Sallie Mae provides private student loans. Federal loans formerly managed by Sallie Mae were moved to other servicers.
Private student loans are available to undergraduate and graduate students from financial institutions like Sallie Mae®. They're designed to fill the funding gap when savings, scholarships, and federal student aid aren't enough.
Sallie Mae offers different types of student loans and the eligibility requirements differ for each loan: Private student loans are credit-based, which means the lender will check your credit rating and other info.
Those who borrowed from Sallie Mae after this 2014 split have private student loans, which aren't eligible for federal forgiveness programs. However, Sallie Mae will discharge debts for borrowers who die or become totally and permanently disabled.
After a referral from the CFPB, in 2014, the Department of Justice and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ordered Navient and its predecessor, Sallie Mae, to pay almost $100 million for illegally overcharging nearly 78,000 servicemembers.
Any borrower with ED-held loans that have accumulated time in repayment of at least 20 or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if the loans are not currently on an IDR plan. Borrowers with FFELP loans held by commercial lenders or Perkins loans not held by ED can benefit if they consolidate into Direct Loans.
The money is disbursed (sent) to your school
This can reduce the amount of interest that you'll have. After your school gets the funds, they'll take what they need for tuition and room/board. The remaining funds may be sent to you or handled some other way by the school—check with your school about its policy.
You may deduct the lesser of $2,500 or the amount of interest you actually paid during the year. The deduction is gradually reduced and eventually eliminated by phaseout when your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) amount reaches the annual limit for your filing status.
It's important to understand that qualified education loans, as defined in Section 221(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, aren't dischargeable through bankruptcy absent a showing of undue hardship.
After you've signed your loan
Your school will certify your loan (verify that you're attending the school and the money you are borrowing doesn't exceed the cost of attendance). Once all requirements are met, the lender will disburse (send) the funds directly to your school.
The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program is a federal student loan program under which eligible students and parents borrow directly from the U.S. Department of Education at participating schools.
Thus, if you ever had a Sallie Mae loan or had Sallie Mae conduct loan servicing, that loan and servicing, likely, was transferred to Navient. Further, Navient then changed its name in 2021 to Aidvantage. See here.
Typically, prequalifying for a student loan includes a soft credit check, which does not affect your credit score. Thus, if you apply for a loan with Sallie Mae, a hard credit check will be done, which could temporarily hurt your credit score.
The average credit score for approved Sallie Mae borrowers is around 748 for undergraduate student loans. That's pretty high – but don't panic if your credit score is much lower than that. You'll need a minimum credit score (or have a cosigner with a minimum credit score) that is somewhere in the mid-600s.
If your loan becomes past due while enrolled in this option, we'll withdraw both the Current Amount Due and the Past Due Amount if that amount is greater than your Designated Amount. There's no penalty for paying early or paying extra.
Your linked account is your bank account with another external financial institution that you "link" to your Sallie Mae account. This link lets you transfer funds electronically, saving you time and money. When you open an account, we'll make two micro-deposits (small deposits) into your external account.
This scholarship has been verified by the scholarship providing organization.
Sallie Mae is best known as a student loan servicer, but it also has other financial services including credit cards and savings accounts. Deposit products are offered through Sallie Mae Bank, Member FDIC, meaning all accounts are FDIC-insured.
After at least 20 years of student loan payments under an income-driven repayment plan — IDR forgiveness and 20-year student loan forgiveness. After 25 years if you borrowed loans for graduate school — 25-year federal loan forgiveness.
If you work full time for a government or nonprofit organization, you may qualify for forgiveness of the entire remaining balance of your Direct Loans after you've made 120 qualifying payments—i.e., at least 10 years of payments. To benefit from PSLF, you need to repay your federal student loans under an IDR plan.