SLM CORPORATION
Consumer Complaints
There are over 1991 complaints on file for SLM CORPORATION. Dated between 2019-11-26 and 2012-03-06.
Complaints Page 36
2017-01-19
Vicksburg, MI
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't get flexible payment options
Complaint: Was in year 3 of my XXXX degree in XXXX XXXX. I pulled out loans each year with Sallie Mae. Could not afford to pay for University out of pocket. I applied for year XXXX loans and was denied due to a " high loan balance ''. Now they want {$910.00} a month in repayment. Without a degree I am unable to find work paying high enough to afford {$910.00} a month and any attempt in having the loans put on income based repayment have been met with " we do not offer income based repayment on private student loans ).
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Lb, CA
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: Just a few months after graduating from my XXXX program, I started to receive letters in the mail regarding repayment for my student loan. My student loans comprise of both federal and private loans. On several occasions do I recall numerous attempts to reach out to my lending companies ( Salliemae/XXXX/XXXX ) to see if their were options regarding lower monthly payments for my student loans, and on several occasions do I recall the representative expressing the inability to do so without any real explanation. Luckily, I was able to have my initial monthly payments through ( XXXX ) of approximately {$500.00}, lowered to approximately {$290.00} a month. However my requests to have lowered monthly payments through Salliemae/XXXX were denied. Since graduating in XX/XX/XXXX, I have been paying approximately {$890.00} a month directed towards my loan through Salliemae alone, in addition to the {$290.00} I currently owe through XXXX, as a result, in XX/XX/XXXX, I had to forbear my Salliemae loan because of financial hardship. I feel extremely hopeless about getting out of this debt without having any options to help even just decrease the monthly payments, and especially because of other financial obligations I have when it comes to being the only sole provider for my family with XXXX young children. I am not asking SallieMae to completely abolish my loans, but to simply work with me to reducing the monthly payments, and so far working with SallieMae has been very frustrating and disappointing.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Hazle Township, PA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
CT
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: I am a cosigner on XXXX Sallie Mae/XXXX loans and have been in dispute with them for about 2 years. I will be brief.
Payments were made during the student 's college years equal to or greater than the amount of the monthly interest so that principal would remain at v/borrowed amount.
After XXXX, wehn the repayment period began monthly invoices began to come stating " Amount Due '' and whatever the figure was - and " Minimum Due '' as XXXX. I called literally dozens of times asking how minimum due could be XXXX and never got a consistent answer. Scripted call center workers could not answer even the most basic loan servicing questions.
At some point I escelated this inquiry to a manager who explained that all of the payments I made over the years were put to " Pay Ahead '', an option that allowed the student more flexibility after XXXX. I explained that is was my understanding that this was paramount to escrowing my monies, which had never been disclosed. If it had been escrowed, I was owed interest and that I wanted the payment history recalculated to show the payments applied correctly against accrued interest and any overages should have been applied to principal.
After 18 frustrating months and countless phone calls they have finally sent me XXXX pages of history. Keep in mind they had promised this paperwork at least 10 times before it actually happened. They had not really taken me seriously until I explained I had sought legal counsel and that my attorney needed these papers for forensic accounting.
My daughter and I have paid for numerous 90 day forbearance periods while I try to sort all of this out.
I am looking the CFPB for some help.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Richland, NY
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't get flexible payment options
Complaint: I keep getting harassing phone calls regarding payments. I have tried to talk with XXXX ( Sallie Mae ) about a lower re-payment option, such as any income based rates, and have been told no that I need to pay my monthly amount or I will default. My interest rate keeps increasing and my amount owed has never gone down in the 3 years I have paid. I work full time at a decent paying job and most of my paycheck monthly is paid to these loans. I have never missed a payment, but I have used all of the allotted time ( 12 months in total ) to put payments on hold due to family and medical emergencies.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Three Bridges, NJ
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't get flexible payment options
Complaint: My husband and I took out a student loan with Sallie Mae at a 9.2 % interest rate for the maximum amount of years 10. We are supposed to pay them {$570.00} a month. We are in forbearance right now because we just ca n't afford the payments at the month and there is no other way to defer the payments. We are charged {$50.00} for a " forbearance fee ''. Each month we are charged {$370.00} just in interest while this account is in forbearance. This ca n't be right.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Ernul, NC
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: I ca n't find a job in my field of study and I 'm having a very difficult time trying to pay it back working part time jobs.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Palmerton, PA
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: They flat out refused to work with me to lower my payment because my uncle who was living with my grandmother had a high disposable income due to not having many bills. I started at my job making {$10.00} a hour they expected me to make a monthly payment of over {$1000.00} a month. I could not keep up with the payments and fell behind. This caused a great deal of stress on my uncle who made the payments and has tracked how much money I owe him. This {$1000.00} dollar payment is on top of my federal loan payment and rent, car insurance and other bills. My grandmother was then XXXX. I was basically ostracized from my family due to falling behind on my student loans. I have been making the full payment on my loans and living on ramen noodles due to being fearful if I fall behind they will take my grandmothers housethaybshe left to my uncle. I just want to create a better future for myself and family with a manageable payment instead of beings stuck in a cycle of poverty. I have a good job and make good money but have nothing to show for it due to my high payments. I feel like I will never be able to start a family or live a normal life due to the ridiculously high payments I am forced to make.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Brooklyn, NY
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't get flexible payment options
Complaint: I graduated a from 2 year college ( at the time ) with over {$70000.00} in debt with Sallie Mae. Thankfully, I had the 6 month grace period to find work until I had to start repaying back my loans. After the 6 months, I had started a minimum wage internship with a company that related to my field. During the internship, I quickly realized I had not been fully prepared by the school and there was a lot I had to learn.
During my second year, I had started to feel cheated by the school. I was one of the few who had joined a new program - which turned out to be mostly lectures and loading and unloading staging props and sets into and out of a studio they would be no longer using. The program did n't continue after that year, and my classmates also feel cheated from it as well.
During my internship, I had no other choice but to place my loans into forbearance since Sallie Mae would n't lower the sky high monthly payment of close to {$900.00}. My dad happened to be my cosigner, he was forced to retire a few years ago because he has XXXX from XXXX and is XXXX. His monthly check from social security is his only income, which he uses to provide for my mother who is also sick, himself and the bills for the house. For some reason, Sallie Mae wo n't lower my payments because of the amount of money my dad receives ( which really is not a lot to begin with ), no matter how low my income is.
I was lucky enough to get hired by the company right after my internship and started to pay back my loans with some help from my father - perfect timing since I had used up all of my forbearances available. A few months later, the company suffered major cut backs and had to let go of an entire department, which included me. I started XXXX for the time being, which is not really steady income as you may know, and my father and other family members have been helping out with the loan payments since I also spend most of my time at home taking care of both of my parents who need the help.
After over a year of struggling to make on time payments with the minimum payment ( being the {$900.00} ) the extremely high interest on the loan has already increased the total amount due and none of my payments have barely made a dent to it which is heartbreaking and outrageous. I 've even tried to refinance with other loan companies and I keep on getting rejected either because of my income, or the amount of the loan is too high or because I do n't have a 4 year degree. I would love to go back to school to get one, but I 'm already living in a nightmare full of debt I ca n't imagine taking on a single penny more.
I 'm XXXX years old and I would of loved to of had my own apartment at least by now, and I do n't know if that will ever become a reality even if I do find a steady job soon with these high monthly payments which keep on increasing. My father and other family members are giving me all they can and I 'm starting to really feel like a charity case. If I would of known that this college and these loans would of put a huge burden on me like this, I do n't think I would of went. I was told in the beginning that there would be repayment options and I would be prepared for my field and I was duped.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Canton, OH
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't decrease my monthly payments
Complaint: My loan repayment is extremely high with high interest rates. Repaying the loan is difficult with my salary I am currently collecting. Trying to talk to them to lower my monthly payments is a struggle, and forbearance actually hurt me when I tried it once. They still charged me after I fell behind on my loans and needed assistance by placing me in a forbearance for XXXX months, where I still paid close to {$500.00} per month.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Warrenton, VA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Trouble with how payments are handled
Complaint: During my time at school, I payed the {$25.00} a month per loan to start on the interest payments. Once I had more than XXXX loan out, Sallie Mae ( they had n't split into XXXX at the time ) would take the subsequent {$50.00}, {$75.00}, {$100.00}, and {$120.00} a month and place it towards only XXXX of my loans instead of distributing it. Afterwards I would get multiple calls almost every day from unknown numbers saying that I am in default and in danger of my credit being affected. When I would explain to the person ( after anywhere from 20min-2hrs on hold ) that yes, I had in fact payed what was owed and told them to check how it was distributed, I would get silence followed by, " huh ... ok I see what happened here ''. Multiple times I asked that a note be put on my file so that this would n't happen again. Sure enough the next month I would get another dozen calls from mystery numbers and have to go through the whole thing all over again. This time I would ask if there was a note on file and they would say " yep here it is. '' And now that I 'm out of school and working, I am paying back the loans as much as I can. The representative and I worked out an arrangement that my loans would be taken out on the XXXX of every month. I have been paying for almost eight months now and not once have the loans been taken out on the XXXX. usually the XXXX or XXXX, and only XXXX because they take out the last XXXX in the middle of the month for some reason. This has thrown a huge monkey wrench into my life. I do n't have a high paying job yet and I end up devoting XXXX of my XXXX monthly paychecks solely to student loans, and I make sure that the money is there before the XXXX. When they do n't follow the schedule they proposed and that I agreed to it throws my life out of whack and adds unneeded uncertainty and stress. Things like running low on gas on the XXXX but cant stop to fill up because I have n't been charged loans and I need to make sure there 's enough to cover them and then that odd middle of the month loan adds even more. If I were late on a payment by one day I would get several emails and at least one call asking where the money is. Yet when they are late in charging me they could n't care less, meanwhile my entire life is put on hold. It 's dehumanizing how they treat the people that come to them for help. The customer service is absolutely horrible. The people shove you off to the next person and give off the impression that you are a bother. They do n't listen to the problem and try to fix it. They listen for buzzwords and shuttle you along, " Yea I 'm having troube with changing my billing address on my account profile '' " Billing? I 'm sorry sir this extension is if you 're having trouble with your account profile, I 'll connect you. '' " No wai --!! *insert cheesy sax music* ''
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-19
Manhattan, NY
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Received bad information about my loan
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-18
Interbay, WA
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't get flexible payment options
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-18
Nashville, TN
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Trouble with how payments are handled
Company Response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error Closed with explanation
2017-01-18
Seneca, SC
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Federal student loan servicing
Received bad information about my loan
Complaint: XXXX purchased my loans from sallie Mae. Now at least 1 to 2 years later we receive a call to start paying on some that they do n't even own any longer. From what I 've read regarding sallie Mae, sadly I think my son and I are in for a misery.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-16
Randolph, MN
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't temporarily postpone payments
Company Response: Company believes complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company Closed with explanation
2017-01-14
Keytesville, MO
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't get flexible payment options
Complaint: I have been very open and honest with Sallie Mae about my difficulty to repay my loans because I am not making what I expected after graduation. It took me 6-7 phone calls and multiple line transfers to receive what little help I managed to get. I was told by multiple employees of their company that my best and only option was to let my student loans fall into default so they could be send to a collection agency, where I would receive assistance. I have also been told to pay them or " else. '' I have been told that they " do n't have to do anything and do n't care about '' my issues with repayment. It is shocking how quickly their attitude changed when my loans entered repayment. When applying for these loans, I was led to believe that income-based repayment options would be available to me after graduation if I was unable to make the original set payments. I am currently using graduated repayment on the loans I have that qualified, but even with this option, the payments are still too high - almost half of my monthly income. I try to be financially responsible and do not want to see my credit and potential future ruined over their lack of willingness to work with their customers.
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with monetary relief
2017-01-14
Occoquan, VA
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Received bad information about my loan
Complaint: I applied for a Sallie Mae private student loan XX/XX/XXXX and was approved for {$25000.00}. My family was unwilling to co-sign for me so I asked one of my father 's friends whom I did not know personally but was informed he was very wealthy. I asked, gave him all the paperwork, and sent him the Sallie Mae link to complete all the required consigner forms and relevant documents. The loan gets approved, and I get my first disbursement XX/XX/XXXX. My school informed me that my XX/XX/XXXX financial aid check is scheduled to be sent to my University ( XXXX XXXX University ) in Virginia - XXXX XXXX - on XX/XX/XXXX. I called Sallie Mae to confirm, because I have already registered for full-time enrollment, and tuition is due within the next week or two. Sallie Mae first accuses me of paying my consigner to consign on my behalf, which I would love to express my frustration about this accusation : 1 ) because it 's completely not true - I did not and could not afford to pay someone in advance to consign for me - it 's frustrating because the underlying logic to this accusation is incomprehensible- How can I pay someone enough money to convince them to consign on my behalf if the reason I need that individual to consign on my behalf is because I have no money to begin with. Last semester I got a XXXX ( literally XXXX % on every singe graded asssignment ) ask for any one of my proffessors 's email addresses and you can ask them yourself. I did the same thing at Virginia XXXX four years in a row, and managed to complete 4 years in the XXXX XXXX program with a cumulative GPA of XXXX. I got offered full-time employment from XXXX XXXX before I started my XXXX year at XXXX XXXX. Back to the loan- one employee, " XXXX '', in the fraud department at Sallie Mae refused to provide me with his identification number ( employee ID # ). He also refused to give me his last name which I 100 % understand. However, according to another Sallie Mae employee he is legally obligated to provide me with his employee ID number, which he refused to do. He also refused to provide me with any information regarding how to contact Sallie Mae 's legal department. Well, first he agreed, and about 10 seconds later he changed his mind and stated " no, I am not going to provide you with that information ''. Yea, this is a ridiculous story. It gets worse.. the remainder of the {$25000.00} student loan disbursement ( which is actually {$8500.00} ) is currently still " pending '' and I have already registered for all my courses and met with my academic advisor. I called Sallie Mae 4 times today and spoke with XXXX different employees. None of whom gave me a solid answer regarding why my funds have not been disbursed on the date scheduled and are currently " pending ''. No other updates and or information regarding why the disbursement is being withheld from me indefinitely was provided to me. My University personally told me two weeks ago that the remainder of the financial aid I was approved for- the school and Sallie Mae both approved this amount was to be disbursed today ( XX/XX/XXXX ). You have my permission to publish all of the information before the end of this sentence.
My name is XXXX XXXX XXXX, my birthdate is XX/XX/XXXX. I transferred out of XXXX XXXX courses shy of XXXX- my father became very such and spent weeks in the hospital so I decided to drop all of my studies and spend the next 3 months at the hospital day and night taking care of my father. Financial Aid was deemed as the only way for me to re-enroll in a XXXX program near my family 's home- the hospital bills exceed the amount of innapprooriate remarks XXXX has made within the past month or two.
Please help me get my remaining - already approved - financial aid disbursement from Sallie Mae and XXXX XXXX University
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-13
Manchester, NH
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-11
NJ
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Having problems with customer service
Complaint: Sallie Mae is a terrible lender. Average wait time on phone calls are XXXX45 minutes, once the call is answered, you are continuously placed on hold. I needed a simple payoff letter on XXXX loans and it took me 7 days for them to only get the XXXX, then it took XXXX additional phone calls to get the other XXXX completed. I spoke with about XXXX different departments (? ) the expediting dept. said it would take XXXX72 hours to produce ( SOME EXPEDITING!! ), As I write this, I have been on hold for 35 minutes. Too many departments, too many workers and too much ineptness. I am glad I am paying this off because their poor practices scare me!!!!
Company Response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error Closed with explanation
2017-01-09
Macon, VA
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't decrease my monthly payments
Company Response: Company disputes the facts presented in the complaint Closed with explanation
2017-01-07
Lewisville, TX
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Having problems with customer service
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with non-monetary relief
2017-01-06
Bloomington, MN
Incorrect information on credit report
Credit reporting:
Information is not mine
Complaint: Unauthorized inquiry and/or unknown company
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-05
Willingboro, NJ
Dealing with my lender or servicer
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Need information about my balance/terms
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation
2017-01-05
Drew, LA
Can't repay my loan
Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Can't get flexible payment options
Company Response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law Closed with explanation