Consumer complaint received 2016-03-24
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Having problems with customer service
Company: SLM CORPORATION (IN)

A large portion of my school-associated fees were covered by scholarship, but I had to borrow a portion each year to cover the differences. After a great deal of effort and research, I decided to go with Sallie Mae because rates were very competitive. I regret that decision every day! While I was in school, I worked to make monthly payments in order to lower the overall principle once I graduated and the loans entered repayment. I was granted a six-month grace period before monthly charges were assessed post-graduation ; however, at no point was I notified ( electronically or via XXXX mail ) ANY information about my loan. I attempted to call Sallie Mae on countless occasions and even submitted a handful of concerns into those question boxes on its website -- all to no avail. No one ever got back with me. FINALLY, I start getting upwards of XXXX12 phone calls a day starting in XXXX 2016 saying I am over {$1200.00} past due. How can this be? I - again - call Sallie Mae customer service and end up none the wiser because no one has the information I need. I soon threaten a lawsuit and am quickly directed to a manager 's line ( although since, I have talked to at least XXXX different " managers '' ). She instructed me that my monthly payments were in fact approximately {$1200.00}, and I was two months past due. I am a teacher, and this is more than I make in a given month! I was never given the option to choose a repayment plan or even notified on what my monthly bill would be! I had NO IDEA until I started receiving collections calls - even after numerous attempts to find out on my end. The beginning of the 2nd week in XXXX ( I have all of the specific dates, names and employee identification numbers, and conversation details logged onto a document on my laptop ), I started the process to apply for a rate-reduction program. This includes filling out a financial report and answering a bunch of questions for both the borrower and the co-signer. I had XXXX loans with Sallie Mae, and both have a different co-signer. It took approximately 2 and 1/2 weeks to get this information gathered because you can never speak to the same customer representative twice, even if you request them. Also, my co-signer started tracking her correspondence with Sallie Mae, so we could compare notes. On several occasions, we discovered we had talked to the same person, but that representative adamantly denied it! This game went on for several weeks ; first it was that I had n't answered ALL necessary questions. Then, once I and my information were confirmed, it was that my co-signer had n't answered the necessary questions. At XXXX point, I was in the same room as my co-signer, and the person I was talking to was blatantly lying to me! He said she had not called to update her financial questionnaire, but I was just sitting right next to her as she did so not even an hour before. I proposed that perhaps it had n't been updated in the system yet, since it had only happened, and he said it would 've been done automatically and told me I was lying! This is when I stopped working with ANYONE besides a manager. At this point, I was connected to a very sweet girl who got me enrolled in the program within an hour - no problems. Hmm. How was it that simple when it had been over 2 weeks since I started the process and had been told numerous times I did n't qualify or could n't qualify without submitting the proper info first? I was disconnected before it finalized, and I never received a call back. This was on a Friday, so I called Monday to check the status. The girl I talked to on Friday ( I have her name and ID # ) apparently does n't exist, and I had to start the process all over! Finally XXXX, I 'm enrolled. I have now received info it was never " approved '' and have to start all over AGAIN! Even though lowered monthly payments have been collected BUT NOT APPLIED TO ANY LOANS! Is this illegal?!