Consumer complaint received 2017-10-28
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer — Problem with customer service
Company: SLM CORPORATION (CA)

In XXXX XXXX, I co-signed a {$20000.00} Sallie Mae student loan for a friend who was attending XXXX University. We filled out the application online, but when we hit submit, the page gave us an error message and said our application was not submitted. The next day, we went back to the website and filled out the application again. The application was properly submitted. We thought we were only applying for one {$20000.00} loan, but apparently the first loan actually did go through and Sallie Mae dispersed two {$20000.00} payments to XXXX University. My friend had a balance on his student account for approximately {$10000.00} at that time. He called and physically went to the XXXX University Financial Aid Office multiple times to make sure they would return the first {$20000.00} loan and the remainder of the second loan ( after his account balance was paid off ) to Sallie Mae. He never received a check or payment of any kind from XXXX University. The student loan has been in deferment this entire time because my friend was attending school full time. My friend and I stopped talking around XXXX XXXX due to a completely unrelated issue and I have not spoken to him since then. 

Fast forward to XXXX XXXX, when I received a notification from my credit monitoring company that a Sallie Mae student loan I had co-signed for was 30, 60, or 90 days late. I logged into the Sallie Mae website and discovered both {$20000.00} loans are still due and no payments had been made on either account. I called Sallie Mae and explained what had happened and they transferred me to the Fraud Department. The person I spoke with looked at the original applications and said there was definitely an error since both applications were for the same type of loan, same amount, and submitted within 24 hours of each other, but he said since the loans had already been dispersed to XXXX University, I needed to talk to the University to resolve the issue. He told me to email XXXXXXXXXXXX and ask them to return the unused portion of the student loans to Sallie Mae. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I emailed the Bursar Office and explained the situation. I received an automatic reply that someone would be in touch with me within 24-48 business hours. I also called the Financial Aid Office but was told no one would talk to me because I was not the student. Over the next two weeks, I called the Bursar Office three times and submitted an email to the Financial Aid Office, but no one responded to either of the emails and every person I spoke with told me they were investigating the matter and someone would call me when the investigation was complete. Today ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, I called the Bursar Office once more to get an update, and the lady I spoke with told me no one would be calling me back or speaking to me about the issue because I was not the student and it was against federal law to give information about student accounts to someone other than the student. I explained I was the co-signer of the loan and no one has been able to get a hold of the student ( it appears he lost his job, changed his phone numbers, and had his condo foreclosed on and has not responded to dozens of phone calls, messages, or emails from me, my family, or Sallie Mae XXXX, but the lady told me it did n't matter, the only person who could request an investigation into the matter is the student. 

I 'm not sure how to proceed from here other than to hire a lawyer. My credit score has already lowered 10 points, my credit card company has lowered my credit limit, and I had to make a {$770.00} payment to Sallie Mae XXXX on a credit card since this was completely unexpected ) so they would not send another report to the credit companies. XXXX University has approximately {$30000.00} that should have been returned to Sallie Mae in XXXX XXXX but has been sitting on it and refuses to talk to me about it.