Consumer complaint received 2023-04-24
Company: SLM CORPORATION
State: TX
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
I have been being harassed by sallie mae regarding having issues with payments due to being out of school for XXXX semesters due to XXXX. They have called me with robo calls from XXXX XXXX and Sallie Mae, they have harassed XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX who is not attached to my loans in any way and XXXX XXXX who is not associated with myself or my finances as I rarely see him. They disclosed information about my loan and financials with him when he is not signed onto anything. 


XX/XX/XXXX : I contacted Sallie Mae because I was worried about the XXXX month grace period after taking a semester off as a result of XXXX and my XXXX being bad. Was told that I could have a XXXX  month grace period of payment if I just contacted my school about deferment with paperwork. 
I called again after I was unable to have my XXXX approved by my university before the spring XXXX semester started and was not able to be enrolled in classes again. Was told to keep making payments on my loan I've been paying while in school while we figured out what to do with the ones I could not afford. 


XX/XX/XXXX : was told to do a financial statement in order to set up a reduced payment plan so I could prevent my loan from defaulting on XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : I contacted my account XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX? ) at sallie mae corporate bank regarding my inability to pay my account amounts after I was out of school and unemployed due to XXXX. We had a conversation where we did a financial statement, he was concerned I would not even be able to afford their reduced rate. Suggested that I go and ask people in my life for money because they were a business and not a government agency so they would only help me so much. I was told that if I could get the amount of XXXX that I would be able to pay them that before XX/XX/XXXX to prevent my loan from defaulting. I then called back and discussed with another agent the same pricing because I wanted to ensure I had the full amount so I could ask people in my life for money. 


XX/XX/XXXX : Called again because I got the full amount I was told I could pay. The agent I spoke with said that there were no notes of what I was talking about and that based on my financial statement they would not offer that. She clarified if I knew that the payments would only be or XXXX months instead of the XXXX year program because of me going back to school in XXXX or XXXX. I said Id even be willing to put off school because I was so poor. She kept mentioning how she wasn't sure why I would be told an amount and she was worried the managers would deny it. I asked why I would be told specific numbers and she said she did not know. Offered to connect me to XXXX XXXX in order to have clarification. I agreed and she put me on hold as XXXX XXXX was in a call. When the call was done she said she was transferring me, I heard it transfer and him talk then the call dropped. I assumed it just was a transfer error and called back, stating my name and that I was just trying to get into contact with my account XXXX as the call had dropped. The new agent then told me that XXXX XXXX said he was unavailable to talk. I questioned that as I was just transferred to him but it hung up and said I was supposed to talk to him. She said that she was unsure why, but he was unavailable. I mentioned that I wanted to talk to someone above him about the call recordings and going over my payment options and then he became available. I then was transferred to XXXX XXXX who said that he never offered me the payment option as he didn't offer things he was not sure he could get for people. I asked him how I could have gotten the numbers then. He would interrupt me when I attempted to talk saying he was not finished or ask me if I was done in an annoyed fashion. I asked him if he could understand how this was stressful for me since due to the financial hardship and he said that he never been in a situation like this but he figures it would be stressful. He then implies that most people on this program, including me since I did not make much, would not actually go to school because they could not afford it. I interjected to mention that I would be going to school as I had my XXXX. He then went " I'm sorry I couldn't hear you. I was talking. Are you done or are you going to keep talking? '' and I said that I just wanted to clarify that I could in fact afford college as I had XXXX and I wanted to do the payment plan. He argued that it could not be done and that he never told me things I was told. I then asked to speak to someone above him as I wanted to review what was discussed over the previous calls and see where the misunderstanding may lie ( and to clarify what I know I was told ). XXXX XXXX then transferred me to XXXX of his managers. I went over the entire situation and she said that she was not concerned with me being misled, but more about me paying so they wouldn't sell my loans to creditors and destroy my credit. I told her that I was offered the payment plan, what numbers I was told and everything. She told me that I wouldn't be able to get that because I was not making enough, that they had to contact my cosigner and do a financial statement on her. I mentioned yet again that my cosigner is unemployed and she said " well someone has to be paying for her to live '' and that they needed that before they would give me a payment plan. She then said that she wouldn't give me a number because " it could go up or down probably not down, most likely up '' in the time it would take to contact my cosigner. I said that I had the amount that I was told I needed to pay and that I was being prevented from bringing my account to current with what I was told. She said she would go over the calls and that it would take XXXX hours. I asked if I could have the calls myself and was told no. I then was told I would need an attorney to get them and I said I'd look into it, she then hung up on me. 


I contacted an attorneys office about the situation and she ( either the attorney or paralegal ) told me that private litigation against them may end up with them retaliating against me and garnishing my wages, but that contacting the CFPB would be my best option. 


XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to Sallie Mae again and requested to do the payment plan. The agent I spoke with set it up and took my information for my payments. We processed the payment. In the agreement she started out saying it was pending XXXX approval, despite them taking payment and my banking information.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief