Consumer complaint received 2017-01-24
Company: SLM CORPORATION
State: MD
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are handled

Complaint:
Summary of Personal Experience with Sallie Mae Student Loan I began making regular payments on my Sallie Mae student loan in XXXX 2015. I had just graduated and started working and wanted to pay them off as soon as possible because of the very high interest rates ( XXXX {$10000.00} loans@9.75 % & 10.25 % ). 
I signed up for auto-debit payments on a 10-year standard plan, but also planned to make extra payments on the loan. I called Sallie Mae to see if they would allow me to set my auto-debit at a higher amount than the minimum payment due, or if I could select an additional amount to be auto-debited to help me pay the debt faster. Sallie Mae informed me that there was no way to set that up and that their system only allowed the calculated " minimum payment '' to be auto-debited. If I wanted to make extra payments, I would have to log into the account online or call them. For several months I logged into my account at the end of each month and made a manual extra payment. 
After a few months of extra payments, I noticed that Sallie Mae 's courtesy auto-payment email reminder listed a lower auto-debit payment amount than I had originally been paying. I called them to find out why my auto-debit amount was decreasing. They could n't answer why that was when I called, and asked if it was okay if someone " researched '' my account and called me back in 5 days. Before the 5 days was up, I realized that the reason my auto-debit was deceasing was probably due to the extra payments I had made on the loan. I was trying to pay the loan faster, but Sallie Mae was adjusting the auto debit amounts to catch me back up to a full 10 years of payments. 
I called Sallie Mae and requested that they not decrease my auto-debit payments because I wanted to pay the loan early and I like to keep a budget and it helps to know the exact amount that will be debited each month. Sallie Mae told me that unfortunately " their system '' generates the auto-debit amount and that it can not be adjusted. Their system will keep decreasing my auto-debits as long as I made extra payments. They told me that if I wanted a constant payment I would have to log into my account on the same day as my auto-debit and manually " make up the difference '' every month. 
Customer Service Issues : Calling Sallie Mae was an incredibly frustrating experience. For example, I was often put on hold for hours at a time without ever reaching a supervisors or anyone with answers to my questions. When I asked politely to be transferred to supervisors or managers who had more experienced knowledge I was told " no problem '' and then transferred to another call representative over and over again- never reaching a person who could answer my questions. The call representatives refused to provide their names or their names of their supervisors or provide me with direct contact numbers so that I could resolve my questions/issues more quickly.

Company public response: Company believes complaint relates to a discontinued policy or procedure
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation