Consumerist
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every little bit helps
Use UPromise To Pay Down Your Student Loans
UPromise is a site from student lender SallieMae, and we always assumed that it was just for parents to save for their children's inevitable college expenses, but the Wall Street Journal says that anyone can join and use the money to pay down their student loans... or whatever. More » -
worst company in america
Round 39: Sallie Mae vs eBay/Paypal
This is Round 39 in our Worst Company in America contest, Sallie Mae vs eBay/Paypal!
Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies...
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sallie mae
Sallie Mae's 100+ Point FICO Drop Error Getting Fixed
Sallie Mae has publicly apologized for a coding error, potentially affecting around 1 million customers, that caused some consumers credit scores to drop over 100 points, and some consumers report that their dinged scores are already back up. If your score is not back to normal and you are in the middle of a transaction where your good credit is at stake, Sallie Mae said it will provide a credit reference letter. You can also call Sallie Mae customer service at 1-888-2-sallie. Sallie has pledged that the fix is in, but consumers can still take matters into their own hands by pulling their free credit report from annualcreditreport.com and disputing the incorrect information with Experian. Note, it's against Federal law for creditors to report false information to credit bureaus, and consumers can sue violators up to $1,000.
PREVIOUSLY: FICO Scores Drop Over 100 Points After Sallie Mae Recode, Potentially Millions Affected
(Photo: Getty)
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complaints
FICO Scores Drop Over 100 Points After Sallie Mae Recode, Potentially Millions Affected
Consumers are complaining that a change in how Sallie Mae decided to recode some loans caused their credit score to drop by over a hundred points. That's enough to make a $93,240 difference in a home loan's total cost. Here's what happened. More » -
education
Sallie Mae Stops Student Loan Consolidation, Will No Longer Pay Origination Fees On Stafford Loans
Consolidation loans are no longer profitable for Sallie Mae, so it's saying goodbye to them. SmartMoney points out that ultimately this shouldn't matter for students taking out new loans, since the original point of consolidation—converting lots of variable rate loans into a nice predictable fixed rate loan—is no longer relevant (all federal student loans are now disbursed with fixed interest rates.) SmartMoney says if you still have variable rate loans you need/want to consolidate, check out the government's consolidation offering—"You're likely to pay the same consolidation rates you'd pay if you did so with Sallie Mae," they write. More » -
complaints
Sallie Mae Has No Idea Where Your $1500 Is
Heidi writes:I recently completed a 3 year enlistment with the US Army, and one of my benefits was the student loan repayment program. The Army paid off my student loans, 1/3 of the loan per year for three years, making payments directly to my lender, the infamous Sallie Mae. The first two payments were a month or two later than the Army said they would be, but still, free money, and I made the small in-between payments to keep the account current.
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Then I finished my enlistment, was honorably discharged, and waited for the last payment to come in. It was 4 months late and when it got there (mid-December), it looked like it was $1500 MORE than what was left owed on my account. I called the Army and they confirmed that they had payed the correct amount they owed me, taking interest into account. The overpayment belongs to me. Yay, more free money! -
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oops
Sallie Mae CEO Ends Conference Call With "Let's Get The Fuck Out Of Here"
Dodging tough questions about the student loan company's fiscal well-being and strategy in the midst of the credit crunch, not to mention his recent sale of 97% of his company stock, Sallie Mae's CEO ended a conference call yesterday with investors by cursing, reports WSJ:
In an apparent reference to investors' anger, he said: "I can assure you, you will be going through a metal detector." He ended the conference call by saying "Let's go. There's no questions. Let's get the [expletive] out of here."
Afterwards, shares of Sallie Mae fell 21%.Sallie Mae spokesman Tom Joyce called the metal-detector remark "an attempt at humor" and the expletive "an unfortunate slip of the tongue." Mr. Joyce said the call had been intended for Mr. Lord, in his new role, to give investors a "broad overview" of the company's situation.
Sallie Mae: Expletive Included [WSJ]
Full Conference Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha]
(Photo: Susan Biddle) -
the ramen years
Bush Will Sign Bill Increasing Pell Grant Funding
In a not-too-surprising announcement after all the recent bad news about student loan firms—and in an apparent "victory" for both Bush and Congress—the White House said today that President Bush intends to sign into law a bill that reduces federal subsidies to those firms, including Sallie Mae, by $20.9 billion over the next five years, and will instead use that money to increase funding for Pell Grants (which recipients don't have to pay back). More » -
student loans
Sallie Mae To Be Sold To JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America
According to the New York Times, Sallie Mae, the largest lender of student loans in the US has been sold to JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and two private equity firms for $25 billion. From the NYT:
Sallie Mae is both a lender and a debt collector, making profits on both sides of its loans. Last year, the company earned $1.2 billion and generated a lot of cash that makes it attractive to private equity buyers. Even so, some Wall Street analysts believe that it is a poor candidate to be saddled with debt because its business relies on razor-thin interest margins and the use of derivatives to manage its exposure to interest-rate swings.
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... Currently, the company is carrying $142 billion in private and guaranteed loans on its books, about 27 percent of American student loans in the United States. -
lending
Sallie Mae Is Still Ruining Your Life!
Remember the guy who lost his job due to threatening phone calls from Sallie Mae? He found a new job but he still can't really afford his student loan payment. Unfortunately, the advice Consumerist readers gave him last time didn't work. He was not able to consolidate with ed.gov. He writes with an update:
The FDSL just sent me a loan cancellation letter. They have decided that they will only take federal loans now to consolidate and Sallie Mae is primarily a private lender, and that is what they report my loan as. What the difference between a federal guaranteed loan and what they consider a federal loan through a private company is beyond me.
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sallie mae
New York, 6:59 PM
Wed Dec 3
18 posts in the last 24 hours
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