ComplaintsforSallie Mae

Loans

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Customer Complaint:

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Complaint Details

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Initial Complaint
04/15/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
This company did a charge off and filed this as cancel debt and did not send a 1099C to me. They are still reporting debt on my credit report which is a violation of 15 USC 1681eb and 15 USC 1692 unfair practice. I was a victim of covid-19 which was declared a natural disaster for the state of Indiana FEMA-4515-DR, EM-3456-IN. Also under the Federal Debt Collection Protection Act this company has harassed me.
Business response
05/06/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Customer response
05/08/2024
Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and have determined that this does not resolve my issue. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.The account needs to be removed off my credit report or we can go to court for harassment. They called a elementary school in the state of GA requesting for me. I have proof which is stalking and harassment. They can respond through here not by mail and they are choosing not too nor did they ever provide a 1099C for the charge off which is illegal. You have a charge off account ok my report that was written off on their taxes. **In order for the bureau to continue to assist you, you MUST provide your view on the matter or your complaint will be closed as answered. Regards, Complaint ID: 21579828
Business response
05/28/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Initial Complaint
03/25/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Back in 2013 I made the ill advised decision to co-sign on a student loan for someone who promised to remove me as co-signor 6 months after graduating. I was also at the time separated from my wife, struggling with alcohol, and suicidal. I ended up in a psych ward exactly 1-month after co-signing because I had a plan in place to take my life. Fortunately I got help, but I also got stuck with this loan. I’ve been paying on this loan for 10 years and have reached out to Sallie Mae multiple times for help even going as far as sending them my medical records as they requested proving I was in 2 psych wards and a substance use rehab within a month after co-signing. Unless I go into default they don’t try to contact the primary borrower or offer any sort of assistance. I don’t want to destroy my credit by walking away, but I have done my part in making payments on this loan for 10 years. Sallie Mae has gotten their money from me they need to hold the primary borrower accountable for the balance and free me from this loan or at the very least reduce the interest so the payments are manageable and I can make traction. I have already paid enough and now my interest rate is 13% so the payments are higher than ever going primarily towards interest every month.
Business response
04/05/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Customer response
04/08/2024
Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and have determined that this does not resolve my issue. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I spoke with ***** from Sallie Mae twice once on 3/27 and again on 4/3 who only verified my complaint with the BBB. After our first conversation she asked for a week to review my case and said she was going to try to reach out to the primary borrower who has stuck me with the loan to see if she could work something out with her. To my knowledge I have not received anything in writing, but I am sure it will be in a nutshell that they are sorry there is nothing they can do to assist me. ***** did review my case as promised and told me it pulled her heart strings, but unfortunately based on Sallie Mae's policy there was absolutely nothing she could do to help me. She also told me her supervisor looked over my file and advised her she would be wasting her time attempting to reach out to the primary borrower because that had not gotten them anywhere in the past. She complimented me at least 2-3 times calling me a rock star for all of the payments and re-iterated that it really pulled her heart strings reviewing my case and that she understands because her Dad is tired of helping her with her student loans. I explained to her the different was I was not receiving any help and had been left to pay every penny. I let her know that all she was doing was verifying everything I said in my complaint to the BBB and that unless I default on the loan I get absolutely no assistance whatsoever from Sallie Mae. She acknowledged that and re-iterated that she wishes there was more she could do. They employ people to give you false hope, make you think they care, and let you down as easy as they can. At least she didn't make any false promises as some of their other representatives have in the past although making me wait a week to tell me exactly what I already knew I was going to hear was completely unnecessary. All ***** did was waste both of our time as have many of their agents in the past the only difference is they are getting paid that time. There was absolutely no resolution it was simply another wasted attempt to get some help from Sallie Mae. I was more than willing to settle for even just an interest reduction. After making payments for 10 solid years you would think that would be the least they could do, but they could care less as long as they are getting their payments. I sincerely feel for anyone who is a slave to their loans. **In order for the bureau to continue to assist you, you MUST provide your view on the matter or your complaint will be closed as answered. Regards, Complaint ID: 21481228
Business response
04/24/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Initial Complaint
03/15/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Resolved
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Sallie Mae continues to call despite me telling them several times over the past year that they have the wrong number. I receive several calls a day from different phone numbers marked Sallie Mae in regards to Beatrice Sanchez. I have told the caller that they have the wrong number and to please top calling me. The caller agrees to remove my number from their records however they continue to call.
Business response
03/29/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Customer response
04/02/2024
Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I have yet to receive written communication from Sallie Mae as they stated in their response. However, the calls have stopped and I will consider that satisfactory.

Regards,

Complaint ID: 21440110
Initial Complaint
03/01/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
They are the worst loan service I have ever dealt with. They are pushy and not helpful when I call them, they just immediately transfer me to my case manager, who is rude most of the time. I am trying to get help but they don’t seem to care to help me. They put you in these “payment lowering” programs and then say they follow up with emails about your payments you have scheduled. Well I have zero emails showing it. I can’t express enough how bad Sallie Mae is. They fit you with their interest rate making you pay outrageous monthly payments. I should have never gotten a loan with this so called “company”! Your business practices suck and you hire people are a blatantly rude and leave threatening voicemails how they will not help you if you don’t call them back 5pm EST. I work for a living trying to pay back the loans that I got from you! I don’t have time to sit on the phone for 40 mins during the day. I’m sick and tired of the harassment I get from them. They should be ashamed to suck college students and grads students dry. With my loans I am not second guessing if I am going to grad school cause they just keep harassing me about what I owe. You should not be allowed to call and harass 15 times a day and *** should be disciplined for the way he speaks to me on the phone. He is pushy and makes me feel stupid for answering the phone or for even calling them to get my loans situated. This place needs to be shut down and everyone sued for what they do to students after they graduate. Avoid them at all costs
Business response
03/25/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Customer response
03/27/2024
Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and have determined that this does not resolve my issue. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

**In order for the bureau to continue to assist you, you MUST provide your view on the matter or your complaint will be closed as answered.

Regards,

Complaint ID: 21369176
Initial Complaint
02/29/2024
Complaint Type:
Customer Service Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I get multiple phone calls daily on making a payment to Sallie Mae.
Business response
03/08/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Customer response
03/11/2024
Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and have determined that this does not resolve my issue. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. **In order for the bureau to continue to assist you, you MUST provide your view on the matter or your complaint will be closed as answered. Their response was to notify me that they will respond later. I am waiting additional correspondence from from Sallie Mae. Regards, Complaint ID: 21364357
Business response
03/22/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Initial Complaint
02/18/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I took a student loan with Sallie Mae for my tuition at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. I agreed on the loan to pay $25 a month while I'm enrolled full-time in school. I took more than the minimum of full time credit hours and have been enrolled constantly from August 2023, to present. The first two payments were charged and paid as described, but my November 2023 payment was billed for $320.52. I have spoken with multiple people multiple times who informed me that I was showing as unenrolled in their system. I spoke with my registrar and financial aid office who have reached out multiple times and submitted multiple documents stating that I have been enrolled constantly. I was informed by Sallie Mae that I was enrolled at Pamlico Community College, which I had never heard of nor taken classes at. I have spoken with them multiple times and they have continued to tell me for multiple weeks that they are waiting on my enrollment verification for The Citadel to come through. I have submitted it through email, as well as my registrar submitting it through email and fax. I have offered to send additional documents but was told not by Sallie Mae representatives. This has put a major negative impact on my credit score and I currently am being being charged more that I originally took the loan out for. I have gone to great lengths to resolve the issue, but no avail as their representatives are unhelpful and refuse to aknowledge my uploaded documentation.
Business response
03/13/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Initial Complaint
02/07/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
In January of 2022, I was able to unilaterally secure a forbearance as the cosigner of my brother's student loan due to medical issues. (As far as I know, I've been the only one paying this loan up to this point.) Before a similar request around December of 2023 (when my debit card happened to get compromised), I was denied repayment assistance due to making such a request too soon. However, online support staff refused to seriously consider the matter due to a sudden and arbitrary policy requiring both parties to the loan to make a joint phone call for these matters. There have been no prior notice that such a policy has been implemented, and it's believed that all who have been asserting said policy lack the authority to change Sallie Mae's policies in any way. Online support staff refer back to the January 2022 forbearance as the source of this policy, but all they can find is a passage that merely allows Sallie Mae to change its repayment assistance policies at any time. As I tried to explain to Sallie Mae's Consumer Advocate, requiring my brother's involvement in this matter is expected to trigger his anxiety disorder and result in an counterproductive phone call (or anything else that might involve his direct involvement). To the extent that this policy somehow doesn't violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are more efficient communication methods that Sallie Mae apparently refuses to make use of, which would include an efficient way to receive whatever documentation might be needed (and a way to bypass the scheduling and timezone conflicts that Sallie Mae has somehow failed to pick up on trying to do everything over the phone). Even so, it appears that even the worst emergencies isn't enough to overcome this unnecessary and unannounced policy. In any case, the damage has been done, leaving me to take proportional actions should Sallie Mae choose to pour salt on our wounds instead of making this right.
Business response
02/27/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Customer response
02/28/2024
Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and have determined that this does not resolve my issue. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.A direct response to the BBB complaint is improper, as evident in the attached copy of the business's letter. Nothing here is sensitive enough to warrant such unnecessary safety measures, which insults the BBB's preexisting efforts to mask sensitive information in public-facing complaints. This level of incompetence is not unexpected from someone who can't even appreciate the scheduling problems that come from the timezone difference in effect. Nevertheless, these attempts to defend unnecessary and counterproductive policy at issue, which harm students with so-called invisible (read: mental/psychiatric) disabilities and obstruct their cosigner's ability to keep accounts current, continue to frustrate. If the business seriously believes that such sudden and arbitrary don't violate the Americans with Disabilities Act in even the slightest, that can be (and will) be tested in the appropriate venue. In the meantime, the business's prior response to funds taken away by fraudulent activity under the relevant policy (does it even really exist? I doubt that anyone that has been pushing it even has the authority to make policy changes) has caused preventable harm and added salt to preexisting wounds. The business can either to learn how to (properly) utilize the various communication methods to collect the info and/or documentation to actually process a (perhaps retroactive) request for repayment assistance, or perhaps spend more than the underlying loan is worth defending itself from an overdue ADA lawsuit (and claims resulting from any related credit and credit reporting mischief). Either way, this whole thing could've been prevented had the business chosen (emphasis on the word "chosen", since the business previously processed requests from just the sole paying cosigner) to respond to unforeseeable circumstances the same way other, more competent lenders do.As such, if the business would rather continue refusing to even try to make things right, then I will continue to pursue every remedy available to make us whole and even fight for similarly situated borrowers (other people with anxiety disorders and/or other invisible disabilities) and the cosigners that care for them. Accordingly, it's up to the business to decide whether it wants to be smart about this and, at the very least, repeal the supposed policy in a similarly sudden (here, last minute) manner.Regards, Complaint ID: 21258726
Business response
03/15/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Initial Complaint
02/02/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I am not liable for this debt with SALLIE MAE I do not have a contract with SALLIE MAE, they did not provide me with the original contract as I requested
Business response
02/21/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Initial Complaint
01/27/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
In 2018 2 student loans were opened with Sallie Mae, through the guidance of the University of Connecticut. One of the loans was in the amount of $6,498(loan ending in 9803) and opened on May 17 of 2018, meanwhile the other was for $5,600(loan ending in 6255) and opened on August 20th of 2018. Total originating balance was $12,098.* Coming out of school, I started work making less than the national median, and had difficulty beginning the payback process, to which Sallie Mae provided hardship assistance for the first year of the required payback period. through the loan modification they provided, my initial principal balance increased, however, once the hardship lifted and credit reporting became a valid reason to begin payback, I started making payments towards my loan. To date, based on the calculation of adding all sent payments, the amount paid back to Sallie Mae is approximately $10,750, meanwhile as of January of 2024 the current balance for loan 9803 is $8,207.18 and for 6255 is $6,572.16 making the total current balance $14,779.34.* To summarize, the loan balance started at $12,098, I've already paid 10,759.22, and it's currently $14,779.34. On top of this, the harassing collections calls over the past 6 years have made a poor situation even worse, and I encourage you to listen to any and all recordings attached to my file, as many of them will display my grievances towards this whole situation. I need help in fighting this balance, as there is no way I am able to defend myself against a contract that is unfair, in the general benefit of the business against my own personal finances. This might look like a valid model on paper, but in reality, it has completely crippled my financial life, and there is no end in sight. To think how many other people have contracts like this, and how much money these companies are making off of students, explains much of the financial problems that this country as a whole is facing. Please help.
Business response
02/12/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate
Initial Complaint
01/24/2024
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I have been paying sallie mae for a couple years. For some reason the system will randomly pull out of one my savings accounts. I didnt know this and got lay payments and missed payments which hurt my credit score. They said it was my banks fault and they will not help to fix my credit score. my bank said the information is correct.
Business response
02/16/2024
Thank you for your message. To protect the privacy of our customers, we responded directly to the customer. Please allow enough time for the customer to receive our response, sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

Regards,
Office of the Customer Advocate

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