Consumer complaint received 2022-09-06
Company: SLM CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
I am going through financial hardship right now. My income was decreased and my husband lost his job. I contacted Sallie Mae back in XX/XX/2022 because I couldnt make the payments. They did their little questionnaire and determined that I couldnt afford to make the payments. They said they could put them in forbearance. They told me I would have 3 months forebearance. But they wouldnt accept the {$50.00} anymore. It had to be the payment in full. This is ridiculous because obviously Im calling because I can not afford the payment. Nonetheless since I have coborrowers that I dont want to mess up their credit I borrowed money so I could make the payment to put the loans in forbearance. However the following month I got a notification my bill was due. This is XXXX. So I called and they informed me that I did not qualify for forbearance. I had to make 12 full payments first. 
This is the most ridiculous thing Ive ever heard. So at that point there is nothing I can do. Now we are going to almost 3 payments past due. I get an email from them that there are options available for me to make up the payments etc. 

So I call them again. This is in XXXX. The representative I speak to informs me that I already used my forbearance and now I have to make the payments. I told her I never put the loans in forbearance. I never even got an approval letter or any notification that my loans were in forbearance. She said me or my co borrowers put them in forbearance. I told her this was impossible since I am the only one who speaks to them and pays them. 

So they said they would tell me who put the loans in forbearance. After a long hold they came back and tried to accuse me of something else. They wanted to distract me from the question about forbearance but I quickly brought it back to the forefront of the conversation by asking who placed my loans in forbearance. She reluctantly admitted that Sallie Mae had placed my loans in forbearance without notifying me and did not ask me if I wanted to put them in forbearance and they never even sent correspondence out. If I log in to my account I can not find any document stating my loans were in forbearance. However, I can not get forbearance now that I need it because I supposedly used it. I have zero documentation or emails notifying me or documenting my loans in forbearance. For all I know its another lie Salle Mae does to their borrowers to ruin their lives. Worst company ever. Liars. Theyre going to ruin my credit and my coborrowers credit over a supposed forbearance that I have zero documentation on. They are liars. They need to give me a forbearance until I can return to work full time and they need to give me payments options. They need to be prosecuted for all the lies they tell borrowers and all the underhanded dishonest things they do. 

So I went looking for my forbearance request and I found something more interesting. They never put my loans into forbearance. They had a system error of which I was unaware that affected the billing of the loans. So they should be able to put my loans into forbearance. And they are total liars. There is absolutely NO reason why my loans can not qualify for forbearance and other assistance programs.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation