The following are testimonials submitted to this site. To tell your story, please go here.

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Tina

This is my story and I sincerely hope that someone will read it. My name is Tina Lutz and I am a 45-year-old Caucasian woman living in Tupelo Mississippi. I have two children ages 14 and 16. I have been divorced for 10 years and have been rearing my children alone.

I graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1985. During my college career I incurred $6000 in student loan debt. $1000 was incurred from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado and $5000 from the University of Southern Mississippi. Due to my financial situation over the years I could not be as diligent in the repayment of my student loans as I should have been. I have consolidated and defaulted my loans more than once over the years. It has always been my intention to pay off my loans but times have been lean over the years. I have had several IRS offsets that have been applied to the interest of my student loans.

In January of 2002 I was in a repayment program with the Aman Collection Agency, an instrument of the Department of Education. Aman set up a direct payment program for $100 per month that was drafted from my checking account. After 7 months of my repayment program, Aman was to send Sallie Mae paper work for me to sign to further my repayment program. I was consolidating my original three loans plus penalties, interest and collection fees that totaled approximately $14,000. Mysteriously a fourth loan appeared at Aman in almost the same amount of my consolidation. Upon receipt of this fourth alleged loan Aman abruptly stopped my consolidation program citing that I owed approximately $28,000 in total and they could not continue with my consolidation program until all of the loans were added together. This was in August of 2002. At that time I tried to explain that I believed a mistake had been made and the fourth loan was really the first three loans consolidated into one amount. At one point the note grew to approximately $33,000 and the DOE had a garnishment order imposed at that time. I couldn’t get anywhere with Aman nor the Department of Education. These two organizations insisted they were right and I was wrong. At that point a local attorney started communicating with Aman and the Department of Education. This attorney has not charged me to date because he has understood that I didn’t have the money to pursue this issue. Two years later and many threats of garnishment and almost a ream of documentation the Department of Education has now determined that I owe the $14,000 that I originally agreed to pay in January of 2002. However, to add insult to injury I am now being charged a $3600 commission fee owed to Aman for collection cost in regards to this situation. I feel that this whole situation is criminal and I have no recourse because the Federal Government is right and I have been wrong this whole time. I am very frustrated by the way I have been treated and I am appalled that I have to pay an extra $3600 because of their mistake. I do have the option to take this to Federal Court at my expense and of course the interest is still clicking away on these loans at my expense.

In my defense I was attempting to repay this debt in 2002. I recognize that I did not responsibly address the issues of my student loans in the past, but I still cannot get beyond the fact that I think that the way I have been treated is criminal. If I were to do the same things that the Aman Collection Agency and the Department of Education have done to me I do believe that I would be criminally charged. My credit has been ruined for years because of this situation.

I can’t help but wonder how many other women are in the same shoes that I am in. I have been fortunate to have the support of a local attorney to assist me in this matter but how many other women have not been so fortunate? If the local attorney hadn’t taken pity on me I am sure that I would be in a forced repayment program, garnishment, exceeding $33,000.

I understand that this is a confusing situation but I do have documentation to support all of my claims. I would somehow like to get my story told because I feel like I have been threatened, badgered and unjustly treated in this situation. I have been in contact with the Aman Collection Agency in attempt to negotiate some reasonable solution to this issue. However, neither Aman nor the Department of Education have been receptive. I had until Feb. 6, 2005 to raise $14,500 or else the garnishment order was to go into effect. I offered to pay the loan in the same manner that was agreed upon in January of 2002. I also asked that the duplicated note be taken off my credit report to which the reply was “it will take at least 3 months if it will happen at all”. I also requested that after 6 months of payment without any late payments or missed payment that the original note be taken out of collection on my credit report. All of this fell on deaf ears and blind eyes (my attorney made these requests in writing). Aman wants their $3600 regardless of what the situation has been.

Needless to say, I have been a nervous wreck for 3 years and even considered quitting my job to drop under the radar. That is not an option as I am rearing two teens by myself.

I would love for you to see the responses for my request of a hearing in person. I made that request twice and was denied. I have filled out the hardship paperwork 2 or 3 times at this point. My expenses were computed against the national averages except in the case that I exceeded the national averages. In that case my bill totals were lowered to the national averages. The math used to compute all of this is a mystery to me.

If my story is of interest to you please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I truly believe that someone needs to expose the DOE and their contracted collection agencies to their practices.

 

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Murphy

In 1988, I was formally classified as disabled by the US Department of Social Security Disability.  I could no longer continue to perform my job as an iron worker in the New Orleans area.  I acquired unemployment disability, section 8 housing, Vocational Rehabilitation assistance, and food stamps in joining the rolls of disabled Americans at the age of 38 years old.  I had a disabling knee injury from childhood (bone eating disease)that grew progressively worse with age.

I decided to try to educate myself off of disability and into a viable tax paying citizen.  I had a wife and twin 6 year old children to support. So I began investigating colleges in my area.

Initially, I attempted to enroll in Tulane University because it was the only university in my area that offered Chemical Engineering curriculum.  However, Tulane informed my that I could not attend their school because I did not have a "track record" (GPA, ACT score, etc), since I had been out of high school for 19 years.  They informed me that I would have to go to another school to establish a track record. 

So, I enrolled at Delgado Community College in New Orleans. I attended for three years and graduated with two degrees, Electronics Servicing and General Science.  I also graduated Magna Cum Laude. The problem was that i could not find a job in either degree. 

Then, the Dean of Tulane University engineering school sent me an invitation to attend the engineering school.  I met with the man and he offered me a 4 year "need Based" scholarship.  I explained that I had two children, but he insisted that the only way I could have the scholarship is if I attended school full time.  So, I accepted, knowing that I would be forced to make more school loans to feed my family.  For the next four years, 1991-1995 I attended Tulane Engineering school on scholarship, while I received Sallie Mae school loans to help support my family while we received food stamps and lived in section 8 housing.  In 1995 I graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering.

I consolidated my school loans and the total came to $40,000.  In March of 1996 I went to work for International Paper Company located in Camden, Arkansas.  I began repaying my school loan to Sallie Mae at about $363 monthly.  I successfully achieved my goal of educating myself off of unemployment disability.  Please note that I attended both Delgado College and Tulane University with foreign students.  Many of these foreign students were from countries like Pakistan, India, Lebonon, etc.  Many of these students were receiving the Federal Pell Grant and free tuition to attend American colleges.  These foreign students did not have student loans to repay for their education and many of them don't contribute anything to the American tax base after graduation.

I worked for International Paper (IP) for three years.  After a year of payments to Sallie Mae, I received a statement from Sallie Mae detailing the amount of my monthly payments which were applied to principal and interest.  I noticed that the numbers did not make sense.  On several months, no amount was attributed to principal at all.  I telephoned Sallie Mae and inquired about this discovery on several occassions.  No one was able to explain where my money was going or why nothing was applied to principal on some months.  On a few of the telephone inquiries, a Sallie Mae supervisor was put on the phone with me and each supervisor I spoke to said that they did not know the reasons at that time, but that they would find out why and call me back.  They never did.  Finally, I called and demanded an explanation and notified the SM representative that I would discontinue further payments until someone explained to me where my payments were going and why my principal was not going down. 

I took the detailed SM statement to a CPA and asked if they could explain the method of interest and principal application.  The CPA never understood the financing method, just as the Sallie Mae supervisors did not understand the principal applications either.  No one could or would explain to me where my payment money was going.

In 1999, International Paper company at Camden, Arkansas was doing poorly as a profitable business and the plant manager explained to me the company would probably shut down the plant or sell it.  Camden, Arkansas is a small town of 10,000 people with the IP mill as the only industry and main support of the town.  I began looking for another job immediately.  I also put my house for sale immediately.  I found new employment with Boise Cascade located in DeRidder, Louisiana and put my house in Camden up for sale.  Shortly after we moved to DeRidder, IP shut down the mill in Camden.  Hundreds of homes flooded the market for sale with no industry to support any potential buyers.  I continued paying those house notes in Camden until January, 2001 while I also continued trying to sell it to no avail.  Finally, I was forced into bankruptcy, Chapter 7 to relieve the debts from the home back in Camden and the credit cards.  However, though I claimed bankruptcy against Sallie Mae als!
 o, this school loan was not forgiven.

By-the-way, I also went bankrupt against the collection agency which Sallie Mae also owns.  Sallie Mae simply switched the loan to another one of their collection agencies which was not named in my bankruptcy and after the bankruptcy was complete, continued their collection efforts in spite of the Federal Bankruptcy Court under another collection agency name. In July of 2001 I took another job at Wellman, Inc located in Bay St LOUIS, Mississippi.

Now my credit is destroyed, we lost our home in Camden through the bankruptcy, and Sallie Mae was destroying any further rebuilding of credit through the credit  bureaus and continues to do so today.  After the bankruptcy, i contacted the Sallie Mae ombudsman and tried to work out our differences.  I paid the minimum of $200 per month for one year to take my Sallie Mae loans out of default status. Sallie Mae charged me an additional 18% collection fee costs plus interest and now I owe more than $78,000 and climbing.  Meanwhile, my twins are 24 years old, grown and married and moved away and my wife and I still do not have a home to live in.

There is more...Sallie Mae is claiming my loan before the bankruptcy as a separate loan in which I went bankcupt against to the crdit bureaus. (even though you can't go bankrupt against the Sallie Mae school loan) Sallie Mae is actually stating on the credit report that this loan was included in the bankruptcy.  Then, Sallie Mae is claiming this same loan as an additional loan which is currently in deferrment also on the same credit report with the current outstanding balance or $78,000 and the original amou nt of $40,000.  Consequently, I cannot get loan approval to purchase a home either way and Sallie Mae is tightening the noose.

The US Government should reward me for getting off of welfare as a tax burden to the American public and for becoming a major tax contributor as a Chemical Engineer.  Instead I am continually punished for my efforts and accomplishments.  And i have a little misfortune.

Now, Hurricane Katrina has hit Bay St Louis directly...destroyed the house I was renting (because i can't qualify to purchase) and destroyed all of our furnishings and possessions.  My wife and I ran to a hotel located in Pennsacola, Florida to escape the wrath of Katrina and ride out the storm.  After the storm passed, we went back to Bay St Louis, Mississippi and found that we had no place to live.  We couldn't even find a palce to rent because the Power companies and SBA and FEMA etc had rented all of the hotels withing 100 miles of the Mississippi coast through the end of 2005 and into 2006.  Consequently, we were stuck in that little hotel room located in Pennsacola with no place else to go.  No computer, no fridge, no microwave, no privacy... you get the picture.

FEMA continually promised to deliver to us a trailer in "two WEEKS".  This "TWO weeks" promise began September 5, 2005 and continued every two weeks. The only problem is that the company i worked for thought I was lying to them when I kept telling them that I would be back at work in "two Weeks".  I could not fulfill it because FEMA did not fulfill the promises.  Wellman, Inc. terminated my employment on October 6, 2005.


Finally, on March 22, 2006 FEMA gave us the keys to a trailer located in Pass Christian, Mississippi.  Now my wife and i are stuck in a FEMA trailer located on the Mississippi coast in a devestated area and town known as Pass Christian, MS.  I am on the net constantly job searching and interviewing.  I'm certain something will turn up soon.  I contacted Sallie Mae and acquired another deferrment until June 30, 2006. 

This is my experience with Sallie Mae.  If my experience would contribute to getting the US government to put a muzzle on this monster of a corporation, then I will happily contribute.