Sallie Mae Customer Service

User Reviews, Ratings and Comments

Sallie Mae customer service is ranked #801 out of the 1023 companies that have a CustomerServiceScoreboard.com rating with an overall score of 24.13 out of a possible 200 based upon 312 ratings. This score rates Sallie Mae customer service and customer support as Terrible.

NEGATIVE Comments

301 Negative Comments out of 312 Total Comments is 96.47%.

POSITIVE Comments

11 Positive Comments out of 312 Total Comments is 3.53%.

Issue Resolution

Reachability

Cancellation

Friendliness

Product Knowledge

Terrible Overall Customer Service Rating

  • Sallie Mae

    Customer Service Scoreboard

    • 24.13 Overall Rating
      (out of 200 possible)
    • 301 negative comments (96.47%)
    • 11 positive comments (3.53%)
    • 1 employee comments
    • Attribute Ratings
      (out of 10 possible)
    • 1.5 Issue Resolution
    • 2.2 Reachability
    • 1.7 Cancellation
    • 2.8 Friendliness
    • 2.1 Product Knowledge

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Posted by Twilson


If I could leave a -10 star review I would do it in a. This is a classic example of a ridiculously unmanaged government program with zero oversight and zero sensibility.

In April 2022 I applied for a student loan for my sons flight school. I had a few credit cards and a couple of car notes on my credit report and had about a 740 credit rating.

I requested a loan in the amount of $113,000 and they wanted 8.75% interest rate on a 15 year loan. That was ridiculous as I haven't had an interest rate that high since I was in college. I am now 54 I've had my home since 2006 never a late payment I have been employed by the same company for 21 years as a professional pilot. There are no negatives whatsoever on my credit report. I had to call them five different times because it took ten days when I reapplied for $100,000 loan and every single time I was on hold for a solid hour or more to get a human being that not once offered any sensible assistance.

I reapplied for a lesser amount given the horrific interest rate. I had since paid off three cars, all credit cards and I have zero short-term debt. I have a primary mortgage that is well within my means and a second mortgage on a rented rental home. I also have a boat payment that is more than half paid off . Those are the only three line items on my credit report and I have well over $150,000 available credit in credit cards. They all have a zero balance. I also show an 820+ credit rating on all three bureaus.

During one of my five phone calls the person on the telephone attempted to educate me on how credit scores are calculated. I really wish I had said, do you think with my credit rating that I don't know how to use credit properly? I did not say that, I did ask her why on earth with my credit rating and my credit file how they now have come back with a 14.75% interest rate, the highest one they can charge.

She had no answer, only to try and educate me on credit scores and informed me that it was automatically done by the computer and there was nothing she could do, needless to say this is a broken system with zero oversight no accountability and no common sense.

They have you over a barrel when it comes to flight school training they are literally one of the only ones that will offer a student loan for this type of school.

If anyone out there thinks that Sallie Mae is a good option for any financing I would think again I would look long and hard to avoid dealing with these morons at any cost

Posted by Cassidy


My experience with customer service has been a nightmare. After being on and off the phone all week trying to get my father into his account so he can co-sign all the sudden then needed me present there. I cal them myself the next day and they need my dad there. The women who took my call, she was so quiet I couldn't hear her other than her kids and the tv on in the back ground. I understand having to work from home but that is ridiculous. I couldn't hear her at all other than her kids. This wasn't a good experience.

Posted by Sick of it


STOP CALLING ME!!! This new phone number was just recently issued to me in June of 2015



> Here's what I will do if you do not stop calling my number. I will file a complaint in writing with Kentucky's Attorney General's Office. I will lodge a complaint with Kentucky's State Banking Department. Then I will lodge a complaint with the Federal Trade commission. Once I have done this and if you people keep bothering me, I will file a lawsuit in my county. I will serve your statutory agent. I will also run you through my State's Corporate Commission to verify that you are even licensed to do business in my state, if not, I will report it to the Attorney General's Office. NOW REMOVE MY NUMBER FROM YOUR CALL LIST!!! I don't owe you anything nor does anyone in my household. This is not a bluff, I know what I'm doing. I am keeping track of every call made and you will pay when this is all said and done if I continue to receive calls. I hope I make myself clear.

Posted by DKat


They are rude and unhelpful, not to mention the company is charging me over $200 in interest, worst company ever! Don't ever get caught in their trap!

Posted by BKaminski


I set up autopayment on Oct 8th. At the end of November I received a payment reminder...called eveyday but was on hold for 20 minutes waiting for a voice. Finally reached a service agent after day 3 of calling. She said "you are the cosigner" YES. Explained that my payments were on Autopay. Was told they were not. The service rep "EADY" was very condescending. Told me there was no information on the autopay. Told me that I needed to give her a confirmation number. After providing information on previous autopayments dates and being told that I "must have mailed those in". I am looking at the transactions on my checking account!!!! AUTOPAY!! I said NO, they were Autopay and now they are not.I needed to speak to her manager. Was put on hold for 15 minutes. When she came back, had located the information, and yes a cosigner had called, (interrupted to tell her, YES! that was me, duh, remember I am the cosigner IDIOT!) and they had not followed through. WHY is it so difficult to help someone???? ISNT that their JOB - HENCE CUSTOMER SERVICE. Who trains these people!!!! I ended the conversation saying "just a comment - next time don't be so condescending, especially when you are wrong, you are a customer service representative, remember?".

Posted by Anonymous


I am tired of the abuse and Harassment and threats that Sallie Mae has been given to a person who has continually made his agreed to payments on time .I will not stand for it and will report this to the proper authorities if it is not stopped.



Melvin Keltz

Posted by whaatisthis?


Tried to request iformation about my son's student loan application. after 1-1/2 hours of being sent from person to person who repeatedly asked for my SS# (name rank and serial#) I was sent to the Credit dept and they picked up the phone and hung up!!!! Then I called as I had been directed to call from the previous person ...who said this was the direct line for the credit Dept. ....It was not. It was the same general line asking AGAIN for SS#, etc. When some one answered I told them this was like the 10th time I was asked for SS# and he said what do you need? and rudely gave me a slurred 877 number to call and hung up!!!

Posted by Fluffy


Sallie Mae has a Subsidiary that they actually OWN, called Student Assistance Corporation (SAC). When Supervisors from SAC inform the consumer of a certain agreement, they should KEEP their agreement(s), but they do not. Then Sallie Mae comes back on the borrower and charges $6,400 or more of interest for a student loan. Also, Sallie Mae wants too much information when it comes to a student experiencing a head-on motor vehicle accident in trying to forgive this student's loan when there is NO income of any kind coming in.
Sallie Mae needs to be regulated and controlled for some Federal Assistance Corporation informing what they can DO and what they CANNOT DO. Supervisors do not KEEP their word/agreements with consumers.

Posted by Mxyzptlk


What a bunch of jokers these people are. I called already in June to receive current payment coupons, but a month later, I already had to call to get them resent. This past week I was lucky enough to receive junk mail from SM twice, the first being privacy policy garbage and the second one today being a notice for late payments. I had debated on not opening the one today so I could send it back but I was anticipating their payment stubs since they should be arriving anytime. These fools can send me what I don't need, but apparently not on the ball enough to send me what I do. I hope I don't have to call a third time.

Posted by j


At Sallie Mae they may make major changes on your account and wont take the time to notify the borrower. They also completely ignore information you send to them, as with a letter telling them you will be moving abroad for one year to take part in a volunteer program and requesting a deferment. It happened to me. When this happened I had already graduated from a 4 year university and was about to begin payments as it had almost been 6 months. As I was planning to go abroad for one year to take part in a volunteer program, I sent them a letter telling that and also asking for a one year deferment. On the phone call I made they sure enough confirmed the deferment for one year so I thought I would be fine as I would be back in one year. Little did I know that they had made major changes on my account that had nothing to do with the letter I sent them. What happened was I had taken a summer school class at a community college that summer I was planning to leave the country. So at Salliemae they had completely change everything, specifically changing my status to being a student that will be graduating all over again and this time from a community college, hence the deferment they granted, completely unrelated to my real plans and not the deferment I was asking for in the letter sent , the letter they chose to completely ignore. So I go abroad for one year just to come back to a tarnished credit record. Be careful if you have to use Salliemae as a lender. They will make major changes on your account without notification or verification, and they will completely ignore letters you send to them, even letters with vital information telling them you are moving to another country and need a deferment. In trying to get this corrected I also ran into some incompetent and unprofessional people. Some workers at Salliemae need to be fired and it is probably because of them that this lending company has a bad rap. They are careless, unethical and wont really want to help you. Best not to deal with this unprofessional, disorganized and flaw-filled company, so if at all possible I would advise any potential borrower to borrow from a different lending company.

Posted by Annoy


Can I please get someone from the US on the phone?
I think my calls are forward to a call center in Asia! Very frustrating...and you will never get the same answer to the same question! LOL

Posted by Anonymous


SallieMae does not send income tax information, they send an e-mail telling you the statement is sent and then try as you may you are unable to open much less print it. When I call the phone keeps going from one stupid message to another. I cannot get any information about the status of my student loan. This is not right but I just found the address of the corporate office so now I will start an action by going to the office all it takes is people to start making their voices heard when there is unfairness and company are being disloyal to the people. This is unfair to the people who place their trust in them. But we all know there are laws that can deal with this situation. Dept of education sends tax returns, I send emails to SalieMae informing them that I am unable to open or print the documents and no one replies with any information

Posted by Anonymous


This company is here just to rip people off. We paid them in full and they still want more. We have proven our bill is paid in full so now it looks like we take them to court and take action against them for harrassment

Posted by Colt C Vers


I cannot begin to put into words the hatred I have for Sallie Mae. The name alone sounds stupid and the people do nothing to prove otherwise.
I am currently up to date on payments, however, recently, both of my parents have told me they've been receiving harassing calls from SM trying to find me. These idiots know where I am, I receive junk mail and the same harassing calls at my residence as well until I blocked their number.
Given time, these stooges can find anybody, which I assume they did my parents. My dad will not answer calls he doesn't know, but they've left both messages for me to get in touch with them. My mom on the other hand happened to talk to a foreign fool to see what they were calling her for. The guy asked her if she knew me, which she said she only did, not who she was, and he tried to get her to tell him my address. She said she caught him off guard when she told him she couldn't help him and didn't feel comfortable giving info over the phone. She also said the nincompoop tried to get her to give him her SS number, which she told him she was not about to give him.
These jerks have a plethora of numbers they can call from, yet, they're trying to hit my parents up to try and get payments from them, instead of me? SM is an absolute train wreck and incredibly unorganized. Come after me, not my parents.
I was overjoyed when I found out from the local postmaster that mail from SM can be refused and sent back to them, which I will be doing from now on unless it's their worthless pay stubs. Eat S--- Sallie Mae!

Posted by pissed off daughter


Sallie Mae is a joke.my mothers name was forged as a co signer.how can they allow computerized signatures without verifying or getting approval from a co signer.so needless to say after 6years of fighting with these delinquents my mother had to pay out $4000 to get her name taken off as a cosigner. She is 84 years old and lives off medicare. They need to get their act together.

Posted by [email protected]


I just contacted Sallie Mae and was told that my loan has been consolidated, and paid off through Direct Loans with the Department of Education. Nothing has changed for me and I have been a full-time student for 8 years now. It would be nice to get emails directly instead of having to call companies like Sallie Mae for information.

I understand that documents have been send on or around December 9, 2013, unfortunately, I have not received the information so am not sure what they are about. Student loans are crisis points for me when I have not been able to find a job. WHile I have been making my payments each month, it is hard because my disability check comes in on the third of each month, and the retirement stipend is not enough to mail a payment or just under the amount. I paid up this time through February, so I should be okay. All I am saying is that student loans are important and I especially want to hear from anyone concerning that any information regarding my loans. As soon as possible and not two weeks later would be preferred.

My email has not changed, and if an email was sent I would have received it and I did not. I have had two other companies contact me about trying to consolidate my loan that I never contacted or asked anything from and now one of them are harassing me with calls every day. They submitted a Consolidation Student Loan on my behalf with a forged signature and had the audacity of emailing the application. Student loans may not be paid by other students but that is not me. I have been paying my loan for before graduating with my MBA and because my disability payment comes in on the
signature. my behave and forged my signature and paid also found out that an application I had not submitted had been filed on my behalf by a company called Student of one or Student Loan Consolidation, Inc. out of Tampa, Florida. I spoke to a representative and had the representative tear up the application when I found out this company was a third party company supposedly acting on my behalf. I never submitted another application again, and the organization did once again on my behaf

Posted by LRS


I co signed on several of my daughters student loans. We called to verify when the grace period was over and when our first payments were due. We were given the wrong information three months prior to the first payment was to be due. All of a sudden, one month early, they send us a letter telling us that they were due a month earlier, the month of December, right before Christmas. What kind of company is this that tells you one thing, does another and there is no way they can fix it. I would highly recommend going to another student loan company.

Posted by dummer


this is the worst company to work with you want to pay your bill and the only way they want the money is to give info on phone they will not let you send a cashier check they want you to give out a check acct number to them on the phone right do i look stupid . get a a credit card right who want to pay wallmart all fees to get a debit card i guess they dont want to be paid when you cann't send a check. well i guess i will just keep check if they don't want it will this stand up in court if they refuse to take a check i would say so.i gues a lawyer will have to take care of this and take them to court so i can pay off bill i was stupid to sign on. i guess i was stupid this time but not the second time .

Posted by Val


I have been with Sallie Mae for only 3 months. I have mailed the payments out and kept my receipts that say they do not have them. I faxed the receipts. They send threatening letter and called me constantly. I am a full time student and they will not send me deferment papers to give to my counselor and they went into my account without permission to take out funds I already sent them. Not they want to increase my monthly payment. I now have to close my account at my bank because of them

Posted by angry


My daughter was 17 when attending college I had to borrow 12,000 in my name cosigned for three years. Paid the interest on one of the loans I signed for. daughter graduated May 2013 in October I sent the payment as usual..they applied it to the department of education where the loan was in my name. called me daily for the interest payment didnt want to hear me tell them what they did wanted me to poop out money and the payment of the first loan was due in November! ignorant and constantly threatning me when they messed it up

Posted by grant


To give an example of how on the ball these idiots are: I've been at this residence for 10 years now, I've gotten the treat of receiving their junk mail as long as I've been here. Just recently, my father brought me the famous late notice he'd received at my old residence. SM seemed to have no trouble tracking me down at an old job to harass me there a few times, yet they can't even send mail to my current address? It sure left me in tears they didn't get it right. Unless it's their stupid payment tickets, everything they send me ends up going right back to them, often unopened. Until I'm finally done (if I live to be 150), having them buy out my loan many years ago will remain a thorn in my side. F U Sallie Mae.

Posted by Co-signer


This institution is the worst one I have had to deal with. A "supervisor by the name of April" was supposed to send me a letter confirming our conversation since I never get the same answer twice from the customer service reps, one month later and I have not received it. When I call they won't transfer me to a "supervisor" or they keep me on hold forever. I will lodge a complaint.

Posted by Anonymous


Sallie mae states on there letter head that I get sent to me that they are opened on Saturdays 8am-12pm E.T. but when you call you only get a recording and no human person which is very frustrating. They should really change there letter head then.

Posted by Anonymous


Sallie Mae is a rip off! I contacted Sallie Mae a few weeks ago to request a forberance on my loans. The rep that I talked to put my loans in forberance and I paid my fee to do so and it was all good. A week later I received a phone call from Sallie Mae asking me to contact them to go over the options available to me concerning my loans. I called Sallie Mae and they verbally told me that I didn't have any forberance time left for my loan. Now, they took my money, didn't notify me in correspondance that my forberance was denied. The agent that i talked to was going to help me, or so I thought. I haven't heard back from that person yet. In the mean time I have received phone calls from Sallie Mae. Some of they had left messages, others did not. I called Sallie Mae today and talked to a manager and he more or less threatened me by saying that I do have serveral options, which I didn't know that 2 minus 1 option was several and that the manager would take me off my current payment plan. He did offer me to put my payment for the forberance against what I owe. You know I went to Sallie Mae cause I am currently unable to make payments and Sallie Mae is telling me that it is my fault for not being able to make payments and that I when I signed my contract I knew everything. However, Sallie Mae has changed my loans (or I think they did) and my options have never changed. And they are not willing to work with me on payments, my outstanding debt to them will just keep growing. And I was against with using Sallie Mae for a lender, I just didn't have a choice. Where I went to school, they had a contract with the school that they could be the only non-stafford loan lender!

Posted by A Co-Signer


I am at my wit's end in trying to resolve issues with Sallie Mae. I have a multitude of issues. For starters, I do not understand how they can legally compound interest the way they do, thus charging interest on interest. I am a co-signer on two loans, and have been paying via auto-debit for quite some time. It is my intent to pay the loans off early but it is literally impossible to do at Sallie Mae. I sent in two "extra" payments to see how they applied. All but pennies were taken to interest, and just reduced the amount of the next auto-debits. In follow-up, I was told that the only way to make additional principal reductions in order to pay off early is to get them to Sallie Mae on the 1st day of the month. A one-day window. Finally, after getting no help at all, I made the decision to move the debt to another financial institution from which I received and attractive offer. I have since gotten the money from that financial institution, obtained a payoff quote from Sallie Mae, and spent $20 to overnight-mail the payoff to the remittance center. Three business days later, they have not processed the payment. I keep getting assurances that the payoff will post, but no one can find it, or tell me when it will post. I have instructed them to stop the auto-debits, but I will likely have to pay a fee to my bank to do this. Additionally, I may have to pay a fee to stop payment on the payoff check. I sincerely hope there is someone at Sallie Mae who can tell me HOW to pay off a loan because I am not paying them another dime until they do. I am proceeding with formal complaints to the CFPB, FDIC, and OCC.

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Posted by Reldousoky


I did have one loan sold to another company, but the transition went very smoothly. I did contact Sally Mae and they provided me with the information I needed to continue my payments. I should add that I paid my loans from overseas, and never had an issue, except to update my personal information on the website. The foreign address & phone would not conform to the webpage information. I raised this concern once, and they corrected the issue. Yes, I would use Sally Mae again. I never received anything but professional service.

Posted by leticia1


I have had nothing but an excellent experience when dealing with Sallie Mae. Customer service is very knowledgeable and patient while explaining procedure on how to start my deferment. I have no complaints whatsoever and I have been on the phone with different reps at different times.

Posted by writerchick2011


After reading a plethora of negative comments about Sallie Mae's customer service, I felt uneasy about calling; would I be put on hold for hours? Would I be able to understand whatever thick accent the customer service rep had? Would my questions really be satisfactorily answered? Imagine my surprise when, after answering a few questions about my purpose for calling and my account information, I was put on hold for three minutes before engaging in a nice chat with a man around my age who sounded like he was from the NYC area and answered my questions quickly and pleasantly. Maybe calling in earlier helped my experience be a good one?

Posted by JAN


The law of averages states that for every 10 people who have a complaint about any company or business, there will be 1 to 3 negative reviews and 7 to 9 positive views. The 1 to 3 will tell all their friends and post on the internet their complaints. The 7 to 9 will tell a couple friends and less than 5% will post online. Therefore, out of all those complaining here, which is 193. There are in all actuality 1500 others who are completely satisfied with Sallie Mae including myself. Never had an issue. Was suppose to graduate in 06/2003, but had a few more classes to take. They said a payment was due 12/2003. I sent them an email on 7/2003 when I noticed it and they immediately took care it. They have never sold my loan to anyone. Since then, payments ALWAYS POSTED ON-TIME! So anyone who has problems.... it's your fault. You most likely didn't give them your new address or phone # or email. You are also calling at peak hours and they do tell you best times to call. Don't remember why I called. I think it was to ask how much the payoff amount was. No problem. They gave me the info after verifying my info, which is a security measure. If paid by such and such a date your payoff is this amount. To the poster who said they called from a crowded bus and didn't feel comfortable giving private info. Why would you call a any financial institution to get info from a crowded bus? That was really dumb! Duh!!

Posted by Robert


Quick customer service for me!

Posted by Anonymous


Great customer service, talked to a real person... I dont see why anybody else is having problems.

Posted by Anonymous


professional customer service

Posted by Anonymous


Your customer service is most excellent!

Posted by mb


My support rep was helpful and they did call me back within 7 minutes.The voice communication system was delayed several seconds because I was talking to a rep in another continent which made the conversation somewhat difficult. His english was very good,it was just the delay.

Posted by Anonymous


I spoke w/Reina today and she was very helpful. The best part was she spoke English!

Posted by Anonymous


On Friday the 26th of June I called with a question. 1) I liked the unusual choice of being able to be called back when it is a busy call center time. 2) My rep was very kind and knowledgeable and answered me very well. Unfortunately I did not have the time to answer a survey about his service. I hope this will help.
Uriel Goffin, New York NY

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Posted by alonzohawk


Alright, I'm a former Sallie Mae employee. First thing is Sallie Mae is not government ran, everyone who says this show a lack of research on the subject and just sounds ignorant. Most people want to jump to the conclusion that no one at Sallie Mae wants to help you and have a bad attitude when they get on the phone with an account agent. If you would be patient and allow the rep to take their time to fix it, everything would go smooth. Worst thing to do is to insult a Sallie Mae rep personally. If you do this you might as well hang up and call back. Federal Law states that Sallie Mae can not discuss an account without verifying two pieces of public information. This information can usually be found online or a telephone book. If you call Sallie Mae then they only need to verify one piece of public information. When you speak to Sallie Mae state your full name and this will help move things along as well. Things I would avoid at all cost unless you absolutely have to is forbearance and interest only payments. Ask about the workout program that can lower your interest rate down to between 1-3% for a year, allowing you to pay off a great deal of your principal, Sallie Mae collector get a goal and to make goal they are willing to work with you. This is on Private loans.

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