I gradutated from a career college in 1993 with honors (gpa 3.84) and although the school claimed to have trained me in the field of Data Processing, I have never been able to secure a job in Data Processing. I was trained on outdated software (even for that time) and received no training at all on processing software. When I graduated I owed more than $5000 in loans. My first job out of school was as a secretary making $7 an hour. That is what I was earning when I signed up for school. I paid on the loans for the first 6 months and after that simply could not afford it. My loans are now a staggering $20,000+ and accruing interest everyday. Fifteen years later I am a cashier in a gas station making $7.50 an hour with an education that I never really received. It is not right that these schools can lure people in with promises of a bright future, get them to sign up for classes, and leave them worse off than they were when they started. If anyone can give me logical answers and help I would greatly appreciate it. Even if I paid $100 a month, I could never pay these loans off. All it would do is pay for the interst that is accruing daily. PLEASE HELP ME!!! I am now almost 40 years old and at a loss for directions.

Sallie Mae lured me into a private loan I did not need to cover educational costs. I noticed the rate was over 11% and returned the monies 3 months later ( it took a while before my school figured out that I did not need the funds) Upon contacting my school they stated that it was too late to stop the loan process and that all I could do was wait for the refund check from my school and return the funds. I did and now they are charging me $121 of daily interest which accrued from December to March. What can I do to prevent wage garnishment or other negative effects on my credit score which up until now is good 702 FICA? Based on principle I should not have to pay for interest on a loan I did not request in the first place. What can I do?

I got a loan for school at Katharine Gibbs in NJ from Sallie Mae. When I signed for the loan, I was told that I would not know what the interest rate would be until I had to start paying the loan back. Needless to say, it was a high rate of 17.5%. I have been paying that loan since 2000 and I have yet to see the principle of that loan go down. All these years, it seems that the money that I have paid has gone to the "interest" on my loan. At this rate, I will still be paying the loan until I die. I have called Sallie Mae, hoping to get the interest rate down, but i was told that was impossible. Sallie Mae pretty much doesn't care about anything but the dollar. If i knew what the interest rate was going to be then I would have never gotten that loan. Can anyone help me with this problem?

I've never received a job in my degree after graduating from FullSail, Orlando Florida. I have over $40,000 in student loans from Full Sail, which after 4 years I owe more now than I borrowed. I feel the school and Sallie Mae scammed me. I need help paying off my student loan or some form of forgiveness. I am now serving in the US AirForce. Is there help for me?

I attended Brooks Institute of Photography, which at the time was a fine, accredited and industry famous school for both Photographers and Cinematographers. However the very first loan I got to go there was a private loan, as it was required. All loans obtained for the remaining sessions were covered by federal loans but the schools policy was the first loan had to be private and had to be from one of two banks that carried their services via Sallie mae. Yet another scandal altogether and one I'm hoping a lawsuit is filed over, not by investors but buy those that were conned into those loans. The worst part is that this loan which was $3,600 when I got it is now over $12,000. That's right, over $9,400 in interest has accumulated in just 8 years. Not even a car or ahome accumulates at that rate. All my other loans with Sallie Mae are fine but this private loan is out of control.

I attended one semester and realized what these loans were leading too. I quit hoping to regroup and get a real education that means something. I have been making payments as scheduled for about six months when suddenly, a week ago I get a past due notice on my private loan. I called to figure out what is going on and they tell me that the payment has been applied to my federal loans. Then today I get a past due notice for my federal loans saying that those two are three months past due. What? I know that makes no sense. Making my payments on time and somehow in the course of a week I am four months past due. We need to band together to take Sallie Mae down!!! Treating Americans like this that are just trying to better themselves in UNACCEPTABLE!! We can only help ourselves.

I went to Liberty University and was going to be a pilot so with that comes lots of loans. (I graduated with almost 70,000 in private loans and can barely keep up my payments now. I currently have had to defer them so I could possibly get a job to pay them back. I have been doing a lot of research on Sallie Mae and find that a lot of people are having a hard time with this. I called Sallie Mae and asked them to see if there was anything that we could to do help me out to make payments on time. There was a customer service rep on the phone named "Bob" with a Indian accent saying sorry sir there is nothing I can do. I just feel like the school didn't care about this or you think that Sallie Mae would have been like dude don't give him money... Nope now my loans are around $104,000 and I can bearly pay them. Interest rate are around 11.00% and it seems like you pay and your balance never goes down... It's a seed of deceipt. Oh to top it all off I am a Sales rep at a cell phone store and not a pilot.

Let's find an attorney that agrees with us and/or has had the same experience(s). If their investors (Sallie Mae) can sue due to the (basic) fact that Sallie Mae exercised bad lending practices, then why can't we? What made their lending practices 'Just' to us? Believe me, I feel everyone's pain. Financial entrapment with a twist of Lead you on Lime & a tad bit of Bribery. It's a tough drink to swallow; and in fact - I'm tired of drinking it. All we asked for is a job/career that will put our $50,000 (more $ for some) education to use and enable us to earn enough money to pay the loan(s) back. So why can't WE start one of those lawsuits? The investors get to sue & we can't do the same? So what should we do? I was always told: It doesn't hurt to try - Rite.

I am in the same nightmare position. I attended Full Sail University to follow my dreams of the entertainment industry. The school had great marketing and teamed up with Sallie Mae for loans. I graduated with great grades and perfect attendance. I now work at Best Buy and owe over $100,000. I do work in the cd department however.

if we all group up together and do a collective lawsuit, we can sue Sallie Mae for its illegal tactics and look for an attorney to take our case to the public and take it to thepress. It would lure more unsatisfied clients who have private Sallie Mae loans to demand our rights to be respected and sue them for emotional stress, scams, etc so we can stop Sallie Mae from haunting on poor people.Let's creat this collective lawsuit now! Let's get all the emails and phone numbers and give them to an attorney !! shalimabdul@yahoo.com

I went to the Computer Career Institute at Johns Hopkins University which ALSO suckered me into absolute CRAP education and CRAP loans with Sally Mae at ridiculous interest rates. My loans are now over 40,000 and their "lawyers" call me every day harassing me about taking me to court etc. How the heck am I supposed to pay for a $40K loan at 14+ interest rates without having that SUPER PAYING JOB I WAS SUPPOSED TO GET after I finished their "Training"?! It was the biggest piece of crap education I ever received and I'll be shafted by Sallie Mae like the rest of you.

jarodroberttaylor@yahoo.com

I am in the same boat. I am lucky enough to actually have a job in my degree field, but I own more than $100,000 in private student loans. And make much much much less than that. Even though I qualify for another 12 months of forebearance, they have frozen those and are now demanding payments in excess of $1100.00 per month. They will not reduce the payment to something I can even begin to afford. I definitely want to file a class action against them. I still have not even received my payment book or any paperwork. I only know I am behind because of my online account with them. Can we get together in a group. Is anyone interested in shopping this around to an attorney? How else can we go about getting this going. We need to do something now, I know there are thousands upon thousands of us! When you research Sallie mae loans...all you find is site after site of complaints and no sites where to go for help. Contact me regarding this. befree2001@msn.com

I have attended two schools -- ITT and Westwood. When signing up they told me that I would need a Sallie Mae loan to cover what my grants didn't and that once I completed school that I would be making payments of around $50 a month for each loan.

After attending I didn't feel like I was receiving the education that I was paying for in these loans. The reason why I say this is because my 4th grade son was bringing home assignments that mirrored the ones I was receiving from ITT and Westwood. I was getting A's on all my assignments without any studying because it was so easy my son could do it. If you are going to pay over $75,000+ in loans when you complete a school shouldn't it actually teach you something??

After I woke up to the school scam and dropped my classes, the Sallie Mae calls started rolling in. Some days we would get as many as 30 a day. All I could tell them is that nothing has changed for me financially since their last phone call 30 minutes ago.

My wife and I have since fallen upon hard times and have lost our phone and other services because of Sallie Mae. My wife was unable to work and we had to draw cash assistance aid and food stamps a while back. We receive $600 a month in cash, $480 of which Sallie may took -- leaving my family of 3 with one on the way with a mere $120 to pay for utilities. I own a crappy little trailer that we live in, if not for that we would have been forced out on the street unable to pay any kind of rent.

I understand that we owe them money but what gives them the right to dip into aid money, SSI, and other critical forms of income. People need this money because their families are in crisis and yet Sallie Mae can swoop in like a buzzard and take what little you have to ensure that you don't survive?

Until we started going to receive food from the church last winter, my family had to all live in one room in the back of our trailer with no water, gas, or phone (can only pay electric on $120 a month). For heat we had a space heater that could only heat one room. My wife was late term high risk pregnancy at the time. We lived on ramen noodles and what the local church was able to help supply with their food assistance.

It's bad when a government-protected institution puts money ahead of the welfare of its citizens. After the winter was over Sallie Mae collected around $3000+ of family assistance and it sure hasn't shown up as credit on my loans.

I also am disgusted with PC Pro Schools and Sallie Mae. PC pro schools damn near promise you a great career in only 6 months. Man, was I a sucker! Along with only getting a private Sallie Mae loan, what a combination.

Six months of being rushed through school and not fully understanding what I was learning, I reallized it was a money making scam. Three years later, i'm jobless with almost the same balance I started with. I have given almost 10K to Sallie Mae towards the loan with the original balance starting at 25K. My principal balance has only gone down $1,600.00. Almost $8,500.00 in interest!! WTF.

I dont know how any lender can get away with this! I know some people will say, "Why didn't you get a federal loan?" I wasn't able to get any other loan at the time. It's bad enough when my father had to co-sign this loan. I'm a single parent with a 15 yr old son. It feels like I will never get this paid off.

We really need to gather together to try and stop this CORRUPTION from happening! Count me in for any type of legal action!

I also attended Full Sail two years (Recording & Film). I thought it was a cool school with a lot of great equipment. I learned a whole lot there. The real problem is the cost of the school . They do stretch the truth to impress you to go there and you find that out after your there, it is definitely NOT worth 30,000 a year!!! Maybe half that, maybe. Sallie Mae is the big CON here though. If I paid my loans off today, I'd owe $93,000. That's 13,000 interest in five years. I have good credit and my cosigning parents, excellent.

On Sallie Mae's website today if I paid it off in their time frame of about 20 years I'd have to pay $127,000. That's is totally outrageous! It does not add up. $30,000 a year times 2 is $60,000. Now add in the living expenses, it's $80,000. Now take $127,000 and subtract the $80,000 and you get $47,000 in interest over 20 years. How can that be legal? My email is drummeryan@hotmail.com. I hope this goes to court!!!

Hello everyone, I'm in the same place as all of you. If we only put some effort into this and get a good attorney thats all we need. We can sue this low life money stealing company and get our lives on track. THIS IS AMERICA AND AMERICA IS SCREWING US OVER, I DON'T THINK I CAN TAKE THIS ANYMORE. HERE IS MY EMAIL AT LEAST EVERY WEEK LETS ALL GET TOGETHER ONLINE AND FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION . anshenork2@yahoo.com

I am so tired of dealing with Sallie Mae. They really disgust me.

This past summer I knew I was about to have a lot of financial difficulties. I was 8 months pregnant, did not have a job because I had just moved into a new area...and well no one wants to hire someone who is clearly pregnant (sad but true). Anyway, I knew that I was not going to be able to make payments much longer on my private loans until at least after my child was born and when I was employed again. I checked out my account on their website to see if I could get any assistance in the form of a maybe a deferrment or forbearance. From what their online system told me, I had exhausted my forbearance so I would be uneligible to use that option.

So I called to speak with someone over the phone to make sure that there wasn't something they could do to help me. I was told by the rep that if I paid $100 ($50 for each private loan - I had two) that I would be able to put my loans in forbearance. I actually advised the representative at that time that my online account showed that I was ineligible for forbearance. The representative assured me that this was not the case and if I paid this fee I would not owe another payment until December 27th, 2008. I even asked her several times to make sure we were on the same page that I would not owe anything until late December. She agreed with me each time.

Anyway, I went ahead and paid their fee and thought this would take care of my problem until December. I figured this would give me enough time to sort through some things and hopefully be able to start paying them again. Well the next month rolls around and it shows that I still owe a payment. I called and asked why my loans were not put into forbearance when I had paid their $100 fee to do so. The representative told me that the payment only brought me current on my account and my loans WERE NOT put into forbearance like they had told me they would. Then she instructed me to pay ANOTHER $100 to put them into the so-called forbearance that I am pretty sure would have not happened for a second time. I kept explaining to them that I had already paid this fee and I would NOT be paying it again but it was like they could not understand that concept at all.

So I called back a couple of days later hoping I would get someone who would finally understand the problem I was having. I was told the same thing again, that all the fee did was bring my account current and did not pay anything towards my forbearance "fee" because I, again, was not eligible for forbearance. I then wondered why I was given false information and paid a fee for a service that Sallie Mae failed to provide me? This fee was actually more than my monthly payment at the time and paying this fee set me back even further with my bills. I really wish I would have not paid them the extra money.

I always thought Sallie Mae was a respectable loan company and that is why I did not have a problem paying the initial $100 if it could have saved me from making a few payments until I got back on my feet. Obviously I was very wrong. After researching Sallie Mae on google, I now realize just how corrupt they are. There have been several other people (I'm sure many more than that) who have been told this same lie about paying a fee. Anyway, if anyone here actually files a class action lawsuit against them I would be glad to join and offer my support:

xgemini.starsx@gmail.com

Wife and I have over 250,000 in debt, good education, however with 2 kids, etc, etc.... Anyone started law suit???

My story is pretty much the same as everyone else. I was willing to come to some kind of settlement @ a lower interest rate and borrow the money from family to payoff. I don't have a job, and no way of paying and they refuse to lower the interest on the loan. I spoke to 8 diff supervisors and they didn't care and a few hung up on me. They didn't care that they would be getting cash in their hands now instead of who knows when I will be able to pay them. If anyone has a lawyer who has sued sallie mae or if someone has started a class action suit please let me know.

I too can not get Sallie Mae to reduce my loan because of hardship. I have 4 student loans with interest combined is 34%.I can't see myself even putting a dent in the interest.

My son got Sallie Mae loans, and I cosigned for a few of them at first, until they would accept his signature alone. Basically the same scenario as the rest of you.... When my son's loans were coming due, he called to find out about payment schedules, and a payment book, which never arrived. He finally got a notice that he was past due in payments. He talked to several people at Sallie Mae, and got several different amounts that were due. Finally got someone to state that they would send out payment coupons, which they did. He made the first payment, and then, his own fault, forgot about mailing the next payment until 2 days before due. He  called Sallie Mae, and they had a totally different amount that was due, other than was on the payment coupon, and told him that he was late with his payments..... Not the case, we have canceled checks to prove otherwise. I called them, spent 3 hours on the phone, talked to about 5 different people, and got about 5 different amounts that were due... mind you, this was supposed to represent combined loans.... then I got the song and dance that if I paid them $377 on that day, everything would be caught up.... so I made the payment... never got a corrected payment booklet, or coupon, so we called again to make phone payment, and got ANOTHER DIFFERENT amount that was due..... needless to say, my son is making arrangements to talk to a lawyer next week..... we are not trying to get out of paying back the loans... i have never tried to cheat anyone out of money that they are due.... I cannot understand why they cannot give us a clear amount of payment that is due, and why it changes with each person that we talk to.... i will try to keep up with this site, and post any information that we get.....

I was basically 18 had no one to pay for my schooling not only did the school trick me into getting these loans but also sallie mae, now after all my schooling has been completed i owe over 140,000 to sallie mae with all the interest. I'm suppose to make 1600 dollar monthly payments, and its laughable. I try but really who pays that much its more than a house payment, I call and call to ask for other options they say NO and to pay my late fee's while i'm at it, so its either you pay them or they ruin your credit which equals ruin your life...how terrible, I cant consolidate my loans either nobody wants to (economy) and i only have private loans. I feel so lost and i try to look for help online and there simply is NONE there is no government agency to help or nonprofit, what are all the people in the same boat as me suppose to do? just wait till their wages eventually get garnished and not only that but with horrid credit, i asked if i could at least lower my monthly payments to around 5 to 6 hundred a month, they said no "sallie mae only accept payments in full" and with an attitude problem too..... so what to do? damn, i simply dont have that kind of money to be tossing around, i have to help my parents my sister and pay my own living.

my email is mrseiya02@yahoo.com

if anybody wishes to give me some advice.

All I wanted to do was pursue a dream.. and I ended up with over $200,000 in debt over the next 30 years..I'm now 25 years old and I can barely afford to put gas in my car. This $700 a month bill is overwhelming my life. even though i have a good job (not in the field that Iwent to school for) that pays decent.. its still impossible to keep up with the payments. This means I won't be able to move out of my house, buy any new car, or even get a credit card untill im about 60, and forget about getting married or having any kids.. and since my parents co-signed on the loans, it is affecting their credit too.. something must be done.

Same situation - $130,000 in loans - I had no other way to pay for school, so I bit the bullet. Funny thing was, on my financial aid papers at Savannah College of Art and Design I requested that the majority of the money come from Government loans - I ended up only getting 5k from the government and the other 98% from Sallie Mae, with no other options I took it and it was the worst mistake of my life.

I know that borrowing that money comes to be my fault to some extent - but what isn't my fault are the company policies and procedures of Sallie Mae. They have lost NUMEROUS payments of mine and they have tacked on $1,000s in mysterious processing fees of which I can not get an answer from their "reps" as to what they are (I've never defaulted on payment - I basically pay Sallie Mae, and thank god I have a G/F who helps me out with everything else)- no consolidation, no Earned Income payments, no room at all except for a couple of months of reduced payments but when you are talking about going from $1300 a month to $1000 a month it means jack.

I should not have borrowed the money but they should NOT have lent a young kid with no credit $100,000. and when he can't find a job related to his field expect him to make $1000 a month payments.

I tried to file for another forebearance because this economy really sucks but the customer service won't give it to me then she transferred me to her supervisor who tried to hustle me for my father and relative's name and information for assurances that I will not default my loans again. I told her my father has liver cancer from working in clothing factories and is on food stamps now. He barely have enough in his savings. I told her no one co-sign my loans, I went to Full Sail University at Winter Park, Florida to get a 2nd BS (boy was the school full of BS) because I wasn't happy with working in temp agencies after getting my first Bachelor. But the woman supervisor wasn't even listening. I told her again my father is on food stamps. And she said, "Did you say uncle gonna help you? And what about your mother and father? $200 from her, $200 from him, and your friends? I need assurance, what are their names, phone numbers and Social Security Numbers?"
I refused to give either, I told her I just needed a few months more forbearance and I am willing to pay another $150 again in money order.
And she asked and yelled in the most demanding and sarcastic way, "Where and who are you getting the money from?" "Hey are you trying to hang up on me?" "Don't you dare hang up on me, we need to talk about it now, not later!!!"
I told her there is nothing I can do about it now, I am unemployed and I was like fine if you want to put me as delinquent, put me as delinquent. She was shouting at me on the phone and belittling me to make me feel so small.
I also asked if SallieMae has been harassing my next door neighbor whom I barely know, who is not a co-signer. And she just played this sarcastic innocent game denying everything.

I spoke to a friend of mine about it. He pointed out, Sallie Mae is doing something illegal when they call up people who are not your co-signer nor references. That means, they are giving my personal information away all for greed and endangering my identity of being stolen. And technically, my neighbor can sue them for harassment.

He also pointed out, that I should consider calling the Attorney General of my state and Eric Holder and tell them about the illegal practices of Sallie Mae so the government can step in and investigate and hopefully break apart the company or shut it down.

TO EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY GENERAL OF YOUR STATE AND ERIC HOLDER IN CONGRESS and register with
www.fbi.gov

I want my apr lowered and I want that company to shut down. I posted up the SallieMae practices and how it work with Full Sail University so closely on cgtalk.com and the school told the administrator to delete the whole article because it was bad for Full Sail University's business. Where is the freedom of speech?

Everyone please contact your state's attorney general and write to congress. No one listens to you if only 1 person complain, but if alot of people complain about the same company, they will look into it. I hope the government can nationalize the banks and force SallieMae to lower the interest rate.

www.fbi.gov

I to was sucked in to something that sounded like a way out, not only did I get signed up but I got the loan from sallie mae and started the classes, only to realize that four classes into it, it wasnt for me and with alot of soul searching and talking to my wife I decided to drop out. I got socked $6500.00 for four classes. Boy was that a blow!! needless to say we are still paying for it. At first they wanted us to pay over $300.00 a month until we called them and ajusted that. but everytime we make apayment to them we just have a hard time. it just seems wrong!! we don't have that kind of money to be throwing away. we understad that we would have to pay something but not 6500.00. something was just not right with that.

Hi, My name is Tanner. I decided to do a google search on Salie Mae's subprime lending practices... I am in the same boat it seems, along with thousands of others who feel duped out of their money and educations. I was just wondering if anything has come about this lawyer talk? I'm being harassed daily and would like to get in touch with anyone who can help... Thanks, Tanner tanner@mohawkcrew.com

I am in the exact same situation. I enrolled in Gibbs for Fashion Design and Merchandising only to realize the program was a joke so I quit and got a good job that is paying for me to finish my degree. I am now slammed with over $16,000 in debt for two terms.

Someone please let me know if you have found help. I can't keep this up...

Krysta

As you read this, the Department of Education is choosing a servicer from among 6 companies that will service federal student loans. If you have a horror story about a lender or servicer, it is VERY important that you share it with the decision makers. Go to this Facebook Group for more information on who to contact. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1364964545&ref=profile#/group.php...

I am in the same situation also with Sallie Mae. My original loan balance was 35k for a four year computer science degree. Nearing the end of my college career I needed only one class to graduate that I had trouble getting through as it was only offered once a year same professor and same time every spring. Since I couldnt get federal aid for one course I was forced to take a year off to save up to pay cash to take the course. In the mean time my student loans kicked in due to not being enrolled in college at least part time and expected payment of 300 per month and at the time I was working a retail job for $7.00 an hour with 2 children. I could not make the payments and called AES several times to try and put my loans in deferment. They did this for a year and I accrued some heavy interest charges but nothing to critical. I went back to school finished my degree and still was working a part-time job with minimal income. My loans defaulted and were purchased from sallie mae. adding 25k on to the original 35k making my loans now $60,000. Now I have a decent job and have been paying on this loan for a year and half making double payments every month and to find out that I am accuring $250-$300 of interest per month. I have already paid in $10,500 onto my loans only to pay down a little over $3000. At this rate I will pay my loan off in about 15 years and pay over $85,000 in interest and fees. I dont really feel this is fair at all. I don't know who to talk to or what to do about this but it is such a scandal they have going at Sallie Mae. I now cant afford to buy a cheap house because of the necessity of paying double payments or more to avoid paying over 120,000 in interest. There has to be a better solution to this. I can except even paying double for my original loans but I feel it is unfair for someone like me who is actually trying to pay these loans down and am getting nowhere fast. Please help!!

I too went to PC ProSchools, and didn't do bad...but halfway thru i missed a lot of time due to unforseen circumstances and therefore missed classtime I feel was critical to me graduating. All that school really provided was access to the certification exams, the books cost $500 each compared to their $25,000 in tuition plus interest. They tried to mentor me but the mentor was garbage and shouldnt have been a teacher.
Now, after the graduation date has passed and I only have one certification because I am trying to finish my bachelor's degree before the end of this year so I can make some real money. The job they helped place me at was a joke, it had almost nothing to do with what we learned at the school and now they will not even respond to my emails, no matter how many I send. I am all up for suing because I cannot afford $600 a month payments for that garbage of a so-called education...especially since I am unemployed and have rent and other bills.
I knew I shouldnt have went to that training school, certifications don't mean much without the degree any way.

I'm looking to get my loans dissolved. Recently I've been going round and round with SALLIE F!@#in MAE. They breached their contract with me and is trying to tell me they have the right to do whatever they want.
Sallie Mae bought out my loans from another company that I had consolidated with, without my request or approval. I called them instantly, now this was at least 8 years ago, and they GUARANTEED me that my interest rate of 5.25% would hold true throughout the life of my loans, only to find out recently that they up it to 8%.
Then because I chose not to pay for a few months because of their breach and the fact that they can't send me my statements on time, they decided to put my loans in forebearance. Again without my permission...WHO's paying for that interest?, it surely isn't going to be me.
Sallie Mae, since my college has been CLOSED due to illegal activity, not undifferent than yourselves, my loans should be dissolved.
Since that doesn't seem to be happening, I'm all for taking these SOBs to court. Maybe they'll wind up owing us some money...

After reading all of your comments this is what i concluded. I am in the same boat as you guys I went to Full Sail for 1 year, i owe about 80,000 thats with the interest included. I got an associates degree. Now with that said it seems we all went to tech schools or something along those lines how do they expect us to pay any of these loans back when jobs like ours are not paying nearly enough and the ones that do barely exist we are lucky to make 50,000-60,000 a year. We did get scammed especially now with the economy i can't find a job to save my life. so what do we do now? Join the military? We need to find a way to take action anyone with ideas send me a email. hockeyrv6@aol.com

I have attended only one class in a local private tech school. The SM loan was for $15,000. My teacher quit due to not being paid by the school. The school has not hired another teacher. If SM has prepaid for this education, and I honestly think they have, This "failing school will have to reimburse SM. I just want out at this point. Anybody ever heard of this senario? The SM loan was for $15,000. I have attended for one class.

I too can not get Sallie Mae to reduce my loan because of hardship. I have 4 student loans with interest combined is 34%.I can't see myself even putting a dent in the interest.

Someone please let me know if you have found help. I can't keep this up...

Contact me at suhail.k.valentin@gmail.com

i am in the same shoes as everyone please help me i have an appointment with the attorney to file chapter 11 he told me there is something he can do to put the student loans in my chapter 11 if you fixed your problem or you go any solution please email me @ ycnanratib@Hotmail.com

I too am in the same boat. I was suckered into 2 personal loans and was unable to finish my education due to medical reasons. So time passed and I wasn't able to go back. I had a baby 11 months ago and nearly died (Dr. messed up), anyways I've lost my job and my husband is the only income for the family. And we are LITERALLY living paycheck to paycheck. I just got the call from Sallie Mae and the collector was ok, not too rude but the Supervisor "Toby" was quite rude. I asked to give me until Monday so my husband can discuss and try to figure something out but he said NO NOW!!! WTF!!! I even went as far as asking him if he expects me to sell 1 of my children. But he just got ruder and ruder so I hung up on him. He was telling me that I was going to be sent to a 3rd party collection and they will want payment in full. Sallie Mae is RIDICULOUS and rude and a waste of energy. They don't care how sick you are or if you have no money. The employees only care about their paycheck.

We constantly hear the media proclaiming,"If you are having financial problems call your lender and ask for help, they will work with you". We have called Sallie Mae numerous times and begged for help with student loans. We have ask Sallie Mae for a reasonable repayment plan, a negotiable settlement alternative, some kind of relief. All Sallie Mae will do is put the loans in forbearance and then continue to balloon the debt by compounding interest on top of interest at a fourteen percent or higher rate until there is no hope of recover, Sallie Mae stated that none of the debt is negotiable or dischargeable through bankruptcy. Sallie Mae is going to milk these loans for all they can get. Martha Holler of Sallie Mae reply is,"We don't make the rules, but we do follow them". Sallie Mae could care less about the fact they are turning a student's yesterdays dreams into todays nightmares. Former Sallie Mae debt collector, Michael Zahara stated on."Now on PBS", "Sallie Mae debt collection agents use dubious tactics to force students into what's called forbearance. Sallie Mae has a incentive to let loans balloon, because if the borrower can not pay the taxpayer would cover the debt and since Sallie Mae allows FELP loans stay suspended for years; Zahara has seen loans double in size. Sallie Mae has even put loans in forbearance without borrower permission". Sallie Mae doesn't care about the borrower, all they care about is their end of the month numbers. According to the Federal Education Department, in 2009 the amount of outstanding federal student loan debt is $544 billion and increasing by the day. Where is their bailout? Where is their recovery plan? Where are their options? How can it be, the big corporations, the banks, the credit card debt and all other debt in this country is negotiable or dischargeable through bankruptcy, except student loan debt. I ask you isn't that discrimination against one class of borrower, and is it being supported by the government? Ask Martha Holler of Sallie Mae her answer is, "We don't make the rules, but we do follow them". Ask The Student Loan Consolidation Corporation, or The Consumer Credit Counseling Service for help and the answer is,"no help with student loans under Sallie Mae".

Hi all, like so many others who have posted at this website, I feel pretty victimized by Salliemae. While I accept responsibility for being a financial retard (I'm an art teacher at a private school who doesn't do well with numbers or the forms that I've had to fill out for these loans over the years) and for delaying payment of my student loans with deferments and forebearances, my original loan amount of $32,400.95 is now $95,488.83. Salliemae's late fees, penalities, etc. have helped balloon this amount up. Today, I spoke with Sallie Mae in the hopes of signing on to the new IBR payment program. If only my loans were back to their original amount -- I'd gladly pay on that. I think it's deeply cynical to give people hope with a new program like IBR -- but it's just PR. The supervisor I spoke with (after dealing with two outsource operators from India who were very nice but useless) told me I'd have payments for 25 years at $304.00 and then at the end of 25 years, they would forgive $875,765.00 (this is an astonishing number -- think back to the $32,400.05 I orginally borrowed!), but that I would owe income tax on this amount for the year it would be forgiven. That's income tax on almost a million dollars!! This is outrageous -- Salliemae is getting positive PR from this program from well-meaning magazines and newspapers who have been totally fooled. The truth is, this program is not much different from the cynical, subprime loan business that Salliemae has been in up to its hipboots. Can anything be done about this greedy corporation that is like a vampire, turning former students who should have been financially smarter into lifelong serfs, draining their financial lifeblood? I can't afford the current payments of $710.49 (that's why I'm in forebearance), nor will Ibe able to pay tax on almost a million dollars of "forgiven" debt 25 years from now. I'm sure that there are THOUSANDS of other like me in the same bind. I know Salliemae is ethically compromised -- but is any part of what they've done with people like me worthy of a lawsuit? I've contacted the James Hoyer lawfirm. Does anyone know of any other firms who might be able to help? if so, please e-mail me at myartguru@gmail.com Thanks.

I have also been victimized by Sallie Mae. I went to U.T.I which was a complete joke I learned out of the same book that I had in high school. Half way through A rep. said I needed another loan or I wouldn't graduate. My grandmother co-signed for me. Well bout 7 months after I graduated I got into a car accident and was out of work for 2 months. Apart from the 15 or so calls I got my grandmother got about another 20. They threatned to take everything of value from her. At the same time my grandfather had lost his fight with cancer. She was very vournerable and they took advantage. She had no money for food because she was paying these loans off. Once I got back to work I paid her off first then worried about the crooks. She passed several months later. I have sent them a copy of her death certificate on Five seperate occasions. I live in her house now and still get letters and even phone calls from them. I was left disabbled from the accident I havent had a good paying job since. They dont care, I have paid $3200 on a $2500 loan in a year and the principal hasent gone down one bit. I found that the easiest way to get them off the phone is ask if you can record the conversation. Nothing to hide...right. I have given up on trying to pay the loans I have jumped through all of the hoops, done everything possible they just have more ways to swindle money out of me. They have also conned my buddy They tried to say that he wasn't paying on time. He had direct withdraw set up on his accounts from them. They charged him late fees out the ass. When he asked for the charges to be reversed they said no it was to late he should have called sooner. They destroyed his perfect credit and didn't care. They need to be stopped if this was some small lending company they would have been desroyed by the media. I guess they are using our interest money for their interests on Capitol Hill. LETS BRING THEM DOWN. If their is any lawsuits plese contact me Bflanagan183@gmail.com