Consumer complaint received 2022-08-13
Company: SLM CORPORATION
State: RI
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
Sallie Mae denies receiving a check payment mailed more than one month ago and has not applied my payment to my account in a timely manner. 

I refinanced my Sallie Mae student loans into a single loan with another servicer. The payoff checks were mailed to Sallie Mae on XX/XX/2022 directly to their payment address listed on both my statements and their website. 

Sallie Mae 's website says check payments will be processed in 7-10 days ( screenshot attached ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called to inquire about the status of my payment. Customer Service claimed they see no record of the payment being processed, or that the check was even received. Since this was 17 days after the check had been mailed, they opened an " investigation '' to find out whether the check had been received, and why it had not been processed if so. I provided check numbers and specific amounts, as well as the address they were sent to. According to my online account, that support ticket was closed one day later on XX/XX/XXXX. I received no update as to the result of the investigation, and there was still no payment posted to my account ( screenshot attached ). 

I called again on XX/XX/XXXX ( 21 days after the check was mailed ). I was told again there was no update or payment received. There is no record that the check has been received, and they blamed it on USPS being slow. I was told to specifically call back on XX/XX/XXXX and that there should be an update on my payments page by then. There was not. 

XX/XX/XXXX I called for a third time, ( 28 days after the check was mailed ). I was connected with a much more helpful representative that put me on hold while she reached out to other employees for assistance to look into whether the check was received. After almost an hour, I was told the same thing. There is no record of the check being received, to keep monitoring my online account. I asked about waiving my next payment/late fee as I am now paying two different loan payments for essentially the same loan. I was told that even though there is clearly a record of an investigation and I have been told this is unusual and needs to be looked into, I would need to go through the usual payment hardship/income based repayment options and am not offered any flexibility in the meantime. 

It is now XX/XX/XXXX ( MORE THAN ONE MONTH AFTER MAILING THE CHECK ) and the payment has not been processed. In this time I have incurred two additional rounds of interest, and have needed to make two more EFT payments. 

It is completely unacceptable that a process that is advertised to take 7-10 days takes more than one month. These loans are accruing interest ( at around 10 % APR ). If someone was paying their loans by check as their normal payment method, they would be charged late fees, have late payments on their credit report, and not have their payment applied in time before their next statement was issued. This is absurd, and appears as nothing but stringing along payments, denying receipt of checks, and brushing off borrowers so the company can avoid the loans being refinanced while they continue to be paid interest on them. 

My advice from customer service on what to do if the payment was not posted before my due date, was to not make my loan payment, and hope the checked showed up soon.

Company public response: Company believes complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation