I applied for the loan a month and a half ago, my school sent them the information they needed, the student loan is set for dispursement on October 21. (This comes into play later)
I go onto my account, my other loans were consolidated (I didn't intend on returning to school when I did) and are due on November 25th.
I call to get this cleared up.
I call, finally get to a representative and get one who barely speaks english (quite literally, but speaks fluent spanish, which I partially understand).
"Hi, my name is blah blah blah, what can I do for you"
"Yes, I have a new loan on my account, but my old loans aren't back in deferment, I just need to get that fixed so I dont have a loan payment due on the 25th of November"
"Yes, I'm showing your next payment is due on the 25th of November."
".... Yes, now I need to get those loans back in deferment"
"Are you back in school?"
"Yes, I have a new loan set for dispursement on the 21st of October to go to _
__ University"
"Okay, ma'am, what school are you attending?"
"_____ University"
"Spell it please"
"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ based in Clinton Iowa"
"Okay, so _____ University. Where is the school located"
".... Clinton, Iowa"
"Okay, I am showing that its set to dispurse on the 21st of October, how may I help you"
"..... Umm, my old loans need to be back in deferment"
"Okay, we need you to send us as enrollment form that verifies your enrollment in ____ University"
".....Why? You have verification already from the school since you are sending a loan to them in less than a month"
"We need you to send us an enrollment form.."
"Why?"
(This a like conversation pursued for about 2 minutes until I lost my wits)
Me: "Okay, I've been a customer for 2 years, I'm running on my third year. I know how the loans work. But I sent for the loan FROM my account on Sallie Mae's website a month and a half ago. My school has verified that Everything on the account is correct. So there should be no reason what-so-ever for me to need to send a enrollment verification form if you have verification from my school already that I'm in school there!"
"We need an account verification form"
"Why?!"
"To verify that you are at least part time student"
"Okay, do you see my new loan?"
"Yes"
"How much is it for?"
"_____"
"Okay, do you generally give that much money to someone that isn't an at least part time student?"
"..... Hold on one moment ma'am"
He continues to talk in the background in spanish to someone else. Like I said, I speak partial spanish, and heard the words "Crazy lady on phone" at least twice. About this time I spoke up
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"Yes ma'am, hold on."
"No, I want to speak to your supervisor please. I need to get this figured out and you are not helping me"
I wait, supervisor ___ comes to the phone
"Okay ma'am, I just explained to ___ that he could put your loans in deferment since you do have verification that you are in school"
"So my loans are in deferment?"
"Yes"
"Okay, good, that's all I needed"
"Okay, just a reminder, your next payment is due on November 25th, 2007"
".....What?"
"Your next payment...."
"YOu just said my loans were in deferment!"
"Oh!!! I'm so sorry, yes, your right. They are"
"O_o Okay, thanks, and your name was ____ correct?"
"Yes..."
"Good, and next time, make sure your employees don't talk in another language without putting the customer in hold. I took a few years of spanish and heard, quite legibly "Crazy woman on the phone" come out of his mouth a few times. Just a forwarning"
So yeah, I was.....annoyed to say the least. I even asked if they made it a habit to send money to schools that didn't verify that I was a full-time student there... If it was completely nescessary, I would have sent in the verification form (Like if my new loan was depending on it). But yeah. Common sense says that if I'm enrolled in this university that you are sending a loan out to as of the 21st of October, I'm ENROLLED there! Oy.