Sallie Mae Reviews

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.'

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!

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?

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.

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.

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 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 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 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!

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.

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 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!

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?

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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 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.

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?

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.

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.

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, Sallie Mae 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 etc.". 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 to all types of jobs, nothing is turning up. If Sallie Mae dings my credit, I will throw the towel in for good because employers (especially Uncle Sam) won't consider delinquent loan holders for employment.

I spoke to Sallie Mae 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 delinquent, 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 only been out of work for 2 weeks, and my savings has been spent on rent and utilities. I no longer have my car (haven't for 2 years), because I can't afford one. Sallie Mae preys on the less privileged, and now, I owe almost double than what was loaned originally. I didn't have a college fund; my parents didn't save for me like they did for my sisters and brother. I have been on my own, and now, I don't know what else to do.

The customer services agents on the other end of the phone were completely incompetent. They are located in India or other parts of the world, and they are telemarketers. They read off a script and were 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 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.

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.

I suggest that you get all of your ducks in a row before you call them: 1. get a Sallie Mae agent number for everyone with whom you speak, 2. document each conversation and the outcome of the conversation noting the agent # who gave you the information, 3. Send the Customer Advocate Unit a detailed letter outlining this documentation and your concerns, 4. Make sure you send the letter directly to Kelly ** with, and this part is crucial, USPS restricted delivery mail (this ensures Kelly ** receives and signs for your letter--and you receive documentation from the US Postal Service). Also, I think it may be a criminal offense if Sallie Mae declines your letter.

I have been struggling 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 lawyer!

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 asked them why they didn't tell me that, when I initially called, and they could not explain why not. So on 4/9/10, I faxed in the copy of the check, and they confirmed receipt of the fax from their Quality Assurance Department. On 4/15/10, I called again, and a customer representative said, a rush request would be put on this replacement check request. On 4/23/10 11:05AM, I called to follow up, and spoke to a rep named Anita, regarding an update on the replacement check. She said it was pending, and that she would put a rush on it. On 4/27/10, 10:30AM, I spoke to a rep named Valerie. She resubmitted as a rush for the 3rd time, and asked for me to call back on Friday. On 4/30/10 02:38 PM, I spoke with an employee named Bill (who identified himself as a supervisor), and he said he doesn't know when this check will get cut, but told me to give it 14days. If no check, then call back and ask to speak to a supervisor on 5/14/2010.

On 5/14/10, 06:16PM, I spoke with rep named Herb, who said he will need to put in a request for me to speak to a supervisor. It's been over 2 months, and I am getting the runaround about a check for funds, that are owed to me. Please give me any advice on what I could do.

My mother who cosigned my student loan is battling cancer and has no need or concern related to this matter. She and my family have been constantly woken at 8:00 most mornings (whoever may be home) and called again within two hours, even after speaking with someone representing Sallie Mae. I have just again spoken with a Sallie Mae rep and she sees "no problems with my payments" and is sending it to "research". This has gone on for almost a year. Enough is enough. They say they "will try to put a hold on the phone calls, but have no guarantee to do so." I have been paying my student loans for over two years. All of them. We are prepared to seek judgement regarding Sallie Mae. Do you have any suggestions?

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

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?

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 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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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!

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 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.

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.

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'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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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!

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

They took so long because they lost info, stated there was missing info and miscommunication 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. Well a few days ago, my sister received a statement asking her to pay $171.44 a month while she is in school. They changed the agreement during the process. No wonder why they prolonged everything. I called Sallie Mae (because I was the gracious sister to co-sign) and complained how come they have some nerve to charge money during school. I can't pay it because I give Sallie Mae enough money. My parents can't because who can nowadays?

All they could tell me was the Smart Option Loan was the only loan option they had. I asked what happened to the Signature Loan they had and not having to pay until 6 months after graduation. They conveniently do not offer it anymore. Such a large company and multimillion 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 can't understand someone and they are 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.

This company is a disgrace and a poor representation for America and the people that work there. My sister's loan is $33,000 after being paid back. How is anyone supposed to survive after college? Apparently with Sallie Mae, it's not possible and with a poor economy, it doesn't make it any easier. Someone needs to look deep into this company and find out why they can charge the high interest rates and charge the payments they do. I'd rather stimulate the economy by buying a house, but that won't happen. I'm 25 years old and student loan poor. I think that these private loan companies are abusing people and blinding them. I'm 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. They have no couth, are not customer service friendly and they don't care if you suffer with any other bills or just scrape to get buy. They want their money and that's it. Too much money is the problem.

A customer rep was supposed to mail me out papers on 12-17-09. I never received them, so I called on 12-22-09, but my payment was 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 was late and it had assessed late fees! My payment was not due until 12-27-09. Plus, they stated that the current payment of $897 was due immediately to bring account current.

This is retaliatory practice because I filed a complaint before. I'm unable to use debit card to make payments. Must I 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 a payment online, the only account I can use is my savings or checking? Plus, I am disputing Sallie Mae on the number of payments that I made in early 2000 and something.

Why are they charging me interest on money that was sent back? Payments that were paid off suddenly reappeared. 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!

This is another housing crisis. Sallie Mae has used every excuse not to offer me a loan forgiveness. I worked at a charter school as a teacher and principal. I work as a mental health worker. I was from a low income household yet my interest rates were outrageous.

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. They all agree that Sallie Mae made a mistake by changing the agreement; that my son kept his end of the agreement; 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.

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. They should be sued for what they're doing not only to myself, a minority, but also people who have no money. That's their business is to prey on the weak economic class so they would own them like slaves. The money we work so hard for going to them without having to break a sweat or worry about where our next meal will be coming from. These people are out to do one thing and it's destroying our lives. The ignorant people, who are employed by them, don't care about the suffering we go through on a daily basis trying to make ends meet. I talked to the supervisor who is pompous 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 happened with these people at Sallie Mae. They're so ignorant that 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. This company just makes me so upset, so much so that when I'm happy and they call, I get all riled up and angry. I'm losing my peace of mind because they will not stop doing this to me or other people. This is wrong. This company is without a doubt evil. They have to be stopped.

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 doesn't care about training. I spoke to at least 50-75 reps and each one was about as helpful as a rock. It's like they take classes to be unhelpful. And when you do find someone helpful (twice for me), the next time you call back, it's 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 don't know what I'm talking about.

They say the conversations are recorded for customer service purposes. I'd 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 strictly a for-profit company and will destroy your life if you have trouble making payments!

When I got a real person, I was told that I now had 2 late payments and it wouldn't cover it even though the second payment was because they didn't send the paperwork. A few other people there told me different things regarding a forbearance, and none were the same. I finally had enough and called their corporate number. I was going for the CEO but I couldn't find his number, lol. Here is Corporate's number in VA - (703) 810-3000. He transferred me to the Customer Advocate, 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 February 2010. Here is the customer advocate number - 8885454199.

I will only be calling those 2 numbers from now on. I cannot stand them and their scare tactics. They do not care about their 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. No one should use this company unless of course you want to die early of stress. I still don't know why my 30,000-dollar loan won't be paid off till 2021 and it will be the cost of a Porsche when it's done. I asked for the loan agreement and 5 requests and 2 years later, there is 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 that 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 was when I was referred to Joe **. He got on the phone telling me I only paid $20 in August and that was why my loans were going to default. I asked him to send me a copy of the statement and then he magically found the real amount I paid. Mr. ** 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 my monthly payments would be and he told me he didn't know; they would vary. Okay, so then I asked, "How in the heck am I supposed to know when and how much to pay if you don't?" Oh, it has been an awful and painful experience!

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.

Consequences: emotional stress and harassment to my grandmother, unnecessary accruing interest while I should be in school deferred. God knows what interest related to the rate switch. Unfair late charges due to misapplied payments, financial hardship from having to maintain payments while paying for my new education (out of pocket this time!).

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 else’s 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 $17,000.00 at 3.25%, I have sent in $3,036.02, 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 runaround 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 the March payment of $500.00 with only $62.50 being applied to my account. For August 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?

Because of this situation, I can't further my education. I'm afraid my income tax will be taken and my wage garnished. I live paycheck to paycheck and I can't get a second job due to the bad economy. I am single and can't afford to live. I am constantly stressed out with this situation which has no resolution. I can only afford $50 per month. I need help.

After receiving all these calls, I spoke to customer service and explained what was going on. I told her that I will talk to the school and try to get this fixed and that it could be a mistake and to please stop calling until I go to the school. The lady said, "Sir, this not your school's problem. This is your problem. Are you going to take care of this?” Oh, that's right! People who don’t 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, ask you questions, and then treat you like CACA. I couldn’t agree more with these people complaining 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 why our economy is the way it is. I bet if I told my four friends about Sallie Mae’s behavior, they will step back and not go to school. Not very smart, right!? But I, like a good friend, feel like I have to say it and advise them.

Anyways, after feeling like I am the only one in the world dealing with this huge monster, I did some homework. It seems like 80 percent of the people who have loans through Sallie Mae are unhappy, disgruntled and harassed. I am taking a stand not only for myself, but for everyone who has, and is currently having problems with Sallie Mae. I have started to piece together a book with not only my accounts and hardships with Sallie Mae, but that of many others. My goal is to educate the public on what they do to people so that our youth will choose to go through other loan providers. It's stressful enough finding jobs in this economy. Sallie Mae will drive a normal person insane.

Please feel free to email your stories to me. You can choose to make up a fake name, use your real name, or not give me a name at all.

They went on to tell me that no application was received and no forbearance had been processed. The rep then went on to tell me to simply fax the application yet again and everything would be taken care of. On Oct. 20, after still hearing no response, I called Sallie Mae yet again. Now I am yet again shocked to be told my forbearance was denied because now, my payment from Oct. 5th was past due!

After I explained that I was on worker's comp and was going to have back surgery and really needed the forbearance, the rep told me to fax a written letter stating my situation and copies of all the fax confirmations from previous faxes for consideration, and wait yet again! There was still no response from Sallie Mae so I called on Oct. 20th. I spoke with someone else who said he would email the forbearance department (since no one could talk to the forbearance dept. directly) to take a second look at my forbearance because according to this rep, I have 10 days grace and had until Oct. 15 to be officially "past due" and I faxed the second forbearance application on Oct. 14th. He said to give them a week to process so I waited yet again.

Meanwhile, I was contacted by a "Collections" rep who was rude and mean! when I tried to explain the whole mix up with the forbearance, she told me "I will mute your call, so that I can tell you no forbearance will be processed because you are past due!" After that, she would not listen to anything I had to say. Eventually after trying and trying to get a payment out of me, she told me, "I will mark you account as "refused to pay and refer to ombudsman!" Then she went on to hang upon me!

I never refused to pay, I simply wanted help with the forbearance for 3 months and no one wanted to help! Right now, I get so many collection calls that I am looking to change my phone number! So today, Oct. 29th, I called Sallie Mae for an update to the email back on the 20th, and I was told that nothing came of that email and I was told for the 2 millionth time that because I was past due, I would not get a forbearance! I thought a forbearance was for those times I cannot pay so can someone please explain to me why I have to be current to get approved?!

So today, I borrowed from my elderly father (also my co-signer) to make the payment. Now Sallie Mae is happy but I'm left here in tears with not even enough money to live on. My next payment is due on Nov. 5th and I applied for forbearance again today after making the payment! I was assured that this forbearance will be processed but I will just have to wait again! I wanted to make all this known, because I wish I would have read the posts on this site before taking out a loan with Sallie Mae! I just want others to know my story and to know, don't do any business with Sallie Mae because they are unfair and the government should put a stop to them!

As the years went by, I struggled in finding another career and doing my best to make payments. Today, I work a job I was lucky to get with this economy, have exhausted my forbearance usage, and have not been able to make payments since I make less than $20,000 yearly. However, they keep harassing me by calling my home or work wanting to collect my payment which are still not affordable. Thanks to cost of living.

I am planning to file bankruptcy even though Sallie Mae can't be discharged. But even then, I still won't be able to afford their payments, again, due to job market/cost of living. One rep from them even said, "Can't you skip rent one month?" or "Borrow from a friend to make your loan current." Oh, yes. I am going to risk being evicted. I don't think so. I can't get an additional job, friends/family can't help pay my debts. So what can I do?

I make my payments online. One month, I made my online payment, and 11 days later, I was getting calls and emails saying that I was late on the payment. I logged in to my Sallie Mae account, only to find that there was no record of this transaction and the money was not taken out of my bank account. They tried to charge me more for this, but I just paid the original amount and left it at that. I tried to get payment coupons, so I could mail my payments in. But now, for some reason, they don't want to do that. Isn't that class discrimination? Not everyone has computer access.

The lowest amount they will allow me to pay is $319.40 a month. I told them that that was (at the time I graduated) what I made in a month and also my rent payment. I asked if I could get lower payments just for six months. They would not work with me at all. They also like to send emails regarding something serious that I would like to call them about, but the emails are sent on Saturday mornings. Their offices are closed all weekend, so I have to wait until Monday to take care of it, ruining my entire weekend with worry.

The facts I have now learned are: federal loans will work with you, including income based repayments, deferments, and forbearances, but private student loans simply do not have to. Yet they are afforded the same protections that federal loans have. The banks keep the juice running and use the government and Sallie Mae as the muscle. You cannot file bankruptcy and have these discharged. Undue hardship is proven in less than 1% of cases. A landmark case involved an elderly borrower scraping by on Social Security and was fully disabled yet still did not qualify. They simply do not need to work with you! The law is on their side.

If you do not comply, they will use every tactic available walking the fine letter of the law, including scare tactics to make you pay. And in the end, if you do not pay, there is no statute of limitations on student loans and they will ruin your credit up to 7 years after the last dime they are owed. And I guarantee in under a year of non-payment/default status, they will garnish your wages (I believe it is about 160 days). The percentage varies state to state on the amount they can take between 10% and 25% of your after tax pay (so-called disposable income).

If you are already in this situation, here are a few things I did.

Keep working with Sallie Mae the best you can. Hold them at bay, go back to school (half-time) at community college, and stall. Whatever you have to do to, stay out of default as default is hard to get out of and has even less options are available. Write you state senators. Write you local state representatives. Write the Secretary of Education in Washington, D.C. Contact the **: they, in some cases, will act as intermediaries on your behalf. Join these two groups to get more info: Facebook (yes, get a Facebook account like I did just for this reason and they will keep you updated on consumer options, etc.) and the group Cancel Student Debt to Stimulate the Economy (they are 250,000 other people in the same boat as you and me!) and join the website ** for more info. And last, but definitely not the least, sign this petition so we can stop this from happening to more students. 52,000 have already signed we are 3,000 away from sending it to Pres. Obama: **.

I was misled by my student loans and my loan advisors. I was a young and naive student. I had zero knowledge of lending practices! I did not understand the difference between private loans and federal! They called them alternative loans and said don’t worry, they are still through Sallie Mae. Yet everyday those that spend thousands on credit cars at the mall can simply file bankruptcy or work out affordable payment plans. I went to get a higher education and only walked away with a huge debt that I will pay for the rest of my life! Everyone needs to work together to fix this. Sallie Mae is out of control. Sallie Mae is acting under legislation that was only recently passed back in 2005. It needs to be repealed so that we can have our consumer rights back.

Well, in the past year, I've discontinued all auto payments after one company debited my account twice instead of once, causing numerous problems with my account that took months to clear up and while making another payment to a credit card company, my information was sent to a server in the Ukraine due to a lapse in security according to the notification I received from the processing company. I'm back to checks, but my mortgage holder and Sallie Mae take 10 or more days to process payments. It's insidious and unfair and we are powerless to stop it; the consumer just can't catch a break!

Then, I caught wind of the IBR program and during an informative webinar became aware of something called the Ombudsman's office (it's a crime that this information isn't more publicized to consumers). I received a call from Sallie Mae a few days later seeking an update on my situation and informed them that I have no recourse and have tried to work with them but am getting nowhere, that I'll be reaching out to the local Ombudsman's office to get them involved in hopefully helping me deal with Sallie Mae.

At that point, it was like a switch was flipped or I used a magic word. The analyst's demeanor changed and she wanted to work with me now. She mentioned to me that I absolutely still had 2 years of forbearance available on my gov't. loans and that my private loans could be restructured down to a $70/month payment which I can afford. This was welcome news but it also greatly confused me. This didn't seem like proper business practice and I was quite furious that I had to go through so much stress and then I mention one word and everything went as it should've otherwise.

Here's the most frustrating thing. Three weeks later, my little sister who's completing her undergrad at U of Phoenix calls me stating that Sallie Mae called her stating that she's in default and that she has to start paying or she will not be able to complete school. I explained to her what happened to me above and told her to mention the Ombudsman and call me back to let me know what happened. It turns out that she was hung up on three times and finally at the end got someone, mentioned the Ombudsman's office and they started working with her. She actually wasn't in default (that was false) and had consolidated her loans. They put her loans in deferment when she started school so there was a non-issue here. She's having them send her a letter to prove all of this to hand to the school. I'm having her process a complaint with the BBB, consumer affairs and the local attorney general as well in hopes that everyone can investigate what's going on with Sallie Mae and these horrible practices.

This is quite concerning and I would hope that these agencies can hold businesses accountable and ensure that they are operating in good faith.

Note that I was not able to obtain the specific records of conversations as they will not share this with me therefore cannot provide specific days or names of analysts who I worked with.

I called them and spoke to a manager and raised hell! How dare they call others now! This is affecting my work since I work from home, my peace of mind and well-being. I am afraid and embarrassed to answer my own phone. I never answer when I have company. My daughter is upset, and I have another daughter's loans coming up in 2 months and am afraid of what may happen then! I cannot sleep at night or the weekends, because they will not stop calling! I feel that I am under extreme stress and are concern for my job now. I need your help in stopping this! Please help me in where I can turn to stop this madness.Thank you.

Finally in December, I graduated and put all the loans into forbearance, this stopped the calls for about a week and then they started calling again saying I owed and was behind. Again, I would explain to them I had just paid to put them in forbearance. They would then tell me that I hadn't and I would have to fight with them. This has continued over and over since then. I pay to put them in forbearance because I'm not working and then they continue to call me 15-20 times a day saying I owe them. I'm so sick of it!

I never got the paperwork, but I did receive notices that my accounts had been sold to a collection agency. There was no contact from Sallie Mae to inform me of this. Now, I have to deal with collection agencies when I should have been able to defer my payments until I got a job! My brother is co-signer on one of the loans and I know this will affect his credit as well as my own, despite efforts to find solutions to the problem. It should be illegal for them to operate in this manner.

My complaints are nothing compared to others I have read. It’s outrageous and immoral. What America needs is a non-profit for student loans. How can we have a strong America when it’s impossible for low income people to go to college? I wrote Anne ** at Sallie Mae. I hope to hear from her. I am a 68 year old woman with very little income. My grandson managed to get through one year, but did not have the money to go on. He got laid off from his job and could not make payments. I was paying the interest in hopes things would get better for him. If I would have known we were paying almost 10% and not the 3.2% they say they charge, I would have paid off the loan sooner. I had to use money I was living off of to pay the loan in full, $4,000.00. I ended up paying over $500.00 in interest.

This action, beginning in 2001, has now in 2009 resulted in the knowingly fraudulent and mis-represented collection activities reported to existing credit bureaus such as TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. The illegal action of Sallie Mae in adjusting the terms of my established Excel loan has been openly admitted and documented by Sallie Mae, stating this was at their discretion. This unrequested action has in effect added 33% to the term length of the loan and thousands of dollars of interest payments required, all at Sallie Mae's benefit with no benefit or justification to the loan holder.

Sallie Mae is now demanding satisfaction for this 33% increase and the resulting interest payments. I have a complete time line and copies of all documentation currently in my possession from original loan documentation and promissory notes to my conversations with them in 2001/2002 to the current disputed correspondence, payment schedules, and credit reports. Additionally, MN state Attorney General's office have requested a review of the situation. Sallie Mae has been unresponsive to their request as well. It appears Sallie Mae believes it is immune to the law.