SallieMae Student Loans

[Swimmer]

In June 2004 I had to call SallieMae because they do not send out the repayment books in a timely fashion. When someone makes this call you have to enter your social security number and then in reply certain information is said to the caller over the phone, such as your next payment date, total loan payoff figure, so on and so forth. Much to my chagrin the computor voice tells me I am behind one payment. No friggin way. Both my wife and I chat with live people at this point to try and straighten out the probelm. My wife pays the bills and is paranoid about our credit. The guy in India, yes Bom friggin Bay India counts all the payments that were supposed to be made since the loan started in December 99 and finds the total amount of actual payments exceeds the payments due by one and thats because Bev pays them one payment ahead. He says he has taken care of the mistake. Fast forward to June 05, same problem. Bev and I again received assurances from "Shane" in Bom friggin Bay, India the problem has been rectified and he is instituting an investigation into this error. Also a letter from the will be forthcoming. I think now everytime he put me on hold every Indian in the office was having a big belly laugh and probably had a hard time stopping the laughter so "Shane" could again speak with me. Yes everyone I chatted with about this seemed to have a name that was synonymous with a movie character. So our mind at ease becasue "Shane" assures usa we are all set my wife and I relax. Off we go on vacation and relaxing over the summer. Bev then as a followup has me call Bombay yesterday to make sure everything is A O.K. and the computor again tells me I am overdue. I speak with this kid and then a supervisor and I'm getting more pissed as every second passes. Finally after he tells me that everything will become clear (for the fifth or sixth time) about why I am behind in my payments when I receive the letter he is generating as we spoke. He didn't want to listen about his associates just two months ago agreed that SallieMae has committed an error with my account. The more pissed I got the more upset Bev got and as she was about to reach for the phone I slammed it down so hard I am amazed it still worked when I picked it up to dial India back again. Now Bev talks to some guy and he falls over backward for her. Bev sweet talks him and he thinks he is going to be invited to America. She gets all the info I wanted but he said he couldn't locate, such as on what date did I exactly fall behind. The reason I wanted to know this is because they never ever notified me that I was behind to begin with. And you know why SallieMae doesn't notify you is because if you fail to pay on time during the first four years of your loan you don't qualify for the automatic 2 % drop in interest rates for staying current with the obligation, an if your paying them more interest they are making more money, so why bother to notify the customer. So when do you thing they screwed up? The very first payment. It was due on December 3rd, 1999 and they receieved it in Nov. 99 and that somehow screwed them all up even though on the payment slip that accompanies the check has the due date and account number and so forth on it. Their computor did not catch up withthe fact that the computor thought or deduced I was late until sometime in 2002. Bev gets a female supervisor at her request yesterday and I just did a followup phone call with the same person today and she assures me the interest rate and payment problems will be taken care of.
I don't care that SallieMae outsourced this business, but I do care that there is not one number that I can locate in this country that an american will answer the phone when I dial the number. They insulate themselves almost as much as the mafia does for petes sake. Has anyone else had anything to do with them?

[BrianS]

i got all my loans out of them and consolidated to suntech

Talking to Salliemae is like talking to Dell Customer support. I had a ton of problems over the years with them

On the flipside.. suntech has only been marginally better.

[Pete_G]

School loans and those who manage them, as rule, are a pain in the ass.

I want to go fish the incoming somewhere but if I remember I'll add my thoughts to this later.

[spence]

I remember the nice note I got from them a few years ago that they had miscalculated my interest payments the first 9 years of my 10 year loan, and that I would have to pay 2X for the remaining year, or pay for an extra year at the same rate.

A scam? Who knows...I had them send me the amortization schedule for my entire loan, which was about an inch thick.

I figured if it was a scam, there would be a class action lawsuit.

-spence

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

Has anyone else had anything to do with them?

my wife worked for NellieMae for years, nad then salliemae bought them and she got out just in time I guess

there's not much I hate more than incompetance

[Bass Babe]

If I didn't luck out and get a full ride, I don't think I could handle billpaying these days. Chemistry, Shakespeare, Grammar? Sure! Life skills?...What???

[Nebe]

i got so frustrated paying my student loans i set it up to auto deduct out of my checking account-

out of site out of mind i guess.

[Swimmer]

I would start thee auto pay if my wife let me and the account wasn't screwed. If I do that now they will charge me one month I have allready paid for. We are supposed to hear in five days or so. I am still filing a complaint with the AG's office and the Fed's Higher Ed. people. I am going to make thier lives as miserable as they have attempted to make mine.

[Bass Babe]

Swimmer, Depending on the amount of a one-month payment, might it not be worth your sanity to just pay the extra month? I know it would encourage them to screw other people and it would go against your principles and whatever other reasons you would have for not wanting to pay, but is it worth the hassle? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to set up your auto-debit, sit back, and never have to worry about it again? All the time it seems like you're going to spend fighting this whole thing...time is precious. Go fishing instead.

[Bob Thomas]

I have salliemae also and have had the same issues. THEY SUCK!