Please hear me out before forming an opinion. I am despondent and don’t know what else to do that I haven’t already done to resolve my dilemma. There isn’t enough room here to tell the whole complicated story so I’ll just give a brief overview before I get to the main point of this letter. In 2003 I foolishly co-signed on a Sallie Mae student loan in the amount of $11,525 to help who I thought was a trustworthy friend after he promised to repay the loan in a lump sum when he cashed out an IRA. It didn’t happen. Over the years he has made sporadic payments whenever he worked, but the problem is he’s an alcoholic who can’t hold down a job for long. Three months after co-signing I lost my job and would not find employment again for over two years.
To bring the matter up to date, in response to a threatening letter I received from Sallie Mae last spring warning me that the loan was soon headed for default, I called them immediately on June 25, 2010 and spoke with a customer service representative (her name is in my file) for several minutes. She told me the payments were two months behind and what my options were at that point. I was cooperative and explained how I had just been laid off my job and didn't have a lot of money. In the end my only choice was to pay the minimum amount of $60.45 a month; she gave me that figure. To show my good faith I gave her my debit card number and she processed a payment on the spot. She assured me it was okay to mail checks from then on as long as payments were received by the 25th of the month. I haven’t missed a payment since then.
After that call I was relieved. My impression was that the issue had been resolved satisfactorily for both parties, and so it seemed when I didn't hear anything more for a few months. Now they have come back to pull the rug out from under my feet once more with phone calls two and three times a day, every day, including Saturdays starting as early as 8:00 A.M. to as late as 8:00 P.M. on Sunday, leaving messages asking me to call them to “work out a solution.” I just received correspondence from them stating that the payments are 184 days past due and the balance is now $15,324.40 so I’m back in their crosshairs.
What rankles me is that this isn't the first instance where Sallie Mae has suddenly launched an intimidation campaign against me despite my compliance with their demands. I don't think it's fair or ethical how this Goliath of a government bureaucracy has the right to continue badgering me when I’ve already been paying them according to their terms in the dollar amount they designated less than a year ago. I am 58 years old, single and a breast cancer survivor with nothing to fall back on. I have been unemployed since April 14, 2010 and am struggling to survive. I’m frightened to death of becoming homeless and also fearful of the cancer returning under all the above duress. Is there no way to resolve this mess? I’m doing the best I can under trying circumstances but feeling hopeless.
Read Next Complaint >>
