresent everything what customer service is meant to be.

I don't know what my rights are as a citizen, but I know that they violated some of my rights today. It is hard enough when you are unemployed to not be able to meet your debts on a quarter of your income. I have spoken to all my creditors who have been pretty amicable towards me, but SM is being ridiculous. I can and want to pay the bill - I just don't have an account that I can access the monies out of right now. I don't deny or argue that the bill is 6 days over the 30 past due. But you have to give me a chance to fix it before you get that rude and retaliatory. I just feel that it is ridiculous what they are doing and something needs to change.

I am writing today because I am a student, unemployed and a disabled person with student loans taken out to pay my living expenses. After paying my bills for two months, I have just under $300 to myself for other living expenses for several months.

My concern is specific to a conversation I have had with my financial aid representative at Argosy University in Chicago, IL. As an older student, I entered an MA program knowing I would have to get loans to pay bills and I have encumbered myself with future debt in order to achieve employability status. The problem that I have run into is that there are several procedures involved in disbursing student loan money which creates undue hardship for loan applicants, I in particular.

What I learned in the conversation with my fin. aid rep recently was that when I apply for a loan from Sallie Mae (smart Option), Sallie Mae approves it, sends notice to the university, the university processes paperwork (certification+) and notifies Sallie Mae that my file is good to go, and Sallie Mae sends money to the university which has the option to pay out the money over the period of enrollment for that semester. The university "disburses" the money, but the Bank of Sallie Mae sends the check to the loan recipient.

Because of this convoluted and drawn out process of disbursing loans, I personally experienced the most aggravating and destitute time of my life this January. I applied for my loan early Dec. and was approved Dec 4, 2009. After several conversations with my fin aid rep at that time, I realized that he was dragging his feet and making mistakes in handling my loan papers. I had to go over his head to discuss the handling of my loan because I had budgeted with the expectation that my loan would arrive the first week of classes, as stated by the university. I did not receive my loan disbursement (1/2 of the approved loan) until the last Friday of January. Then I had to wait for my bank to clear the check.

The outcome of this experience is that I need you to know that as a disabled American with the usual bills (rent, car loan, auto insurance, phone, and food with no health insurance); I am very concerned that students are subjected to incredibly inefficient management of loans.

My question to you is can this process be streamlined? Why can't I apply for a loan (over and above my tuition costs), have the school certify my enrollment and then have the bank send my money directly to me. Why do I have to live with incredible uncertainty and hardship?

The request I would like to make is that considering the high numbers of newly enrolled students across the country this past year, the inability of university financial aid staff to efficiently handle increased volumes of applicants and our need as a country to help stimulate the economy that rules for handling student loan disbursement be revamped to address this complicated paradigm. There is no good reason that I should have to wait for several companies to handle my loan as I wonder if I'll have enough food before my next check arrives, or if I can pay for the gas to get me to my volunteer job.

The current system of disbursement has too many negative impacts on students. Please consider my request in earnest.

Monday, February 08, 2010, my employer's payroll coordinator entered my office to inform me that she received an order of withholding from earnings form for me from TG Collections. I immediately called them, thinking it must be a mistake. I was told the garnishment is for two defaulted student loans (from 2006) with Sallie Mae. I believed there has to be a mistake because I was under the impression that all of my loans were through ACS and Wachovia (formerly Educaid) and I had been making regular payments to them upon receiving my first invoices.

I also questioned why I had never received any invoices for the Sallie Mae loans. They asked me to verify my contact information and I discovered they had a mailing address that I had not used since early 2001, which made no sense at all, since I had lived at my current address since early 2003 and had not even begun school until the summer of 2003. Further, I had lived at another address from early 2001 to early 2003. The TG representative instructed me to contact Sallie Mae directly. I called Sallie Mae and was told that they did not see any loans for me in default and that they had been paid in full, so I called TG again.

This time I was told that the account (with Sallie Mae) shows paid in full because TG already compensated Sallie Mae for the defaulted loans. The TG representative suggested I visit the National Student Loan Data System to be certain the loans in question are mine. I logged onto the website that evening and deduced that, yes, the loans must be mine. I then realized there must be some impact on my credit report so I signed up with freecreditreport.com and discovered that my credit was wrecked because of the defaulted loans.

Devastated, I decided it would be in my best interest to begin paying the debt immediately and then focus on clearing up my credit report with Sallie Mae. I followed up with TG the following day telling them that I am not contesting the debt and I would like to arrange a payment schedule. They told me that since the account was in garnishment, arranging repayment was no longer an option for me. I began to question them as to why they had not contacted me at my current residence before placing my account in garnishment but they claim the only contact information they had for me was the address and phone number received from Sallie Mae. I asked them that if they could contact my employer for garnishment, why then had they not contacted me prior to placing my account in garnishment, when repayment would have been an option? I was told they did everything required under the law and that it was my problem not theirs if they received incorrect contact information.

The representative suggested I fill out a "hardship" form if I did not desire to have my wages garnished and mailed on to me, which I received a week later. The form, however, clearly states that, "If you wish to enter into a repayment agreement in order to prevent wage withholding, do not use this form. Instead, contact the TG Collections Department at...." So, I called TG yet again, to tell them that, yes, I wish to enter into a repayment agreement. I was told that this is a standardized form and, again, repayment is not an option.

All of this is very strange to me. Sallie Mae never sending an invoice for the loans. Sallie Mae giving old contact information to TG. TG successfully tracking down my place of employment, but not being able to contact me at my current residence, which I have lived at since before starting school or receiving the loans. TG refusing to allow me to enter into a repayment agreement even though I have attempted to cooperate.

I feel somehow that I have been railroaded. I shared as much with the last TG representative with whom I spoke. I told them I would be writing to Consumer Affairs and contacting an attorney. The TG representative tried very hard to talk me out of contacting an attorney, suggesting that I have no alternative other than having my wages garnished or (possibly) working something out if the hearing finds in my favor. The garnishment will begin this Friday, February 26, 2010. I wish I knew if there was some sort of injunction I could file to stay the garnishment until after the hearing (in the hope that they do find in my favor). Further, I sincerely hope that some sort of class action suit is filed against Sallie Mae because I would like to have my credit restored.

Like anyone, I had to get a student loan to go to school. I signed up with Sallie Mae for the whole tuition loan by myself. After I graduated, I found out I was signed up for 8 loans in my name. Never once getting a notice or phone call or email about this process happening. When I called, they said I owed 63,000 for a school that cost 35,000 and that I signed a piece of paper saying Sallie Mae could take money out in my name when needed! Never have I seen this paper or remember signing it and no one at Sallie Mae seems to be able to track this paper down.

They have honestly ruined my life. I have had to seek medical help because of the endless phone calls, papers and people threatening me about my loans. I was put on medication because of all of this. Now they said, I didn't pay my loan for November and December, however, I got a call from a man named Dwight about being put into a program that would help lower my loans. However that never happened so I got a call from collections wanting me to pay a good faith payment of $20,000 or they would take me to court. I kept telling the man that I don't have that kind of money. He asked me to ask someone if I could borrow that amount, yeah right! So after that threat happened we settled on paying 381.30 a month to be taken out electronically on the 19th of February, however that didn't happen either.

I'm starting to think that this will never end and that Sallie Mae just wants to string the students who loaned money from them along till the students are dead and their loved ones have to start getting harassed. I'm tired of threats and harassment. I thought there were laws to prevent this. For people like me who can't find a way out without thinking of horrible ways to end things. I want to know what is going to be done to prevent this kind of treatment of people in the future. This is starting to get ridiculous. My mental health has been hit so hard I had to be treated and medicated. I live paycheck to paycheck and after my payments I have $90 to live on for two weeks which is not enough left to pay bills to everyone else like doctors and phone bills.

I graduated from law school in 2007 but was unable to find work. I subsequently took several deferments and informed that deferments were no longer available forcing me to pay for forbearance payments, which cost a total of $150 every three months for a year. As a result of their harassing behavior, they have inflicted severe stress and trauma on my family and me because they have failed to desist from harassing individuals who are attempting to comply with their demands.

I subsequently went back to finish my final degree and while there, Sallie Mae continued to call me even after filing in-school deferments. After the completion of my classes, Sallie Mae sent me a bill that my bill was due on January 18, 2010, a national holiday. I called them the following day and processed an over-the-phone deferment of which they gave me a confirmation as proof that the transaction had been approved. Further, my credit card company processed the forbearance payment same day for $150 as shown on my credit card statement.

I asked that they send me a copy of the forms and I was informed that it would take 30 days to send forbearance forms because I did not provide them an email address, which I thought was ludicrous. Shortly after receiving the forms, I was contacted by Sallie Mae stating that they did not receive the forms. After that conversation ended, I faxed the forms twice to the (570) number provided by the sales associate, with minor modifications: the forbearance forms sent by Sallie Mae requested an additional $97.49 payment, which I modified to $0.00. Yet, that did not stop them from contacting me at various hours during the day.

Again, I contacted a Sallie Mae sales associate and she informed me that it would take 5-10 business days before the transaction would be processed and she informed me that I should ignore the letters and calls until the completion of this period. This time period is almost over, yet Sallie Mae continues to contact me. I sent them a cease letter informing them of the harassing behavior, as well as, proof of the processing of the payment by credit card company, yet they have continued to contact me.

However, I believe they will continue their harassing behavior including continuing to mail demand letters to my mother as a co-signor on one of my loans, although I have complied with all of their requests except one, they are continuing to demand that I send the very forms faxed to them twice to a different number instead of the number that I have always faxed documents to. I find their behavior reprehensible because they continue to harass me and my family, although I have been the initiator of most of the contact and have complied with mostly all of their requests.

Avoid at all costs--thieves, dishonest, disreputable, less than truthful--are the best things I can say about them. Sallie Mae is worse than a loan shark. They are predators that prey on innocent students and the students desire to get a college education.

Problems we have had are too numerous to expand on. One of the hidden charges is a $ 225.00 fee for disbursements of funds. In other words for mailing a check to your school, they are charging you not only the interest on the money, and also $225.00 for the envelope and the stamp. Stop before you sign on the dotted line. Go to your local bank or check out other options but stay far, far, far away from Sallie Mae.

Sallie Mae is sitting on my tax refund! On December 13th, I have been told by Sallie Mae, a batch of previous borrowers were incorrectly added to the treasury off-set program, resulting in God knows how many peoples' refunds being taken away from them mistakenly. Since the amount is used for security questions and such, I can only say it was well over $2000. I have been calling everyday since January 29th for my expected refund deposit date, and everyday someone tells me another day that the check will be in the mail. They refuse to refund my money and I am losing my car, my transportation to school and to work.

I am a landscaper and I depend on my tax refund as income during the slow winter months. When I am called back to work in a couple of weeks, I will have to decline as I will not have transportation. As of 2/18/2010, they are telling me that they will mail me my money next Wednesday. That is too late to receive funds to make my last car payment, and I will lose my car as a result. I've had it up to here with this non-sense and I hope my comment reaches someone. I hope someone has had the same experience, and I hoe to God if there is some sort of legal action I can take for their 'computer error'. I suspect the broke Sallie Mae is earning interest and investing our cash in short-selling stocks in order to make a quick buck, but who knows? Who cares? I want my money yesterday!

I had a payment due on 2/12/10, which I paid on 2/12/10 in the amount of $134.91. On Monday, February 15, 2010 I was contacted by a Sallie Mae representative notifying me that I was delinquent by 34 days. When I asked the representative if my payment had posted, she indicated it wasn't posted to the account; rather it was pending. The representative then indicated that my payment was one cent short and was placed on the automatic dialer due to this one cent delinquency. I said "you're calling me a delinquent over one cent?" The payment amounts are given to you via a checkbox. You indicate the loan you wish to pay then type in the amount and submit for conformation.

It's been three days and I'm still receiving harassing phone calls from Sallie Mae. The first few calls I handled with care, clearly explaining their mistake. By the 5th call I'd had enough and asked to speak with a manager. I was told I could not speak with a manager until I paid my delinquent bill. I said, "You want me to pay you a penny? It'll cost you more just to process the transaction than for me to pay a penny in which I do not owe." The representative would not accept my answer even though I had talked to two other people the day before, and unless I paid the penny I would continue receiving phone calls. I paid the amount posted, not a penny more and not a penny less and have the documentation to prove it. Can they legally continue harassing me over a penny?

I have been trying to make payment arrangements and to get them to stop calling my work cell phone 7 to 12 per day every day before I lose my job and all I get is rudeness, lies, and threats from them if I do not pay. No two representatives tell me the same thing. When I pay the amount one tells me then another calls the very day they cash my check and tells me I owe them a different amount. I only make between $11,000 to $15,000 gross per year yet my payments are around $350 per month and climbing. I have been trying to get them to lower them to a more affordable amount by sending in letters as instructed, paying amounts as instructed, resorting to begging and pleading telling them they are putting my job at risk. All I get in return is lies and threats.

One agent told me that they would call my work cell as much as they like and didn't care if it cost me my job. He said if I wanted to keep my job, then I better pay my loans. I have remained current on my loans all this time until recently. I was losing my home because my loan payments are too high and I explained this to them and asked about lowering the payments. I have done everything they have told me to do and still they call every day demanding more. Now I have even split my loans up so that when I paid them the last $350 as instructed to bring me current. They continue with the harassing calls because they now say I have not paid on the private loans.

I have made a single payment on my loans every month and this has never been the case until now when I am trying to work out some kind of lower payment plan. I finally did lose my home because I could not continue to pay these high payments on the loans and my rent. I have lived in my vehicle and with family and friends just trying to come up with the money to get these people off my back. I am now homeless and they do not care. Now they are threatening me with continued harassment using my work cell phone that can cost me my job.

I can't use my cell while I am driving for work. Worse yet the cell phone records every call coming in. I've asked them repeatedly to stop calling that number but they refuse. They tell me to just pay my loans and then they will stop. I was never able to find work in the field I got my degree in. My income never went up because of that.

I am still earning at poverty level, only now I am dealing with the nightmare of Sallie Mae harassing me several times on a daily basis. When I ask to talk to a supervisor I am told it will take at least 20 minutes or more to get one on the line. The agents also call my cell number and then when voice mail picks up just lets music play until the message gets timed out. They are harassing me not trying to work with me. I have not and am not trying to get out of paying my loans. I am only asking for some help in arranging affordable payments.

If I lose my job, I will not only not be able to get a new home to live in but I will not be able to pay my student loans back or any other obligations I have to anyone else. What kind of sense does this make? I'm tired of it all. I'm frustrated by it all. I just want some straight answers and I want the harassment to stop. Please someone help me with this. I am drowning in this debt and harassment with no way out and Sallie Mae sure isn't willing to work with me. I don't know what else to do, please help.

I can no longer afford to pay rent or get a home. The stress of dealing with all this is making me ill. My income is too low to handle the demands they are putting on me. I can't afford to live on my own or pay my bills because they will not work out an affordable payment plan and if the harassment keeps up, not only is the cell phone bill going thru the roof because of all the minutes they keep using but it can and will cost me my job if they do not stop calling my work cell phone.

Unfortunately, most of my student loans were serviced through Sallie Mae. As a student I was directed to use them by the college I attended. It was not until later that I discovered colleges are not to limit potential borrowers to specific lenders. Sallie Mae uses very abusive tactics: they call at almost anytime, numerous times, even on Sundays. In addition the Sallie Mae staff is verbally abusive. They attack borrowers, demean them and make allegations.

I personally was told to get a third job, try harder getting a job, go back to school, should've picked a better major, I still live at home and should be able to pay, my parents should help me pay (I grew up with a single Mom who is unemployed and unable to help). This is only a small sampling of the verbal attacks on me. They withhold information and give false information. Twice I was told I did not qualify for forbearance when in fact I did. The longer they postpone any type of payment the more interest that builds up, so this in the end makes Sallie Mae more money.

The information online differs from what they send in the mail. They claim they don't receive faxes (I have kept all fax information saying it was received). Constantly I have been lied to about payment options, interest and borrower options. Graduating into one of the worst economic situations that our nation has ever faced has been extremely difficult. Dealing with Sallie Mae has made things even worse. I now am anxious and will be examined to be put on anxiety meds. Sallie Mae has made me anxious worrying about payments, their constant calls, and my credit. In addition I have spent hours with them on the phone causing my cell phone bill to be high (I do not have the money for a land line and a cell phone is cheaper). My credit is now going to be damaged, when I could be on forbearance and have avoided this entire situation, but they withheld information from me.

My son went to Keiser University, we thought he took 2 loans, one for $5,600.00 and one for $2,900.00. The $5,600.00 is a private loan from Sallie Mae, which my father-in law co-signed and agreed to help Nick pay the monthly payments with. He has been paying for 3 years and the payoff is $5,300.00. When I looked at his loan summary the total of loans was $13.000.00. He only went to school one year, and we just got a bill from Keiser for $6,939.00 which is in collections. We were told the total cost of school was approximately $7,000.00.

With all this confusion we have requested a forbearance, and when I call they hang up on me. They tell me they cannot do this until we pay this month's payment and we requested this last month. They call every hour for 8 hours every day, and they told us they can legally do that. They sent letters to relatives saying they can't locate Nick, but they spoke to him on the phone. Nick has moved home to help out with the bills. We are doing the best we can, I have asked for an audit of the account, they keep telling me they will mail it. I am beyond trying to talk to these people, is this something that needs an attorney who can help us? They told us the loan was for 10 years, how can that be. Nick has moved and I cannot find his paperwork from the school.

I was 17 years old when I enrolled at ITT Tech. My mother was Spanish speaking and both she and I did not understand the whole contract. Regardless, I was not able to pay anything to Sallie Mae because I had not started working and I was paying my cost of just renting and surviving after I turned 18. I am 23 years old and have been working part time for the last five years and cannot seem to gain full time employment. When I did my taxes 2009 for 2008, I received a large amount and paid Sallie Mae in full. My interest at that time was about 2,000. In the last year since its been paid off, I received another letter stating my interest was over $7,000.

At this point, bad credit is not an issue. What is an issue is these crooks are still raising my interest and all money have been paid. I am still struggling behind economy and frustrated that the government allows these people to set up someone as myself. I want 0 balance on this account. I will make sure this email goes to other students or future students to not be set up.

I applied for 90 day forbearance in November 2009. Sallie Mae sent the form to me; I filled it out, faxed it back, and called to verify if Sallie Mae had received it. Sallie Mae verified they received the forbearance request and I would hear something soon. I did not.

Sallie Mae collection calls began in December of 2009. The automated number would call my cell phone at least 15 times a day, sometimes more. I contacted Sallie Mae again and asked why I was receiving collection calls when I had applied for forbearance. They verified the forbearance form was in my loan folder but a decision had not been made yet then asked if I would make a payment. I responded that I could not, that's why I had applied for forbearance. I asked if my number could be taken off the automated collection system until Sallie Mae had reviewed my forbearance request and Sallie Mae said they could not do that until a payment was made.

For the next 60 days, I received calls from Sallie Mae's automated collection number. I spoke with dozens of representatives who told me the forbearance request form was in the folder and promised someone would call me back. Then they would tell me I was delinquent and ask for immediate payment. At 75 days, I spoke with another Sallie Mae representative calling to collect.

She informed me that I was 75 days delinquent and had been reported to the credit bureau. She stated that I needed to bring my account up to date immediately. I asked again about the forbearance request and received four different responses from her: 1. It had been denied. 2. It was not in my file. 3. The wrong person filled out the form. 4. Sallie Mae had no record of receiving a forbearance form for my account.

After 50 minutes on the phone with Sallie Mae, I was told they could not find my forbearance request and at this point, they could open an investigation or I could make payments and they would waive the late fees. Those were my options. However, if I chose to open an investigation, I was told, the late fees would not be waived.

Exhausted from dealing with Sallie Mae and their constant predatory practices (i.e., calling every 15 minutes of every day for 75 days, denying receipt of the forbearance request, acknowledging receipt of the forbearance request but stating that some other department would have to call me back, the other department never calling me back, and Sallie Mae suggesting that my account was already reported to the collection agency even though I had followed Sallie Mae's procedure for forbearance request to the letter) I was forced to set up payment arrangements.

The manager explained my options. Considering Sallie Mae's dishonest practices thus far, I asked him to email those options to me in writing. He said he would. After entering into a repayment agreement with Sallie Mae, I was told that the manager "was not allowed and could not personally email borrowers and the only thing I would receive from Sallie Mae would come from "a receptionist" and would be "the form for forbearance".

Essentially, Sallie Mae explained, I had entered into a "retro" forbearance but the manager could not email me the arrangements he had made with me and had promised to email me in writing. Now, I am terrified that I just entered into a repayment with Sallie Mae but they will not keep the repayment agreement they promised to me over the phone.

I have other student loans with Wachovia, CFI, and Citibank. At one time or another, I have entered into forbearance with them without any problems. Sallie Mae is a company that is not to be trusted. Sallie Mae is a company that lies to its borrowers. Sallie Mae is a company that practices predatory methods against their borrowers. If you have a choice of student loan companies, don't borrow from Sallie Mae.

When I first applied to college, during the Clinton Era, I decided to take advantage of some student loans in order to get myself through college. After applying for student aid, I was offered some loans and applied through Key Bank, which was my primary bank for many years at the time. I was led to believe that I didn't have to pay them back until after I got out of college. The told me to sign here and there and I was given money for college, books, and some living expenses.

I was under the impression that the loans would be with Key Bank, but eventually, they ended up in the hands of Sallie Mae, without my permission or without my knowledge. Of course, no one tells you that your loans would be sold off to someone else. During my college experience, I was working full time and going to college full time. I assumed that I would get out and get a good paying job. No one ever tells you that 8.125% is a really high interest rate or that you will have really high payments once you are done.

The financial aid office almost pushed me into the loans with minimal counsel, and never explained how costly it will be when I was finished and all of the loans (which are all individual loans, like 2 or 3 per year for 4 years) will add up to a lot of money. By the time I was done with college, I had like 10 separate loans and had to keep track of each of them.

So I finish my final year and it's time to pay back my loans. I have 10 loans for 10 years adding up to $40,000 with payments adding up to $500-$600 per month. Then, after finishing my education, having a job that pays $7 an hour cooking, I find myself in a situation that I could not reconcile. I soon realized, I can't afford my payments so I asked for a forbearance. Twelve months go by, I get a better job and payments resume.

I soon realize that I still can't afford to pay this loan back so I call Sallie Mae for help with my problem. So what solution do they offer me? They tell me that they can lower my monthly payments and by consolidating all of my loans into one loan with a Flex loan consolidation. They make it seem so simple and it seems to take a burden off my chest. Soon, I am making a payment half of what I was paying before, except I just added 15 years to my term.

Ten years later (when I should have originally been paid off), I find that I am running into problems making payments again because I was injured and out of work for a while. I asked for a hardship deferment, but the rep from India will not have any of it. He could not care less for my circumstances and tell me that I am not eligible and tells me that I need to make my payments.

Three months later, I am behind in my payments and I get a call from the collection arm of Sallie Mae. This time, I speak to an American who offers me forbearance for a few months since I have 45 months' worth. I accept. She tells me that I can either pay the interest or let it carry over. I ask what the payments will be to pay the interest and they tell me that they don't know--but should go online the next day and it will tell me.

I check online and find that my payments are about half of what my normal payments would be. I then find that my principal balance is $41,000. What? I have been paying this loan for ten years and the principal has actually gone up, not down. I then tried to call other loan companies to try and refinance, but they told me that they cannot help me because I have already consolidated and that Sallie Mae will never sell a loan that has been consolidated because they have a special agreement with the federal government that allows them to not allow the customer to refinance when the rates have dropped. The rates were just over 3%. I was floored and it was the last straw.

Sallie Mae has taken complete advantage of me and my financial situations. I feel that they are nothing short of loan sharks and the financial aid offices of both colleges I attended are not preparing students for the actual burdens of repayment. It sort of reminds me of buying a car and then being rushed into buying a whole bunch of options and upgrades that you can't afford. At least with buying a car, you know what your payments will be and for how long.

On January 19, 2010, I paid two student loans in full with a consolidation loan from Wells Fargo. The total was $74,627.46. I had an overpayment of $1,315.46 which I have been trying to track down by calling Sallie Mae. I have spent endless hours on the phone with representatives from the Philippines, India and the US and no one can tell me where this money is.

I have been told it was sent to the student by check, then I was told it was wired to the bank, then I was told it was sent to me. Now, I am being told that it was sent to the bank via check and they are not able to provide me with a check number so that Wells Fargo can track it. Sallie Mae is not providing adequate customer service and their international offices don't have a clue what it means to provide customer service. I have spent numerous hours on the phone trying to get answers which have not been answered. I am stressed every time I get off the phone with them because I can understand how it is possible for them not to have access to this information.

I'm only a couple of months into repaying the loans I borrowed from Sallie Mae, and already I'm experiencing difficulties. I pay online with my checking account. In January, I paid my bill online and received confirmation via SallieMae.com and via email that the payment went through. I checked my bank account and saw that the money for the bill hadn't been withdrawn, so I sent it again online since it was already two days delinquent. This time, SallieMae.com specifically said I had no outstanding balance and my next payment date was in February.

Three weeks later, a Sallie Mae representative called me to tell me I was three weeks delinquent on my January bill. I explained to this man that I did submit payment more than once and did not know it failed to go through the second time since their website said I paid it. Somehow, neither payment got processed. The man I spoke to allowed me to pay for my bill via phone and removed the late fees, and also informed me what my February bill would cost.

I just paid my bill for this month on time and it was about $100 higher than what I was told it'd be. Another lie on their part, aside from the website. I do not appreciate being lied to about my bills, especially since my mother is my cosigner and I don't want collection agencies breathing down her neck because Sallie Mae is incompetent. If Sallie Mae can't be bothered to get their payment methods to work, I assume that means they must not want to be repaid too badly. Trust me, I would have no complaints about not needing to repay $74000+ in loans. It's too bad more people don't seek legal action against Sallie Mae for their very frequent mistakes. I have a feeling they'd learn to do things properly right quick if they had a bunch of angry former students suing them left and right.

My advice? Don't use Sallie Mae if you're looking into higher education. They charge unimaginable interest rates that end up doubling the initial loan amount (my original total from several loans was about $32,000. What I need to repay is $74,000). I'm having a hard time finding not only work in my field, but work in general. Sallie Mae's inability to make their online payment methods work puts me at risk for late fees and whatever caused my monthly payment to go up. This is going to make my savings dry up a lot faster.

Back in 2001, I was given a private student loan for a 1 year program at Orlando Culinary Academy. I was told by the financial help rep that my payments would not exceed $240/month. After graduation, I received a repayment plan from Sallie Mae and they were asking for over $500/month, as I couldn't pay that amount Sallie Mae advised me (poorly) to apply for a forbearance which I did. Once the forbearance period was over Sallie Mae sent me a repayment plan, which was over $900/month.

I called Sallie Mae, was put on hold for over 3 hours, juggled from rep to rep, and then finally a rude, careless person told me that she didn't care if I could pay or not and then hung up the phone. I had to have my wife co-sign, Sallie Mae destroyed both our credit which we worked hard to keep good. Finally, Sallie Mae put me in a repayment program with a 8.75% interest. The loan amount is $35000 and by the end of the 30 year repayment plan, I will have paid $245000. In the 5 years, I have paid these legit crooks about $30000, and only $900 went toward the principle. I wish that these thieves would at least reduce their interest rates and offer a fixed rate to students with private loans.

Sallie Mae ruined our credit. My wife and I were unable to purchase a car or a house which requires a good credit score. We are emotionally drained from this experience and disappointed that such a big corporation (Sallie Mae) is allowed to take advantage of misinformed students, knowing that they have no other option. I strongly believe that the image that Sallie Mae represents is negatively impacting prospective students' desire to acquire a higher education.

Before interest and ridiculous fees that were tacked on, I owe about $99,000. I have been out of school since 2006 and was granted the 6 months grace period. Because the job market for prospective college graduates was sub-par, I ended up working retail at minimum wage. Because I could not afford the then $1600/month payment (that is a mortgage on a nice house), I put my loans into forbearance, which over a few months cost $150 each time. Eventually, I exhausted the amount of times I could put my loans in forbearance.

By 2007, they were telling me there was nothing they could do to reduce my monthly payment. They always find some sort of way to allow me to pay the $150 payment, which now only lasts 1-3 months, sometimes only a month, and it doesn't even cover all your loan amounts! They harass my 92 year old great uncle who is my co-signer who has a weak heart. My mom is now trying to see if she can make arrangements to have them contact her for my great-uncle's loan so they stop harassing him with worry. They keep saying the best they can do is lower my monthly private loan payment to $700 (my mother would handle 100 of this for my great-uncle's loan). Over the past year, I have been making payments on the federal loans (138 a month), which is still difficult for me.

Which brings me to my next point: I have to pay for insulin and supplies too so I can survive and pay copays to go to the doctor, I am doing the best I can. I was in a car accident 3 years ago in a used car that I bought so it's not even like its a BMW or Mercedes and can't afford the get it fixed because I am paying my bills I need to survive.

On top of that, I went on medication for anxiety because I started having panic attacks and crying every night because Sallie Mae would harass me nightly (another cost that could go toward my loans)... the icing on the cake was a supervisor harassing me about making a car payment when I owe them money! How about I stop making the payment of my car so they take it away and I can't get to work? Then how will they get paid, with peanuts? Or maybe they will just take my unemployment if the case need be because they only care about feeding their families.

Last night while in a not so depressed mood, I called to talk to someone, it was a female, and she also harassed me about making a car payment and that she knows my dynamic and that I am talking rude to her, even though she was speaking condescendingly to me (a form of rudeness). She then proceeded to say how dare I speak to her in such a way and that I needed to pay what I was responsible for because she needed to get paid. Wow. Do you know how I ended the conversation? "I read somewhere that the only thing to forgive student loan debt is death. Well perhaps you guys will start thinking about that." I mean think about it, people who are depressed and suicidal because of what Sallie Mae does to these people? Then maybe something will be done about it.

My son obtained a student loan from Sallie Mae years ago. He never did finish school due to the September 11 incident that happened. He had joined the military prior and was asked to leave school to attend boot camp. After boot camp, he then went off to combat training. After he left school, the loan became payable at that time.

My son gave me rights to obtain any information about the loan, so that I could take care of it while he was away. I was told to put the loan in deferment, and the cost for that would be $50.00. So I did so. To make a long story short, through the hardship of my son's circumstances, I began to help out with payments and dealing with Sallie Mae directly.

My most recent experience with them was that they would take payments out of my checking account automatically, and it would eventually bring us current which should have been this past Friday. I received a phone call from my father-in-law who was a cosigner on the loan. Through the events of him receiving 10 phone calls a day to only get a recorder asking them to hold which time after time left him holding only to reach no one on the other end. Not to mention the threatening letters that he has received through the mail. This results in him calling me to let me know that the harassment has started up again and that if I could please take care of it.

I then phoned Sallie Mae, and they told me it is a generated letter that is sent out automatically and will stop once the account is current but not to worry about them since arrangements have been made. I would then call back my father-in-law who at that point was extremely worried due to the fact that he is on a low fixed income and is attending to my sickly mother-in-law.

After my last conversation with my father-in-law, I was told that the phone calls have started up again and a payment was just taken out of my account 5 days prior which should have been the final payment to bring the account current. I phoned Sallie Mae immediately and spoke to a representative who told me that I was not authorized to receive any information regarding the loan. I asked for a manager and told him how this could be, for I have been dealing with them monthly now for all most a year. He said he would not give me any info, but if I would like to make a payment, he would be happy to take it.

I insisted to speak to a manager. The manager who came to the phone was named Joe. We went back and forth for sometime. He then told me that all he could tell me was that what I was telling him was incorrect information and it was not true that the account was no longer delinquent and that the other reps who worked with me should not have given me any information and it was illegal to do so. I was frustrated and confused.

I have note after note of those I spoke to, and now, I was being told this. He then told me that if we could get my son on the phone to give authorization, he then could give me the information I needed. We phoned my son, and he gave permission. But he hung up the phone with my son, and the representative advised me the information that I received was incorrect from the other reps and that the loan was in default.

If I wanted to write him a $422.00 check, he would gladly take payment. He also mentioned that my son needed to send a fax giving me permission to receive further information about the account. I think we have had to send at least three faxes regarding the same issue through the years. Not to mention the lies, the harassment, and the complete confusion regarding this loan. If there is anyone who could help with the matter, I would be forever grateful. I did send an e-mail off to my state representative regarding this issue.

My son went to UTI and we were told that the only way we could make payments to the school for his tuition was through using Sallie Mae. When the first payment was due for 1/3 of the tuition, I wrote the check out to UTI, but it was returned and told we had to go through Sallie Mae. That is where the nightmare began! That was in 2001.

We continued making payments through out, but in May of 06, I kept getting these large amounts that they said we still owed. I was trying to talk to the Sallie Mae office and asked them to please explain these amounts they were claiming that we still owed, because after all the payments that we made, I felt something was just not right with their figures. They were so rude and nasty and would not communicate or listen to anything I was trying to explain to them. At that time I was going through a very difficult time with another matter in my life and I could not deal with it. So they told me that I would have to consolidate the loan amounts that they were claiming I still owed and that way I could put it into forbearance. So that is what I did.

Finally in Sept. of 08, I contacted them again and this time I asked the Sallie Mae employee to please send me a complete payment history on our account because I felt something was just not right. So they did. After looking at it, I noticed that several of the large payments were not on there, so I contacted them explaining to them what I thought the problem was and could they please fix it. So the man that I was talking to told me at that time, that when I provided them proof of the canceled checks that I told him about, that it would clear up my account and it would be paid off and a zero balance. I asked him if he would send me documentation showing the paid off balance which he did and I got a document from them on Oct. 6, 08 showing exactly the zero balance as he said would be done.

It is now Feb.2010, and they have now turned this into my credit score as a delinquent payment. It has ruined my credit score which has stopped me from getting a business loan. I have tried to call them and straighten it all out, but, I have gotten one person after another that lies, and tells a different story from one day to the next. It has ruined my life, ruined my business chances to get a loan so I can not further grow my business to earn a living, and caused me so much anxiety and stress that it gives me headaches constantly. I do not know what else I am supposed to do.

Today, I tried calling them on and off all day to speak to the one supervisor that I faxed over my information to showing the documents that prove my balances were cleared, and ask again if they would please remove this off my credit score after they reviewed it from last week, so I can apply for a business loan, but I was told she is out of the office until next week. So I talked to another person and told them that I do not have time to wait for them to hold me up.

It is a nightmare. It is not fair what they have been allowed to do to my credit score. It is clearly stated on the document their office sent me that my current account balance is zero. I did leave a message with the president of the company that is now in charge of this mess involving this Sallie Mae loan for my son. It is not fair what they have done, and it never should have been allowed to be put on my credit score as a delinquent account. This is not an ethically run or honest company to work with.

What this has caused me by them putting this on my credit report as a delinquent account has stopped me from getting a business loan so I can take care of my business needs now. It is going to be a tremendous loss of money because I will not be able to have the products, brochures, and money to attend a trade show to meet with all the buyers in promoting my products. It will be a huge loss.

Every day that goes by is money lost with potential buyers. It has caused me so much anxiety and stress it gives me headaches and stomach aches because of it. I worked so hard to build my business, and all I needed was a business loan, but this has prevented me from obtaining one. When I went to apply for my loan in Sept of 09, they told me it was because of this Sallie Mae account problem. Now, Sallie Mae told me that it did not go on my record until Dec of 09. That was one story from one lady, and today the story changed that it went on there in Nov. of 09. It makes you have nothing but headaches and stress. It has also caused anxiety with my personal relationships with my family because of the lies that have been told by Sallie Mae, it caused my son to be upset when I have had to ask him questions for correct information. It has all been very upsetting to go through.

About six months ago, I started receiving frequent daily phone calls on my cell from two different numbers that I was unfamiliar with. I did not answer the calls. After about two weeks I got fed up and picked up the phone, and was met with an automated voice message. I hung up. The next time they called, I picked up and asked who was calling, and the call was dropped. I used an online search to find out who was calling me and found hundreds of complaints on the same number tree from a business called Sallie Mae. I have never heard of or used this company, and I don't know of anyone personally who has, therefore they have no reason to contact me. I have sent the company three emails telling them on no uncertain terms to stop the calls. The calls have not stopped. This is total harassment. I have nothing to do with this business and I have no idea how they got my number, but it needs to stop.

I am a teacher in the state of Florida. They have a program in which teachers that teach in critical shortage areas can have their student loan paid back if they qualify. This program goes year by year. I received a check from the state of Florida in the amount of $895.00 made out to Julie Davis and Sallie Mae on October 20th (approximately). I signed and sent the check to Sallie Mae along with a payment coupon and my account number written on the front. Sallie Mae cashed the check and did not credit my student loan account.

I have been on the phone with them for three months. I received a copy of the cashed check from the state of Florida and faxed it to Sallie Mae. They still have not credited my account the $895.00. Now they are going to send me to collections although I am actually ahead of my payment schedule. I need someone to help me get my payment where it needs to be. Again, Sallie Mae cashed the check and I sent them a copy of the cashed check, but they still refuse to credit my account. I am a teacher and do not have the funds to hire an attorney.

After I graduated, I had 6 months before having to start paying my loans. When I got a little behind and wanted to put my loans on hold, I had to talk to 10 people before they got it right. Not one of them knew what they were talking about. About 3 days later, when I thought I got it all taken cared of, I went to pay my personal loan payment. I had a late fee that was for the loans I had put on hold. I am very disappointed with Sallie Mae. I spent lots of time on the phone being switched from one person to another, and was stressed not knowing if they got it right or not.

After graduating from college, I was unable to find a job for a while, and after finding one, I was laid off within 2 months. I was on unemployment and wasn't getting enough money to eat, let alone pay Sallie Mae. I contacted both Sallie Mae and the Department of Education (for a separate loan) to see what my options were.

The Department of Education allowed me to put my loan in deferment. Sallie Mae, on the other hand, talked to me like I was dirt on a welcome mat. Then tried to charge me a fee (almost equal that of the payment) for forbearance. If I had that much money, I would have just made a payment! To make a long story short, it's been 6 months, they won't allow me to defer the loan, the forbearance fee has changed (still more than I can pay), and they called Monday and said my loan will be in default Friday. If they had told me before I got this loan that I could never qualify for deferment, I would've never gotten it. Please avoid Sallie Mae. They're quick to hand out a loan, but will not work with you when it's time for repayment. My credit will be forever ruined.

My son went to Full Sail School of Music about 5 years ago. Since I could not afford to send him to school, he took out school loans and my wife and I co-signed for a few. We did not realize the impact it would cost us. The loans were given by Sallie Mae. The school he went to never really helped him get a job even though he graduated. He still has not got a job until this day. We have had calls from Sallie Mae continuously. To make this short, in 5 years, the loan has gone from $10,4000 to about $15,0000.

I have tried to make deals but the money they want, I can't touch. I am going to be 65 and I am unemployed for a year now, no money in bank. I do have pension which gives me enough to pay my mortgage. My son Scot has been black marked by Sallie Mae so it is hard to get a job. My family just received a final notice that they want payments by end of month or they want full balance immediately plus 25% more will be added. There is no way out, we will never see daylight.

I was involved in a near death auto accident in Jan 2009 so my parents have been paying on their co-signed loans. We sent in payments and kept getting calls indicating that we were late and receiving late fees, additional interest and killing our credit. I called Sallie Mae and sent them proof that the payments for the past three months had in fact been made. It turns out that they were posted to the wrong account. As you can imagine, I asked "whose account were the payments posted to?" and after several minutes, I was told "oh, it looks like it was posted to a closed account". One, I don't have any closed accounts so they weren't posted to any account relating to me. Two, if it was posted to someone else's closed account, would that not mean that Sallie Mae would owe that person money for overpayment? What I'm really wondering is how many people are paying funds into Sallie Mae's "ghost accounts"?

My sister's loans, which I've been on top of and arguing about as well, have had similar issues in that all of her loans are in deferment except for the loan in which our mother co-signed and has been making payments on. It has been nearly a year and every two or three months, we get calls indicating that no payments have been made. Payments are made regularly but as it turns out, the one loan my mother co-signed for, Sallie Mae has been posting my mother's money to all of the other accounts my sister possesses except the only one that is currently not in deferment. So my mother has been paying on her financial obligation but Sallie Mae has been taking her money and applying to accounts that she has no responsibility for.

I/We have spent countless hours speaking to dozens and dozens of customer service reps who claim to be able to resolve the issues but the issues keep returning. I would love to start a class action lawsuit if anyone else is having similar issues as these. I find it hard to believe that they aren't taking advantage of others in similar ways. They are eating, costing us additional late fees, credit reporting, interest on balances that have not had payments reported. I believe all of the hours and headaches due to their negligence ought to be compensated! It is a constant battle with Sallie Mae, this is just one occurrence, others have also been noted.

They call me multiple times a day every day and if I talk to them one day, they still call me the next. They called me twice before 8am today. I called and let them know that they were in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). I also told them that they were in violation by calling me too much.

When I got the loans to pay for college tuition and board, I thought that like federal loans, Sallie Mae would be income sensitive. Now, they tell me that I don't make enough money to be put on a plan and if I don't pay, they will report me to creditors and send me into default. I told them that I could afford to pay $50 a month. She said that it was too little and that I will still go into default.

When deferment costs $50 a loan and only last for three months, these loans aren't eligible for forbearance and nobody else can buy these loans, and I can't even file for bankruptcy to help me with these loans. I feel like the only options are to let them destroy credit and ruin my life or hire a lawyer to fight for me.

Somebody please help. I want to pay off the loans but I just can't afford it. I just wish the money wouldn't go to Sallie Mae. They are awful. I crawl further into debt. What is a $22,000 could end up paying over $40,000. I can't buy a new car, rent a new apartment, or even file for another loan. I can't afford health insurance but I need it after having a panic attack in September. I'm afraid the stress that Sallie Mae creates by calling everyday and threatening to ruin my credit will send me into more panic attacks leading to secondary discords like ulcers.

My husband used Sallie Mae because that was the only company that his college would allow him to use. After his college was over, they started to harass him admittedly. It has been going on since I want to say for 2 years. It recently started getting worse a year ago during my pregnancy and caused a lot of grief for me as well. During this time, they had told him to steal money from me to pay off his loans (can you believe that!). He told them countless of times "I will pay you when I can get a job, I'm not skipping out on this". They also call us 5:00AM every morning when it clearly states they cannot call between the hours of 5-8.

We've also complained on BBB a few times. But we came to find that the guy that runs Sallie Mae is actually getting complaints about Sallie Mae removed. He states that he trains all his employees personally and all these complaints are false. About a month after having our daughter, he started to get harassing phone calls from them. I told him to tell Sallie Mae, we had a 2-month old to worry about as well, after they told him that they threatened him that if he did not pay something bad was going to happen to our daughter. The nerve of a company to threaten a 2-month old child! My child. We live with his mother (my husband I mean) due to the fact that we don't have the means to move out on our own yet. So she got him to consolidate his loans. So he got a letter from Sallie Mae stating that his loans were paid in full by Direct loans.

But now, Sallie Mae is harassing him again saying they never sent him a letter and that if he does not pay $12,500 soon, they are taking us to court. This caused my husband a severe panic attack. I don't know what to do anymore, they just won't stop. They still even harass my mother and she has paid off Sallie Mae 5 years ago for her college.

In 2006 I decided to attend an online college- CTU Online for Project Management. I question if the online version of the school is accredited. It was too easy to get in. I could do a 2-year technical degree or a Bachelor's. I got different tuition expenses from different representatives on both sides, for the 2-year program. Anywhere from $14k up to $44k when I finished my program. I signed up for the 2-year technical program.

Both sides assured me I could set up whatever convenient payment plan, whatever I could afford. The assignments were all posted via Message Boards. Of my 4 classes, they all had a final group project. In every class some group members dropped out. I could not reach two of my instructors or they never returned my calls and emails. The two that responded decided to have me do the full project! Four full group projects in 3 weeks! I could not finish the final projects. I failed and was removed from the college.

It was less than three months after I was removed that Sallie Mae sent bills and called me up to 10x a day. I told them that I did not have a job and could not pay my loans. The first bill was for the books. Then the rest was for over $13k, the first semester!

Sallie Mae is a rip off. They're making me pay a fee for a forebearance. I have contacted Wille **, a lawyer based out of Florida with experience taking down big corporations. Everyone should give him a call and see what he has to say about your situation.

I wrote on here last month and will keep writing until someone feels the same way and wants to stop this horrible company form growing. They have the worst customer advocates I have ever spoken too. I was recently contacted by a woman named "Rose" who only would repeat to me "terms and agreements" over and over. No "I'm sorry or let's see what we can do." Nothing. She was a broken record. I told her she wants getting the first months payment and that's it. I cannot send you money while my sister is in school and nor can she. They expect us to pay the interest which is $171 a month and then they expect us to use them next year. I have given them $12,000 in almost four years and my debt with them has not made a mark or a dent. Absurd. Their practice of talking to people is outlandish and Sallie Mae outsources so many jobs to India and other countries it makes me sick. Please read the stories of the other customers on this page and see the growing epidemic. It needs to stop.

I graduated from a master's program in 2008. I have a small business and work full time at another company. I can't afford my interest only payments and they refuse to help me at all. The representative at Sallie Mae told me to get another job after I told him I already work full time and own a business with 11 employees. I really feel that the government needs to regulate the private loan industry because just as the mortgage lending tactics were bad so are the private student loans lending.

Realistically, there is no way a student should be allowed to get a loan for over $100,000. Sallie Mae is really making it impossible for me to survive because I will not be able to afford paying them anymore, which in turn will ruin my credit that I may need. I have always had good credit and for one lender to be this strict/non-negotiable will cause several of us to not pay at all.

Several years ago, I co-signed for a student loan for my son. And now due to him having some problems, he is unable to make payments. So they, Sallie Mae, are now calling me several times a day from a few different offices. Each call in the past, I talked with them, giving them the same information each time that I am 68 years old, in poor health due to a major surgery this past July and on a fixed income due to disability.

But the calls keep coming. I told them several times, if I could pay and help out my son, I would. If I have the money, I would hire an attorney to help me with this, but I don't. I have told them this several times, but the calls keep coming. What do I do now?

I have been fighting with Sallie Mae for over 2 years now. I have made numerous calls, emails, mailed letters, and faxed forms to them with little or no response. When my loan was nearing the end of its postponed payment status, I asked them to provide me with payment information. I was told I would be notified by mail when that was determined. I never received any notification, so I called them. They told me to contact Uniied Student Aid Funds. After repeated calls to them, a rep told me I had to contact Sallie Mae, so I did.

After the repeated circle of calling in order to get information of the amount of my payment, I began sending in monthly payments of $90.00 a month and told them to figure out who I could talk to in order to get the information I needed. I increased my payment to $130 a month with still no contact from them.

On December 31,2009, I received notice from the Treasury Department that I am in default of my loan, and they are going to take a percentage of my deceased husband's social security from me, because I refused to pay my debt. I have copies of all emails I sent them and all payments I have been making from my account. And I even have a copy of the payments Sallie Mae recorded as paid on my loan.

Someone please tell me how I am in default when no one from Sallie Mae contacts you but you continue making payments. What options do I have to stop them from lying and ripping me off? I am at the point that I will just tell social security to stop making payments to me, as I do not feel Sallie Mae has the right to take money when they are receiving payments monthly already.

Please note this is a continuing problem with this company and has gone on for several years. Background: My estranged daughter had me co-sign a student loan back in 2001 for her. She took out other student loans in her own name with the same company. Since she defaulted on the loans, Sallie Mae began a campaign of harassment against me. I am only a co-signer for 1 loan for a total currently of $22,474.00 and the monthly payment should be $186.00. Every month, I send a check to the address on the bill they send (it took over a year to get them to send me a bill) for $250.00. Then they allow that money to be disbursed to all my daughter's student loans thus, resulting in the appearance that I am underpaying the loan.

They then call almost monthly from the collections department. When you ask for a supervisor, someone gets on the phone, in this case it was a man calling himself Joe. When I asked for a last name, he said it was ** and when I asked him to review the long history on the computer, he began to get abusive and I hung up. I cannot deal with these guys any longer. It is amazing they can operate a financial institution this way. Please help.

I returned to school as a single mother, trying to better our lives, and leave dangerous situations behind us. I got a Tuition Answer loan from Sallie Mae to help cover the difference in school costs and living expenses. After I graduated, I was unable to find work. I received the paperwork for my loans via USPS mail forwarding. I contacted Sallie Mae and updated my information.

For three months, they called and sent out mailings to friends and family, saying that they had no information for me; but they were calling me multiple times a day and talking to me the whole time. They even called me on my pre-paid cell phone, despite my requests for them to remove that number. The worse part, the letters that they sent out had my correct mailing address on them, and ended up in the hands of my ex--who used that information to find me and try to kill me.

And when I complained to Sallie Mae about what happened, the representative told me that if I had just gotten a job and paid my bills, that wouldn't have happened. I eventually had the opportunity to clean a woman's house and barn for the deferment fee, which lasted only a few months. Now they are calling again, and can't understand why I can't find work, or pay over $500.00 a month. I'm willing to do anything for work, and they can't even do what they are paid to do. If I were able to add up all the time I spent on the phone dealing with their poor excuse for representatives, I probably would have lost several weeks of my life. Time that would have been better spent searching for a job, advancing my skills, or spending time with my special needs child.

I, like many borrowers of Sallie Mae, am over my head in debt. Sallie Mae graciously lent 60,000 in private student loans to me well over 6 years ago. I often wonder why I ever chose to higher my education. Recently now at over 72,000 my monthly payment has jumped to 1008.00. I am currently on maternity leave bringing in no income and don't ever anticipate me being able to afford this amount when I go back to work. Sallie Mae has no grace. After explaing over and over again my living expenses on top of being away from work, I was told that since I have used "interest only options" prior to, I now have no other choice than to pay the 1008.00 or extend my loan for another 10 years to lower my payment down to a 489.00 monthly option. Of course I could do a defferment for three months but what good will that do me... Ill still be in the same situation in three months. The numbers just do not pencil out. Mortgage + insurance + car payment + medical bills + living ... I am SO discouraged. I don't know where to turn. When will this cycle end???

Oh Sallie Mae. How you rob young people blind and than effect the rest of our lives. I am current Sallie Mae user because it was the loan company suggested. As a naive individual and not intune with loans and repaying them I was sucked in to a intrest rate that was too high and having to pay back double the loan.. I fine that to be loan sharking at its finest.

Now my sister used thm because they were the company I used and willing to give out money. Unfortunately,with my sister they took over 3 months to process all the paper work. She signd up for there amazing(sarcasim) Smart Option Loan which was not explained at all. Just told to fill out that loan over and over again. They took so long because they lost info, stated there was missing info and misscommunication from every representative that works there..but that can be continued later. Her loan was for $18,000 because Sallie Mae took so long and her school issued a late fee so we had to take more money...oh how joyous they are..

Such a large company and multi-million dollar company and such great service..NOT. No one ever knows what they are doing and most are not from America. I don't begrudge people for working but when you cant understand someone and they ae not trained it makes it real hard to get things accomplished. I have been told i was given wrong information but only was told that same information days earlier.

Someone need to look deep into this company and find out WHY they can charge the high interest rates and charge the payments they do. I rather stimulate the economy by buying a house but that wont happen and I'm 25 years old and student loan poor. I think that these private loans companys are abusing people and blinding them. Im paying Sallie Mae my mortgage. A $60,000 loan for me has become $120,000+. I hope that if you read this to never use this company EVER EVER. They have no couth, are not customer service frienfly and they dont care if you suffer with any other bills or just scrape to get buy. They want there money and thats it. Too much money is the problem.

Sallie Mae is not customer friendly and they are loan sharking....

1. They send out notice of payments that have different amounts due each notice.

2. Call into the call center and hold the line for 30min or longer. At times the phone hand ups, then I have to call back in and wait.

3. No payment option is provided. No work out plans!
a. Customer Rep. stated that they are mailing out paperwork that never make it.
Ex: I have been calling since Oct. about payment option. I have been refused payment options. I stated I just started a new job and I am unable to make payments right now. A customer rep was suppose to mail me out papers on

12-17-09. I never received them, so I called on 12-22-09, but my payment is due on 12-27-09. I did not receive the paper work until 12-25-09. Plus, I called the 888 number on 12-26-09 the customer care center was closed.the automotive service stated that my payment is late and it has assessed late fees! My payment was not due until 12-27-09. Plus, stated that the current payment of 897.00 is due immediately to bring account current.

4. Retaliator Practice because I filled a complaint before.

5. Unable to use debit care to make payments. Must give checking or savings account information?????? If I use the automotive service a $14.95 fee is charged????? Customer Rep. can take your payment over the phone for a $14.95 charge??? If I make an payment on line the only account I can use is my savings or checking?

6. Plus, I am disputing Sallie Mae on the number of payment that I made in early 2000 and something.

7. Why are they charging me interest on money that was sent back?

8. Payments that were paid off suddenly reappeared.

9. Sallie Mae never settled my dispute of false reporting to the credit bureau. I was unemployed and submitted paper work and someone neglected to do their jobs. They found the error, but never corrected it!

10. This is another housing crisis...

11.Sallie Mae has used every excuss not to offer me a loan forgivness... I worked at a charter school as a teacher and princpal. I work as a mental health worker....I was from a low income household yet my interest rates were outrages...

I co-signed a Smart Option Loan for my son in Aug 09 which is for him to pay monthly interest only until 6 months after he graduates. Less than 3 months into the loan, Sallie Mae decided to change the rules and start requiring principal payments as well, which of course he can't make and is in complete violation of the Truth In Lending Agreement which is a legal document for both parties. While making multiple calls to their customer service lines all over the world including the Phillipines, India, and the U.S. everyone agreed that Sallie Mae screwed up and apologized for the inconvenience, nothing has been corrected back to the original agreement.

Meanwhile my son's loan shows delinquent, they have assessed a late fee, and they bumped the interest rate by 1/4%. My son made his first 3 monthly interest payments as agreed on time but because of their pathetic customer service procedures they cannot get this fixed and live up to their end of the agreement. I know that I am not the only person having this experience with Sallie Mae - it blows my mind that they are allowed to get away with their practices and make people's lives miserable. I pride myself with my credit rating and have instilled good credit practices for my children.

Usually after 1 or 2 calls about clearing up issues with companies is all that is required - but not with Sallie Mae - I have placed at least 10 calls and they all agree that Sallie Mae made a mistake by changing the agreement and that my son kept his end of the agreement and made his interest payments and made them on time. But because of their incompetence, he shows delinquent and is getting charged fees and bumping his interest rate - it has turned out to be a horrible nightmare. I can't believe that a company continues to operate like this in this country. I know there are a lot of deadbeats out there that will blame loan companies when the problem is probably themselves - but that is not my case. Somebody out there needs to help the honest people in dealing with corrupt and unethical companies like Sallie Mae.

I went to Katherine Gibbs School here in New York City. I finally got what I thought was a legitimate two year degree in Visual Communications. Until I found out that it's not a legitimate degree and it's been verified by CUNY as a non accredited college. Now for all my trouble I'm stuck with a loan, that I have no money to pay for. They consistantly harass me six days a week, call five or more times a day. I got one of them trying to act friendly to me as if he was really trying to help me. I recently had to borrow some money to give them something and guess what, THEY WANT MORE.

TODAY I received a letter from them via UPS saying that if i don't pay, I'll go in default and whatnot, if i don't give them more money. I've been reading stories of fellow students who attended the same school and people who have borrowed from this company and it's an absolute disgrace that they aren't out of business. I talked to the supervisor who is a pompus and rude and told him, that my money feeds his family and he just shrugged it all off and flat out didn't care. I had to hang up on him because I was tired of hearing the garbage that was coming out of his mouth. So much so that I had to curse him out, and it's not the only time it's happend with these people at Sallie Mae. They think that the fifty times they call a week isn't harassment. Under legal channels it is harassment. I've kept all their mailings as proof and I'm sure there are many people like me who are doing so as well in hopes of legal action against them.

Sallie Mae extorts money--end of story. They tell me they charge 10% interest per day (like that's going to make you want to pay them when you don't have the funds to even pay them $1 a day). I co-signed loans for my son. At the time he graduated, there were no jobs, and still are not any jobs using his degree so he is waiting tables to make ends meet. Does Sallie Mae care? No they don't. I went through a financially devastating divorce and now they are after me--do I have to funds to pay? No, I don't. I offered them what I could pay and they said no dice. They are true scum of the earth and their collection people are very rude. In my opinion, charging 10% per day is extortion.

This company is impossible to deal with. I have several loans with Sallie Mae, and like everyone else, I have trouble making the $700 a month payment program they have set up. After all, I just graduated and you dont see me driving a BMW. So they changed the program to $300 a month interest only, which I still have trouble making, but I sacrifice food and other necessities to accommodate for these shylocks. The biggest problem I have with Sallie Mae is their customer service is horrible. Horrible! I used to work telephone customer service and we always lived by the maxim, one call resolution. These guys are really bad, and you can tell the company doesnt care about training. I spoke to at least 50-75 reps and each one was about as helpful as a rock. Its like they take classes to be unhelpful. And when you do find someone helpful (twice for me) the next time you call back its like calling for the first time. My wife just called 5 minutes ago, and said all I have to do is approve a plan setup, yet when I call back they change the plan and say they dont know what Im talking about.

They say the conversations are recorded for customer service purposes. Id like to get my hands on a few of those tapes and take these guys to court. I know I borrowed the money for education, and I plan on paying it back, but these guys are shylocks to the fullest extent. Anyone reading this, don't go through Sallie Mae if you can avoid it. They are strickly a for-profit company and will destroy your life if you have trouble making payments!

After 20 days no paperwork arrived. I called back and was told they could email it. Then he said "oh you have an ETCS? loan and could process it over the phone. I had to call back so i could move some money around for the fee. He noted it in my account.

A few other people there told me different things regarding a forbearace,and none were the same. I finally had enough and called there corporate number. I was going for the CEO but I couldn't find his number. LOL

He transferred me to the customer adovate,which is based in the USA and only four people work in that department. I was helped quickly and now my loans are all set to feb 2010. I will only be calling those 2 numbers from now on. I can not stand them and there scare tactics. They do not care about there customers,and do not want to help. This is not the first problem I have had with them. Money has been applied to wrong loans,payments haven;t gone through. They call nonstop even after a payment has been made. i still don't know why my 30,000 dollar loan won't be paid off till 2021 and will be the cost of a porsche when it's done. I ask for the loan agreement and 5 requests and 2 years later nothing.

Wow! what crooks! i signed up for the 3 pay program. What was suppose to happen is you give Sallie Mae your acct. # and then for three months they take out a certain amount of money and at the end of the three months you will be brought current. During the three month JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER OF 2009.I was receiving threatening letters saying I was going into default.

Then I called every month and the assured me that "everything was okay" During this time I asked for several...several pieces of mail stating that I would be brought current, and I also asked them to send me somthing telling me when my monthly payments were due. I received nothing.

I called at the end of September and spoke to a young man who told me not to worry. He said a supervisor would call me to set up my monthly payments and to make my account current. I did receive a call from a supervisor threatening me. Of course I called back and explained that I had spoken to someone and they told me everything was okay that the emails I received were system generated. They then told me, I needed to pay something for the month of October. I did that, and they told me everything was okay.

I received an email in Nov. telling me two of my student loans were going to default! I called again! By this time I had spoken to several (6 or 7) supervisors. This is when I was referred to Joe S. He got on the phone telling me I only paid $20 in August and that's why my loans were going to default. I asked him to send me a copy of the statement and the he magically found the real amount I paid.

Mr. S. and I have battled it out. He let me know that Sallie Mae doesn't have to send me any kind of bill in the mail. He told me I borrowed the money and I have to pay it back. Well of course I know that, so I then asked how much would my monthly payments be and he told me he didn't know they would vary. OKAY. So then I ask how in the heck am I suppose to know when and how much to pay if you don't. Oh it has been an awful and painful experience!

I have a consolidated private student loan and two federal consolidated loans with sallie mae since 2002. originally, one of my private loans was cosigned with my grandmother before i consolidated. (incidentally, on that loan i signed on a 4% rate and received an 8% rate on my second disbursement without ever accepting the change - at that point you're already enrolled and held hostage, right?)

I consolidated the private loans some time ago and was assured my grandmother would no longer be cosigner. The reverse happened - now she is listed as a cosigner on all of my loans (at least that's the reason they give for harassing her). I am in school and repeatedly send in the paperwork for in school deferment only to have them *lose it*. the form is unavailable on their website by the way - i had to be transferred to India in order to have it emailed to me.

If I am a few days late my grandmother gets nasty phone calls where they tell her that i don't have the right to move away without paying my debts and that they don't know how to contact me. this is a lie as i am constantly calling them on the deferment issue and verifying my address and contact number every time. they even have additional contact numbers for me in the states to call before they call my grandmother. they are picking on an elderly lady because they know they can upset her and get to me. why, i don't know. i'm doing the best i can and they have failed me every single time. when i called to complain about this issue, the representative hung up on me.

I co-signed a loan for my nephew several years ago. He has been servicing his debts for 3 years now, but has fallen victim to the H1N1 flu. He has been hospitalized and in a state of unconsciousness for two weeks. I have tried calling and emailing Sallie Mae to make payment arrangements on his accounts. They will not speak to me - even about the loan to which I am legally liable should my nephew not regain consciousness! This company should be dissolved and the loans purchased by real lenders with a real ability to actually serve in a servicing capacity. I can think of no other company that treats its customers so poorly, provides so little value for the cost of its "service", and continues to survive. Isn't there ANYTHING we can do to stop this monstrosity from continuing??

My son is attending DeVry in Columbus, Ohio and is scheduled to graduate in 2011. DeVry set him up with Sallie Mae and I co-signed a loan for $17,000.00 @ 3.25% on 8-2007. In May 5, 2009 we got a $4700.00 loan but when we found out that they were charging 11.85% interest and that he would have to pay back $14,900.00. I borrowed money at a better interest rate and paid it off in July. They put $300.00 on it in June and in July I paid, as requested, $4772.99 of which they put $136.02 on the aforementioned loan.

I found out I was going to get laid-off. So I started paying on the first student loan in Feb. 2009 that I co-signed and in Aug. 2009 I paid $300.00 and it hasn't been applied to the $17000.00 yet. I have called and e-mailed since Sept. and they said they have it and 4 different people have turned in a request to have it applied but it hasn't been.

While researching this I found that back in March, 2009 I sent $500.00 in and only $62.50 was applied to the only loan I have with them. The checks only have my name on them and not my son's. They said that they applied the money on my son's other accounts. How can they take my money and put it on someone elses account. They wouldn't let me see his account until I got permission but they can put my money on his account without my permission? They have my money and I am still getting charged interest on the loan when they have $737.50 of mine that hasn't been applied to my account, back in March, $436.50 and in August, $300.00.

All together for the first loan of $17000.00 @ 3.25%, I have sent in $3036.02 and they say we still owe $16,304.92. I have called and complained about the money that they have cashed from my checking account and have not applied to my account. They even asked for a copy of the cancelled check front and back. This tells me that they don't have the check. Someone at Sallie Mae cashed the check for it to show up on my checking account. They have been giving me the run around all this time.

Today they sent an e-mail with the account information and told me all I have to do is simply log on to the account and I could see this. That's how I found out about March's payment of $500.00 with only $62.50 being applied to my account. For Aug. payment, they still don't show that they ever received it but my bank activity shows that they cashed in on 8-11-09. Banks like this one gives others a bad name. Can anyone help me with this?

I can't win. I am struggling to rebuild my credit, and because of the carelessness and improper billing practices, I just kept paying what the payper statement told me to pay, all the while they had me as behind 30 days, yet never put that on the paperwork.

My son took out a student loan for college for which I cosigned. He has not been able to get a full time job. I'm a single parent with a full time job. However, after my mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc. sometimes the payments are a bit late. I have explained this to Sallie Mae repeatedly. They call every day, 2 or 3 times per day. I tell them the same thing. I will pay the loan by a certain date. They still call every day. I explain the same thing to them every single day. I don't dispute the loan, I promise to pay by a certain date. Today, after I spoke to them last night to let them know I was going to pay it today. They called me at work! If this isn't harassment I don't know what is.

My student loan was transferred to Sallie Mae. At the time, I was paying $50 per month for my student loans. Once Sallie Mae got a hold of my loan, they started charging me over $230 per month. I cannot afford to pay that much per month. I have a son I pay child support for as well as rent, food, car insurance, and other bills. I cannot afford to pay that much.

I tried several times to have them lower the payments but they said that its too late for that. I filled out the paper to lower my payments and they said I wasn't approved for it because it was too late. They have put my loan on forebearance a few times but whats the point? I can't afford their monthly charge.

Because of this situation, I can't further my edudcation. I'm afraid my income tax will be taken & my wage garnished. I live paycheck to paycheck and I can't get a second job due to the bad economy. I am singla and can't afford to live. I am constantly stressed out this situation which has no resolution. I can only afford $50 per month. I need help.

I'm a current senior college student in Florida. I started to get student loans to at least get an education and not be part of the fallen ones with frustration, but after several years Sallie Mae has become a monster. I have couple of loans that I have to start paying 6 months after graduation, recently I started receiving calls that I owe $321.00 dollars, and I'm delinquent 33 days...I told the lady that I'm still in school and that Ill be graduating in 8 months, she said that, out of the loans I had, there was one that I had to start paying while Im in school... but I said why would you guys call me 33 days after the "due date" and tell me that I'm late. Off course they want to get some late fees, but 33 days??!!

anyway after I picked up the first call, there has been numerous calls harassing my behind saying that I owe, that Im in the internal collection files, and in 33 days more I will be at the real collection agency...this is unreal. After receiving all these calls, I talk to "Customer Service" I explained what was going on, I will talk to the school and try to get this fix, and that I could be a mistake, to please stop calling until I go to the school, the lady said " Sir, this not your schools' problem, this is your problem, are you going to take care of this???Oh that's right!

People who dont know Sallie Mae... SALLIE MAE has a Customer Service line where they can be nice with you...and they have a collection line where they call, put you on hold, asked you questions, and then treat you like "CACA". I couldnt agree more with these people complaintning about this company. Our economy is tough, and monsters like Sallie Mae are not making it easy. Unfortunately this is a major issue and the government needs to get involved, because this is one of the big factors of why our economy it's the way it is. I bet if I told my 4 friends about Sallie Mae behaviors they will step back and not go to school. Not very smart right! But I like a good friend I feel like I have to say it, and advise them.