Paying the Same Loan Twice? Please Help!

Paying for College
1

<p>Okay, so here is my situation.</p>

<p>I took out $4,000 Stafford loans for this fall anticipating that my tuition would be $6,000. I have scholarships for $2,000. My tuition ended up being $2,000 and I decided to cancel the loan. I e-mailed my financial aid office and told them I wanted to cancel the loan. They told me I would have to come in to the financial aid office and fill out paperwork. Although I am in school, I am completing my dietetic internship and am about an hour drive from the school. I work 7:45-5:00 everyday and taking a day off is not an option. I explained this to the aid office.</p>

<p>I checked my tuition bill and the balance was no longer my tuition, it was $4,000, which I assumed was my loan. I called the financial aid office and they told me that had canceled my loan for the fall. I paid the $4,000 balance and have a statement and e-mail saying I paid the balance.</p>

<p>I then checked my loan provider, and it turns out that, according to them, I still owe the $4,000 (+daily interest that is collecting) for this fall loan. I called them and they have no record that the school canceled the loan. Granted, it has only been a few days, however, I am worried I will be responsible for paying the interest even though I canceled the loan. I have e-mails from the financial aid office telling me they canceled the loan but no formal paper work to back it up.</p>

<p>Maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself, but how would I fight this? I am worried my school is going to "forget" to tell my loan provider, so not only did I pay the school $4,000 for the loan, but I will have to pay my loan provider the loan as well. Again, I have statements from the school that they canceled the loan and a receipt from when I paid my school.</p>

<p>Because I am sure someone will ask, the reason I did not know how much tuition would cost was because when I registered for classes the computer counted them as "on campus". Both the director of my program and the aid office told me they would be counted as "off campus". Classes off campus are much cheaper. When the aid office gave me an estimate of tuition over the phone, I asked them to send me an e-mail copy as well. They refused. This made me very nervous; they can tell me whatever they want on the phone and then the computer can charge me as on campus. However, when I got my bill, they were indeed off campus, meaning my bill was much lower. I decided to take out loans in anticipating of a high bill so I would be able to pay my bill if it was too much. Since it is low, I don't want the loans and am trying to cancel them.</p>

<p>Advice?</p>

2

<p>

I’m so confused. If a loan was processed, your balance should have been a credit of $4000 on your account. Did you already pay $4000 + $2000 scholarship = $6000? If so, then your total tuition was billed to you as $6000, which you somehow (?) paid without benefit of the loan?</p>

<p>Did you ever actually receive a check from the loan company for $4000?</p>

<p>Can you try explaining this again?</p>

3

<p>Your’re getting ahead of yourself.</p>

<p>Best for you to do is:

  1. Tuesday, go to your school’s Office of Bursar
  2. Get your transaction history for this Fall</p>
4

<p>I requested a $4,000 loan from my school. My school then contacts my loan provider for the $4,000 and sends the $4,000 directly to my school. Half of the $4,000 went to my tuition. The rest was sent to me in the mail as a check. When I told my school I did not want the loan, I was responsible for the $4,000 in full because that is what they recevied from my loan provider. I paid this.</p>

<p>When I checked with my loan provider, they say that I am still responsible for the $4,000 they gave to my school. This means that I paid $4,000 to my school but am also expected to pay $4,000 (+interest) to my loan provider.</p>

<p>My scholarship checks were sent directly to me so I cashed them and then used them to pay for school.</p>

<p>Does that make more sense?</p>

5

<p>Most likely your school has not return the money back to the loan provider.</p>

6

<p>

No, not really.

What did you pay it with?

Wouldn’t that suggest that you spent $2000 of the $4000 for tuition, and thus you still owe $2000.? At least?</p>

7

<p>Sometimes it takes time for the loan return to be processed. If you canceled right away, you won’t owe the interest. It is smart to keep checking to find out when it is actually canceled & make sure it goes through.</p>

8

<p>Sylvan8798, I paid my school with the scholarships and left over loan money. The $2,000 in scholarships I received were sent directly to me. I was able to cash them and use them towards tuition. The remaining $2,000 from the loan (because the loan was $4,000- $2,000 in tuition= $2,000 sent to me) + $2,000 in scholarships =$4,000 that I paid to the school.</p>

<p>I called my loan provider and they said to check back in 30 days, which is what I am planning to do. They said I will not be responsible for the intrestest if everything goes through like it should.</p>

9

<p>What does the financial aid office say now? Have they returned the $4000 to the loan provider?</p>

10

<p>They said my loan was canceled but the loan is still showing up from my loan provider. I am hoping to get off from my internship before 5 so I can call them tomorrow and speak to a real person. I have e-mail documentation that they canceled my loan as well as a record that I paid them back the $4,000. </p>

<p>What I was initially asking upon starting this thread was what would my options be if in 30 days the loan is still showing up from my loan provider. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself but who would I report them to? Could I take them to court? What exactly are my rights, or would I be screwed and have to pay the loan again? That just seems wrong if I would have to pay it twice.</p>

11

<p>You are getting ahead of yourself. The process works slowly. If your school has canceled the loan, you will see the loan removed from your financial aid in your student portal. It can absolutely take time for the process to work its way to your loan servicer and NSLDS. It will NOT be ready yet, so just sit tight. Do not worry about reporting anyone or taking anyone to court. In the rare case things remain screwed up, you can deal with it later. I once helped a student with a loan cancellation issue that took 13 months to fix … but the issue was resolved & all interest was removed from the account (the problem was a rare glitch between the government processor and NSLDS - the loan was canceled by the school, removed from the government system … and never canceled out in the NSLDS system, which also means it wasn’t canceled at the loan servicer level, either).</p>

12

<p>You have proof of all the transactions. The school needs to return the $$ to the loan provider. It’s not like the school is going to say “hey, we can just keep it - too bad for you”. Just give it time to work itself out. As long as no one is hassling you for payments, you should just sit tight and keep records of anything that transpires.</p>

13

<p>Okay, good, your advice has been helpful. Now I can get back to important things (studying and job searching) without be as worried about my loan. I will check in on it in a month.</p>