Angrymom
Orefield,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, May 26, 2010
I went to Allentown Business School (ABS) in August 2000 to September 2001. I made the monthly payments for Sallie Mae to ABS while attending school without problems. After school, there were no IT jobs (9/11 WTC tragedy occurred the next morning) but we still had to pay the bills. I had a baby at home and no income and was eligible for forbearance but they continued to harass us for money.
I tried to make payments but Sallie Mae and ECMC would lose my payments and faxed information. They were rude on the phone and treated me like a criminal. We had to sell our home to pay our mortgage, student loans and other bills. We thought our credit problems were solved, but they weren't. For years, our federal income tax return was stolen to pay for student loans that were already paid!
Finally, I contact the Educational Ombudsman in Washington, DC and submitted the cancelled checks as proof that they were indeed paid. We eventually got our tax refunds paid to us. But our credit was ruined, we lost our home, we paid high interest on our current mortgage and our credit report still isn't updated.
The companies who handle business loans cheat students out of millions of dollars and get rich on poor students who are in worse condition than when they started. Students still can't get jobs but they are deeper in debt. If you are a student who can't solve your student loan problems, see http://www.ombudsman.ed.gov/about/contactus.html .
Juli
Battle Ground,#3Consumer Comment
Thu, December 14, 2006
It was hard for me to read about another person being taken in by one of these Student Loan Companies. My loan was not through Sallie Mae but was similar in that the compounded daily interest made it near impossible to pay the loan off. The loan started at 14,000.00 and while I admit having some set-backs over the years, I tried to do my best to pay it and get deferments when I couldn't pay. Be cautious of putting your loan on deferment!! Remember that even though you don't have to make a payment while in deferment, the interest still accrues daily (in some loan situations). What that means is that daily interest is still added to your total balance due and you pay even more daily interest since the loan amount is higher because you skipped a payment. Remember that the larger the loan balance, the more daily interest! So that means do your research on any bank you're thinking about having consolidate your loans. They will tell you all about the money and hassle you're saving by consolidating but they won't tell you about how your interest is even higher when you put the loans together into one loan. My loan ended up getting to 29,000.00 before I was able to sell my house and pay the loan off with most of my equity from the sale. It sure would have been nice to put that 29K to a better use! I tried everything short of hiring a lawyer to get the loan total reduced with no luck. I got the same response of "Sorry, the loan is due in full and we will not reduce the amount of interest due because we don't ever do that". Please do yourself a favor and DON'T SIGN ANYTHING until you ask about interest and how it is added to the loan. It took me years to figure out that I was paying 8.50 per day in interest, that's 263.50 per month which sounds like a reasonable payment but was only enough to keep my loan from going higher. It wasn't affecting the balance at all. I have to chalk it up to a very expensive lesson learned and try my best to educate other people out there so they don't make the same mistakes I did. Please do yourself a favor and educate yourself about all the details of the student loan process. Know what kind of contract you're signing and if you can't pay the loan off quickly, DO NOT AGREE TO COMPOUNDED DAILY INTEREST!! Remember that the bank doesn't want you to pay that loan off quickly because they want to make as much money as possible off of you!
Linetta
Northampton,#4Author of original report
Tue, November 28, 2006
I am still paying my sallie mae loan and the loan continues to go up! Makes no sense. Currently, the accrued interest is $2.34 per day. I am paying more than the minimum amount due and am a month ahead of schedule, but it doesn't matter!! I just paid $100 on November 20, 2006 and only $2.25 went towards the principal, the rest ($97.75) went towards the accrued interest, even though my payment wasn't due intil December 16, 2006!!! I was speaking to a supervisor at Sallie Mae and I asked her, "Is this legal?" The only answer she gave me and I quote, "This is the way Sallie Mae does it". I just wrote an email to the Pennsylvania State Board of Education . Hopefully, I can get some help there.
Amy
Wheaton,#5Consumer Suggestion
Mon, March 20, 2006
I am doing research in regards to my private, unsubsidised, "Career training" loan from Sallie Mae. My interest rates keep changing too and the terms in the statement papers also seem to change as well. I want to find the truth about my type of loan so I am going to contact the following people: If you go to ED. gov you can express your concerns to the "Obudsman's office" who can "assist borrowers in resolving student loan isues." In addition, I will be contacting the Department of Education. I will also send a letter to Sallie Mae and request a recent copy of the discosure rules re: my loan and ask why did I not receive a statement of interest paid to deduct on Federal Income Tax on any of my student loans. Hopefully this will help any one who is having the same issues with interest, terms changing and or payment disputes.
Amy
Wheaton,#6Consumer Suggestion
Mon, March 20, 2006
I am doing research in regards to my private, unsubsidised, "Career training" loan from Sallie Mae. My interest rates keep changing too and the terms in the statement papers also seem to change as well. I want to find the truth about my type of loan so I am going to contact the following people: If you go to ED. gov you can express your concerns to the "Obudsman's office" who can "assist borrowers in resolving student loan isues." In addition, I will be contacting the Department of Education. I will also send a letter to Sallie Mae and request a recent copy of the discosure rules re: my loan and ask why did I not receive a statement of interest paid to deduct on Federal Income Tax on any of my student loans. Hopefully this will help any one who is having the same issues with interest, terms changing and or payment disputes.
Amy
Wheaton,#7Consumer Suggestion
Mon, March 20, 2006
I am doing research in regards to my private, unsubsidised, "Career training" loan from Sallie Mae. My interest rates keep changing too and the terms in the statement papers also seem to change as well. I want to find the truth about my type of loan so I am going to contact the following people: If you go to ED. gov you can express your concerns to the "Obudsman's office" who can "assist borrowers in resolving student loan isues." In addition, I will be contacting the Department of Education. I will also send a letter to Sallie Mae and request a recent copy of the discosure rules re: my loan and ask why did I not receive a statement of interest paid to deduct on Federal Income Tax on any of my student loans. Hopefully this will help any one who is having the same issues with interest, terms changing and or payment disputes.
Amy
Wheaton,#8Consumer Suggestion
Mon, March 20, 2006
I am doing research in regards to my private, unsubsidised, "Career training" loan from Sallie Mae. My interest rates keep changing too and the terms in the statement papers also seem to change as well. I want to find the truth about my type of loan so I am going to contact the following people: If you go to ED. gov you can express your concerns to the "Obudsman's office" who can "assist borrowers in resolving student loan isues." In addition, I will be contacting the Department of Education. I will also send a letter to Sallie Mae and request a recent copy of the discosure rules re: my loan and ask why did I not receive a statement of interest paid to deduct on Federal Income Tax on any of my student loans. Hopefully this will help any one who is having the same issues with interest, terms changing and or payment disputes.
Linetta
Northampton,#9Author of original report
Sun, March 19, 2006
Also, My interest rate is 15.25%!!!!!