NOTICE: GU FinAid has a serious issue with Sallie Mae

Colleges & Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<p>WARNING: GU FinAid has made serious errors with Sallie Mae</p>

<p>I applied to Georgetown for the Class of 2013, and got accepted, but in the end I decided to go elsewhere. I just got notifed that Georgetown had some mess-up in Georgetown FinAid and they ended up sending subsidized loan applications to Sallie Mae for ALL ACCEPTED STUDENTS, instead of for all students who ended up coming to Georgetown. And it gets better: Sallie Mae then went and submitted the loan applications to third-party loan companies all around the country, sending my data and SS# and all my other data to these places without my knowledge or permission.</p>

<p>What the heck?? What is Georgetown doing about this? I can't get through to them and the Sallie Mae woman said they are not allowed to delete my info in their system due to federal law, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS FRAUDULENTLY SUBMITTED BY GEORGETOWN WITHOUT MY KNWOLEDGE OR PERMISSION OR SIGNATURE!! The Sallie Mae woman said she could not determine what if any funds had been disbursed to GU in my name, which means it is possible I have a loan with Sallie Mae, that has been paid to GU, that I am now on the hook for, and that nobody can tell me the status of. I now need to go pay for having my credit reports checked.</p>

<p>SO, if you are reading this and you applied to Georgetown last year, you may likely have a multi-thousand dollar loan in your name, sitting in Georgetown's bank account, gathering interest in your name, and you'll never know until you graduiate in 4 years and they start coming after you to pay it.</p>

<p>If anyone on here can get more info, please post it. I am very concerned about this. And I warn potential applicants: You may want to ask Goergetwon admissions about this in case they have the same issue this year. </p>

<p>Thanks, all, for any advice. You can PM me for more details if you want.</p>

2

<p>Quick update: Just got a text from my Dad – it turns out he got through to Georgetown Student Services this morning and they confirmed that they did have a computer error this past Spring and did send the info of all applicants from last years class to Sallie Mae, who did then send it to loan clearinghouses. They are still trying to determine the extent of the damage, and if any of us have been signed up for loans that we dont know about. I will post whatever he hears back. He got the impression that GU is scrambling on this to try and figure out what happened. </p>

<p>In this day and age with all the focus on identity theft, how is it that Georgetown did not notify me and I had to get a “reminder” letter from some loan company in Minnesota about a loan I never heard about? This looks bad, but I am hoping it will end without something that costs me money to fix…</p>

3

<p>I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to pay to check your credit reports. You can get one report per credit bureau per year for free at annualcreditreport.com. You can also put a fraud alert on your account, such that you have to be contacted for permission before any credit is granted in your name. I did the latter after my social security number was compromised by Georgetown, though I no longer remember the exact circumstances. Hope this helps.</p>

4

<p>Relax. A loan app is a contract, and a contract without a signature is worthless. I’m sure GU is scrambling, this was an embarassing mistake on their part. They’re in communication with Salle Mae to get it straightened out, and you won’t have to pay, or even do, anything to fix it. You can’t be held responsible for an application you didn’t sign.</p>