Sallie Mae Reviews

Sallie Mae calls at all times, sometimes before 8 am and after 9 pm. My parents are old and getting calls at these times alarm them, and they are worried that something has happened to family members. My son lives on his own now, and there is no reason for Sallie Mae to contact me or my parents. We have nothing to do with these loans. I am afraid that something is going to happen to my parents as a result of these calls - a fall or even a heart attack (My Dad has heart problems and these calls cause him to become very agitated.). Is there anything I can do to stop these calls?

Last night, I called their customer service number and spoke to a person who identified himself as "Stanley." I asked him about my options regarding my federal loan. His initial response was that I could lower my payment for two years and pay interest only. When I asked him what other options I had, he repeated that I could lower my payments for two years. I insisted that there had to be other options and he kept repeating the interest only option. After a few minutes of going back and forth, he finally said that I could look into IBR but he continued and said that it wouldn't be a good choice for me because I would end up paying more. It was shocking how difficult this information was to get from this "Stanley" person. If I hadn't been persistent, I would have never learned about my options. Moreover, it's not his job to discourage me from pursuing any option, whether or not it benefits Sallie Mae.

I feel lost at this point. I need help making important financial decisions and I need this help rather quickly. I've decided to apply for the interest option he described only because I don't know what else I can do. I need to spend less money so I can afford to pay rent. I feel that I have been taken for a ride by this company again, and I fear that the choice I am making may not be the best in the long run. But I have to take it since it appears to be the only one.

I have made several attempts to argue this mark with SM, and I can't get anywhere. Whenever I call, I'm transferred from department to department. I ended up at the initial department I was originally called. I have sent letters to SM in Virginia and Pennsylvania and have not received any return letters. I tried to contact the credit bureaus to have this removed. None of them will remove the 17 marks, unless they receive a certified letter from the lender.

I am only 24 years old, and now, I am required to wait 7 years until this comes off the credit report? I think not. I would like to purchase a new house in the near future. But if I can't even purchase a new car, how will I be given the credit to purchase a house?

I was forced into repayment during my 3rd year of medical school and had been paying the $150 to defer for 4 months. I have done this for 36 months and have now exhausted that program. I was then on a partial payment plan through Sallie Mae paying around $166/mo. I was able to do this, barely. When I called back to renew the payment plan, they told me that they have discontinued that program and that I was required to pay the full $850/month. I have explained to numerous individuals that I was unable to physically pay this amount. They have crunched the numbers, over and over and know how much I make and how much they are requesting.

I have still mailed in at least $100/month to pay something, but they have told me that this will do no good. They have to have a payment of at least $550 to make my account current or else I will be sent to collections. They tell me that there is nothing they can do. Today, I was told by a Sallie Mae representative that I "needed to live within my means". I became very upset with her. I proceeded to tell her the situation that I was living in. I live on a cot, in another resident's house; otherwise, I would be living and sleeping my car. All of my belongings are in storage. I am unable to find a place to live because I have 2 dogs (my children). I have lost 30 lbs from not having the money to eat.

Luckily, I can eat at one of the hospitals I work, for free, when the cafeteria is open. Otherwise, I would starve. I work over 100 hours a week. I am sleep deprived, and I live 1000 miles away from my family and friends. I have no support here. I had to leave my dogs at my parent's house because I have no place to put them here. I am unable to get a second job or "moonlight" under my training contract. I have had to move 4 times within the last year, which is not cheap. Despite all of this, I was told that I needed to come up with $1000 soon. Otherwise, I was going to collections and then, at that point, there was nothing that Sallie Mae could do for me.

Within months after submitting the final payment, I received an invoice from Sallie Mae indicating I had a balance of $448.68. I sent Sallie Mae a copy of the "Paid In Full" invoice and letter stating the loan was paid in full. Sallie Mae did not respond to the letter, only sent a payment book. Again, I sent the copy of the "Paid in Full" letter. I called and spoke to a customer service rep who indicated that a mistake had been made and to disregard the paid in full letter, that I needed to pay the balance. I continued to correspond with Sallie Mae suggesting perhaps their error was crediting the funds or balance to someone else's account. I emphasized that upon meeting with Roxanne (financial advisor) at Bryant and Stratton, the final payment commitment was met. The purpose was to leave the college without a balance because I knew I was not going to return to the school.

I do not feel responsible nor obligated for any errors on behalf of Sallie Mae or Bryant and Stratton. I paid in full what was presented on documentation and presently in possession of a congratulatory and thank you letter stating my loan was paid in full presented by Sallie Mae. If there was an error, the responsible party would appear to be primarily Sallie Mae and/or Bryant and Stratton. I was extended a letter of apology from Sallie Mae admitting their mistake and an accumulation of late fees, penalties and threatening collection letters. I too extended my apologies for the misunderstanding, but included the statement that I should not be held responsible for their errors for the alleged balance.

They are starting to send me letters stating that I have requested postponements and/or deferments that I did not request. I hope that you at Consumer Affairs can assist me in resolving this issue that has been going on since 2006. I do not owe any money to Sallie Mae nor am I delinquent or responsible for any other obligation. It would be greatly appreciated if you could get them to stop sending invoices and clear my account. It would be greatly appreciated if you could get them to stop sending invoices and clear my account.

More than a year later, I'm still getting harassing calls from Sallie Mae as well as from external collections agencies they've sold the account to. I keep sending copies of the agreement, but it never appears in my file. No one cares, and they are ugly. My credit report is getting continually hit. Talking to them is a nightmare; when I am able to speak with them, many times they hang up on me. I was at last told that there is one group within Sallie Mae who is responsible for the deal that was cut and they haven't done the due diligence to correct my file.

Sallie Mae won't follow up and make that happen. I have to call that department myself and start the fight again. Only problem is the phone number they gave me never has a human attached. It is an answering machine telling me that the lines are busy and I should call back in an hour. It then disconnects. They are trashing my credit, upsetting me daily; and I don't even owe them any money!

They called my cell phone about 8-9 times a day, and after I called them to discuss payment/deferment options, they call about 5 times a day now. It's stressful enough trying to find a job in this economy and living on your own, not to mention medical bills to pay off (no insurance either!). The representative I spoke with was rather rude as well. "So, you called to push your loans back with no money?" Um, yes. How unfair is it that my great credit and financial history is going down the craper because they make no effort to help in these hard times? I never said I wasn't paying back; I will, but how so without a job?! Where is my bailout?

The representative began to process the payment, realized he had forgotten to post date it, cancelled it, and put a post dated charge. Three hours later, when checking my account balance, I realized that the original charge was pending, causing those funds to become unavailable. After speaking to them for almost an hour and a half the following day, being bounced from representative to representative, I finally ended up with Janelle, who after investigating, found out that the original request of forbearance was fully completed but not sent down for processing. Janelle wiped the delinquent amount off my account and filed a forbearance for all of my loans (since I was now so financially far in the hole).

The bigger matter at hand was that the incorrect, cancelled transaction from the day before, was sitting in my bank as a pending transaction. I desperately needed access to that money, so I spoke to my bank, and managed to get a number Sallie Mae could call and cancel the transaction. At 3:00, I began trying to get through to someone who was willing to at least take that number, phone me and pretend to call. Once I finally got someone who was interested in helping me, the offices were closed, so he could not get the information needed to cancel the pending transaction. It is yet to be resolved!

He then began requesting more money due at a later time. I explained I was only paying the amount originally agreed upon between my self and the other rep which is also the same amount he offered me in the beginning. He then put a "manager" named Tim on (I believe that was his name.). He began demanding more money. I told him the calls had been monitored and the notes should be in, so I know how much I was offered and he could see it too. He began to get quiet and looked over the notes. He saw where I spoke with somebody before. He still began demanding more money from me.

I told him I was only paying $150 to bring them current like I was told before. He then would not accept my payment, unless I put more money with it. He began telling me about the default, and I stated to him I knew about the default because I have worked in collections of defaulted loans. I stated to him I'm paying $150 onto my loans or I would just have to deal with it in another manner. He still would not accept my money. I told him I would be filing a complaint with the BBB. He stated that I go ahead and do it. I thanked him and got off the phone.

I continued making payments, but after a couple of months, my credit still showed the account delinquent. When I checked again, I found my payments again not properly reflected. I contacted Sallie Mae again and was again told they had been improperly allocated and would be corrected. After numerous emails and phone calls, I finally discovered that Sallie Mae puts all a borrower's loans on a single account number. Of course, they don't tell you that if you are a co-signer trying to make payments. That way, when your payment arrives, they are able to allocate the payment (your money) to whatever loans are the most delinquent. Since they do this across all their student loans, it substantially improves the apparent quality of their loan portfolio. It is, of course, completely illegal to use a co-signer's payments on loans for which that co-signer has no liability or affiliation of any kind. It is quite simply, theft. They get away with it because having multiple loans on one account number virtually assures this kind of mistake. So they can misuse co-signer payments and just play dumb.

I have now been making payments on time for over six months, and Sallie Mae continues to report me as delinquent. I have challenged the status with the credit bureaus directly, but Sallie Mae just confirms the delinquency, even though the loan is not delinquent. I have made countless attempts to get someone at Sallie Mae to address this to no avail. Add to this the outrageous interest rate they charge (over 11% when the prime rate is less than 1%), and the fact that they still charge you the interest even if you pay the loan off early and you have what I can only characterize as a morally deficient, parasitic organization that this country would be better off without!

For that reason, I am soliciting any other Sallie Mae student loan co-signers with similar experiences to participate in a class action lawsuit against Sallie Mae, as well as a petition to the SEC to bring charges against Sallie Mae for misappropriation of funds. I welcome contact from other plaintiffs as well as any litigation attorneys that would be interested in getting involved. This company is preying on people that are just trying to get an education, or help someone they care about to get one. They need to be put out of business!

Consequences: Damage to otherwise perfect credit, loss of days of my time trying to sort it out. Loss of best interest rate on my recent home refinance, and resulted in my having to pay points where I have never had to do so before. This may not be a lot by itself, but given how Sallie Mae operates, and how their loan management is setup, it is a given there are lots of other co-signers out there with similar claims. Together they amount to a lot!

Prior to that, I would only receive a statement when my nephew's student loan was seriously delinquent. I wrote a letter to ask them to withdraw the negative credit reporting and they responded by saying that they were fair in reporting the payments as delinquent, regardless of whether I get a statement or not. I kept trying and in March, a young man from Sallie Mae told me that he would ensure that I received a statement in the future. I have still not received a statement from Sallie Mae. I contacted them today and they told me that it was not possible for me to receive a statement until it is severely past due.

Each person agrees that this is not fair lending practice but say that is the way it is. I have tried to resolve this issue responsibly but Sallie Mae is not accountable to anybody and refuse to work with me other than collect payments and threaten to assign my loan to the federal government for litigation against me. As I read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, this in itself is illegal. I have researched these issues and I keep coming back to the fact that Sallie Mae can do whatever they want without legal consequences.

I have read many complaints about unfair treatment from Sallie Mae, how they have ruined many students' financial lives, how they illegally give money to Vo-Techs and Career Centers to push the student loans to them, and how Congress continues to debate their unfair collection practices. They have lied to me on the phone. They have hung up on me several times. They have transferred to other departments that do not handle this type of loan. They don't care because apparently there are no consequences.

Needless to say, all my other loans (not with Sallie Mae, thank goodness) consolidated fine. What started as a $4600 loan is now $6900 (less than 2 years later) and growing. They have the interest at 9.75%, and it compounds daily at $1.80 day just in interest. By the end of each month, less than $20.00 is actually going towards this loan. They won't consider lowering the interest at all; they won't let me consolidate with my others. I don't understand why they would truly do this to someone fresh out of school and trying to make it. It makes it almost not worth going to school in the first place.

If I were dumb enough to pay out the loan on their terms, what started as a $4600 loan would be over $13,000 in the end. Unbelievable. All I can hope for is to pay them off as quick as possible. In the meantime, I still have other loans and payments to make. These folks are crooks. I don't know how they sleep at night knowing they rake people over coals day after day.

In April 2009, Sallie Mae took $236 from my checking account without verifying it with me first. I was under the impression that $10 was going to be taken out and made sure that was in the bank but definitely not $236. I called the next business day to see what had happened, and the customer service representative could not even explain to me why they took that out of my account.

After being on the phone with the representative for 30 minutes, I was told that after a year of being with Sallie Mae, my monthly payments were supposed to be raised. I assured them that I was still a full-time student and could not afford to make those payments. They then told me that they needed me to send them proof that I was still in school and that they would fix it (because apparently they had no records that I was still attending school).

In June 2008, I switched from my private college to an adult school continuing the same career which was court reporting. If they had no records of me still attending, then why didn't they realize this that summer when I transferred? It just didn't make any sense. I sent them copies of my statements showing that I had gone negative because of their failure to tell me that my payment was going to be increased, and they told me that they were going to fix it. But they never did.

So, because I went negative and because I am only getting 10 hours weekly, there was no way for me to make the next month's payment on time. I have never been late with this company, and I just couldn't understand why they were not helping me. Honestly, if I had the money and I was told in advance that my payment was going to increase and that I would have been given the reason for it, then of course I would pay it. I borrowed the money in the first place, so I'm going to pay it back.

All I wanted was for them to help, to at least give me a month advance notice that I was going to be withdrawn $236 from my checking account rather than $10. I not only had to pay insufficient fees with my bank, but I also could not afford all my other payments with credit cards and such and had late fees with them. I had to cancel my automatic payment with them so that I could catch up with my debt. And I did not pay my May payment, because I simply could not afford to do it.

I had spoke to a representative again, trying to see what they were going to do for me; and they said that they were going to lower my payments to $180 monthly. Still, that was quite difficult for me, but I agreed. I never was told anything about the money that they were going to either refund back to me or use towards my next month's payment.

Now, after trying to make my payments current with them. They have been calling nonstop, trying to get me to pay them and telling me an amount that will make me current. Then later, I found out when I logged in online to my account that it's another amount. This month, I made the appropriate payments later to find out that my fees were already send into collections. Still, I made more payments to get them out of collections and was given a different phone number to call to see if I can speak to a supervisor.

They are very unorganized and have no idea what they are doing. The customer representatives seem as if they were never even trained and don't know anything. I supposedly spoke to a "supervisor" once but can almost guarantee that it was just another representative, because they treated me very poorly and did not want to help their client in any way possible.

Sallie Mae says I will have to pay them $150 every 10 weeks to stay in deferment. This doesn't sound right. But since every time I call Sallie Mae, it is a different person, it is hard to know who is giving the correct information. Only three days ago, a Sallie Mae rep called and said I'm still in deferment because I am in school. I am having a very hard time since the credit crises and my credit rate has fallen because of stupid actions by the banks.

Sallie Mae says not only will they destroy my credit rating by reporting me as default on my student loans, but they will barrage me with phone calls. My health is my wealth at this point, and I won't be able to handle the round the clock calls. This isn't right. If they treated me as a human being, they and I would be happier. I don't want to default on my student loans, but until I am out of school and employed (I am looking for work for next year now), I can't pay them.

Is anyone watching this company? They are punishing students who might have good intentions with their badgering and not putting stuff in writing.

Their latest thing is to have a recording call you, you hit #9 as instructed, you get a message after holding for a very long time saying a representative is not available and call back during business hours Eastern Time. Well, they called me 9 at night and called me on Sunday. I have left very rude messages back to them. I have advised them I will contact the State Attorney General’s office for harassment. Why don’t they go after people that are really deadbeats and not people that pay their bills. Sure I can see if I was several weeks behind, but 2-3 days is ridiculous and they always call after I have paid. I told them I would really like to default to see what that would bring. I cannot wait till the remaining balance of $4400 is paid in full with them. It is just plain harassment and is very irritating.

They called my brother's home as well, several times per day until he had to block them totally from his phone number. Each and every time I have called them to do my part of the loan and try to resolve something, I am switched to different people until eventually they hung up on me, which has gotten so annoying I have stopped calling.

Finally, I have somebody who claims they sent me an approval letter for a forbearance, and that same day, I am called by a collection agency telling me that my account was sent to them. As of yet, I have not been able to contact Sallie Mae and get any cooperation from them--only threats of my account being past due and asking if I can make a debit payment with credit card at the time of call.

I called them again and got a different response to my question of deferring my loans till after school because I am enrolled at least half of the time. The second time, I was told that I didn't have to do anything and that the school would take care of it for me. I then got another bill. So I called, and they told me a third version, saying I had to fill a form out and fax it in and that they would mail it to me. I never received that letter and got a phone call which said my account was past due.

I then spoke to someone else (I'm in school now.), who said they would make the form available online in the next 24 hours. I printed it and faxed it on 05/20/09. (I started SS 05/19/09.) They told me that they did not receive the form until 06/02, and then I got another bill which said I owed two monthly payments since I didn't pay my previous balance and that this amount would remain on my account until paid and would accrue interest as well as more payments, because each time I enter a new term, they need my school to notify them.

This brings me to the next thing. They told me I'm only in forbearance until 06/24/09, because SS1 ends then and I would have to repay after that. I went back to school starting the following day on 06/25/09 until 07/31/09. They told me that my school had until 6/28/09 (due date of bill) to notify them that I was still in school. But they already knew it wouldn't be received until 07/02/09. He stated, "By law, you do not have to pay this loan while you are in school. However, the payment due will remain on your account until paid and we have 21 days to process your school's form". So each time I restart a term, if they do not receive their paperwork a month in advance from the school, a payment will be charged to my account each time.

The school will not send out paperwork this far in advance, because they have no knowledge if you will actually be in school in a month; things can come up--you can drop your classes, withdraw from school, anything. So basically, by the time I graduate, my first payment due will be all the payments they billed to my account each month it took them to process it. If I calculated it correctly, my first payment will be over $3,000.

They also have during that 21-day period, time to call and harass the number that they have on file (which is my cell phone); and they will call you at any time during the week no matter what day. I worked for a collection agency, and by law, we were never allowed to call someone after they told us to not call anymore and remove their phone number, after 9 o'clock which is the payee's time during the week, after 6 pm which is the payee's time on Saturday, and absolutely on Sundays. If they do call you at any of those times, you have the right to sue the ** out of them. And I advise you try to get as much money out of them as possible, at least return the favor, so to speak.

My mother also paid one of the payments and was charged $10 over the amount listed. When I asked the supervisor, he told me there was no fee and that the price was the normal monthly payment and no fees of any kind. I asked him then why she was charged extra, and he said because there was a processing fee for paying over the phone with her credit for $10. So why did you tell me there was no fee, yet you just said fee?

Another favorite thing of mine was the idiot who told me that there were only 28 days in March. Last time I checked, the only time there's only 28 days in any month, it's every four years during a leap year, which is in February!

All I wanted to do was to speak with someone who spoke fluent English and had a clear American accent, so I could understand what they were saying. I didn't sign up for this loan to get attitude from these fake telemarketers.

On May 28, I called so many times and didn't get the correct person. (The gal on the phone felt sorry for me and whispered, "Call this number (1-866-989-1879) instead and don't hang up until you get a supervisor." He hung up too?! I suspect he was not who he said he was. He told me I needed operator P-66 my collector that they did make a mistake. Why didn't he correct it? Why should I call back again to ask and answer same verification questions such as name, address, phone, etc? This is a failed system. But I sense they don't care!

I have been lied to continuously by them! They do not have my phone number (thank God), but have resorted to calling family members (not co-signers) and harassing them! When I asked to speak to a manager, the same person I just spoke to came back on the phone claiming to be someone else! Now, after I've had to file bankruptcy, and am trying desperately to get myself back on track, after I've resumed some type of payment to them, I get a letter stating that if I don't pay my loans in full, they will default! I've tried hard to work with a company to make payments who is working against me!

My wife went from making $40 to $13 per hour or $65,000 + bonus to $28,000. None of our payment can be reduced. The banks can get bailed out and let me tell you, with all the phone calls I get at home and at work, it is frustrating. They want 3 postdated checks or the full balance paid off. Ha, if I can't afford the payments, how can I pay the balance off? The next step is for Sallie Mae to garnish my paycheck or get a court order to my checking account. When that happens, I will have to give up the mortgage payment and live under a bridge like the rest of the homeless. I always wondered why people live in alleyways, parks, and under bridges. I am about to find out. Thank you, Sallie Mae and the schools you corrupted. And we thought Al Capone was a bad guy?

I called Sallie Mae to see what was going on with the forbearance. They said they never got it, maybe it was delayed, to call back, give it a week. I re-faxed, called back - "oh, give it a week." They never got it. I re-faxed 2 more times. Then I did not hear from Sallie Mae. Now, it is the end of March 09. On Sunday 8:30 am, a man called my house and said he was Sallie Mae Collection. I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me my loan was in collection, that for me to give him my social security number. I told him, "No way," - I would not give him that info - "but thank you for calling. I will call Sallie Mae on Monday." I checked online and I saw the forbearance was rejected.

On Sunday, 20 min. later, the same man called me back. I screamed at him not to ever bother me on a Sunday! I told him, "I said I will call Sallie Mae and never ever call me again," and to take my number off his list and I hung up. I called Sallie Mae on Monday. They told me that I was rejected for the forbearance. The woman was very rude. She informed me that I need to check my mail. I said that I never got anything in the mail. The woman was very, very rude. I told her that I could not repay and she went off on that I needed to repay my loan and read like a script on repaying and blamed me for not checking my email. I was in shock. What is wrong with Sallie Mae? I hung up.

Now it is April, I called Sallie Mae for help. I need help and my loan is overdue. I had to call 6 times, a total of 3 hours and was transferred 30 times (yes, I counted). I was even transferred to NYS Higher Education and the woman said she could not do a thing for me, to call Sallie Mae. The next day, I called back Sallie Mae. Over an hour later, I was told that if I fill out an automatic debit form, that would be the only way to make my account current. The man said he would email it to me. He never did.

I called Sallie Mae and got a very nasty woman who told me to just repay your loan. I tried to explain to her what the issue was. But she was so nasty. I just said, "Where can I get the paperwork online so I can fill out the correct form?" She told me, "Not online." I said, "Would you please send it to me?" She told me that I would get it in 24 hours. I asked her, "How long to automatic debit?" She told me, "2 to 3 days, it will be processed." The man prior to her told me the same thing. She told me that this was the only way.

A few hours later, the form was in my email box. I filled out the form and faxed it in 2 times to the number. I called 2 days later and got a very nice woman who said, "No, it was not received." She said to resend it to another number, that the number I sent it to was a main number, that it may take a while for it to be processed. I also told her about the Sunday call and she said that I was 63 days late with my loan and she didn't know why anyone was calling me but that once I pay, no one will call me again. I told her to make a note never to ever call me again, that email was the best way (now that I know that is how SM does business). She said there was no way she could stop the calls. The same day, I re-faxed it again, right then, 2 times. She also told me 2 to 3 days and then my account would be current.

I was in shock, again. I hung up and called back another time, maybe the man was mistaken. No, according to the woman who said the same thing as the man and if my automatic debit doesn't take by May 23rd, then I had to pay it online and that I should have filled out the paperwork online; it would have been 2 or 3 days then. I told her the paper work was not online, that the only way I could get and process the paperwork was through email and fax. I was told to fax it in was the only way. All she kept saying was, "I am sorry," - like all the other reps with the "I am sorry" script. How fake! Don't they know if you don't mean it, you don't say it?

The lady told me to check back on May 23rd and if it was not in place, I needed to pay automatic debit online from my bank and that was what I should have done in the first place. I told her that I wanted to do that but was told no, the only way to make my account current was to do the auto debit. She said "Sorry, please call back," and again, "if it is not there, you have to pay online."

What is wrong with Sallie Mae? Do they want me to go into default? It seems so. Why can they not help me? Why is it so hard for them to get it straight? How many other Sallie Mae loans are they messing up?

Currently, there is about $1,173.00 that I am paying interest on that I should not be. I am obtaining copies of my original checks from my bank for proof of this intent. I need to have this account re-adjusted and re-calculated based on contract agreement & how I sent the money in, which should bring me down $1,173.00 plus any interest that was miscalculated along with it. I have never been late or missed a payment since payments began so I am sure this is an “easy fix.” However, the contact to "Customer Service" only gives me canned answers etc. I asked what else do I need to do? Do they have special forms for future reference? But all they indicate is “send a letter along with payment,” which is not working and no news of rectifying the current problem.

In the beginning of his 2nd year, the school told him he could no longer attend classes because he needed to pay his loan, which made no sense to him because he hadn't graduated yet? With no other option, he moved back home to St. Louis without a degree, in hopes that he could return to finish it once the loan issue was resolved. This never happened. He was slapped with $600 monthly payments. He was unable to make payments because he was making minimum wage at a dead-end job. He gave up his apartment since he could no longer afford that and his car payment. He moved back in with his parents to help cushion his financial situation, but it wasn't enough. He fell behind on payments, and then soon, the harassing phone calls and letters began.

In 2007, we received a letter that California was making a class action suit against Sallie Mae and Brooks Art Institute because they had "screwed over students with loans [to be frank]". He sent his information about his loan and school records, but apparently, his situation did not apply. Last September, an unexpected pregnancy caused us to put his federal loans into a forbearance (only for 1 year). Yet still, we receive notices in the mail once a month saying we need to pay the full balance of the loan, which is now $39,000 with interest. What payments we have paid don't touch the loan itself but only the accrued interest.

Chris's credit is awful (beyond repair)! We don't know what to do. I have even taken out a personal loan to get his credit straightened out but still it's in the dumps. We are afraid we will never be able to buy a home or a car or anything. He only had 3-4 credit worthy accounts, which are in good standing, but even that doesn't help. Several times he has been declined for jobs because of his bad credit. We are at our wits’ end and feel like this debt is going to eat us alive! It just doesn't seem right. How can they charge him that much every month when he never even got a degree? And how is he supposed to get a good job? He can't even go back to school now because he can't afford to. When is something going to give?

I cannot get any loans to pay off my bills. My credit card companies have notified me that my credit score is bad so that they have to restructure my credit. My credit score is in the dumps, which in turn has made me not employable by any places of employment I applied for work. Thanks to this ungrateful, greedy snob of a company. I can't sleep anymore, I constantly worry about money all the time, and I have migraines from all of this stress. I hate Sallie Mae so much that I would be happy if it is shut down and its employees could get a taste of being rejected and harassed and, most of all, I regret going back to school so that I could better myself.

I am quickly becoming a very angry old woman who feels that once again, the giant corporation is seeking to crush her and anyone else they can - I just want an even playing field. After all, this is an unsecured debt and we are in an economic depression. I do feel that the only way to change this is through congressional action - they created this monster and need to fix it. We do need to become very vocal and persistent in demanding an equitable set of rules including a tax-free write-down of the excessive charges and high interest rates.

I am conferring with my attorney to plan how I will or will not handle this loan when I retire in the next few years. One thing I am determined to do is not let them get me down - they cannot put me in jail and I refuse to talk with those idiots in the Philippines. What an insult to me that they are using my money to pay someone in a third world country to discuss my daughters' student loans! We must fight for justice in this matter and remember that Sallie Mae is not so big that they don't have to answer to us. I believe that what these companies fear the most is the average citizen who demands they be held accountable.

To make a long story short, it took several calls to SM before I finally received a copy of an electronically signed promissory note that did have my name, SS#, address, but wrong phone number. The SM computer calls my house 3-4 times a day including weekends. I used to answer it and explained to several representatives what the situation was. They just said, "I'll make a note in your file." Since I'm not accustomed to being a victim of fraud, I foolishly thought they would do something about it - like maybe instruct me on what to do. Finally, after going round and round with a different SM representative every time I called or they called, one kind lady explained that I needed to call the Fraud Department and leave a message.

The SM Fraud Department never answers their phone. You have to leave a message. A woman from the Fraud Department called me that same day and explained what I needed to do and that I should send what info I had, which was basically the promissory note with my name on it and I also included a memo from SM that wanted my son's correct address. They had him living in Fort Wayne and none of us have ever lived in Fort Wayne. In the meantime, my son was also claiming fraud because he did not request this loan. He had to pester SM for weeks before he got a copy of yet another promissory note for the same amount, but with no co-signer listed.

On April 2, 2009 I called the Fraud Department. I waited three weeks and called back on April 21 because I still had not received a fraud packet. The second person in the Fraud Department asked me (keep in mind they record these phone conversations), "Will you assist in prosecuting?" I answered, "I can only tell you what I know for sure and that's, that I did not sign for a SM loan." She repeated the question and I repeated my answer. Isn't it true? We can only tell what we know? Today is April 25, 2009 and I still do not have that fraud packet.

I was told once the loan goes to default status my name will remain on it forever. I'm concerned that they are stalling on purpose to allow the proper time to pass and try to stick me for a $7,500 plus interest that I never received and knew absolutely nothing about. I called and left a message on Saturday, April 25, 2009 and said if I did not have a fraud packet by the end of next week I was turning the matter over to my attorney. Tonight, I Googled SM fraud problems and found an astounding amount of complaints against SM.

At times, I've even just put the check in the mail and tell them so. But they ask me to pay over the phone and cancel the check. And they always drive the conversation to a point of asking on the recorded call "So you are refusing to pay?!" I explain, "No, I am paying you, just not now because I don't have the fund in my account yet, or I just did through the mail." But they always keep coercing me for a payment, which is basically asking do something illegal and fraudulent akin to writing a bad check.

In July 2008, at a time I was unemployed, I tell the supervisor whom I'd asked for (because the caller couldn't understand "I don't have the money") that I'm unemployed, and they will be paid when I have the funds. The supervisor tells me "Well, why don't you go get a job?" Naturally, my fuse blew at that point. I lost it and advised him with creative activities using various body parts. What's next, sending someone over to break my knee caps? (At least if they came over to pay me a visit like a loan shark, I could respond with my fists or a baseball bat.) At that point, I realized the supervisors in Sallie Mae manage and lead a team with the goal of calling to coerce and harass people who are behind or unable to pay their payments.

I am angered beyond the edge of my limit. I am enslaved by Sallie Mae with no legal recourse. To have a customer service supervisor tell me to look for a job (when I was and was actually waiting for a contract to start up) was beyond infuriating. This lender is insane. That was 9 months ago. Unfortunately, my contract ended, and I am again unemployed. Even for an educated skilled web worker like me, economic conditions don't care if I have used up my forbearance. My unemployment check goes to pay Sallie Mae, not other needs. I'll have to forfeit/foreclose my home because I can't dissolve education loans through bankruptcy. I see no options and my credit is screwed either way. The constant calls encroach on my personal life, wellness, and sanity. To keep a sense of humor through this, I have to adopt a case of adult onset Tourette's syndrome (triggered by Sallie Mae).

The billings started after 6 months, and I was floored again. I would owe each month around $2,300.00. I found out by contacting them that the signature loans were high interest loans. One was 21% and the least one was 17%. That was the majority of the money I received from them. I was able to consolidate around $20,000 for a payment of $127.00 a month through a bank other than Sallie Mae. So I owe around $70,000. I contacted Sallie Mae and told them that for one, I did not even make that much in a month. So they gave me a forbearance. This kept on going on until just recently when I ran out of forbearance time. They give you 5. I still cannot afford the payments and asked several people if they could work with me and accept what I could afford.

(During the past year, my mother who lived with me and helped me with the mortgage and food committed suicide; then, I had no money left for bills or the mortgage.) My house just now went into foreclosure and I had to declare bankruptcy. I tried to talk to these people. They seem to think that money grows on trees. I went through my bills with them (car payment, rent utilities, plus my son is out of a job and I have to help him as well). I want to pay this debt, but I can only afford $100.00 a month. I tried to explain and ask how come the mortgage companies can lower the interest rates and they can't. I did not get an explanation. I was just told that is not the way they operate.

I need help. Since I moved, my phone number had changed. So they found my work number (I did not give that to them). Now, I am getting harassed at work 3 to 4 times daily. Can they do that? I am a hardworking, tax-paying citizen that has fallen down on her luck, and no one seems to care. If you can help me, I'd appreciate it. I was hoping that the bankruptcy would take that debt away and then was told it does not. These people are worse than the bill collectors were, calling me all day long at work. I am very upset and need someone on my side. Like I said, I don't want to default; but at this point, I don't really have a choice. They told me that unless I make the whole payment, they will come after me. Is this America? I feel like I live in a communist country where my rights are being taken away from me. Please help me if you can.

Did you know that when you give Sallie Mae your money they just give it right back to the President? He's gotten enough of my money to bail people out; I don't think he needs more. Sallie Mae steals money and harasses you. I have gotten calls 11 times a day. Isn't there a law about harassment calls? If I quit or lose my job, they'll take the money out of my husband’s two jobs. Never ever get a loan with Sallie Mae. What a mistake. Maybe I should have never gone to school. I work and don't see my paycheck. Sallie Mae now gets the whole thing.

On 4-13-09, I called and was told again that the letter was sent on the 7th. No request for a second letter showed in their files. I again requested a second letter be generated. On 4-14-09, I called to see if the request for a second letter was showing in their records. It wasn't. I went to their website and clicked on the contact us link and explained what was happening, and that I was very upset with their customer service. This is what I received in reply:

Thank you for your inquiry and for your business with Sallie Mae. We believe in providing quality customer service and are continually updating our procedures at all facilities to ensure this commitment is met. I am very sorry that we fell short of that goal. Thank you for bringing your experience to our attention so that we may identify ways to improve our service. We at Sallie Mae look forward to providing you with the service you deserve. According to our records, the letter was sent to you via email on April 7, 2009. You should have received the letter within 24 to 48 hours. I have resent the letter to you via email. You should receive the letter in approximately 24 to 48 hours. If we may be of further assistance, please visit our website at www.salliemae.com.

I thought it couldn't be sent via email! 15 days and counting. I could be in freaking escrow right now. Without this letter, I can't qualify for the USDA loan and have to go FHA, which means I need $5,000 to $8,000 vs $0 out of pocket with USDA. Thank you Sallie Mae for the wonderful service.

I am going to write to my senators and congressmen as well as you because I am getting nowhere. They are harassing me, saying I am past overdue yet even though I want to pay it off, they can't seem to tell me what that is. Very confusing and frustrating. The website looks like sales, sales, sales from hell. I have very good credit, but I fear they will ruin it. I will never take loans again and after the trouble with them in the beginning. They sold me this loan like a car salesman and did not let me know what it would entail, so I stopped and began paying school with my credit cards.

They are a big mess. They constantly hang up on you even when you ask a simple question. I have been hung up on twenty times or so and all I said was my name sometimes (I have never gotten the chance to get a manager or get mad at them, I wish!). I need help and so does the rest of America! Scary!

The first disbursement was never received by my school nor I. I had to cancel the rest and drop out of school due to no funds for my tuition. I only had one year left. I was so depressed for months. I am now being charged for the loan that I never had. I am now in default because I am not paying for a loan I never received. My school and I have sent many letters to Sallie Mae notifying them that we never received the check and to please do an investigation to find out where the check was sent, and to put a stop on the check. They have done nothing to help me, but ruin my life and credit.

I found out where the check was sent, but they still have not helped me. Please, I am crying out for help!

When I called to make the second payment to extend my forbearance, I asked to speak to the person and extension I had spoken with the first time, as she said I could contact her directly. I was hung up on by the first accented person after he refused to transfer me and I asked why. The second person said they do not have the capability to transfer my call, which is absurd. Heaven forbid I am allowed to discuss my loan situation with someone who may be familiar with me. I constantly get hung up on when asking questions they do not want to answer. I get told something different every time I call.

The first time I tried to get forbearance, I was told that deferments were not allowed for financial hardship. How can they expect a grad to pay $700 a month in a recession, after graduating a few months prior? How is financial hardship given the global economy not grounds for them to work with me on this? It is unbelievable. After getting two short forbearances, I am now told that I will have to make a payment of almost $800 to get 3 month forbearance, once this one ends. If I could do that, I would make a payment!

Their practices are unfair and completely irrational. They ruin people's credit as soon as they get out of school, making it impossible to move forward in life and actually become financially stable. I'm going to graduate school in a few months, but if I don't make a payment once this is up in the month span between the end of my forbearance and my school enrollment, I'll have the 20 calls a day back on my phone from collections. Trying to pay for school in cash to avoid taking more loans will surely keep me from making an $800 payment. I'm terrified about the other stories of trying to consolidate, as I will do anything to consolidate my loans with another company to avoid having to deal with their unethical business practices.

I got a forbearance and had to pay $100 just to process the paperwork. Hello?! I could have used that towards some of the payment! Once the paperwork went through, I was able to pay $186 for four months. I was laid off and had to get another one. I paid my $100 like the first time but, this time, I was told I didn't have to pay anything, which was weird, and they only gave it to me for 2 months! I also met my husband in culinary school who also has student loans. Between us, we have to pay so much money a month that there is no way we could live.

Once my husband was done with school, his child's mother hit him with child support (over $400 a month and that's based off $10 an hour) because she had the son when my husband went to school. How can just us, little people coming out of school, expect any of this when they are telling us it will be easy? And we're making only $10 an hour.

I called Sallie Mae and spoke with two different people. The first person was rude, indifferent, and sounded like a robot repeating the same thing over and over. He said they had only given me the 10-day payoff on one of my two loans. The payoff on that loan would have been around $9,000, but I had sent in enough to amazingly cover both loans. After explaining this to him, he repeated the same answer. After about 30 minutes with this individual, I asked to be transferred to his supervisor. I was connected to someone who stated his name was Steven ** (I have my doubts to his real name). At any rate, I started anew with my concerns and he stated the same thing as the first individual. I proceeded to explain how this was impossible and he stated there was no record of my calling for a 10-day payoff. In the same breath, he said that they had only given me the 10-day payoff for one of my loans.

After going around and around for another 40 minutes, he finally said there had been a processing error. I asked what this meant and he said they had put someone else's payment in my account six months ago. Only after I tried to do the right thing and pay off my loan did they catch this error - they charged me for the interest on the missing money. I can only imagine how much money they make off of these errors. I would not recommend getting a loan through them because despite wanting to do the right thing, they will eventually get every bit from you and then figure out how to squeeze out more. They have the upper hand in the process and you can write in to dispute the problem. But in the meantime, interest is accruing and it is a long process at that.

I have to say to anyone who is thinking of dealing with Sallie Mae, please think long and hard about it. These guys have special permissions because they are their own collections agency and can quite literally call you on the phone while you're talking to them (this has happened to me).

Sallie Mae gave me the option to be homeless and not be able to eat or pay them each month. They are rude and not understanding with the economy that we have today. I did not refuse to make a payment, however I cannot pay $400 a month on a loan payment. I offered to pay about $50 a month which is the most I can afford after rent, light bill, phone bill, water, gas, food, medical bills, car insurance, car maintenance, and federal loan payments, however they refused my offer and threatening to say if I do not pay the $400 a month, that it would go to collections, then I would have to go to court, and then they would begin to draft the money out of my checking account that wouldn't even have that amount in it. So then after spending an hour on the phone with a rep one day, he asked me how much all of bills were a month and said he could bring my monthly bill down to $252 for 1 year however they still do not seem to understand that I cannot afford that either.

So anyways, the rep had me set up a payment via credit card for the month of February and said they I can pay online with my credit card if needed. Now when he took my credit card payment over the phone, he did not mention a processing fee of $14.95 for using a credit card, which was not applied, however the next month when I went to go make my payment online with my credit card, online only gives you the option to make a checking or savings account payment which I do not have either. So I called in to make a credit card payment and then are told that there is a $14.95 processing fee each time I make a credit card payment, so now I can't win for losing. I have tried to meet them 1/2 way, and I still get screwed each month. I wish that I would have never taken a dime from these ** to go to school. All they want is their money in full when they want it and do not try to work with people and they monthly incomes.

We tried talking to them to have it delayed for awhile but they wanted $100 plus the payment of the loan and that will only be for 3 months. They are very annoying and will call 3 - 4 times a day even after we make a payment. In this time of economic peril is there anyway or anyone who can help my son work with this governmental agency? We are also paying his car payment and his insurance to help him through this. Do you have any advise for us on how to get them to help my son. He is becoming depressed with all the phone calls and no job in site. Thank you.

I checked the clearinghouse list. My enrollment has been consistently at the full time level since I began here 3 year ago. I spoke to a representative about a month ago. Today, I received a notice in the mail that I owe $170 past due on my account. I'm not sure what miscommunication they have within their business. I informed the financial aid office at the school I attend and they did nothing. I intend to contact my state attorney general and I intend to contact Senator Edward Kennedy's office. I have never been able to call Sallie Mae and talk to an agent. I've only spoken with them if they contact me. This makes it very difficult to explain my grievances to them.

I understood that but if I'm making payments on time and early, then payments should reflect some payment towards the principal. I was told since I made an early payment and the capitalized interest of approximately $650 a month is on a 30-day period, that essentially, because my payment was made 36 days, from October 1 to November 6, that less was applied to principal. I asked then what you're saying is that you have essentially reset my due date without telling me and she replied no. I cannot get to a supervisor but it is obvious that SallieMae is playing games to get them more income. I don't know how anyone could ever get out of debt with their accounting practices.

I called Sallie Mae twice as well. The first person I spoke with said that she could not find the payment and would put in a request for research which would take two to five days. This was not acceptable so the person gave me the customer service number. Nancy found the funds transfer and all of the information in a matter of minutes; however she kept me on the line for almost 20 minutes stating that she was having the issue corrected. At the end of the conversation she said that it would take 48 hours to five days to post to my son's account. When I told her I now understood why there were so many complaints against Sallie Mae she said that I should be grateful that they were there to give my son a loan in the first place.

There is no excuse for this type of business processing or behavior of staff. Sallie Mae appears to destroy credit at will, using every underhanded means to jack up the loan amount and tack on penalties. I am not the only one who is having issues. Our family has been called nonstop from 5 different area codes - all Sallie Mae. It does not surprise me that they can't keep their records in order.

Sallie Mae has been contacting me for over two months asking for payment stating I'm not in school. My school has even sent them paperwork stating that I'm in school. They have even gotten notice from the Student Clearinghouse stating my attendance. Even if I had a couple of weeks off between classes that does not amount to the 6 months they said they give you.

This is stressing me out. I am getting calls every night. They are even calling my dad who is the cosigner. When they call it's not even a real person on the line it's an message asking to call them back and when I call back I can't get through or when I do get through they hang up on me three times before I can reach someone. Not to mention the customer service department is rude. I just don't know how much more information I can give them.

My son told the Sallie Mae employee he could not talk about this tonight on the phone because he was recovering and in the emergency room yesterday as he almost lost his life from an allergic reaction to seafood that was in a vitamin pill and they said that was no concern of theirs, they will collect from the co-signer, "your father." NICE PEOPLE WORKING FOR SALLIE MAE!! Please Help Us to help you by paying our bills. Thank you.

My son's loans are huge and continue to grow due to Sallie Mae's practices. He has Crohn's Disease which means expensive drugs and procedures. He graduated from the Art Institute of Portland. He is presently working, but how many kids can afford $600 payments when they only make about $1,500 per month? We help with the medical bills and drugs that he needs to survive, but we live in fear that we may lose our farm if problems arise. Our farm is all that we have.

With no job, no one hiring, and no help from Sallie Mae - I'm soon to be drowning in debt. Currently, I owe roughly $200,000 in student loans. Some of these loans my mother has co-signed for. She has no income and is home all day taking care of her disabled husband. They themselves aren't in the best financial situation.

I'm simply nervous about how things are going to be as the months pass - with no income and no help. As interest collects and my credit diminishes - I see no hope. On top of all of this, six months before I graduated - the condo I owned became uninhabitable due to mold. So I'm out on the streets - no job, no unemployment, no help from my government, and lots of money to be owed. With two degrees under my belt, McDonald's won't hire me. Is there any help?

Now they are harassing me for the remainder of the amount. I told them that I just started working and was trying to get caught up on everything. I asked them if they wanted me to rob a bank to pay them and the lady said, "I don't care how you get the money but you owe us the money. Call me when you get back from robbing the bank so we can make payment arrangements." What nerve!! This is causing stress, depression, and worry that I won't receive a refund this year that I need to pay off behind rent and utility bills. I am a single mother of two kids and am having a hell of a time staying afloat without the constant harassment from them.

I called and it took nearly one month to get this refunded. I asked them BEFORE they refunded me if the payment was going to be delinquent and again they say, "No, no. The next payment for $35.36 will be taken out in January!" January comes and again, $165 is taken out of my bank account... overdraft fees galore!! So I call back trying to get the difference refunded... No problem... I call Mon. morning and I speak to a lady and no refund is supposed to be given back, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. She gets on the phone. She is looking over my account and after about 20 min. she says it can't be refunded or my account will be delinquent. I told her I just wanted the difference back. I'm going to make the payment of $35.36.

She tells me that since I got last month's payment refunded, I still owe a payment of $165. Isn't that the REASON I faxed in ALL OF THE PAPER WORK to get these PAYMENTS DECREASED!!!!?? I even told her to get my recorded conversations with them and review them. She quickly dismissed me! Needless to say, I hate Sallie Mae. I even regret going to school. It has caused me and my husband (who is overseas) so many problems... I wish I had enough money to get out of this thing. Oh one more thing, I now owe (8 months later) over $500 in interest!! I have had so many problems with this company!!

My school, the San Francisco Art Institute, says that Sallie Mae is awful to students and the collecting group who is harassing me does this to all students. I have a high credit rating, and I have never defaulted on anything. The attitude of those who represent Sallie Mae is terrible. Of course, I never get to talk to one person. It is always someone else, and none of these individuals seem to know what they are doing. What is going on???

I have never had to indicate what loans to apply the money. Of course the money should only be applied to loans I am co-singer for...? I asked to speak to a supervisor and the customer service rep refused to transfer me. He became rude and then said he was going to hang up on. I demanded to speak to a supervisor and then he hung up on me. Sallie Mae is the most difficult organization I have ever had to deal with. They are rude, hard to get a hold of. They have impacted my credit greatly by reporting late pays before I even knew the payments were being made. My credit has gone down over 100 points.

After the fall semester. I stopped going to school and my school didn't call Sallie Mae to inform them about my status. After a year, I received a call from Sallie Mae informing me that my account has been delinquent for over 200 something days. I did talked to a woman last 1/22/09 around 5:30PM and asked how will I be delinquent when I have automated payment every 12th of the month. To make the story short she didn't care if I did not send any authorization to stop the payment all she care is to get me off the phone and agree to the forbearance which I have no idea what it means. They claimed that they sent me numerous letters informing me about my loan. Since they still taking money out of my bank, I assumed that the letters were incorrect. Since Sallie Mae decided to stopped the payment and put me in delinquent status, my credit is now ruin forever.

Come to find out today 1-27-2009 that Progressive sent it back to Sallie Mae for non-payment and I received a call from Acct Receivable Management and other collection agency. Meanwhile NCO Financial is calling also??? What happened to the arrangement we have with Progressive. Needless to say, Acct Receivable Management Services, because I cannot settle for 2 payments of $2,135.00 of a balance of $4269.90, are today going to send it back to Sallie Mae for refusing to pay. She gave a payment as low as $1,200 to pay today if her manager approves it. We can't afford that chunk. Meanwhile what happened to the settlement I made with Progressive. Please I hope I explained my situation. Please we are trying to be reasonable as far as our pocketbook right now can go. My husband is an independent truck driver. I do not work due to personal issues. This has once again put a strain on me and him. We want to try to come to some agreement to work this out (we thought we did). Meanwhile, interest is accruing every day, and the balance is getting to be more. There is probably more, it is so confusing. Please help.

Maryanne stated, "I don't know why you just don't go out and get a job." If it were only that easy. I have applied for many jobs in retail and grocery stores, and their response is all but the same. I happen to be over qualified for their position, and they don't know why I would be interested in the position they have open. I have tried to explain so I can pay my bills and have food for my family, nothing is beneath me. This is too much of a risk I have been told. "How can I be sure if I hire you will stay with us? We do not want to waste our time on you. We cannot be sure that you will not take a job if you are offered one in your field." This explanation did not satisfy the Maryanne one the phone. She just replied it is not her fault that I don't have a job and can't pay them. I need to get money from my parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, or other family members and just make sure that I get them their money. She then continued to threaten me with the statement they will continue to call me at all hours and send me letters letting me know just what they will do to me if I don't pay them now. I am not looking for a way out of paying. I just want help in this situation to get back on my feet.

So my sister called me today and says that SM has been calling her job looking for me a couple of times today (she co-signed). She gave me the number and I called them from work. Waiting, waiting, waiting, still on hold. I'm missing phone calls, idle at my desk waiting. So after about 15 minutes, I hung up. I got home around 6:30 and my sister called again and said SM called her job again and the woman, who keeps calling, told my sister that they are going to start taking money away from her check. Mind you, they haven’t called my house once. This lady that kept calling needs a serious attitude adjustment. So I called again and I got an answer in 10 minutes. (This all just happened about 30 minutes ago.) I spoke to this thing posing as human and she is close to snorting like a bull. Loud, rude, mean. She talked to me as if she birthed me. She tells me that I owe a large payment today. I asked her why I haven’t received notice of anything.

She says, "Well, I have had your record on my desk" and blah blah blah. She is so rude I had to tune her out for a moment. So I told her I can’t make a payment today but I can in a couple of weeks. She then starts throwing all types of threat at me, like “Your loan will go into default, and we will garnish your pay and your sister’s.” I'm ready to jump through the phone right now. So I asked to speak with someone else. (I couldn’t deal with her anymore.) She didn’t even put me on hold. Next thing I know some guy gets on the phone and he is no better. Rude for no reason, he asked me if I could make a payment right now and I said no and all hell broke loose with him also. Where do they get these people? I hung up and called back again, waited for a while and spoke to someone a little nicer.

This SM rep didn’t listen well though. I still had to make a payment but it was for 1/2 as much as the thing posing as human told me. I asked to speak to the head of their department and a Diamond was put on the phone. I made (well I think I did) a complaint about this Denisha person. These people have some serious issues. They treated me like I said I wasn't going to pay them at all. I just wanted a payment arrangement. A Class Action Suit is needed and I think this is the perfect time.

Finally, large corps are being held accountable for their unfair and sometimes unlawful practices. Sallie Mae falls under the same umbrella. They should be held accountable too. There are some many complaints about them and it stems from all aspects of the company. How can the people on their board continue to give their consumer complaints a blind eye? I know that if we all make an effort, something can be done, as it is well overdue. I have a couple of ideas on how to get the ball rolling. If anyone is interested, you can email me at **. I wish good luck to all Sallie Mae victims.

As I am a 53-year-old man and looking forward to retirement someday, maybe I might be able to retire. I don't look forward to dying and paying right up till the end. This has been a hardship and a burden on my wife and me. If they had not scarred my credit so bad, I could have gone to an outside lender and refinance the note, but, as you can see, it is no longer $10,000.00 but now is $11,000.00 plus. The credit and the growth in the debt actually scare prospects off. It would be nice to get these people to allow me to get away from them and just start over with a lender who possesses some integrity and genuine concern for proper business ethics. Sallie Mae has none of these qualities. The only way that I am going to pay this thing off is to get away from Sallie Mae and I can't.

My second letter which I hand-wrote to Sallie Mae was approximately a month later on 1/6/09. 5 days later, I received a statement from Sallie Mae saying my payment is overdue and that I now owe $287.34 which is now due immediately! Guess what? My husband makes the payments or writes out the check anyway, and when I told him, he said, we have that paid a month ahead. I looked at the coupon booklet, and yes, the next payment is not due until January 27th, 2009.

I am not sure what they are trying to pull with me or anyone else. However, I do know that as a Social Worker, I worked hard for my degree, and as we all know, it was not free either. Oh, did I mention this, my payment went up from $100.18 to $181.15. This was a question I had for Sallie Mae as well that did not get answered. Will someone please call me and explain why my payments went up? Do you think I received a phone call? These letters written were done because I am tired of making the phone calls! All I want is some answers. I don't think that is too much to ask for.

I actually lost my job that I had for 8 1/2 years. The job market since 2005 has been really tough and here it is 2009 and it's even harder. I haven't been able to secure a job that pays me enough to make the regular monthly payments. Just a day ago, I received a letter from Sallie Mae threatening to report the delinquency to the credit bureaus - as a tactic to scare someone into repaying their loans. How can they be allowed to bully people that have lost their jobs and are unable to make the payments?

I feel that this needs to stop and that Sallie Mae should not harass students who have explained to them that they had lost their job and were unable to make or continue payments. There should be some clause to suspend because right now there are countless college grads over the last 3-5 years who are having a hard time finding a job to make or continue making payments due to cutbacks and layoffs. This is something that's out of many grads' hands and they come to work and later get hit with the pink slip or a letter telling them their job is terminated due to budgetary reasons. This leaves a lot of college grads in the dark of what they need to do next so they can keep up with their bills. I didn't even qualify for unemployment benefits so I could make my monthly bills.

I pay my bills on time, but this student loan has really sent me and others to the poorhouse and seeing how the company is playing a lot of games with people, this tells you that it's going to take a class-action lawsuit to send a message to these companies that students who graduate ARE not trying to avoid repayment. Many of us are victims of this economy which began tanking since Bush came into office in 2000 so many of us are getting the butt end of the deal by being left jobless and having to be harassed all day long from 8 am to 9pm M-F and even on weekends. It's like some of these companies won't let up on the weekends so it's generally all day everyday 7 days a week.

I can be home on a weekend and I'll get a mysterious phone call and Sallie Mae won't identify themselves and will block it from your caller ID just to get you to answer the phone. Plus not to mention the endless mail harassment that goes on every day. Many people who are struggling just to keep up with their bills are having to sacrifice student loan payments to pay for rent/mortgage, lights, and phone because nobody is going to be homeless for a loan company who's CEOs make more than the average college graduate. You have shareholders who have no idea what many of us are going through right now.

This is a travesty. I shouldn't have to wake up every day to this and my family sees what it's doing to me and they're sick of hearing the phone ringing and some prerecorded message saying, "This is a courtesy call, please call Sallie Mae at 800-***-***". It's becoming unbearable at this point. I know I am not the only college student at this point who's fed up with the constant harassment by phone and mail.

I am aware that I owe money, but what I don't need is the harassment for it. To see how Sallie Mae is also resorting to harassing the co-signers as well which is getting ridiculous; my mom gets harassing letters from Sallie Mae since she co-signed for my loan, but she saw after I lost my job how hard it was to find work after that because so many places were folding and I wasn't getting hired due to having too much experience, not enough experience, and, "We're not hiring right now." It's sad and it's a travesty that in the midst of all this, college students are enduring a lot of hardship and even more with Sallie Mae harassing them on a daily basis.

I have been locked out of my account on line several times and had to keep calling the toll free number, which you never get anyone to speak English and they have heavy accents, to unlock the account. Well, in December, I find that my student loan is now on my credit report and is in past due by 4 months now so I called again, only to be told that my application for Total Disability was denied and how would I like to make a payment?! What?! I never received a letter stating that I was denied nor have I received anything from them stating that I could defer or file forbearance. I asked if they would send this information regarding my denial and go ahead and file for forbearance. They said that they would send it out in the mail.

To this day, I have never received anything yet. I am tired of getting the runaround and being locked out of my account and not being able to do anything about this. This has been a constant problem with Sallie Mae. I have not received any help at all from them, only more heartache. They also told me that they would have the negative account taken off my credit report. They haven't done so yet. What can be done?

I decided to check my account online only to find that they actually paid off the interest (from the debited day - 14th to the day they received the extra payment) then placed the rest on my principal. They did this with a second extra payment the next month (out of $120, $118 went to interest). I called today and spoke to 4 different Supervisors and none would change this and place it all on the principal. They couldn't understand that this really wasn't helping me because ultimately, it isn't really helping to bring down my balance; they insisted it does. After numerous attempts to explain, they stated that if I had made the extra payment on the same day as my debit, then it would have been applied to the principal. Ummm... if I had the extra money at the same time the debit is due, I'd have made the extra pay.

She then proceeded to belittle the extra amounts. “Well, it’s only $150.” I'm sorry BUT to me, $150 is a large amount of money. If that is an insignificant amount, Sallie Mae must be paying her pretty well. After going round and round, I told her I would be filing a complaint with the BBB and anyone else who would listen because I know they've had problems legally in the past and that they can continue to debit my account and I'll hold on to my meek $150 extra payments until it adds up enough that I can pay them off. I thanked her for her time and stated I needed to go contact the BBB. They do have several complaints also logged with them.

TWICE Sallie Mae has slammed his credit and mine, saying his account was closed with no notification. He and I BOTH have dealt with rude people at Sallie Mae and it's been OBVIOUS English is NOT their first language (why are government-backed loans going to offshore customer service call centers???). I have been told I am not allowed to talk to a supervisor! We won't EVEN get into the 10 and 20 minute hold times. I have offered to fax or email them PROOF that notification was sent about the account change. I have offered to have the bank CALL them and verify the new account is valid. They don't want to hear it.

This last time my son moved, he notified everyone in July 2008. Given Sallie Mae's problem in 2006, he left the old account open until December 2008. We found out this past week that Sallie Mae AGAIN never made the change. Ding! On credit ratings. Again. I have been on the phone for nearly 4 hours this past week. Again bad, broken, garbled English. Total denial on their part that they dropped the ball. Total denial that I could prove paperwork, prove there is a valid account with a debit authorization for Sallie Mae. I then said I would just pay the loan off. Enough of this being jerked around. I was told I couldn't pay it off and that I could only make the monthly payment. What?! I demanded to speak to a supervisor and was told, "We no to do these for to you talk to" garble, garble, garble. Kid you not.

Okay, I lost it. I was screaming on the phone. Hey, I'm a laid back old hippie. It's not like me to turn the air blue and rattle the windows. I truly lost my temper. I had to threaten to get an attorney and call my Senator before I was put through to a supervisor. I convinced the supervisor to let me pay the account off. I authorized the transfer of funds on Jan. 7th. The transfer was completed on Jan. 9th. On the evening of Jan. 9th, I got a hate email that I was being charged late fees by Sallie Mae. I called them (22 minute hold). I think I was told that Sallie Mae doesn't credit accounts for 2 business days, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE THE FUNDS IN HAND. Again, this person had a thick, THICK accent. VERY hard to understand. I've yet to see any change in the balance of this loan on Sallie Mae's web page.

The bottom line is that my son and I have done EVERYTHING by Sallie Mae's book. THEY fail to do their part for which he and I suffer.

When I called again, I was told by Sallie Mae, "What payment?" Since then it has been a flux of letters, faxes and bad phone calls. I have the stub of my cashier's check to Sallie Mae and I have the receipt showing someone from Sallie Mae received my letter with cashier's check enclosed in it. I had the bank trace my payment, but the cashier's check was never cashed. I have no idea how the A/R Department works at Sallie Mae, but all pieces of mail should be accounted for daily. Sallie Mae lost a $17,000.00 payment.

Now Sallie Mae says that I owe them four months' worth of interest on an account that I had paid off in August. Where can I go to officially complain to Sallie Mae, and who at Sallie Mae is held accountable? Now I have to spend more money and time fighting something that should have been taken care of four months ago.

Then this past summer, they said those forms are not the right ones (even though I got them from their website), and that I had to pay them all summer long. Even after I told them they acknowledged receiving the appropriate forms back in the beginning of May, but they said these are no longer the right ones even though they are the same forms I have used every semester. I paid, which meant a steady diet of ramen all summer, and then come September Sallie Mae posted that I have been in deferment since May!! They are doing it again this semester and I can no longer stand dealing with this company.

I called them back today to try to explain it. The customer rep actually hung up on me mid-conversation! Their customer service is deplorable and I am desperately trying to find a way to refinance my loan with a more reputable company.

Since Sallie Mae refuses to recognize that I made a request to be removed from the loan when the loan was in good standing, I am seeking legal assistance to get my name off the loan. Sallie Mae refuses to even give me a copy of the loan documents stating that until I make the late payments they won't discuss anything else. One manager of the Sallie Mae customer service department even hung up on me when I asked to be transferred to their legal department! Why can this company behave like this and go completely unchecked... don't we have laws and protections in place to prevent this type of predatory collection practices. I have phone logs of up to 5 phone calls a day from Sallie Mae for over a month's period. This is well over acceptable collection practices. Can anyone offer advice or help???

My credit has been negatively impacted by Sallie Mae. I have been harassed by Sallie Mae's collection department, yelled at, received excessive phone calls, and threatened. I want to get Sallie Mae to stop the harassment and remove me as the cosigner since I requested that I be removed when the loan was in good standing and was promised by one of their customer service representatives that I would be removed.

After the request for a deferment, they kept sending me applications for deferment even emailing them to me. I filled out and sent in the same paperwork 4 times. Then my co-signer called me to tell me that they were calling him and saying they were going to garnish their wages as well as take their tax return. I called Sallie Mae and found out that they only applied my deferment to my government loan and not the small loan and that they could apply it to that loan when I paid 2 loan payments which I agreed to do within the month. I asked to have them stop calling my co-signer and they transferred me to collections and the woman I talked to was the vilest person I have ever dealt with in my entire life!

I explained to her my circumstances and that I had made payment arrangements with the other agent and she would not stop saying, "Do you know you haven't paid your loan??" and, "Your loan is 2 payments behind"? I told her that I was under the impression that it was under deferment to which she replied, "It is under unemployment"? I asked her name and she wouldn't tell me. I asked for her manager and she said she was the manager. I then asked for the person in charge of her, I was told, "That's not going to happen!" I asked what more she wanted from me; I made payment arrangements and she said, "I want a payment now! And I will continue to call your co-signer until a payment is made." She immediately said, "As soon as this phone call is over I am going to mark your account with refused to pay!" Then she hung the phone up on me.

I tried to make a complaint on line and it sent it back as unable to take it. I have never had so much trouble with a company! They never give you the right information and when you take the move to correct something that they never informed you of, they verbally assault you. I am aware that Collections can be difficult work, but to berate people who have paid and are trying to make things right is poor business practice. I don't know if anything will be done about this or not, but I do know that from a leading student loan financier, I expected much more!!!

A year later, I received bills from Sallie Mae for two loans totaling a little over $5000.00. I asked Sallie Mae how much of this money was sent back to them since I left school so early and the rep told me, "Oh no. They get to keep the money b/c so many students leave school and this cost the school money by them doing that." I asked her, "So I am paying loans back that is putting someone else through school?" They are very rude when you try to get information from them. The rep even was asking me if I got any assistance from the govt b/c of my two young children like child support, food stamps, etc...

I was in total disbelief that they were asking me this and then she was asking me if I had a car, how much I spend on groceries since I didn't get food stamps, how much I pay people to take me back and forth to work, etc... I am outraged! Someone needs to investigate Sallie Mae and soon before they go too far. I want to know what I can do about my loans. I don't have a problem paying what I used, but I know it was not over $5000.00 worth b/c all ITT Tech gave me were a few books and a calculator! I also heard that they were/are under investigation for some kind of fraud dealing with Financial Aid. It's online. This is another reason I chose not to attend the school simply because I found this out about a month after attending. Please help me on what to do!

During this time, Sallie Mae has now reported my loan to collections. I am in the middle of purchasing a home, so I have somewhere to live. I am searching for a government loan company to consume my loan so I can start paying it off or consolidate it. I think it's time for Sallie Mae to pay for their faulty practices!!

She put her supervisor on the phone (and I should have gotten the ** name) but she told me that if I have a job, why is it so hard to pay? I told her that if I pay what they are asking, I would go hungry and homeless, not to mention naked. She laughed and said, “Well, get a second job. There’s got to be a McDonald’s or fastfood place in your area.” I told her, “I need your help not badgering.” She got mad and said, “Well, I will just mark this down as CUSTOMER REFUSING TO PAY.” I told her I am not refusing to pay, I am asking for help and she hung up. Sallie Mae always calls me from different numbers. I have gotten calls on the weekends, even Sunday nights and as late as 9-10pm.

About 6 months later, I have a bill collector call me from Sallie Mae stating I was very behind in my payments. I did not understand this because I never used to get any payments in the mail and always paid my bills by looking at my account online. I was never contacted about my payments going up. I just now started receiving bills in the mail lately after filing complaints with them. When I was contacted by the bill collector that day, I explained that I was not aware that a new loan had started and payments had gone up. I got passed around to many people on the phone that day and when they looked up my account, they all told me it was a fault on their part because I was never notified about a new loan starting.

After talking to many people, I finally got transferred to their manager. I don't know her first name, but I wrote down her last name and it was Mrs. **. She had me fax a bunch of paperwork, which I did at my wife's work. I was promised that everything would be taken care of and all my late fees would be wiped clean, which they were and all I had to pay was $103.25 to bring by balance up-to-date (which I still have the receipt for). This was paid on 4-30-07 by credit card. So I thought everything was fine and was happy to get everything resolved finally.

My wife and I have been trying to purchase a home. When I ran my credit, it was showing Sallie Mae reporting that I was late in July (60 days late), August (90 days late), September (60), October (90), November (120), December (150) and January (120). I was never late on ANY of payments EVER. The reason they are showing this is because I was not paying the full amount, which I had never known about (I still paid the $100.00 through these months showing late on my report). I contacted everyone who would talk to me about this matter and still has not gotten resolved. Oddly enough, the manager I talked to does not exist anymore. Neither does the billing office that messed up my billing in the first place. I was told this by Michelle **'s office (888) 545-4199 ext **.

If I would have been notified about a $50.00 increase, that would have been no problem at all. No, my credit is all messed up because of their billing practices and they don't care at all. I've contacted the BBB (case #**) and they were not able to do anything either since the people that were supposed to resolve this are no longer employed with the company or that billing department has been closed. Now my life is being affected very badly because of THEIR MISTAKES. They stated they will not retract this from my credit, even though they admitted fault. Believe me, I would have paid an extra $47.00 if I knew that's what I owed. Everyone I have talked to have been rude, except for a lady named Burnidine, who worked in Mrs. **'s office.

Sallie Mae is horrible and I'm not the only one with these issues. Thank you.

Sallie Mae's unwillingness to work with me has caused undue stress, sleepless nights and worry that lead to panic attacks. Why has congress not looked into this? Why are they allowed to continue with their deceptive practices with no consequences? What do college students need to do to get someone to look into these practices?

My wife called over and over to try to get the paperwork sent to us (very difficult to actually talk to an actual person). Every time she talked to someone, they were always rude and told her the paperwork had been sent. We finally received the paperwork for the forbearance about six weeks later. We sent it back and were denied after they said we were approved. When we tried to get the 50 dollars back, they said it was non-refundable. Now all the time, they requested a payment for Nov and Dec. We have sent the payments but don't know if we can afford them when the baby comes and my wife is out of work. This company is a complete joke. I only can hope someone can see all these complaints before they do any kind of business with them.

So now my grace period ended on 10/31/08. I decide to sign up for the 2 year interest only payments extending for 25 years. I figure that would give my boyfriend and I some leeway with our monthly bills and allow me to get into a hair salon and build a client base. WRONG!!! Guess what? Sallie mae doesn't do private loan consolidation anymore. So that means that I am stuck paying off 46K (principal and interest) over a 10 year span of time with no option whatsoever to extend through sallie mae. My interest only payments for the ext 2 years is $367, after that it goes up to $740 a month. I'm not too sure as to what I am going to do in 2 years, b/c I can say right now, we can't afford that. And I can't afford to get a job in a salon, which is what I went to school to do.

When I spoke with sallie mae (crying), I asked "what if in 2 years my boyfriend and I are married and we want to have children. I'll be out of work for a few months... you're telling me my private loans are not deferrable and that’s it?" The rep replied "yes." So I am now working at an office. The entire reason I went to school for hair is b/c I hate office work... and now I have no choice but to do it b/c we need the money to pay my student loans. My hope, firstly is that sallie mae burns to the ground. My 2nd hope is that in the next 2 years our economy gets better and private loan consolidation is offered. Because if sallie mae really expects me to pay off 46k in 10 years... they have a better chance of monkeys flying out of my rear end.

Throughout the school year my depression finally caught up with me after my battle with it for 6 years and almost killed myself and was hospitalized for 5 days. This happened about a month or so before graduation. It was not difficult at all to get a doctor's note stating I was unable to attend school OR work. And I was also able to obtain a leave of absence of 6 months from my school on the condition of sending in a doctor's note every month.

On the last (6th) month of my leave of absence, I was in the process of changing doctors with my regular on maternity leave and was unable to turn in a doctor's note. When I told my school this, they said they'd have no choice but to kick me out. Needless to say I was devastated to be removed from school so close to completion though what happened next was the big problem.

Days later I got a letter from sallie mae saying I needed to begin payments that month of $700+ along with a bill for kicking me out of school, also $700+. I asked what happened to the 6 month grace period I was promised and was told that because I was technically not in school for 6 months, that that was my 6th month grace period. And talking with my school, sallie mae and various other resources, I was told there was nothing they could do. No one cared about my problem, only my money.

I knew much of the world was heartless but for some reason I didn't expect student loans to be so cut throat. I had no choice but to get a 6th month deferment and battle through my depression/medication/and suicidal thoughts and look for a job. And needless to say the job market is very thin right now and now I have bills due in a month with no money. I'm terrified not only for myself but for my co-signer who with medical bills for her husband is completely broke. Are 3 lives going to be destroyed from this? I don't know what to do anymore. I'm living with my family right now and it seems I'll be living with them for a long time.

This is not the first time this has happened as well, I know of several Sallie Mae debtors in my immediate family that have been blindsided by Sallie Mae as well. We are not running away from our payments but what they do is an abusive practice that should be stopped. If the company itself is honest with its billing, I would not complain but because they are shady, even though they may appear to not break any laws, it's bad treatment of their customers.

The economic damage here is my credit score which they have affected by not telling me when my first payment was due. I am incensed at their nonchalance on the phone and unsavory practices. I am assuming, this is how they make their money by lending it out and placing phantom late fees which should not exist because the customer themselves are not aware that they are being billed. Their customer service representatives are nothing but buffoons handed a telephone who know nothing about the situation and refuse to rectify what they have done. I am not someone who is running away from my debts but the fact that they considered something as not making people aware of their practices is nothing short of shady.