Sallie Mae Reviews

Sallie Mae has completely lost my trust regarding their support for service members and veterans. I served in the military for over 7 years and recently separated with a VA Disability rating. Because I am currently unemployed and preparing to pursue a post-graduate degree, I contacted customer service to request temporary repayment flexibility, either a temporarily lowered monthly payment or a brief forbearance. Despite their marketing claims of flexible repayment plans, I was flatly denied. The representative stated I am ineligible for assistance because I have not made 12 consecutive payments following my in-service forbearance period. Forcing a newly separated, disabled veteran into a rigid financial box during a major life transition is incredibly disheartening. Sallie Mae's "military support" is nothing more than empty marketing.

Insidious as this company is with their usurer and shylock practices, it is the shockingly unregulated predatory, exploitative and unscrupulous business of lending that some students are forced to utilize to finance their education. They are horrible! You never get out from under their lending torture rack, and you will be sorry that you did not heed the advice of so many negative reviewers! Stay away! Sell plasma before borrowing a dime from Sallie Mae! Oh, and parents/co-signers, be warned - if you pay off the Sallie Mae student loan, and there is an overpayment, they will send that overpayment amount to the student borrower, NOT TO the person who paid off the loan!

Hi, I really don't even want to give it one-star run. I say, run, run, run very fast away from this company. Do not even look into this company. They do not care what your hardship may be or your situation. And if it changes, all they want is their money, they will not work with you. They want it immediately. They'll start calling your friends, your family, anybody. And everybody that they can bother to try to get you to get you pay back, it back.

DO NOT TRUST! Sallie Mae refused my loan unless I had a cosigner, even after giving full financial details. They also hit my credit with a hard inquiry right away. The process felt unfair and not student-friendly at all.

Sallie Mae is the worst. If you have the option to use any other loan servicer, please do so. Sallie Mae has made my life incredibly difficult. I had to use Sallie Mae because I didn't have enough federal funding to finish my senior year of college, and I didn't have the option to use a cosigner. Sallie Mae was the only loan servicing provider that would allow me to get a loan without one. After graduating, I had to begin my payments six months later, even though I didn't secure a job until then. The job I got was minimum wage. I was barely able to pay my rent and my other bills; I was just scraping by.

They will want their payments regardless of your situation. They will not help or coordinate with you, although you will hear about options. The only options are full payments. They don’t care, but act as though they do.

I graduated 2024 and immediately was billed. They keep sending emails like "there is help making arrangement" but they are all phony. I was never offered at least a couple months delay on my payments so I can re-adjust. The next month they marked my credit report as delinquent. Avoid this service at all cost. Save yourself the stress, there are many other better services.

Tried to cosign for nieces $32k student loan. Have 800 credit score - 1 million + tax return - no debt etc etc. They quoted an 18%+ rate!!!! TALK ABOUT PREDATORY LENDING!!! These guys should be in jail!!!

They rejected my wife as a cosigner because she's a dreamer (DACA), even though her credit and finances are outstanding. I support my lovely wife and know that her money and credit is as good as anyone else's. Thank you.

If I could give Sallie Mae a negative number, I would. This company makes everything difficult in order to work with them. We are currently on a Loan Modification program that is coming to an end. We wanted to proactively reapply. When we contacted them, that is not allowed. Why do they want to add additional stress to an already stressful situation. It is the worst company I have ever dealt with in my 61 years.

This very bad crooked company has confiscated my deposits and told me to litigate in order to gain them back. They did this out of revenge because I complained about their customer service, I complained because it is so very bad. It seems they can freeze and confiscate as they please without a defined definite reason, very wrong. Stay away from this crooked company.

This company is absolutely horrible! They will loan you money, and if you dare to be late on one payment, they will call your grandmother, your aunt, your uncle, your brother, your cousin, they are relentless and disrespectful, calling all around family members who have no idea what’s going on. Stay far away from this company. Find your loan somewhere else!!

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Edwin **: Terrible experience. Super discriminatory policies and were not following or practicing FCRA guidelines (title 15 -1681). Terrible services, terrible customer support, terrible underwriting.

I would NOT get a loan or a student loan through Sallie Mae. They are Loan Sharks! They add on interest and cost that they could not - they will freeze your account without consent. Horrible company - horrible! They added 20K in interest to my son's loan - they would not talk with us - they made decisions on our account(s) without our consent! Walk away - bad people! Worst decision I ever made.

Please do not get a loan with Sallie Mae. They have destroyed my life and countless other lives with their predatory business practices and horrible treatment and harassment toward their borrowers. I just spoke to them today about the way they have treated my elderly grandmother and cosigner, because they have harassed her with calls that have alarmed her, insinuating that she owes something on a loan that hasn't even matured yet. after months of inducing unsurmountable stress and anxiety in me and my grandmother, they admitted they shouldn't have been calling her, Their apology was not sincere, but callous and borderline condescending. They never addressed their behavior and they immediately moved to get money from me. So their actions and the detriment to mine and my grandmothers wellbeing they caused had no consequence for them.

To make a long story short this company is not helpful to their borrowers. Basically if you already used the Graduate Repayment Program and used the forbearance then that's it. You have no more options. So unless you miss a payment they will be more than happy to assist if possible but there is no guarantee. If you are trying to avoid that and trying to get ahead of this you can forget help. I will never ever recommend them to anyone. They are unhelpful and will send you all over the place to finally have someone tell you no they can't help. Even with Covid-19 they only pause the payments for three months. They never offered any alternative repayments other than the Graduate Repayment and once you used that then you're done. Now with Recession looming over they will not help. So I will repeat. Never ever use them.

I would like to say in my opinion Do Not Trust Sallie Mae. I Do Not Have a loan with them. But I was helping pay the interest rate a month. Somehow in 2016 all students were required to pay the interest rate. But needless to say I was paying twenty five a month. Never look at my bank statements but I was looking for something and what did I see instead of twenty five there was a total of over Five Hundred taken out of my account for 5 months. I had the bank stop the payments. Now all the time I paid the interest there was no statement from Sallie Mae nor to the student either. No paperwork on raising the payment. But once the payment stop Sallie Mae has called several times and called people and Stated To These Persons That the Student Used Them As A Reference.

I give a less favorable rating because I wasn't allowed sufficient time to graduate and secure a job before the interest on the loan began to accumulate. This is a cutthroat and predatory practice in my opinion.

Poor quality when borrowing... I feel harassed every time I purchase something from anyone else lately... I hate to even have a doggone student loan at all... It’s too much of a hassle to apply for other stuff.

Early on after graduating they offered very little help for me. I was not working for some time unable to find a job that would pay enough to repay my student loans. They offered little help and compounded huge amounts of interest growing a relatively modest student loan into an insurmountable mountain of debt that I will never be able to repay. Student loan servicers have ruined many young people's lives with these unfair practices...my current servicer Navient seems somewhat better, but I still not very trustful.

Ever so thankful for the opportunity to finish college. Without student loans, it would not have been possible. Getting my degree was the highlight of my life and gave me confidence in myself during a very difficult time.

Even with state grants, loans did not fully cover 3 years of an in-state university with no room and board. Then, I had to have my parents get denied a parent plus loan (even though they were paying nothing for my education), in order for me to qualify for a different type of loan. This was so stressful, that it interfered with my school work. The 2nd type of loan I needed in order to finish my bachelor's, skyrocketed my student loan debt due to compounding interest. If I could go back in time, I would not get a 4yr degree due to the unpayable interest Sallie Mae charges.

They really helped me in my time need. Their offers were great for my needs at the time and repayment was easy. I would definitely recommend them to any student who is in need and can’t find the funds.

I have been with Sallie Mae for many years, I started to pay off my loans but went back to college and had several forbearance. Because I started out late, I also went on disability until retirement and now I am in a program thru President Obama that I don't have to repay for 25 yrs then the loan will cancel. Sallie Mae was always a good company to deal with, great customer service.

In June of 2020 I enrolled in the Reduced Rate Program at Sallie Mae because the hours I was carrying at my university did not meet the minimum required by Sallie Mae to remain in deferment, but since I have not finished my degree yet, I don't have the benefit of the pay raise that would allow me to repay the loan in full terms. I received the paperwork verifying my enrollment, and the three months of "pre-enrollment" payments of $264.59 were made to qualify. In September I was advised I would have no payment as my enrollment was finalized and payments would begin again in October in the amount of $264.59 as auto-debit against my account as is required by the program. Instead, in October 2020, I was charged $624.15, causing my account to overdraft, for which I incurred $174 in fees from my bank and countless hours of headache trying to sort through the mess.

There is no courtesy from this predator. They have arbitrary 'policy' in place, which change depending on who you talk to. They don't send email correspondence to inform you that a forbearance is ending. They charge exorbitant interest (>9.9%).

I hate to see so many people like myself have fallen victim to this loan company as I have. From the beginning, I have had negative experiences trying to do anything over the phone with an agent. I am transferred several times, placed on hold, and told different things about my loan depending who I speak to. Additionally, I was lucky enough to get a new job during the pandemic, but if I was one of many others whom I know were laid off, struggling to find work etc. you'd have an awful time making these payments because they do not lift a single finger to assist. However, they still manage to push every advance to get you to sign another loan with them. I was just alerted on my dash in a "Coronavirus update" that anyone who is behind payment by more than 15 days will no longer be able to use credit or debit payments starting Feb. 1, '21. On top of everything this just seems damning to hell.

Consumers LOVE to blame companies for their bad decisions and Sallie Mae is a perfect example. I have worked with them paying student loans for 9 years and it's been an ideal relationship. I am responsible for my loans so I READ AND UNDERSTOOD terms before signing. It's really that simple. Sallie Mae doesn't hide anything, people don't bother to read any details then complain and blame. Sallie Mae has been 100% efficient, easy to reach by phone, extremely clear, simple and transparent loan details online. Don't let the dimwitted consumers convince you otherwise, Sallie Mae is same as all lenders.

I am happy that the Sallie Mae student loan is open for non US Citizens and also allows access for students doing online learning. This comes in handy for me as I fit both classifications and going through my online degree would be far fetched if I didn't have the option of Sallie Mae.

Masquerading as a quasi-government institution they solicit your loans when you need them most -- as you and your kids realize their college education is going to cost more than they expected! They have exorbitant rates, no loan forgiveness or rate reduction paths for hardship, and generally use aggressive tactics to force uncomfortable payments. They claim to "work with you" on modifications or relief, but in reality, they do nothing. This behavior is very similar to the mortgage market during the 2008-2010 great recession.

Sallie Mae was very helpful during my time of need and they were very helpful at all times on all my needs and helped with all I wanted and thanks to them I finished all my schooling.

Never co-signed for a student loan before so can’t really compare. Guess it’s okay. Not been hounded. But my son pays on time every month so shouldn’t have any problems.

Sallie Mae has been good. They send plenty of reminders when your bill is coming due or something has changed with your account. I am a co signer and I like being kept in the loop. I would apply with Sallie Mae for school loans in the future.

I continue to be amazed why Sallie Mae's executives are not in jail. They are perpetrating the ultimate scam and worse, they are doing this to young adults. Their rates are insanely high leading to guess what, struggles to make payments. It's near impossible to discharge the debt while every other creditor doesn't get the same favor. Their customer service is a joke. Their website won't even let you get a statement and their hours of operation is typical government. And in the end, a degree isn't just what is was worth in the past. Please consider carefully before getting loans with Sallie Mae. It's NOT worth the pain!

I had to take some extra graduate courses and took out a loan with Sallie Mae. I did not know that because it was a private loan, I could not consolidate the loan. During the pandemic, Sallie Mae continued to charge me 10% ($100 a month) while other student loan companies waived it. I tried to ask them to help me with the issue given financial hardship during the pandemic and they said they couldn't help. Avoid using them at all costs!

Never never ever! You should never take out a loan through Sallie Mae. It has been a completer nightmare. I co-signed for my daughter and it has been a nightmare since day one. With COVID and other REAL LIFE issues I am not sure how they sleep at night as a company. They are ruthless in their practices and just don't care at all. It locked families into interest driven loans from HELL. It will also destroy your credit if you miss a payment or misunderstand the deferment process. Just terrible.

This company is liking dealing with loan sharks. They are one of my life's worst experiences. I co-signed a student loan for my granddaughter and it became a massive fight each and every month dealing with them. Even after I paid off the loan it did NOT stop.

Sallie Mae will not release me off co-signer of loan. I told them I no longer work. I am a co-signer. They do not care. They said it’s only student can be released with disability. I am the co-signer. I thought it would apply to me as well. Stay away from this company. They do not try to help you. It’s obvious that I do not work over 3 years now. Do not use this company. Use Nelnet. If you become disable they will honor your disability and dismiss the loan which they have for me. I do not recommend getting a loan from this company. Only use Nelnet. They work with you if you ever in a position like me.

I really hate Sallie Mae. I’m never borrowing from y’all again and I’m going to convince all my family and friends never to either. Student's loans are a toxic plague in our country and they prey on innocent people and chain them up for life. You Guys aren’t helping people. You’re enslaving them. My parents were young and co-signed for my loan and now that interest piles up faster than I can pay. It’s hurting the both of us. I will never go back into debt once I am free from y’all. And I will fight until my dying breath to put student loan lenders out of business in America. My parents are now debt free and helping my husband and I be debt free. I will never go back to fake money after this. I hope you guys go out of business.