Sometimes we get emails that just break our heart. This poor guy has lost his job due to Sallie Mae’s constant debt collection calls to his employer, and his monthly student loan payment is $1,100, which he just can’t afford:
I was hoping that I could get my interest rate down and also my monthly payments down considerably. Not a chance. They even get belligerent if you dare trying to make payment arrangements. I even tried to send $600 one month hoping they would take it in good faith and they just sent it back. It’s either payment in full, or nothing so they can charge you late fees.
Does anyone out there have some advice for this guy? .—MEGHANN MARCO
UPDATE: Reader D, who seems like he knows what the hell he’s talking about, suggests that those of you having serious trouble with the servicer of your loan contact the Department of Education via the FSA Ombudsman. 1-877-557-2575. D. says this may not solve the problem, but will provide an advocate.
Sallie Mae Is Ruining My Life!
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wildhobo,
I didn’t say loans can’t help anyone. I said to avoid them like the plague (which is to say if at all possible). I took out a loan myself. I worked all through college and invested most of it at a rate higher than my loan. When I graduated I was able to payoff my loan with one fat check, around $30K.
That’s not the point, the point is that, obviously, most people have no idea what they’re getting themselves into. 21 years old, a degree in liberal arts, and $120K in debt is no way to start life. If they’re asking me for advice, then they don’t need to be taking huge loans so they go somewhere they think will be more fun.
acambras- I tried, but no one I can find will touch my now $64,000+ loan ammount unless I have a co-signer which I do not have as my credit has been all but ruined by artificially deflating my credit score and showing the account in delinquency. Even if I forbear with sallie mae one more time to make it “current” they still wont approve me unless I have a co-signer.
coraspartan- Where did you happen to go to consolidate your loans? Before I went to school I had excellent credit with this loan issue the only mark on it even still.
I really would like to try to explore all avenues before taking legal action. Even though they have been violating the act and I have documented proof of that, I still did use a portion of the original loan and owe at least the original amount I agreed to.
I’m feeling ridiculously lucky that all of my loans are federal, and will total only about $27,000. I only had to pay for grad school–THANK YOU, MOM!–and hope to be able to pay off the debt within 10 years of working (we’ll see, of course).
It makes me sad that I can look at a debt in the tens of thousands of dollars and feel comparatively good about it, knowing how much others spend. It’s my only debt (credit card rarely used, paid of full when I do use it), and I’ll be consolidating it down to a low-rate single loan (rather than 3 semester loans) once I graduate. I hate being in debt, but I’m glad I did it.
Burn in hell Sally Mae! God Im so glad I never took Sally Mae.
I may be looking at running up oh, 30-70,000 in debt for law school starting this year.
Alright…so Sallie Mae is bad. Who is good? Who can I trust, and how can I make sure they can’t screw me?
I used to work for Direct Loans, which is a gov’t student loan company. Seriously, they’re VERY easy to work with payment-wise, will work w/you no matter WHAT your financial situation is, and are basically a dream. This guy (and anyone else having a hard time at the hands of Sallie Mae and other predatory private lenders,) can consolidate his student loans w/Direct Loans via this link–click the button that says “Application Home” in the upper right hand corner to get started: http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/
Also, the cap interest rate on Direct Loans is 8.25% for Stafford, 9% for PLUS loans, if memory serves correctly. Last year, a friend of mine was going through a nearly identical situation to this guy (only at the hands of Citibank,) and now that she’s had Direct Loans buy out her loan, her payment is affordable, the lender will work w/her no matter what her financial status, and she doesn’t have that hanging over her head anymore. Plus, you cannot declare bankruptcy on student loans. Doesn’t happen. Frozen, yes. Discharged, no. Bankruptcy threats won’t faze Sallie Mae, or any other student loan lender in the US, for that matter. Feel free to call them w/any questions on repayment plans, terms/conditions, etc. beforehand. Good luck!
Sallie Mae is SATAN. My husband’s loans are with them. Mine are with Citibank Student Loan Corporation (I reccommend them, TechnoDestructo), which is far and away easier and more pleasant to deal with. They appear to actually want me to be able to pay off my loans.
As noted, bankruptcy won’t discharge student loans. Your only options are death, permanent disability (more or less along SSI definition), or defaulting and fleeing the country. Which I actually had a friend from college do. He decided it would actually be easier to spend the rest of his life in Bolivia than pay back his loans.
“The age old mantra is never borrow in total more that what you can expect for your first year’s earnings. … This is all fairly straight forward stuff folks.”
That’s really dismissive. Life is what happens when you’re making other plans. Such as those of us in my law school graduating class who came in when salaries were $125k and rising and the market for lawyers expanding like crazy, and between starting and graduation, the market absolutely and utterly tanked becuase of the tech wreck and because of 9/11. There were still high-paying jobs out there, but not nearly in the numbers before. This was a top-10 law school and people were unemployed for MONTHS after graduation and many ended up taking jobs that paid $40,000 to $60,000 rather than the $125,000+ they had expected — and taken out loans for.
There are all kinds of reasons people end up with more student loans than they can pay off, and “borrowed too much” is only one of them.
There might be exceptions because this loan is with Sallie Mae, or because it’s a student loan, but I understood collectors can’t refuse an offered payment.
This sounds incredibly abusive. Have you contacted your state Attorney General’s office yet? I know this isn’t the case in all states, but in my state, the AG consumer affairs staff are absolutely excellent. If they can’t handle the issue themselves, they can at least give you an idea of how to proceed, and it’s free.
Give it a try, and best of luck.
I just have to give a second to Direct Loans. I consolidated with them after college and they’ve been a dream to work with. They’ve helped me through lay-offs and other struggles and have never called me or bothered me in anyway!
Their website is easy and painless and affords me the opportunity to change my payment plan with a click of a button! I owe about $20k today and my payment options are nearly endless and I can change them easily! LOVE THEM.
I probably took too much out in loans (though I wasn’t that smart–I used credit cards to fill in the gaps) but I also grew up poor and wanted better for myself so loaning up was my only option to get out (at least it seemed that way at the time). It was either that or deliver y’all really bad customer service as a waitress or a check-out gal at TJ Maxx!
I had really high student loan payments as well that I really couldn’t afford. I went to a company called Education Finance Partners and I was able to consolodate my private student loans. The loan period stretched out to 30 years which significantly lowered my payments. You may want to check them out!
I’ve borrowed $20k and I’ll be graduating in May,07. If I pay off this amount prior to graduating, will I have to pay interest?
I have had numerous problems with Sallie Mae. I wanted everyone to know that there is a law firm investigating Sallie Mae’s business practices (and you do not have to live in Florida to participate). The link is-
http://www.jameshoyer.com/problem_SallieMae.html