Sallie Mae lawsuit

Slider

I have been unemployed for a number of months, which has put my student loans into default status. Each day, I receive about 3-5 calls on my cell phone from my student loan provider Sallie Mae.

I'm not up on my legalize and need someone to translate this lawsuit (Arthur, et al. v. Sallie Mae, Inc.) for me. From what I understand, I may be able to get them to stop calling me on my cell phone. Is this true?

http://www.arthurtcpasettlement.com/

Thanks.

kaliyama

Read the "what does the settlement provide" section.

Fyndir

I am not a lawyer, but from what I understand the lawsuit may or may not be relevant to your case depending on what the forms you signed when you took the student loans, and whether or not they're using an automated dialer / automated message.

Since they've only been calling you within the past few months, you are ineligible for taking part in the lawsuit that website refers to, as it is dealing with older cases.

Slider

I realize I am not entitled to take part in the lawsuit, however, they are using an automated message/caller when contacting me. I also don't recall giving them permission to contact me via cell phone.

Barrakketh

You're probably interested in this.

Fyndir

Slider wrote:

I realize I am not entitled to take part in the lawsuit, however, they are using an automated message/caller when contacting me. I also don't recall giving them permission to contact me via cell phone.

Go find the forms you signed.

Read them thoroughly.

Read them thoroughly again.

In fact, read them thoroughly three times, please.

If you're still convinced you did not give them permission for contacting you in that manner, find a real lawyer to talk to about the matter.

Slider

Barrakketh wrote:

You're probably interested in this.

This might work:

* Failure to cease communication upon request: communicating with consumers in any way (other than litigation) after receiving written notice that said consumer wishes no further communication.

Iruka

Have you written them to request they stop communicating with you?

143999

Certified mail, return receipt requested.

Djeet

Have you bothered to ask for forbearance? Most student loan admins are willing to play ball with you if you talk to them (and not just duck their calls).

Slider

Iruka wrote:

Have you written them to request they stop communicating with you?

That's the next step. At this point, all I do is simply "ignore" their phone calls, which takes very little effort.

Slider

Djeet wrote:

Have you bothered to ask for forbearance? Most student loan admins are willing to play ball with you if you talk to them (and not just duck their calls).

I am no longer eligible to receive forbearances.

Sallie Mae kind of punked me. I ran out of usable forbearances at the same time I ran out of a limited time reduced monthly payments plan. They said I shouldn't have been able to use both options at the same time, but..."Oh, well...now you owe us double what you were accustomed to paying."

admanb

Djeet wrote:

Have you bothered to ask for forbearance? Most student loan admins are willing to play ball with you if you talk to them (and not just duck their calls).

There is a Saga of private college loans that a few posters here can tell you about (Slider and bowen are the two I recall immediately). They are... probably not what you're used to in student loans.

The LandoStander

What types of student loans are you dealing with? Sallie Mae provides both normal Stafford type loans that are subsidized or un-subsidized. They also provide private loans that can be used for college but aren't actually connected with the Department of Education which often backs student loans in a manner similar to Freddie and Fannie with house loans.

It won't give you a lot more time but if you have multiple loans and they're not private loans or pell grants etc. then you may consider consolidating them. You'll have to repay of course but it may be more affordable and consolidation can be the first step to most student loan forgiveness programs.

Adus

admanb wrote:

Djeet wrote:

Have you bothered to ask for forbearance? Most student loan admins are willing to play ball with you if you talk to them (and not just duck their calls).

There is a Saga of private college loans that a few posters here can tell you about (Slider and bowen are the two I recall immediately). They are... probably not what you're used to in student loans.

Sallie Mae has pretty much no forbearance options for Private Loans. Basically your only option is to pay 50 dollars for each loan you have to be suspended for 3 months max, and they tack on more interest. So if I wanted to suspend my 2 private loans for 3 months I'd have to pay them 100 bucks just to process the forbearance on top of owing them more money. It's criminal and I don't know how they get away with it.

Really makes me regret going to college, that's how bad it is.

Slider

My government or Stafford loans are through Nelnet. I'm not worried about those, because the government has this neat thing where my loan payments are based on how much money I make. Since I'm unemployed, my payments to Nelnet are $0.

With Sallie Mae, my only option is to make the payments. I have used up every option they provide. At this point, I'm just receiving a lot of automated phone calls and letters informing me that they have notified a credit bureau about my delinquency. Good times.

bowen

Slider wrote:

My government or Stafford loans are through Nelnet. I'm not worried about those, because the government has this neat thing where my loan payments are based on how much money I make. Since I'm unemployed, my payments to Nelnet are $0.

With Sallie Mae, my only option is to make the payments. I have used up every option they provide. At this point, I'm just receiving a lot of automated phone calls and letters informing me that they have notified a credit bureau about my delinquency. Good times.

You likely can't take the lawsuit into account, you went to school after I did and I don't qualify. That said, I don't think $200 is going to help you in this situation here.

Here's some questions you need to ask yourself:

Are you afraid of losing what little credit rating you have?
Do you have anyone in your family you can borrow money from in the near future?

Why do I ask these? Your credit rating is sinking right now. However, Sallie Mae is going to try something in a few weeks/months depending on how long you've let this go on. They know the market is shitty, and if you went to ITT Tech (those loans pretty similarly mimic mine), I bet you they know you can't get a job. You need to be able to borrow, from loved ones like your parents, up to half the amount of your private loans. They're going to try and settle your debt with you, but the clincher is they're going to both rape your credit some more and need you to pay right then and there (or with a certified letter in a week or so).

They'll ask for a reasonable offer, start at about 1/4 of your debt. If you owe $27,000 like I did, that's $6750. You're likely going to have to go up a bit, but, if it were me I wouldn't go any higher than $12,000. If your parents can do anything to help you, this is going to be for the better. These kinds of debts can't be discharged in a bankruptcy as you know. Even an equity line of credit on their house would help. Anything.

I take it you live at home? If your parents do this, go work at burger king or wal-mart, you could make enough to cover the minimum payments on that and whatever Nelnet would go up to. And then in 5 years you'll be debt free and hopefully have a job.

Slider

Thank you for your input. My credit was great until now. I'm fairly certain it was over 700.

However, I won't ask anybody to help me with this. It's my responsibility.

bowen

Honestly, how close are you to default? Judging by how you're getting calls now, I'd say fairly close. This is obviously a personal matter, but seriously, there is absolutely no harm in asking for help. The hardest part is realizing it doesn't make you any less of a person that you made a mistake. Don't fuck yourself for decades because you don't want to get help now before it becomes a malignant tumor instead of a nagging dull ache.

Figgy

Slider wrote:

Thank you for your input. My credit was great until now. I'm fairly certain it was over 700.

How do you know? You don't just start your life with great credit and lose it when you fuck up. In order to have a credit score over 700, you'd need a long standing history of borrowed money that was paid back over time. You'd also need credit card(s) with records of responsible repayment.

From the sounds of your loans, it doesn't sound like that's the case. Your credit score was likely in the low 400s.

Slider

Figgy wrote:

Slider wrote:

Thank you for your input. My credit was great until now. I'm fairly certain it was over 700.

How do you know? You don't just start your life with great credit and lose it when you fuck up. In order to have a credit score over 700, you'd need a long standing history of borrowed money that was paid back over time. You'd also need credit card(s) with records of responsible repayment.

From the sounds of your loans, it doesn't sound like that's the case. Your credit score was likely in the low 400s.

Because the last time I bought a car, my credit was checked and it was over 700.

Slider

bowen wrote:

Honestly, how close are you to default? Judging by how you're getting calls now, I'd say fairly close. This is obviously a personal matter, but seriously, there is absolutely no harm in asking for help. The hardest part is realizing it doesn't make you any less of a person that you made a mistake. Don't fuck yourself for decades because you don't want to get help now before it becomes a malignant tumor instead of a nagging dull ache.

It is already in default status. I am about $700 past due.

bowen

Slider wrote:

bowen wrote:

Honestly, how close are you to default? Judging by how you're getting calls now, I'd say fairly close. This is obviously a personal matter, but seriously, there is absolutely no harm in asking for help. The hardest part is realizing it doesn't make you any less of a person that you made a mistake. Don't fuck yourself for decades because you don't want to get help now before it becomes a malignant tumor instead of a nagging dull ache.

It is already in default status. I am about $700 past due.

Oh then you're fucked up the ass 5 different ways until the last Sunday before you die. How much cash do you have in savings? Do you have any equity? And are you sure you can't get a loan from a family member?

Settling this now is going to be a better solution because you're probably about to be taken to court within the year. Unless you can prove you tried to pay it off and have undue economic hardship, but I've heard that the possibilities of that in a ch7 bankruptcy (which you will need to do if they sue you and you can't settle) has a success rate of about 25% even if you're unemployed for half a decade.

They will absolutely wring your neck if you forgo asking loved ones to loan you money. This is the sad shitty truth to this whole story, I'm not trying to piss you off or make you feel like a jerk but you need to do something or else you could. When you get taken to court for breaking a contract, you get to pay for their legal fees too, which was outlined to me by my lawyer when I asked about this during my bankruptcy. So instead of owing $32,000, you now owe $32,000 + another $5-10,000 in legal fees, plus the interest in not paying.

Your bank account(s)? Gone.
Your car? They can put a lien against it, and force you to sell (I hear, no experience with this yet).
Any equity you have? Gone.

Your life is, for all intents and purposes, ruined as they liquidate your estate.

Slider

Thanks, Bowen, but I'm broke. I have been unemployed since March and I have $0. Fortunately, I also have no assets.

I just laugh every time I get a bill in the mail. This thread can probably be locked, seeing as how it has mutated into something else.

I leave you with some Louis C.K.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0rSXjVuJVg