Your Emails: Forged Promissory Note

I made a telephone inquiry regarding consolidating default student loans to relieve the $600 a month payments I was being recinded from my paycheck.

American Education Serivces (AES) just contacted my employer stating I am in default of a consolidated loan I took out with them. I just received the original promissory note which does not have my signature, or a date and was completed by the person I made the inquiry with. Who can I contact regarding this?

Thank you.

Your Emails: "Struggling With Sallie Mae"

I am struggling with trying to set up a payment arrangement with Sallie Mae.

I have, through a bit of time on the internet, discovered that this is not the best place to have to deal with. I did not have my loans through them originally. My loans have been sold to the best of my recollection, at least 4 times. And, they ended up at Sallie Mae. (First Wisconsin Bank, to Great lakes Higher Education to someplace in Arizona, notw to Sallie Mae. There may be more in the middle!).

I have been through divorce and bankruptcy recently. My bills (without the loans) at this point, amount to over $2,000 a year MORE than I take home. (with the payments, if I cannot work out something, I will be $6,000 or so in the red!). Every year, I hope things will get better. Every year, it gets worse. I cant even keep up with dental work for my kids (with insurance!) or for myself.

I applied for income sensitive repayment. Got a note that said instead of having a payment of $405 a month, I would have to pay only $326! Wow, that is a big help. I have a job. I also have a car loan at 21% due to the bankruptcy; and I pay an extra $500 in rent each month because of my Ex. I ended up in bankruptcy because my wages were being garnished for his bills. Marital property laws SUCK, and are punitive in some situations.

I have written Sallie Mae again, trying to explain my situation. I do not have any hope that it will help. I am 48 years old. My life did not go the way I had planned. I went to school to NOT have to live like this. Ironically, it has actually made my life worse....

I will never own a home, or get to retire. I will be one of those little old ladies, greeting customers at the front door of WalMart, until the day I die. Because I thought that getting a college degree was going to HELP me!

I am also trying to get the original info on my loans, but that looks hopeless as well....

I do not understand how it has come to this. They have all the power. It does not seem as though there is any recourse. And, since forcing me into default is financially more attractive to them, why would they want to help?

Your Emails: "AES May Have The Worst Customer Service"

As a borrower from American Education Services (AES) and finally getting my defaulted student loans after financial hardship into rehabilitation, I felt this story was pertinent to future borrowers. I admit that I screwed up and wasn't paying all my student loans on time, but was able to get my Federal Loans into rehabilitation and up to date, yes! They were great to work with, the ladies were so nice, understanding on the phone and they worked with me to create an affordable repayment plan.

Then I tried dealing with the ladies from AES. I think someone should get them a day at the spa because they are all complete ignorant, miserable women. I've talked to three different women and they all were completely rude ot me over the phone. Last time I noticed I was paying them money every month and essentially am a customer of theirs, right? Well they need some training in manners for "listening" and customer service skills. The first lady had me on the phone 3 times in one day and for an hour at a time, arguing, talking over me, talking to me in a condescending manner; you name it she didn't want to hear it and she didn't listen to anything I was trying to explain to her why I couldn't afford to pay her $3,500 that day. She threatened to call my employer and pull money from paychecks. So I had to give her 10 checks in a row for ACH. My phone call with Federal Student Loans took me 15 minutes ... Something wrong there?

Just today I spoke with a girl named Andrea and she told me that it was in my best interest to pay off my $2,900 balance right now to get it out of default. After I logged in and explained that my online account said my balance was $0.00, she said you don't have online access to your account. Does that make sense? Then I said I'd like to lower my monthly payments before I sign this letter that states you're going to roll $500 of collection fees into my principal. She said, "We can keep taking $300 out of your account, but you paid 8 in a row ontime and with one more you're eligible for rehabilitation" Really? So the fact that I had been on-time didn't warrant a little more human emotion from this lady. Do these people work in a dark room in the middle of Pennsylvania somewhere? Someone send them flowers or something. As she tried to go back into how paying it today would be better for me after I told her I wasn't able to; I decided to pay my last collection payment and call back in a month to hopefully speak to someone with a heart. Even when you do pay on-time, the women of American Education Services (AES) are kind of like praying mantis, they eat their own kind, other human beings trying to get by and correct the wrongs of their past.

Forged Promissory Note?

Has anyone reading this ever had a problem with a loan company such as ACS, CFS Suntech/CHASE, Sallie Mae etc. actually forging a promissory note for a loan/consolidaton? If someone working for a loan company has forged your name on a promissory note (either hardcopy or online "e-signature"), or if you have any information on such forgery practices, please email me @

studentloancomplaints@yahoo.com

Your Emails: 10 Years and Still Paying

We have been paying on our loans for over 10 years, and in all that
time only 12% of our payments were ever applied to the principal.
We have paid off 4 vehicles, 4 hospitals, 1 home, 15 doctors and
several animals - because you can pay ahead or pay extra on the principal --
BUT NOT ON STUDENT LOANS!!! THEY DO NOT HAVE TO APPLY ANYTHING TO THE PRINCIPAL FIRST - they can legally apply to their fees and interest and charges first - It is a sick rigged rip-off intended to create debts that can never be paid off!!! AND BILL f'ing CLINTON privatized it all so that his buddies could build themselves a private golf course...Hell, we owe more now than when we started paying the damn things!!!

So much for 'family values', the importance of education, and all that
other crap...

Your Comments: AES/ DEFERMENT REQUESTS

I am currently in AES hell - have been for 2 years now. I got pregnant and had to leave school to have my child - I got the 6 month grace period and then they started hounding. I applied for a deferrment because I was pregnant and had a high-risk pregnancy and could not work or afford the payments. It was a run around - my Dr had to fax them forms and then she would and then they would say they had not received them. This went on for about a month - all while they are threatening to report me for non payment, etc. Finally I sent a letter return receipt requested with all the forms, threatening to tell the Attorney General about them, and suddenly I was deferred - imagine that.

But they would only give me the 6 week post partum because I had an emergency c-section - then it was back to the harrassing. I had to stay home with my baby due to her health problems and the fact that daycare is so expensive here, so I filed for an economic hardship forbearance - by the end of that, I had to file for food stamps to get them to grant me a measly 6-month deferrment (mind you, all the time I spent battling them counted in this, so really it only ended up being a 4 month deferment.

It is now up and I requested the usual forms to defer again - after they ignored my emails for a week, I finally got an email saying I've maxed out my deferment time - WHAT?! All my other loans give you 3, 1 year deferments before you have maxed! I'm furious and asked them to provide me a link ontheir site where it states this. I'm getting ready to contact the attorney general and BBB on them, they have horrible communication and misleading practices.

Your Emails: AES / Deferment Requests

Thank you for this website. I too am living the student loan nightmare. I am a parent who has cosigned for student loans for my son. His requests for deferrals and hardship forbearance since he is still in medical school have been ignored and I receive phone calls daily from PHEAA threatening to ruin my credit rating if I do not make payment. I am filing a complaint with the Attorney General for the state of Michigan. I do very much appreciate the links you provided. I feel like crying but I don't have any more tears.

Your Emails: Sallie Mae / Loan Forgivness

My husband and I are both teachers in the state of Oklahoma . We met in college and both had student loans. My husband had much more debt than I. He had Perkins and Stafford Loans. Upon our marriage and subsequent graduation from college we began teaching. We started to have to pay off two loans to Sallie Mae, which we couldn’t afford. Then they offered us the chance to consolidate our loans, which we gladly accepted. We have both taught in high poverty schools now for over ten years. My husband was told that his Perkins loans (app. $10,000) would be forgiven in certain percentages for each year taught. So about a year ago, after having taught for a long time we decided it was time to take the state up on their forgiveness of the Perkins Loan. We contacted Sallie Mae which told us to fill out a form, we did and said we were not eligible. One year later, hours and hours of phone calls, and several trips and phone calls with our state dept. of education- still no forgiveness.

This is what they are saying- The state of Oklahoma is willing to pay for the loan, they say will meet all qualifications. Sallie Mae says they will not accept the payment because we don’t qualify. This is their reasoning. They said that when we consolidated our loans, our individual loans ceased to exist, and that is why our claim isn’t valid. I asked them to show me in our paperwork where there was a statement to that effect-none has been provided. If the people giving the money are willing to pay, what is the problem? Their greed, poor communication, and lack of common sense is amazing.

I am at my wits end about what to do. The injustice of it all makes me sick. I am going to fight this, all the while, dutifully paying my monthly payments! Any help you can provide or attention to this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Student Loan Company Aims to Stop the Deception

Nonprofit Student Assistance Foundation gives straight answers to students seeking loans and grants

Helena, MT (PRWEB) June 18, 2007 -- Before various lawsuits and complaints regarding deceptive student loan advertising came to light earlier this year, Student Assistance Foundation launched a new Web site to deflect deception and offer students a place to get their questions about student borrowing answered honestly. Stop the Deception is the nonprofit student loan company's latest effort in giving students straight and truthful answers when it comes to the often-confusing subjects of student loan debt and consolidation.
"It's particularly important for graduates to read the fine print to make sure they fully understand the terms of the loan and to make sure the company they choose has the customers' best interests in mind," said Jamie Lee, loan sales supervisor at SAF. "This site helps students to do that."
According to Lee, SAF intends to continue to expand the site to identify confusing practices in the student loan industry as they come into play in order to help students negotiate the loan process successfully.
Students may be confused and misguided about many aspects of managing and paying off private or federal student loans. Since most college loans are repaid after graduation, students may not be able to perceive the reality of their debt and engage in careless spending without consequences throughout college years. Students can get caught up in using loan money for items outside of legitimate school expenses -- like trips or pets, for example. Students are sometimes led to believe they can borrow unrealistic amounts that are far above what they can repay in a reasonable amount of time. Later in the life of the loan, when it comes time to consider student loan consolidation programs, students can become even more confused.
Student Assistance Foundation offers several tips to help stop the deception:
Find someone you trust. Ask friends and family what they've done. Then find a trusted, knowledgeable lender with good customer service.
Set a budget and stick to it. Learn what you can afford to borrow and don't exceed it. Then keep a record of how you intend to spend your loan.
Do your research. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Look into as many lenders as you can to compare and contrast their services and gauge their commitment to the customer.
Get out of prison. Think of student debt like it's a prison and make it a priority to get out as soon as possible.
Know your benefits and rates. Some low rates apply to only a few people and some benefits get pulled easier than you think. Know the terms and conditions of all money you borrow.
Start repayment on time. Don't put off repaying your student loans. Get into the habit of making more than the minimum payment.To get straight answers about student loans visit http://www.stopthedeception.org/ or call Student Assistance Foundation at (800) 852-2761 ext. 9750.

(Source: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/6/emw533832.htm)