SallieMae's AWFUL customer service

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legenduni

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On Aug 5th, I tried to payoff my loan online. Aug 6th, it showed that the payment was reversed. Since their website did not show any detail, I had to call. I called in, an Indian agent picked up. He said my bank account info was incorrect, and if I want to pay it off with my bank account, not credit card, I would have to use their online service. So I went online again and tried to make my full payment online again. It took about 4 days to update my loan status. After 4 days, it showed "reverse" again. It failed again!!! I had to call AGAIN. This time, an INDIAN (no offend to Indians) lady picked up the phone. She said the same thing as last guy did, the info was not correct, and I would have to pay online if I'm transferring fund from my bank account, and will take 2~4 business days to update the status. I was very annoyed by their poor online service. So I asked her if I could just do a wire transfer to pay off my loan. She took about 10 minutes and said yes. And took another 20 minutes giving me the wire transfer info I needed. She said if I did wire transfer, my loan status would change the next day by noon. I did the wire transfer that day and hoping to see my loan "closed" the next day. However, it was not cleared the next day. I had to call in ONCE MORE.
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This time an INDIAN male agent picked up the phone. He said it would still require 2~4 days to update my status after receiving my fund.

The whole process took me more than 1 week! I am still waiting on my loan to close at this moment! I'm convinced that their call center is either located in INDIA OR they only hire Indians (again, no offense). All their call agents have real strong India accent which was REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to understand. And none of them have any knowledge of any sort. Every question I asked, they would take up to 5 minutes to look for their answer. When they actually gave me the answer, it was nothing close to what I asked. They have horrible service both online and call. I'm frustrated but I can't do anything since calling them is just wasting my time. They've already waste my money by delaying my payment.
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I've always received domestic assistance when calling their 800 number. I had one incident with SM where they miscategorized a loan as a forbearance instead of a deferment. That cost me my borrow benefits. They were super nice about it. As soon as I fax'd them something showing I was a resident during that time, they reclassified it as a deferment and reinstated my borrower benefits.

I can't complain. 2.875% interest, 0.25% reduction with direct debit, 1% cash back after 36 months of on-time payments, and a reduction of another 1% after 48 months of on-time payments. Four years into repayment and I will be at 1.625% APR. Not bad.
 
Do me a favor, don't run around flaunting that interest rate por favor.
 
all student loans taken out around that time (federal, not private) have that phenomenal interest rate--that was the market in the early 2000s. sallie mae has taken advantage of borrowers for years and profited royally. their customer service is abysmal, i also had them screw up something that cost me borrow benefits, and that was 2 years ago. i still don't think i'll get all the benefits back. i would recommend them to NO ONE
 
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