<p>They are very hard to deal with. I am trying to make extra payments on a parent loan so I can pay it off ahead of time. Every time I contact them I get a different story about how to do it. When I call I sit and wait 30 minutes to be told they cant be sure that the extra will go to principle and that I have to call the day the check is posted. I cant access the loan online. All I get is the other sallie mae loan that I already paid off ahead of time.If they are this hard to deal with for someone who wants to pay ahead they will be worse for someone who is having problems making payments. Citibank was easier you could just check a box and anything extra you sent went to principle and Discover was even easier.</p>
<p>You should be able to write on the memo line of the check: Pay outstanding interest and then apply remainder to principle. </p>
<p>Send a note with the payment stating the same. I don’t know what they would apply the excess to if NOT the principle …</p>
<p>With the first extra payment I did that and I was told I shouldnt do that I should call. the second time I called and was told I should have written it on the check and that I have to call on the day the check is posted. They told me that the extra money would go to advancing the date the next payment was due. My issue with them is you get a different story every time you contact them and they make it very hard to reach them. Obviously they dont want people paying the loan off ahead of time because they lose all the interest.</p>
<p>That really stinks!! The worst part is, now that all loans are going to be Direct Loans through the federal government, SallieMae is one of the servicers … and students have no say in who their servicer will be. They are stuck with the assigned servicer for all of their future loans. I would suggest lodging a complaint with the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman if you have issues with a servicer. It’s the only way they will have to clean up their acts.</p>
<p>Can you pay online? My son had Sallie Mae for 4 years and I had it for one. I always paid over the amount and was able to see what was applied to principle and what was for interest. You have to make a new account with a new loan. I had one and then 2 years later, I opened another account once I had the account number. If you need help, they helped me when I called. It has a “register new account” on the top left side I think. You put it a SS# or account number, pick a new password, etc. and it will add a new account.
I did have a NJClass loan also I had to pay with a check and it did cause me some angst having to check the amounts each month on the statement to see it was applied. They didn’t have online access yet.</p>
<p>I actually loved the online feature and haven’t had any issues with them. My son paid off 1000.00 of his principle and even closed out a small loan and could always see that the payments were applied. I also liked that if I had a better month with some overtime, I could pay on it 3 or 4 times while with a check I could only do it once a month.</p>
<p>That’s a really good suggestion, debruns.</p>
<p>I hope she can, it’s been great for us, paying that way and I know we wouldn’t have paid as much if that option wasn’t available. Seeing the breakdown of each loan, by interest and principle was helpful and they send emails after each transation stating your payment, although you can see it online also.
One of my daughters has “Great Lakes” right now, they have online payments also, but it keeps saying “refund” when we pay, because it isn’t due yet and we don’t get an email confirmation. Still, I want to keep up on the interest payments for them, if I miss a month, I make up for it later. I can’t pay off the loan for them, but the interest I can handle. My son was so proud when he paid a subsidized loan off over time on Sallie Mae, it was only about 500.00 but using part of his pay, he felt for a moment empowered, hitting the “pay” button and knowing it was gone. Now for the other 12,000. : )</p>