Consumer complaint received 2025-11-06 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Can't temporarily delay making payments
Company: SLM CORPORATION
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
I began my masters program at XXXX XXXX XXXX  in XX/XX/year>. I completed XXXX Deferment paperwork on XX/XX/year>XXXX  and submitted it into Sallie Mae 's document site. This paperwork included the signature of an authorized official, XXXX XXXX ( XXXX of XXXX XXXX and XXXX ). My enrollment date on the form was listed as XX/XX/year>XXXX  to XX/XX/year> and I am looking to continuously defer while I am in classes. During this time, I have had many calls and chats with Sallie Mae support to check on the status of my deferment request. Each time I have had a chat with Sallie Mae, they have asked me if I would like to be removed from my Graduated Repayment Period in order to enter deferment. After over a month of these interactions, I started saving the transcripts of my chats. 

On XX/XX/year>, I messaged with an agent named XXXX. XXXX confirmed that XXXX ( a previous agent that I spoke to ) opened and submitted an enrollment case and that processing takes 15-20 business days. She asked if I'd like to be removed from the XXXX  to be put on XXXX deferment, which I said yes. XXXX said that the only way to check for further updates besides emails would be to check in with an agent in 4-5 days. 

On XX/XX/year>, I messaged with an agent named XXXX. XXXX confirmed that the paperwork was still in processing and that our payments would back date once the paperwork went through. He asked if I'd like to be removed from the XXXX to be put on XXXX  deferment, which I said yes. He said that the processing team was just running behind and that it should be processed before the end of the month. He said he was also going to submit it to expedite it for me. 

On XX/XX/year>, I messaged with an agent named XXXX. XXXX told me that I was still in the XXXX  and it needs to be removed in order to have my deferment processed. I confirmed that I wanted to be removed from the XXXX  and got additional confirmation that payments I made after my enrollment will be back dated. 

On XX/XX/year>, I received an email that Sallie Mae was going to be pursuing legal action and that both my cosigner and I would receive a credit hit. I called and was essentially told that I either had to pay the full amount that was due ( {$1900.00} ) by XX/XX/XXXX or it would be in jeopardy of legal action. After this discussion, I contacted my cosigner, my mother, XXXX XXXX, who called Sallie Mae and started chatting online. The online chat agent, XXXX, once again asked if we would like to be removed from the XXXX, to which my mother said yes, we've tried this multiple times now. She also asked to speak to a manager and was kept on hold for 20 minutes. When a manager picked up, he was extremely combative. He tried to blame us for not talking to a manager before this point when it was extremely routine paperwork. He claimed that he would be moving the paperwork along and my mother informed him that we are submitting a report to the CFPB and have an attorney lined up should this go further. At this time, we are giving them more time to process the paperwork and will be getting in contact with them on Monday if we do not hear anything by then. 

This entire process has been manipulative and has attempted to severely damage both my cosigner 's and my credit scores, as well as blatantly threatening us with legal action when they have not processed one piece of paper for a very common request.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief