Hello, earlier this year, I lost my job and was unable to pay my student loan bills. I called Sallie Mae and explained the situation. They advised that I apply for a forbearance which I did, I paid the forbearance free and I asked for a four month Forbearance to give my self enough time to find another job. They gave me the forbearance for one month and didn't send me any notification of this. Suddenly I receive an email from them saying that my account is past due. I called them at which time, I found out my forbearance was only granted for one month. They offered to let me file for another forbearance but this time, since my account was past due, they wanted me to pay the forbearance fee plus a good faith payment because my account was past due (which was there fault) that total came to over $500 just for me to get a forbearance and I couldn' pay it being unemployed. I told the operator on the phone that I couldn't pay that amount. She asked "Well what can you pay?". I told her for the time being that I might could pay $150 no more as I was unemployeed. She said fine to pay that. I told her my situation and told her that the most I wouldn't be able to pay more than $150 a month until I found a job and may not be able to pay that much. She told me that she would make note on my account and for me to just pay what ever I could.

So for the past several months, I have been sending them $150. I have taken a job out of my degree and with a serious pay cut but it is money still, $150 is all I can afford a month. They have been sending me threatening emails ever since that day and they even call my mother looking for me even though she is not a co-signer.

My loan is not in default yet, but they keep sending me threating letters and emails. And, they keep taking my $150, they have never once not taken it. So my question is, Can my loan go into default if I am reguarly paying the company something? I no longer live in America and all I have is a mobile phone which costs around $7 a minute with the conversion for me to call Sallie Mae and last time I called, I was waiting for an operator for over 25 minutes and was on the phone with them for another 20. It is getting very expensive just to call them and they act like they knew nothing about what that custormer service rep told me and say that they never made agreement to accept what ever I can pay. What should I do? Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear of your frustrations with SLMA.

Unfortunately you did not get a copy of the approved $150 in writing, which would have been ideal, but that is neither here nor there now. Are your student loans federal, private, or a combination of each?

My student loans are a combination. I have loans with three different companies. One federal loan with Direct Loans which is in deferment. I also have a private loan with American Education services which is only $30 a month so it is not a big deal.

With Sallie Mae, I have a private and federal loan. My federal loan with Sallie Mae is in deferment so I am only having problems with my private loan. The thing is, I can't believe with all the complaning they are doing that they haven't put my account into default yet if they could. Being that I don't live in America anymore, I don't think there is too much they could do to me that would affect me if my loan didn't go into default but I am not that kind of person. I want to honor my debts which is why i pay them something every month. They are just making it so hard. If they are not accepting lower amounts, then they should not let me pay lower amounts, when they get a check they shouldn't cash it.

Thanks for your help.