Well, I'm happy to report (indifferent really) that Sallie Mae responded via snail mail 2 weeks after I sent my email. I have to scan and upload the letter, but basically it stated that I couldn't make principal only payments online because per my loan docs accrued interest had to be paid first. Then, Sallie Mae enclosed a copy of my loan docs for reference (THANKS!). Now, my question is, if accrued interest gets paid first when I make my monthly payment anyway, why the hell can't I make a principal only payments online in between payment dates???? Its not like I'm paying the loan off so there will be another monthly payment (and another and another) so the interest can continue to accrue - just less of it since I paid down some of the principal. Seriously, am I being unreasonable or is the level of corporate greed here just ridiculous and undeniable? I have to say it again, THE BORROWER IS SLAVE TO THE LENDER!!!
My other issue is if you can make a principal only payment via the mail why doesn't Sallie Mae offer the a corresponding online option? I already know the answer - because the interest will accrue while the payment is in the mail increasing the amount from your payment that would be applied to interest and decreasing the amount that would be applied to principal. Geez - is this not the definition of SCAM or ASSHOLE?!!
I was very, very, lucky and managed to pay off my student loans (i say lucky, because it was only through luck that the numbers worked out, it could easily have gone the other way). I had been trying to pay more on the principal, but feared something like what you are facing (and I had a different lender). What I did was make minimum payments, while putting what I wanted to send in extra principal payment in an online savings account.
ReplyDeleteI had intended to wait until the online account was enough to pay off the entire loan, but eventually I started making large principal-only payments of $1-3K. Becuase the payment was large, I could determine what the lender was doing with it. This costs something as interest continues to accrue, but it is a way to try to cut into the loan principal.
If you've got the cash flow, it might be worth a try, and if its only a few large payments a year, you'd spend less time dealing with the lender if they do not apply it properly.
I enjoy your blog and wish you success in clearing the loans.
-Chris
I have another lender, which allows me to make extra payments every month. Sallie Mae is scum.
ReplyDeleteCan Sallie Mae be attacked (nay, slaughtered) on the premise that a contract with them is not valid because when they agree to the contract, they are not offering proper consideration? Under the definition of consideration is the undeniable fact that "agreeing to perform an illegal or illicit act is not consideration and the contract is void." Well, SAllie Mae's contracts are not illegal, but they are illicit.
ReplyDeleteThere is (as you know I am sure)a slight difference between 'illegal' and 'illicit'. Illegal means 'not according to or authorized by law'. Sallie Mae contracts are not illegal.
However, 'Illicit' means 'not allowed or approved by common custom, rule, or standard'...'contrary to accepted morality or convention'. Now, Sallie Mae's practices are definitely illicit. They do not conform to nor are they approved by COMMON custom, rule, or standards...
I am picking at Sallie Mae's seams, looking for a crack through which to push and free myself and my family from this burdensome student loan debt. Maybe your ideas on these subjects can help me, and help you too!
thanks,
Sharri
Can't a student loan contract, with monthly payments far above what a recent graduate can possibly afford, be considered a violation of the DEceptive Trade Practices FTC act? Under this Act, 'Unfair" practices are defined as those that "cause[] or [are] likely to cause substantial injury to consumers which is not reasonably avoidable by consumers themselves and not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition" (15 U.S.C. Sec. 45(n)).
ReplyDeleteIsn't that SAllie Mae right there?
Sharri
What do you think of the Accepted for Value method of discharging debt? I'm sure everyone would love to hand their debts back to the creditors. Is this a do-able thing? Here is a link to one site (of many) that I have researched on the subject:
ReplyDeletehttp://hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Accepted-For-Value-Mean-Using-The-Strawman-Redemption
I am working every angle to get out of this burdensome student loan debt, because you are right. the average borrower simply cannot work their way out from under the interest in order to affect the principal unless they graduate and immediately land a job paying unrealistic wages, wages that seasoned professionals with years of experience might make. Sallie Mae has to know that the average person borrowing money from them will not land one of these jobs, and therefore will have tremendous difficulties paying the loans back what with all the capitalized interest. There has to be a way to Erin Brokovich these losers...
Sharri
I'm still trying to understand how my federal student loan contract is legal. They target non-dischargeable debt at 17 yro's with no credit history, they tell you on the website you can discharge it in bk if it causes extreme hardship (yeah right) and no where in the promissory note does it say anything about how all the consumer protections normally associated with debt do not apply to the contract. All it says is look up some federal law to see the terms and "THIS IS A DEBT THAT MUST BE REPAID." I read through entrance counseling and they don't mention bankruptcy, statute of limitations, all the things consumers take for granted. Honestly, how the heck is that legal. I did not knowingly waive my rights. Sallie Mae at least had a contract that looked a little more legal. My monthly payment on my federal student loans from law school is zero because I'm poor, but to me this is just not kosher. Start a class action, get a judge to say that non-dischargeable debt aimed at unsophisticated consumers must have large warnings about the huge lack of consumer protections, a lack just completely unknown anywhere else in the lending world, on the front page in large bold print, then when that obviousness is settled attack Sallie Mae.
ReplyDeleteI paid off a loan after 10 years with them last year, WHOO-HOO! I pretty much lived like a pauper in the last year of it and sent them $1000 a month or more. Totally worth it though to have it gone. It is such a good feeling to be rid of all that.
ReplyDeleteThis group is for those who believe the US Department of Education should strip the American Bar Association of its accreditor status.
ReplyDeleteNO WAY ABA! STRIP THE ABA OF IT ACCREDITOR STATUS! STOP THE OVERSUPPLY OF LAWYERS!
On facebook, check out the page: NO WAY ABA
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001885560184#!/pages/NO-WAY-ABA/157102307664191?v=info
These are such interesting comments! I love the encouragement as well as the attempts to bring Sallie Mae down on legal grounds. You all certainly put a smile on my face!
ReplyDeleteFYI, you can make a principal only payment to Sallie Mae online. HOWEVER, the payment must be greater than two times your monthly payment for the additional amount to be completely assigned to the principal. So if your monthly payment is $200 then you must adjust your online payment to at least $401. Please note, this will move forward your payment due following month, so you can't depend on Sallie Mae autodebit to take out the next payment.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sad story though that you have to go through this, but it looks like you have managed to poke some fun at the ridiculousness at the situation.
ReplyDeleteLike many Americans, I am faced with a SALLIE MAE debt that I cannot pay.
ReplyDeleteEven with all the OPTIONS Sallie mae offers (and they're not that good, unless you cheat at it, but i wouldn't suggest trying that...)...
for many, it STILL becomes a "IGNORE...and hope like GOD they will go away!" Even though they're GOVERNMENT...they won't (depsite being PRIVATE, a GSPE)
BUT, like many americans who WORK FOR A LIVING, I pay SOCIAL SECURITY with the promise that I'd get my stipend out when I reach sixty-something....
If it's LEGAL for the GOVERNMENT to take from the SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND, and replace what they take with BONDS, that I as a TAXPAYER must be on the hook for...paying MORE of my "fair share" to help government honor those promises....
then I should be allowed to redirect my SOCIAL SECURITY PAY-IN CLAIMS to offset or eliminate the SALLIE MAE DEBT, NOW!
If Social security tells me through annual letters how much I have paid in since the start of my working life...then if they're correct, then I should have enough pay-in claims to handle the offset....
I mean, it's not that much of a stretch of the imagination to figure out that BOTH ENTITIES, after expenses, take all their gains they get, and give it over to GOVERNMENT coffer, unless programmed otherwise to recirculate it...neverthless...
So...what forms do I fill out, to get this done....who do I need to contact to get this handled? What do I have to do?
Or, should i just get comfortable on the whipping post, like they tied KUNTAR KINTE...and shut my eyes real tight when the whip me...to make me say my name is "TOBY" just so the slave master can feel righteous when they finally break me to do it?
Well? what do I do?
I'm trying to get a copy of my loan agreement, and I can't get anywhere. What was the email address you had. I'd appreciate the help. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone still reads this.
The telephone number is 1-888-440-4622
ReplyDeleteI got email from them about my payment of student Loan I don't remember having contract with them and I don't remember having account on their website they just showed up in the middle of nowhere in my email.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Students-Scammed-By-Sallie-Mae-SSS/363438573771432
ReplyDeletePlease go to this link and Like "Students Scammed By Sallie (Mae) aka SSS)
THe more attention we bring to this the closer we get to finding a solution and exosing their illegal practices.
I am visually impared and have been trying to get sallie mae to send paperwork i can actually read not tiny tiny print that gives me a headache to try and see, I, have been taught being visually impared not to sign any document i cannot read, i may be signing my rights away and not know it. no one in sallie mae can get me to the right dept to get the paperwork and this is after years of telling them the same thing, i am on SSD and SSI also medicaid and foodstamps i am poor and disabled, why is america allowing the govt to charge its poor more interest than some banks anyway for poor peoples loans to attampt to get out of poverty, this seems like more than a scam its slavery at the fundemental level (indentured servitude)
ReplyDeleteI know this is not fair. I know this has happened
ReplyDeleteDo you want to say I can't. Your tears no longer want to drip
Cara Mengatasi Benjolan Di Tengkuk Leher
Cara Menyembuhkan Psoriasis
Obat Benjolan Di Vagina
Cara Mengobati Miom
Obat Bronkopneumonia