I went to a private college when times were good. People were getting jobs, and it actually mattered to employers what the quality of education you got was. My parent's made enough that the government wouldn't give me anything, so I had to borrow what I couldn't work off, which was very little. Oh, I couldn't get a cosigner. Sallie Mae was the only place I could get the money. Fast forward, I am in the ranks of thousands others vying for jobs, and overqualified for most of the jobs open. I have a now useless degree, a house worth of debt, and no income.

I have been taking random jobs here and there and living from place to place. I talked to Sallie Mae today and told them that I'm doing everything I can to put gas in the car, and food on the table. I might be able to scrape up $200/month, but thats certainly all in my current situation. The person I was talking to talked to his supervisor and came back with a base offer of $400/month. He said that was the very least he could possibly charge me, and that it was paying on the interest only. I told him without a solid income there was no way I could possibly pay that much. His advice, learn to live with late charges and delinquency. That is the extent that Sallie Mae will help.

My advice to students, stay away from Sallie Mae at all costs. They will only talk to you if you are late on a payment, they are rude, half the time you talk to someone in India that doesn't understand english, and the best they can do for you in tough times is a hearty "good luck".

I’ve have several loans through Sallie Mae which helped pay some of my college tuition and fees. When you are in school they grant you deferments on all your loans. Well, I’ve started a new school. When I first enrolled I had two choices in financing. One was Leighman Brothers and the other was Sallie Mae. Beings my mother and I had issues with Sallie Mae in the past I didn't choice them and I used Leighman Brothers. So of course, as usual Sallie Mae started calling my mother and I back in December. I told them that I was still in school but I was now going to a new one. They said fine and emailed me some papers to have filled out by school and returned to them. I did so but the calls just kept coming. They would call me anywhere from 8 to 17 times a day. Every time it was a recording and if you waited you always heard a new person on the other end who would say something entirely different than the one you had spoken to before. I faxed my forbearance forms multiple times over a course of 3 months. Now they were telling me that my school was covered for their forbearance regulations so even though I was in school I would still need to be paying back my loans. I told them this was impossible for me or my mother to do at this time. I had just been evicted from my home, lost everything I had of any value including my car and I had no job and was on disability at the time. They said that wasn't their problem and if I couldn't pay then my cosigner would have to pay. I told them again that my mother has no job either. The lady said well someone has to pay or they were going to take legal action against my mother and I. They said they would put the information on our credit reports, place us in the default on student loans category and come after my mother’s estate and take whatever she had of any value in order to pay the debt. I was a nervous wreck! I said isn't there a hard- ship type of forbearance and they said no. Basically, they told me I either had to pay or they were sending it to their lawyers and they would be filing against my mother and me. I called and talked to several people; which always took 2 or 3 calls because I would be on hold and then I would get hung up on. Then I’d get transferred multiple times and get a different answer. Meanwhile these people are calling my mother and me daily. Everyday of the week! They called and harassed my mother to the point that she was crying on Easter Sunday! Yes, they called Easter Sunday as well. So, I was upset and called back and the young lady I spoke to was very ignorant and arrogant. I told her what had happened and that they were not allowed to be calling us on weekends let alone holidays and her response was, and I quote, " Well we are a third party collection agency and I can call you whenever I want to and as much as I want to!" I was in total shock! I told her, look, my mother is very sick and don't you or anyone else call and harass her the way you just did. Their response was, "that doesn't matter and I can do what I want to do because you are so many days behind on your loans." Now we come to May and my mother and I get a call from someone named Ed Marsilli who said he was handling my case. I spoke with him as well and asked him, ” how is it that Sallie Mae would finance my current school but won't defer my loan?" He said I don't know that answer. I told him I’m confused because when I enrolled at school Sallie Mae was my first option in financing, Salle Mae has my schools code in their list of schools when you apply for loans but you don't defer or give a forbearance while I’m attending this school??? Again he said he didn't know why but he said that I could get forbearance but I just had to pay for it. I said ok, but also said I don't have a lot of money to spend and that I was unemployed and on disability. Ed said that was fine and all I had to do was pay $50 (fifty) and go online and sign up for auto payments and that would bring me current and then $52 (fifty two) would come out of my account every month. I said ok, that was reasonable but I would have to do it tomorrow because I couldn't do it right then. Ed said fine and we agreed to do it the next day. Well next day comes and I’m trying to get in touch with him and I can't. I had missed his call and was calling back the number he left and asking for his extension and no one would put me through to him. I emailed and everything and I couldn't get through to him. Everyone I would talk to would say they couldn't put me through to him but they could help me. Finally I threw in the towel and talked to a woman. I told her what Ed and I had discussed and she said that wasn't true. She said that I would have to pay over a hundred dollars to do forbearance and get my loans current. I told her I couldn't afford that and explained what had been going on. She told me to hold on while she talked to her supervisor because she saw the papers I had sent in and said that they should have gone through. After talking to her supervisor twice she got back on the phone and said, “Ms. Zimmerman you don't have to worry about paying anything because they put my forbearance forms in and I would be current from back in February. She said if anything changed that she would be there the next day, which was Sat., and she would call me. Well, she never called and neither did anyone else. All of the sudden we get letters in the mail from Sallie Mae saying I was delinquent on my loans and that they were sending my accounts to their attorneys! Now the phone calls have started again at the crack of dawn and go on all day. My mother and I are both at our wits ends. I have loans from another company and they offered me hardship forbearance! I didn't have to pay or even ask for it! So why it is Sallie Mae can't offer something like this. Please help me! I am so stressed out from all the calls, the threats and harassment! All my mother and I do is fight constantly over this because my loans have like doubled in price as well! They say we owe way more then we are suppose to or if you go by what are interest rate is the amounts don’t come out even at all! They have everything mixed up and messed up that we don’t know what to do anymore. It's not like I’m not trying to work with them or not talk to them because I have they just won't work with me. Then a couple weeks ago a woman called here and she said over the phone to my mother, “this phone call is being recorded for quality purposes etc." and my mother said well I’m going to record this call as well. The woman said well I’m not giving you permission to do so. My mother asked, "Well what is the difference if its already being recorded?" The woman refused to give her name or any information and just hung up. My mother wouldn't people to be able to hear how they are treating and talking to us and so when she talks to someone else she has evidence of a prior call and what she was told because you never get the same answer from anyone! I don't know how to make this nightmare stop. Please help us! I can't take the threats, the harassing calls and arrogant people, being treated like trash, inconsiderate ignorant reps that are very unprofessional and think they can "do whatever they want." I want this resolved and need this resolved. Plus, I want to know why it is they will finance my school and have it in their list of schools but won't defer payments or give me forbearance?