No better way to ruin a good Friday afternoon than to bring up two companies people simply hate giving their money to. Thankfully, only one of these bad businesses will survive. [More]
Worst Company In America Round 2: Sallie Mae Vs. Ticketmaster
March 29, 2013
Meet Your Worst Company In America Not-So-Sweet 16!
March 27, 2013
Last week, 32 terrible titans of industry stepped on to the blood-stained mat of WCIA Death-and-Dismemberment Arena, but only 16 remain in this bestial battle royale to take home the treasured Golden Poo. [More]
Worst Company In America Round 1: PayPal Vs. Sallie Mae
March 20, 2013
Ready or not, it’s time to start Day 2 of bloodthirsty competition in the Worst Company In America tournament. Kicking things off for today is a match-up between two companies that love processing your payments, but don’t really show the love when you call to complain. [More]
New Bill Would Take Income-Based Student Loan Payments Straight From Your Paycheck
By December 4, 2012
Student Loan debt in the U.S. recently crossed the $1 trillion mark, with a good chunk of that owed to the U.S. government. In an attempt to streamline the whole process, a soon-to-be-introduced bill would replace the current system of debt collection with automatic payroll deductions tied to the borrower’s income. [More]
Sallie Mae The Subject Of Nearly Half Of Student Loan-Related Complaints
By October 24, 2012
The recently released annual report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Student Loan Ombudsman looks at the variety and nature of complaints filed with the CFPB’s student loan complaint portal since it launched earlier this year. Not surprisingly to many people with these loans, Sallie Mae’s name comes up in almost half the complaints. [More]
Sallie Mae Can't Add, Thinks I Can't Pay My Bill
By August 27, 2012
Reader Vanessa is paying her student loans on time. Really, she is. The problem is that she can’t manage the full amount herself right now, so the payment comes in two parts: one from her, and one from her mom. This is too difficult for our friend Sallie to understand, and they keep sending delinquency notices to Vanessa even though the monthly bill gets paid in full. No matter how many times she contcats the company about the problem, no one can figure out how to make it stop. [More]
We Cosigned Our Unemployed Son's Student Loans. Now We're Screwed
By August 24, 2012
If you retain one piece of information from reading this site, let it be this one: never co-sign anyone’s student loans. Not your spouse’s student loans. Not your best friend’s student loans. Not your nephew’s student loans. Not even your own child’s student loans. It is the worst possible kind of debt to assume on behalf of someone else. The balances can be huge, the debt can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, and there’s nothing to repossess. That’s what anonymous parents M and D have learned, the very hard way. [More]
Sallie Mae Bank Can’t Write You A Check, Despite Being A Bank And All
By July 24, 2012
Sure, online-only banking is easy and convenient, but there are strange things that happen while the world gets used to this different way of banking. For example: JB received a call from Sallie Mae Bank that they couldn’t send him the balance of his matured certificate of deposit because they don’t have the capability to send checks to customers. Let me again emphasize that they are a bank. [More]
Sallie Mae Opts Not To Go After Family Of Dead Woman For $120K In Student Loans
By May 14, 2012
As we wrote last week, while many parents consider it a no-brainer to co-sign their children’s student loans, that decision can come back to bite them later. And if that child passes away, there’s little stopping loan servicers from piling debt on the parents’ grief. But here’s one story where Sallie Mae ultimately opted to not go that route. [More]
Which Worst Company Contenders Force Customers Into Mandatory Arbitration?
By March 21, 2012
As we sifted through the mountain of nominations for this year’s Worst Company In America tournament, we noticed a trend of readers who cited companies’ mandatory binding arbitration clauses as a reason for nominating. And while it’s businesses like AT&T and Sony that have made all the headlines for effectively banning class action lawsuits, there are a lot of other WCIA contenders who are forcing customers into signing away their rights. [More]
Worst Company In America Round One: Sallie Mae Vs. Ticketmaster
By March 14, 2012
For today’s afternoon bout, two companies that probably avoid walking down dark alleys for fear of being beaten up by angry consumers get a chance to kick each other in the teeth. [More]
Are Student Loans A Ticking Time Bomb For The Economy?
By March 12, 2012
Four years later, we’re still standing on the rim of a smoldering crater where the housing market used to be, pledging we’ll never let another financial disaster like that happen again. But some prognosticators worry we could soon be bracing for another blast, judging by the growing number of people who can’t pay back their student loans. [More]
Here It Is, Your Lineup For Worst Company In America 2012!
By March 12, 2012
Welcome to Consumerist’s 7th Annual Worst Company In America tournament, where the businesses you nominated face off for a title that none of them will publicly admit to wanting — but which all of them try their hardest to earn. So it’s time to fill in the brackets and start another office pool. That is, unless you work at one of the 32 companies competing in the tournament. [More]
Sallie Mae Agrees To Stop Pocketing Forbearance "Good Faith Deposit" & Actually Apply It To Student Loan Balances
By February 6, 2012
Working off the peitition model that forced Bank of America to back off its $5 debit card fee, one woman’s crusade against Sallie Mae’s “good faith deposits” of $50 per loan in forbearance every three months has seen some success. The fee will still be applied, but now they actually deduct it from the total loans owned. [More]
Have A Private Student Loan Horror Story? Today Is The Last Day To Tell The CFPB
By January 17, 2012
We see enough horror stories about private student loans that we know there must be quite a few of them out there. If you’d like to contribute to the public good by sharing your experience, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would like to hear what you have to say. And if you actually had a good experience the CFPB would like to hear about that, too. [More]
Sallie Mae Sends Student Loan Bills Into Abyss, Still Expects Me To Pay Them
By September 15, 2010
Unless you’re the U.S. Postal Service, paperless billing can be a real blessing. It saves trees and clutter, saves companies money, and is generally quite useful. James tells Consumerist that he discovered a case where paperless billing is not so great: when a company enrolls you in it without telling you, doesn’t verify that they have your e-mail address from the present decade, and sends collections after you. [More]
Sallie Mae's Customer Advocate Unit Makes Up For Regular Customer Service
By March 10, 2010
Jen wrote to Consumerist to let us know that the number we posted in August for student loan servier Sallie Mae’s Customer Advocate Unit is still valid and staffed with extremely helpful people.. She cut through the nonsense of regular customer service who were unable to help, then hung up on her. [More]
Make Debt Collectors Give You Money By Suing Them
By December 25, 2009
This may not work for everyone, but it worked for Jeff. He tells Consumerist that after he filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy, Sallie Mae representatives continued to call him, which is sort of illegal. So his bankruptcy attorney sued them. And won a $4,000 settlement. [More]
