800-459-1961

Calls like a zillion times  a day, does not leave a message

This is Sallie Mae, usually wanting payment on past due student loans.

I am delinquent on my Sallie Mae account.  They call from different numbers.  I just create a contact in my phone (Sallie Mae 1, Sallie Mae 2, etc), and add the new numbers...........since I don't answer 800 calls.

Fortunately, I own a smartphone.  I bought a $9 software for my Q, and it filters 800 888 866 900, etc numbers directly to my vmail!  hehehe

F*** Sallie Mae!   I'm done with school, I own a house, and I'll never have a problem financing a car!


Anthony

Said they were Sallie Mae, but I don't have a Sallie Mae account and auto-caller asked for someone with a different first name.  When I called back to complain, they immediately asked for my social security number (or sallie mae account) which I refused.  They said they'd take me off the list.

I know it's a wrong number because they asked for "Gloria Guzman" in a message. There's no freaking Gloria here! Stop f*cking calling me, Sallie!I have turned the ringers off on all my damn phones because you dipsh*ts can't get it through your thick skulls that "Gloria" gave you a wrong number! MINE!!!

Child molestors at Sallie Mae trying to collect on a student loan I'm about to default on.  

For those of you in debt, just get a Windows-based Smartphone, purchase the SmartBlock software from Efficasoft (google it), then add your creditors/unwanted callers to what's called the Black List.  Once you add a number to the Black List, the software intercepts the call & sends it to v-Mail without the phone ringing.  In 7-10 years, your debt will be off your credit report.  I'm almost 4 years along now, and I don't mind deleting the v-Mails they leave.  

I go by the name The NutBuster.  Bump if you see my name when searching for phone numbers here (=

- The NutBuster

----*Calls*

+Why you are being called.+

If they are calling you and you have an account with them, you're probably past due.
If you look online and it says you're current/not delinquent, this might not be true,
the online system has some kinks in it just like everything else.  The Sallie Mae
system usually won't log that you're past due until about five days after your due
date.  If you made a payment by mail, know that it may take about a week to arrive
and then will take about another week to process into the system, so try sending in
payments at least two weeks before the due date to avoid this.  If you do a payment
online, know that it will take about two or three days to post to your account.

By law, Sallie Mae is required to call all accounts that are past due.  This is called
due dilligence.  If Sallie Mae doesn't do this, they can be fined or sued by the
government.  If you are receiving calls and do not have an account from Sallie Mae,
keep in mind that the original loan provider could have sold your loans to Sallie Mae.
If they are asking for someone you do not know, simply be patient, verify the number
they are calling you on and state that you do not know that person.  Request that they
mark your number as a bad number and demand that they notate on the account why the
number is being marked as bad.  If this account has no good numbers on file for the
borrower and they don't see a reason as to why your number was marked bad, they'll
simply mark it as a good number and start calling again.  If they have your address on
file, simply do the same thing- state that you do not know the borrower/co-signer and
that is a bad address for them, have them notate it and remove it from the system.

If you are not delinquent but you are receiving calls, keep in mind that Sallie Mae
will occasionally make calls to make sure all of your contact and account information
is up to date.  A lot of borrower's don't keep their information up to date.

+How to stop the calls completely.+

If you do have an account with Sallie Mae and you are delinquent on your loans and do not
want to receive calls any more, then you can simply send in a cease and desist request
by mail.  Sallie Mae has a specific address for letters such as these.  Make sure to list
what number or numbers you do not want them to call- if you do not state all of your
numbers, they will simply stop calling this number but continue calling all of your other
numbers they have on file.

Cease and Desist
Sallie Mae
Customer Advocate Unit
220 Lasley Ave.
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18706

+Receiving calls after already speaking to them?+

If you speak to a Sallie Mae representative and you're still receiving calls that day,
this might be why.  In order to mark it as a valid contact, Sallie Mae requires the
borrower or co-signer to verify their information to make sure they are speaking to
the correct person otherwise they are legally unable to give out any information. They
will usually ask for you or the co-signer and any of the following:

account number
Social Security number (or last four digits of)
address
phone number
birth date

If you do not do this, it does not count as a contact and they can continue to call you
all day every day until this is done.  Once you do this they cannot call again that
business day.  If they do, it is probably because whoever you spoke to did not mark the
contact.  Just simply tell them you spoke to a representative earlier and re-verify the
information.  After that point you can just hang up, you don't need to go over all of
your payment arrangements and everything again.

+Why aren't they leaving messages? Why is there no one on the line?+

Most representatives aren't going to leave you messages.  The reason for this is that, if
they leave you a message, they can't call you again that day.  Sallie Mae is going to
try to make as many due dilligence attempts on your account as possible and in order to
do that, they aren't going to leave messages because that cuts out countless opportunities
they may have had to get a hold of you.  Usually representatives only leave messages if
their supervisor tells them to, if you've had a hundred or so calls, or if its the only
good number on file for you.

Sallie Mae uses an automated dialing system.  The dialer system dials ahead, so a lot of
the time a representative isn't on the line yet when you pick up and this comes across as
a silent line or may make you think that they have hung up.  Sometimes there is an
automated voice saying "Please hold the line" which is its way of saying that its waiting
for a representative to get on the call.  Unfortunately, sometimes a representative doesn't
get connected to the active line until the borrower or co-signer has said hello a few times,
a lot of the time leading to the borrower or co-signer hanging up just as someone is
being connected, which is frustrating for both parties.  This is a really inefficient
system, but unfortunately that is what they use.

----*Payment by mail*

+Misapplied payments.+

Keep in mind that if you send in payments by mail, make sure that you're sending it to
the correct address.  There are separate addresses for borrower's and co-signer's, so
if you're a co-signer and have sent it to the borrower payment address, the payment
was probably misapplied (applied to all the loans rather than just the loans you are
co-signed on) so that would make it so you are past due.  If this is the case, they
can simply have the payment reapplied to the correct loans to bring you current and
should also have any associated late fees taken off of those loans.

If you are sending in a payment by mail and want it applied to only certain loans (such
as you are paying for the loans your co-signer is not on and the co-signer is paying
for the ones they are on) and you are doing this by mail, make sure to put in a letter
stating which loans you want the payments applied to (I would suggest probably folding
up a few pieces of paper to make the envelope a little more bulky).  Mail payments are
processed by a machine- if the envelope simply has a check inside or is below a certain
size, the machine will simply read the amount you want to pay and apply it to all of
the loans on the account, it doesn't read the memo on the check.  Making the envelope
thicker by putting in a letter or folded pieces of paper insures that it goes to a
person for processing (make sure your handwriting is legible if you are handwriting the
letter).

Borrower Payment Address
Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 9533
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9533

Coupon Payment Address
Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 9532
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9532

Cosigner Payment Address
Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 9555
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9555

----*Online payments*

+Misapplied payments.+

When doing a payment online at the Sallie Mae website (salliemae.com or manageyourloans.com)
make sure you are selecting all of the correct loans you want to make a payment on.  If
you select the wrong loans or just select to have it applied to all of your loans, obviously
its going to be applied incorrectly because you've done it incorrectly.  If you need
help figuring out what loans you are wanting to make a payment on, you can call Sallie
Mae and they can tell you the amounts of each loan, what the loan number is, the due date,
the interest rate, anything you need to know.  If they want you to make a payment with them,
simply say you are going to go online to make a payment.  They don't want you to know this,
but if you tell them you are going to make a payment online and you make it within 24 hrs
of talking to them, they get credit for curing your account, so either way they're happy.
If they push it, just hang up.

----*Do Not Call Lists & Lawsuits*

+DNC+

As a first party collector, Sallie Mae is unaffected by DNC lists because they are not
solicitors.  By law, Sallie Mae can and will call between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
If they are calling outside of these hours it is most likely because the phone you are
using has an area code from a different time zone in which it would be between these hours.
If you don't want to receive calls before 8 a.m. then switch your number or get a new
phone or send in a cease and desist order for that phone number.

Cease and Desist
Sallie Mae
Customer Advocate Unit
220 Lasley Ave.
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18706

+Lawsuit+

As a first party collector, Sallie Mae is required to make calls on accounts known and
labelled by the government as due dilligence.  If you are receiving calls from Sallie Mae
multiple times a day for months on end and you have not told them this is a bad number
or have not verified your information, then the fault lies with you.  How are they to
know it is a bad number if you do not verify that for them?  If you are a borrower or
co-signer and you do not verify your information, its perfectly legal for them to call you
back.  This does not a lawsuit make as they are well inside their legal rights and as a
first party collector the calls are not constituted as harassment.

----*Bills*

+Why aren't I receiving bills?+

This is probably because you either haven't updated your information with Sallie Mae or
your mail service provider is poor.  Not many people know this, but there are a lot of
occurrances of mail providers losing mail or delivering it to the wrong address.  If you
think this might be a problem, then go to the Sallie Mae website (salliemae.com or
manageyourloans.com) and create an account and you can sign up for what is called
Net Repay- regardless of the name, this is not a new way of payment or setting up payments
online, this is strictly an e-billing system to have the bills sent directly to your
e-mail instead of coming through the mail.

+How can Sallie Mae expect me to make payments if I don't receive a bill?+

Bills are purely for convenience and it is not required by the company or the government
for Sallie Mae to provide you a billing statement.  If you haven't been receiving bills
or would like to see something before you send in a payment, you can always go to the
Sallie Mae website (salliemae.com or manageyourloans.com) to create an account and view
all activity on your loans.

----*Updating information*

+I need to update my information.  How do I go about doing that?+

There are several ways you can update your information with Sallie Mae.  You can call their
customer service number (1-888-272-5543) and update your information with a representative
by phone.  Keep in mind that Sallie Mae has offices all over, so you will probably be
connected to someone out of state, or in some cases, out of the country (a large portion
of Sallie Mae customer service is stationed in India, but with the recession and Obama's
plans, Sallie Mae is starting to import these jobs back to America).

If you prefer to not do this by phone, you can also do it by mail.  Simply send in a letter
stating that you'd like to update them with your new address, phone number, etc. and send
it to their correspondence address:

Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 9500
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9500

Another option is to go to the Sallie Mae website (salliemae.com or manageyourloans.com)
and register for an account and change any information. Or send in a written request
with updated information to the Sallie Mae fax number:

Fax: 800-848-1949 or 570-200-6259

You could always just wait for Sallie Mae to get a hold of you as well.  Sallie Mae has
recently instituted what they call the Grace or Early Intervention Department which calls
borrower's and co-signers who are not yet in repayment to update their information and
go over their account information to make sure you have received those bills and know
when your payments will come due and if its affordable.  Unfortunately this department
uses a different autodialing system so, even if you update your account information with
customer service or do it online, the system requires them to call you and confirm all
that information over again, so just be patient.  If you want to nip it in the bud you
could always call straight to them instead of missing their call hundreds of times at
1-866-498-1787.

----*Repayment options*

+What's a deferment?+

A deferment is when you post-pone making payments.  There is no fee to do a deferment and
deferments apply only to federal loans.  While in deferment you aren't required to make
payments, but if you can make at least a partial payment, do so.  Your loans will still
accumulate interest while they're in deferment which will make your overall loan and
monthly payments larger, so making payments, even if they aren't the full amount, is going
to be good for you in the long run.  You can request a deferment for upto twelve months
at a time, but don't use more than you absolutely need to, because you can only defer
for so many months total.  To get a deferment you can call Sallie Mae and
request that they send the forms to your address or you can go to the website and fill
it out online or download the forms and send it in by mail or fax.

Correspondence Address
Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 9500
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9500

Fax: 800-848-1949 or 570-200-6259

+I heard about a forbearance, what's that and how do I get one?+

A forbearance is basically the private loan equivalent of a deferment, though there are
a few differences.  Like a deferment, during the forbearance period your loans still
collect interest.  You aren't required to make payments, but if you can, even if its only
a partial payment, it will help you out in the long run.  For a forbearance, there is
usually a forbearance fee of $50 per loan, not to exceed a total of $150 per forbearance
request.  So if you have one loan its $50, two loans $100, three loans $150, four loans
$150, etc. etc.  For a forbearance, though, you can only request a maximum of three months
per forbearance request (when we say three months, we mean into the future, this does not
count any months past due.  If you are past due, then you can have a maximum of seven
months forbearance).  For a forbearance, once you have requested a forbearance two times
in a row without making a payment, you will have to make what is called a good faith
payment (one month's regular payment) before they will allow you to request another
forbearance.  You can request a forbearance by calling Sallie Mae and having them send it
to your home address or e-mail address or you can go to the website and fill it out
online and make the payment, or you can download the forms, fill it out and send in the
payment by mail.

Forbearance Fee and Form
Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 7665
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-7665

+Other Forms of Repayment+

If you're not interested in a forbearance or deferment (and you shouldn't be interested,
these are usually last stop options), you can look into getting an Extended Repayment-
this extends the life of your loan, makes your monthly payments smaller, but over all you
will be paying more on your loans or Interest Only Repayment (also known as Select Step)-
this will do exactly as the name says, you will be paying only interest toward your loans,
so your loan amount will stay exactly the same unless you send in more than your interest
only payment to start going toward your principal amount.  The Select Step option is
a short term solution, usually only lasting for two years (you can request four and you
can opt out of this option whenever you like, just know you can't go back in once you're
out).

For federal loans there are also income sensitive repayment plans and, if disabled,
permanent total disability (essentially cancels the loan entirely).

----*What if I'm in school/unemployed/doing an internship, etc.?*

+In School+

If you are in school at least half time or more according to your school's standards, your
loans should be in an in school deferment (federal loans) or forbearance (private loans).
If your loans are not shown as in school or you know your school does not report to the
Clearing House registry (the national school reporting data base Sallie Mae uses to see
a student's in school status) then you can call in to Sallie Mae and request the in school
deferment/forbearance paperwork send to your address.

+Unemployed+

For federal loans, you can get what is called an Unemployment deferment.  This is just like
a regular deferment, you can request it for up to 12 months.

+Internship+

If you are in an internship there are internship forbearances and deferments available to
put a hold on your loan payments.  The internship can be paid or unpaid, medical, etc.
This can also apply to your federal loans, not your private loans, for teaching positions
and fellowships as well as being placed into rehabilitation.

----*Recording a call*

+Sallie Mae recording+

Sallie Mae records all of their calls for quality assurance and training purposes.  This
that they can go back and listen to the recordings to make sure the representatives are
doing their jobs correctly and to help train new employees so they can get a feel for
what they'll be doing and what the job's like.
If you do not want Sallie Mae to record the call, their dialer now has a feature that
lets them turn off the recording if you request not to be recorded.

+You recording Sallie Mae+

Make sure what the laws are in your state.  Can you record with out getting permission
from the other person on the line?  Find out what state they are in.  When talking on
the phone, you are to abide by the law in the state where you live and where the caller
lives.  If they live in a state where you have to disclose that you are going to be
recording the call, then you have to tell them.  When talking to a Sallie Mae
representative, they will either say "I don't give you permission to record this call"
and continue the call, or they will simply hang up.  Simply stating that you don't
have permission to record makes anything said on that recording inadmissible in court
if that's what you were planning on using it for.
Understand that Sallie Mae has call centers around the U.S. such as Indiana, which is
a disclosure state, so a safe rule is to always tell the representative you are going
to be recording the call- this is why Sallie Mae representatives say "This call may
be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes."

----*Further Loan Information*

+Federal Loans+

For more information about federal loans call the Sallie Mae Federal Loan Hotline.
1-800-3743

+Private Loans+

For more information about private loans call the customer service number.  If you are
delinquent, it will reroute you to the collections department where you can go over your
options if you're unable to make a payment.
1-888-272-5543

+Career Training Loans+

For information about career training loans call the career training loan department.
1-866-493-6512

+Consolidation+

Sallie Mae no longer does consolidation.  Private loan consolidation stopped in July 2008,
federal loan consolidation stopped in March 2009.