Angry at Sallie Mae again

On January 13, Sallie Mae adjusted the way my student loan payments for 2010 were applied. Before, they had been applied (at my request) only to the unsubsidized portion of my consolidation loan, which is in my interest (the federal government subsidizes the interest on the subsidized portion; I have to pay the interest on the unsubsidized part, so I want to pay that sooner rather than later).

It makes sense, but it was an unpleasant surprise -- if they are going to make a change, they should at least tell me and explain why. So I wrote them this message:

*****

I'm angry. Sallie Mae, in the FAQs, states that "Generally, payments are applied first to fees (if applicable for your loan type), then to accrued interest, and then to the principal balance."

Here's one BIG exception that is not stated. As [person] stated in an email regarding the issue, "Smart Consolidated loans with the same disbursement date must be serviced as one loan. All statuses including deferments and forbearances, as well as due dates must be the same on both loans; payments must be applied to both loans."

I made a payment on December 31, 2010 to pay off the interest on my loan, which is tax-deductible. I asked that it be applied solely to interest, which it was. On January 13, however, that payment was reapplied so that roughtly half of the payment was applied to principal on the subsidized portion of the loan, in accordance to the second policy.

Before January 13, 2011, Sallie Mae had no issue with applying my payments to interest only. Clearly, there has been an unannounced policy change.

I believe Sallie Mae owes it to its customers to notify them of changes and new exceptions to policy. Without such notifications, customers become irritated by ex post facto surprises.

At the very least, customers are due an apology and an explanation when their reasonable expectations are not met. The last thing we want to hear is a defensive justification when we bring up matter.

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OK, so maybe I should have said "Hello" first, but this isn't a new issue with them -- they've done extensive reapplications of my payments before without my consent or information. Thumbs down, Sallie Mae. :-(