Consumer complaint received 2018-02-12
Company: SLM CORPORATION
State: CO
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
I graduated in XX/XX/XXXX of XX/XX/XXXXfrom XXXX University with approximately 120K in student debt, approximately 85K of that with Sallie Mae, the rest with XXXX XXXX federal lenders. 

My payments for Sallie Mae started 6 months after graduation and fortunately I was able to find employment in my educational field ; however, my monthly payments started at {$940.00} ( four loans with interest rates averaging 8 % ). Even with the job in my educational field, it was nearly impossible to make those payments every month so I found myself going into forbearance every couple of months so I wouldn't mess up mine or my co-signers credit. Every time I would go into forbearance, my payments after forbearance would be higher than before AND my interest rates would increase every time. It is now XX/XX/XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX ( been struggling to make payments sine XX/XX/XXXX ) and I have used up all of my forbearance and my interest rates now average 10 %, and payments being {$980.00}. 

Last month I got an email stating that I had been qualified for " interest only '' payments for 12 months and they had failed to notify me. Even though I hate the idea of making interest only payments, I feel like I had no choice to opt in because I can't afford {$980.00} per month. So ... I call Sallie Mae and have them run through the numbers for me regarding how much my interest only payments would be and I almost fainted .... {$740.00} for JUST INTEREST starting XX/XX/XXXX. I am getting to the point where I just want to give up. How is it ethically possible for a company to charge that much interest for people who literally cant afford it and who keep calling month after month to get interest/payments lowered. I understand I have a responsibility to pay back my student loans, but not at a 10 % interest rate, which just keeps climbing. 

Unfortunately, I do not have all of the dates of the numerous phone calls I've made to them and how many times I've tried to get my interest lowered so I can afford payments ; however, I'm getting to the point where I can't even live a happy life anymore. And the thought of THIS being my life for the next 20+ year just doesn't seem worth it to me. There is no point in living when you can't actually live happily. I can't afford to feed myself let alone buy a house or start a family, etc. Even when I called Sallie Mae to go through my finances and was crying on the phone the person from Sallie Mae laughed over the phone and said " you're not going to like what I have to say '' and that was that. He refused to consider the fact that I need to go to therapy because I have been extremely depressed regarding my finances. He refused to consider the other debts that I have that I would like to pay off but can't because of Sallie Mae. He refused to show any kind of empathy for me and my 10 % interest rates. To me, this is EXTREMELY UNETHICAL. 

**NOTE - When I filed my taxes, I found that between my federal and private student loans I paid ( no exaggeration ) just over $ 13K in JUST INTEREST in XX/XX/XXXX.

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