Consumer complaint received 2026-05-18 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan
Company: SLM CORPORATION
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint against Sallie Mae regarding their failure to provide hardship assistance options and their pattern of excessive and harassing contact during a period of significant financial hardship. Beginning XX/XX/XXXX I experienced a period of financial hardship. I had brief work earning under $ XXXX well below poverty level in New York XXXX making it impossible to meet my loan obligations. From XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX I had no income at all. I secured full-time employment on XX/XX/XXXX. Throughout this entire period I proactively contacted Sallie Mae multiple times to request forbearance or hardship assistance. Despite my repeated good faith efforts, I was consistently denied options or told to call back the following month with no resolution. Specific incidents : - Around XX/XX/XXXX : Called Sallie Mae regarding hardship assistance. Do not recall outcome. - Within a few days of XX/XX/XXXX : Called Sallie Mae regarding hardship assistance following job loss. No options provided. - XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX : Called escalations. No options provided. - XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX in escalations ( XXXX ). XXXX indicated forbearance may be available and instructed me to call back. When I called back, he stated no options were available. I called back XXXX additional times and was told XXXX was unavailable. - Week of XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX in escalations. XXXX attempted to reach my cosigner, was unable to, and at the end of the call stated no options were available. No forbearance or alternative was offered. - XX/XX/XXXX : Called again. Spoke with XXXX. Still no resolution. During this entire period spanning approximately 3 months Sallie Mae contacted my personal phone multiple times per day on a near-daily basis. My call logs, before I began deleting calls out of frustration, show over 40 incoming calls from Sallie Mae numbers including ( XXXX ) XXXX, ( XXXX ) XXXX, ( XXXX ) XXXX, and ( XXXX ) XXXX, with calls documented on nearly every day from late XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. The actual number of calls is higher as I deleted many due to the volume and harassment. This pattern of excessive contact continued even while I was actively communicating with them about my hardship and they were simultaneously refusing to offer any assistance. I was never offered a legitimate forbearance option. I was given false hope by a representative XXXX XXXX XXXX who suggested forbearance was possible, only to be told it was not when I followed up as instructed. Meanwhile the harassing calls continued daily. I am requesting that Sallie Mae review my account, apply forbearance retroactively given my documented financial hardship, remove any negative credit reporting during this period, and immediately cease excessive contact. I have call log screenshots documenting the above, though the full volume of calls is greater than what remains as I deleted many entries.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation