Your Emails: Sallie Mae / Loan Forgivness

My husband and I are both teachers in the state of Oklahoma . We met in college and both had student loans. My husband had much more debt than I. He had Perkins and Stafford Loans. Upon our marriage and subsequent graduation from college we began teaching. We started to have to pay off two loans to Sallie Mae, which we couldn’t afford. Then they offered us the chance to consolidate our loans, which we gladly accepted. We have both taught in high poverty schools now for over ten years. My husband was told that his Perkins loans (app. $10,000) would be forgiven in certain percentages for each year taught. So about a year ago, after having taught for a long time we decided it was time to take the state up on their forgiveness of the Perkins Loan. We contacted Sallie Mae which told us to fill out a form, we did and said we were not eligible. One year later, hours and hours of phone calls, and several trips and phone calls with our state dept. of education- still no forgiveness.

This is what they are saying- The state of Oklahoma is willing to pay for the loan, they say will meet all qualifications. Sallie Mae says they will not accept the payment because we don’t qualify. This is their reasoning. They said that when we consolidated our loans, our individual loans ceased to exist, and that is why our claim isn’t valid. I asked them to show me in our paperwork where there was a statement to that effect-none has been provided. If the people giving the money are willing to pay, what is the problem? Their greed, poor communication, and lack of common sense is amazing.

I am at my wits end about what to do. The injustice of it all makes me sick. I am going to fight this, all the while, dutifully paying my monthly payments! Any help you can provide or attention to this problem would be greatly appreciated.