Every month when I write my check to Sallie Mae, I wish I would have tried harder to earn a scholarship like the ones available from the Bill Gates Foundation. When I was starting college (which I like to think was just a few short years ago) resources were very limited to find scholarships I qualified for. There wasn’t a website like Scholarships.com that offered a database of grant and scholarship opportunities, let alone one that is constantly updated and free to search. Their databases contain innumerable opportunities to earn cash for college and every incoming freshman should join the free scholarship search and see what is available to them so they aren’t mailing a check to Sallie Mae every month, like I am.
I wish I never had gone back to school. Sallie Mae has caused me nothing but grief. Driven by corporate greed, Sallie Mae has systematically screwed over so many borrowers.
It was because of the problems I and countless others have had with Sallie Mae that I started the web site Sallie Mae Beef. It provides a forum in which people can post and discuss the problems they’ve had with Sallie Mae. The goal is to publicize these problems so others can make a more informed decision when applying for financial aid.
Christopher Zeman
Sallie Mae Beef
While I don’t like having student loans, and I don’t think the individuals on the other end of the customer service line are the brightest crayons in the box, I think any trouble students get in with financial aid is no one’s fault but their own for not researching and fully understanding what they are getting in to when they signed for the loan.
My student loans allowed me to go to college and grad school and will better my life in the long run.
“I think any trouble students get in with financial aid is no one’s fault but their own for not researching and fully understanding what they are getting in to when they signed for the loan.”
That is, unfortunately, the attitude of many people who believe the lenders play by the rules and ALWAYS correct their mistakes. The trouble many (but not all) students get into with their student loans is due to the dirty games and tactics executed by such companies as Sallie Mae.
Sallie Mae is notorious for such tactics as mis-applying payments and then blaming the borrowers. This happened to me and it took several months of fighting with Sallie Mae to get it fixed. The reported me as deliquent to the credit bureaus during the process, and then refused to remove the marks from my (and my wife’s) credit records. They told me I should have been making the payments. I WAS MAKING THE DAMN PAYMENTS!!!
Sure, student loans are allowing people to attend college, but Sallie Mae is doing their best to make sure that many students pay at least double or triple the amount they originally borrowed. This is just the tip of the iceberg. A little research will show you just how terrible Sallie Mae is. Please visit my web site and read the horror stories posted in the forum, Corrin. There aren’t many posts right now, but I’ve been contacted by many other people who have shared their stories and haven’t yet posted in the forums. Look through the links. I have links to other blogs which further illustrate what Sallie Mae is capable of.
I respectfully ask that you don’t make statements that you can’t back up, Corrin. You don’t know the entire story. I can back up every statement I made about Sallie Mae. All you need to do is a little reading.
Christopher Zeman
Sallie Mae Beef