Internet's first get-out-of-debt community - 129,000 members

ahhh! sallie mae sucks · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:55 pm Subject: screwed over my sallie mae

sallie mae has screwed my boyfriend over big time. they kicked him out of school when they wanted their money at the end of the first year. he went to Brooks Art Institute in CA where they encouraged him to take out a 40, 000 loan for Sallie Mae. (for 1 year!) obviously he didn't graduate and now they somehow expect him to pay $500 monthly which is practically impossible to manage that payment without a degree. now his credit is screwed and he can't do anything. the state of CA has a class action suit against Brooks which involves how the school and sallie mae "jipped" students out of degrees and into debt. don't know what to think of this all? we have a baby on the way and there's no way we can buy a house now because of it. anyone have any advice on negotiating with sallie mae?

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:36 pm Subject:

Ok...SallieMae did not screw your bf over. Sallie Mae is a lender, not a school. Your bf signed a prom note to go to the school of his choice...sallie mae did not guarantee that education, only access to an education. Nobody forced him to sign the note and now it sounds like the loan is in default.

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:17 am Subject:

I agree soaplady. But, I want to know how they justified a $40,000 loan for just a year, knowing that a student just coming out of school doesn't usually get a job right away. And besides student loans usually give a 6 months grace period after graduation. It definitely sounds like either some info is missing or this was a real scam. But, until then this is definitely a debt that has to be dealt with. Guest---have you tried claiming a "financial hardship forbearance"?

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:57 am Subject:

Schools like Brooks are private schools...meaning they are for profit. However $40k for tuition, books, equipment and living expenses is not uncommon.

Reading the OP's post over it really sounds like th BF did not manage his loan properly and allowed it to default. Just from the description that the OP gives, it sounds like neither of them understand the difference between the school and a lender.

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:10 am Subject:

True---Now that I think about it $40k isn't that much (I was forgetting everything they figure into the loans.

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:19 am Subject:

If it's the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, $40,000 is cheap! Cost of living there is UNREAL and was the single factor is why I moved away from there 15 years ago.

Rent back then was $1300 for a 2 bedroom apartment, I can only IMAGINE what it must be now!

Moving away from there is the best thing I ever did. Of course, I do miss the beach and the weather, but there are always trade offs, right?

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:09 pm Subject:

There is also a Brooks college in Long Beach, California. I don't know if when loan amounts are figured do they use local housing markets to estimate housing costs or is it a national average or something.

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:19 pm Subject:

Housing is based on local costs. At the school I worked at, every year it adjusted based on local costs.

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:44 am Subject:

basically anywhere in coastal California is obscenely expensive

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:23 pm Subject:

I have never lived anywhere but SoCalifornia, so I have nothing to compare prices to.

kb · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:11 pm Subject:

i went to brooks in long beach and im kind of in the same boat as your bf. after being in the school for two semesters i was called into the financial aide office and told that i was short on the amount needed to continue my education. basically sign this paper or youll be out on your ass is what i was told. being 18 and in a different state.....i signed. i oringinally request 10K. it was turned into 15K by who i do not know. tell your bf that if he needs to pay them something. even if its 50 bucks a month. as long as hes giving them something, they cant touch him. as far as the class action suit goes......the school was on 60 minutes right after i graduated in 03. as far as i know then suit is still going on. who knows if any of us will ever receive a penny.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:26 pm Subject:

Wrong...they can most definately touch you. If you dont make your required payments they will default you, whether it be private or federal loan. From there you are open game

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:18 pm Subject:

That is for sure! The payments can't just be "50 bucks" but the amount that has been agreed upon. If you default, you can know longer apply for federal loans and private education ones, too, I would imagine.

MeMyselfandI · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:57 am Subject: SallieMae

I too have Sallie Mae loans. When I started college BankOne still existed so I had taken the student loans out there with the hopes of consolidating all my loans into one after my 6 month grace period. Unfortunately BankOne was bought out by Chase during my grace period and sold off the loans to Sallie Mae. I got slammed with a huge interest rate (BankOne I had roughly a 7% and Sallie Mae I had a 12%!). Sallie Mae told me that the only way I could get this 12% down to anything reasonable was to consolidate which would wave my rights to the remainder of the 6 moths grace and any forbearance rights. So since I hadnt found a job in my field yet, I left them on the remainder of the grace period. Following that, I took me 3 1/2 years to get a job in my field. I was unable to pay on the loans during any of this time because unconsolidated they were 823 per month and the consolidated quote made them 296. This was just for my private loans, not my federals. Making minimum wage for 3 1/2 years made it impossible for me to make the payments and keep a roof over my head, so they stayed on forbearance. I actually ran out of forbearance time. I started my career less than a year ago. I drive 2 1/2 hours a day, waste $600 bucks a month in gas, so I basically make less than $10 an hour take home pay. My loans are now consolidated (although you cant consolidate private and federals together, so feds are still on forbearance) at a 5% and they are now 378 dollars a month. The only option I have is to pay interest only for a year. It actually turns out cheaper, 202 a month for a year and then 279 a month 3 years, 545 a month for 15 years, 479 a month for 5 years, and then 230 for the remaining year. Again this is just for my private loans, my feds will be roughly 200 extra per month on top of this. Sallie Mae will work with you as best as they can, it is hard sometimes since their CSRs are all foreign and sometimes hard to understand.

PS: if anyone has any info on a better way to get these loans to a reasonable payment can you let me know because the 545 plus 200 is going to put me on the street on day...thanks.

*Name:
*Email:
*Phone:
*Zip:
Debt

	* denotes required field

Internet's first get-out-of-debt community - 129,000 members

screwed over my sallie mae

Members Area

Free Debt Counseling

Ask the community

Community Photos

Featured Discussions

Featured Articles

Question of the Month

Also See

Recent Forum Discussions

Recent Blog Post