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I just got a letter from Sallie Mae saying that because I am in school, they have automatically put my loan in deferment. I am not "really" in school, just taking a few classes at the community college where I teach since they are free. I do not want my loan to be in deferment. My experience with this is even if you are paying on time and the full amount of your payments (which I currently am), on the date you pop out of deferment, they will capitalize any interest which happens to have accumulated so far during the month. In my case this could be a few hundred dollars depending on the date.
Once before when I could see this coming (I have a long history w/ Sallie Mae, I've been paying since 1994) I called and asked about it. They said I was okay, no interest would be capitalized because I had been making full payments. I trust them as far as I can throw them, so set my bank to automatically pay the interest each day as it accrued as the date approached ($12 per day). They capitalized the interest on a Sunday, there by adding $24 to my debt. Not a lot, but over the life of the loan w/ interest, may have added a month to my debt.
I was forced into bankruptcy a while back in large part due to having to make such large student loan payments. On that occasion, I was put in forbearance with out my knowledge and with out being notified. I could not access my loan online which was alerted me to the fact that something was going on, even though I was making regular payments. Again, when it was over, they capitalized my interest which that time was about $350, even though I was not behind on my monthly payments. Since I didn't have access to monitor my account online while in forbearance, I didn't see it right away, but when I did, I made an immediate payment of that amount to my account taking it back out of the principle. This practice is so unethical, I really can't believe it's legal.
So this time I am sending a certified letter asking to be taken retroactively out of deferment as I was not notified prior to deferment status and did not request or authorize a deferment. I would like to cc the letter to someone to give it a bit more weight, but who? Atty. General? Does anyone care??
Thanks anyone who can answer.
Dear AZ_Kaylee,
Yes copy this to your Attorney General, your Senators and Congressman. Copy it to an attorney if you have one and let Sallie Mae that know you have copied authorities on the matter.
Sallie Mae will stick it to you every chance they get because it is in their best interest to do so.
This practice has affected both public and private student loans which is why I care (mine are federal) and everyone should care.
Our lives and our futures are being lost because these people are literally stealing them - one dollar at a time.
If we had the benefit of the same protections that all other types of loans in this country have - namely bankruptcy - this would NOT be acceptable practice.
But sadly our own government has sold us out. None of us should be quiet about these kinds of issues. It will only be through the use of our collective voices that change will come - but all of us must care and and all of us must speak out.
Nice job on presenting your case!
Warmest regards,
J. Densmore
For more visit my Blog at:
Education, Student Loans and (F)utility
I remember some time ago there was plenty of infoemation about that, like essays online and all, look it up.