Consumerist
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personal finance
Financial Advice For College Students
The San Jose Mercury News has compiled a list of financial tips for people just entering college. These are the sorts of things that will help you avoid racking up huge debts or wasting money you don't have on fees and penalties—and of course they can apply to pretty much anyone, not just college students. More » -
sallie mae
Reach Sallie Mae's Customer Advocate Unit
Are you getting nowhere with the usual channels at Sallie Mae? Here's how you can reach their Customer Advocate Unit, a charming oasis of competence and politeness. More » -
student loans
Credit Unions Dive Into The Student Loan Market
Private loans are the worst type of student debt, but the best place to get them may be your local credit union. Like most credit union products, their loans are usually a better deal with more favorable terms than similar loans from bigger banks. More » -
Robert Bowman graduated from college and law school despite great adversity, and passed the New York bar exam on his fourth try. Now, the state bar association refuses to admit him because of his substantial student loan debt. You know, instead of letting him practice law so he can pay it off. Disturbing, and a cautionary tale: just because your student loan company isn't sending you letters, that doesn't mean they aren't charging you fees. [New York Times]
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student loans
Save On Federal Student Loans July 1
If you have a bunch of variable rate Federal student loans, July 1st could be your lucky day. July 1st is when the interest rates on Federal student loans changes, and one financial id expert is predicting they're going to drop to "historic lows." What this means is you will have an opportunity to consolidate your variable rate Federal student loans together at the new, lower, rate, and save yourself some cash. How much? More » -
student loans
Costly Private Loans Masquerade As Federal Student Loans
Some students who didn't read the fine print are finding out too late that what they thought were federal student loans were actually private loans. The mistake is the difference between a 6% and 18% interest rate. More » -
fico
HSBC Canceled My Card Due To Inactivity And Ruined My FICO Score!
Reader Travis recently found out that one of his oldest cards had been canceled due to inactivity. This caused quite a dent in his FICO score and he's about to go shopping for student loans— so he's understandably freaking out. More » -
Sallie Mae is going to "reverse outsource" and move 2,000 jobs from overseas back to the US in order to get people, (the president?) to like them again. Will it work? HAHAHHAHAHA. Oh, sorry. That was unprofessional. [Reuters]
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student loans
A Big-Ass List Of Student Loan Resources
It's a tough economic climate to be graduating from school — and maybe an even tougher one for those of you trying to get financial aid. We've put together a list of some financial aid and student lending resources to help make things easier. More »
2:05 PM on Mon Mar 30 2009
By Meg Marco
19,315 views, 41 commentsMost discussed QuantumRiff: One big tip, I wish someone had told me. If all your student loans are through the same company, more »
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student loans
Citibank Won't Accept The Extra Money You Sent To Payoff Your Student Loans
We're all about to see more money in our paychecks thanks to lower payroll taxes, but if you want to use the savings to payoff your student loans, you better act on the one day that Citibank will take your money. At least that's what Citibank told reader Valori, who tried sending the bank a check with instructions to apply it towards the principal on her student loans. The bank instead applied it to her usual monthly payment and told her that the only way to pay down her principal was to "setup an automatic payment on the Citibank website to debit on the same day as [the] automatic payment is direct debited." Does that seem easy to anyone? More » -
money meltdown
Stock Market Pleased By New Phase Of Bailout
Today the Federal Reserve announced the creation of a new special purpose entity that will buy consumer and business debt. Under the new plan, the Treasury will provide $20 billion dollars in of credit protection (from the Troubled Asset Relief Program) — and will absorb most of the losses, should they occur. More » -
your money
Help! Is Anyone Still Giving Out Private Student Loans!?
Reader Michael has some questions about how the credit crunch is affecting private student loans. Is anyone still lending? More » -
equifax
Equifax Double-Reports Student Loan, Still Hasn't Corrected It 12 Attempts Later
"David" can't get Equifax to correct his credit report. Since 2006, he's been trying to get them to remove a misreported student loan, and they've repeatedly ignored him or said it's not their fault. Because of this, David's credit report says he owes a total of $56,910 in student loans, instead of the accurate $28,455. More » -
wells fargo
Wells Fargo Forces You To Pay Off Loans Costliest Way Possible
According to reader Caleb, Wells Fargo seems to have recently crippled their loan repayment system in a way that makes it impossible for borrowers to pay off loans the way they want to. That is, unless you prefer to let your highest-interest loans ride for as long as possible while you pay off your lower-interest loans...
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student loans
Citi Announces One Of Its 'Bold Steps': Stricter Rules On Student Loans
Two readers have forwarded us a second email sent out by Citibank today, but it's not another vaguely worded PR blast from the CEO. Instead, this one announces that Citibank is adopting the zero-tolerance approach to late payments favored by the credit card industry—miss a payment due date and you'll lose any interest rate discount(s) you currently enjoy. More » -
sallie mae
Sallie Mae's 100+ Point FICO Drop Error Getting Fixed
Sallie Mae has publicly apologized for a coding error, potentially affecting around 1 million customers, that caused some consumers credit scores to drop over 100 points, and some consumers report that their dinged scores are already back up. If your score is not back to normal and you are in the middle of a transaction where your good credit is at stake, Sallie Mae said it will provide a credit reference letter. You can also call Sallie Mae customer service at 1-888-2-sallie. Sallie has pledged that the fix is in, but consumers can still take matters into their own hands by pulling their free credit report from annualcreditreport.com and disputing the incorrect information with Experian. Note, it's against Federal law for creditors to report false information to credit bureaus, and consumers can sue violators up to $1,000.
PREVIOUSLY: FICO Scores Drop Over 100 Points After Sallie Mae Recode, Potentially Millions Affected
(Photo: Getty)
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credit crunch
Bank of America To Stop Making Private Student Loans
Bank of America, the nation's largest bank and one of our largest student lenders, today announced that it would stop making private student loans and instead "do more lending under a federally guaranteed program," says the Wall Street Journal. More » -
complaints
Sallie Mae Has No Idea Where Your $1500 Is
Heidi writes:I recently completed a 3 year enlistment with the US Army, and one of my benefits was the student loan repayment program. The Army paid off my student loans, 1/3 of the loan per year for three years, making payments directly to my lender, the infamous Sallie Mae. The first two payments were a month or two later than the Army said they would be, but still, free money, and I made the small in-between payments to keep the account current.
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student loans
New York, 8:07 AM
Sun Nov 22
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