Sallie Mae private loans are generally not eligible for federal forgiveness programs (like PSLF or IDR), but they can be discharged in cases of the borrower's death or total and permanent disability, and sometimes through loan settlement if in default. Your main options for managing private loans are through repayment plans, refinancing, or seeking employer assistance.
Since Sallie Mae are private loans your only recourse is to talk to them about what options you have. You may want to ask about any options to lower the interest, lowering the payment, or extending the terms.
Once your student loan is in default, the entire Current Balance becomes due, not just the missed monthly payments. Your default may be reported to the consumer reporting agencies, where it can stay on your credit report for up to seven years.
If a student dies or becomes permanently and totally disabled and unable to work in any capacity, their Sallie Mae student loan may be eligible to have the remaining balance waived. To discuss your situation and find out how we can help, please chat with us online or call us at 800-472-5543.
If you don't pay Sallie Mae, you'll face late fees, significant damage to your credit score, and potential escalation to collections, potentially leading to wage garnishment and lawsuits, especially for private loans where consequences can happen faster and without federal protections. For federal loans, the government can intercept tax refunds and Social Security benefits, and you lose future aid eligibility, though programs like Fresh Start exist for rehabilitation. For private loans, Sallie Mae can pursue aggressive collection, even suing you for the full amount, and your cosigner shares the full responsibility.
The "7-year rule" for student loans generally refers to when negative marks, like defaults, are removed from your credit report (around 7 years after the first missed payment or default date for federal loans, 7.5 years for private loans), but the debt itself doesn't disappear and must be paid off; it's also a benchmark in bankruptcy proceedings where federal loans can become dischargeable after 7 years from when payments were due, though proving "undue hardship" is required and difficult.
No. Sallie Mae must sue in state court and win a judgment before wage garnishment is allowed. Default alone is not enough. That depends on your state's statute of limitations for debt collection.
Refinancing Sallie Mae loans is possible, but you'll have to go through a different private lender. Sallie Mae stopped offering student loan refinancing in 2008. Most private lenders, such as SoFi, Earnest, and ELFI, allow you to refinance Sallie Mae loans.
Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge
This can be a physical or a mental disability. If you get a TPD discharge, you don't have to repay any of your federal student loan(s) or complete your Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant service obligation.
Sallie Mae won't lower your payment automatically, but you can request short-term relief like interest-only payments or forbearance. If they say no—or it's not enough—you still have options like refinancing, settlement, or even bankruptcy in some cases.
Since private student loans are held by a private bank or lender, you can't refinance private student loans to federal loans. The reverse, however, is possible. You can refinance private and federal student loans into a new private student loan with a new, ideally lower, interest rate.
Yes, student loan forgiveness continued in 2025 through existing programs like PSLF and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans, but major changes occurred, with the SAVE plan facing a proposed end (pending court approval) and tax-free forgiveness ending December 31, 2025, meaning new discharges after that date could be taxable, creating uncertainty and urging borrowers to check their status on StudentAid.gov.
If you don't pay Sallie Mae, you'll face late fees, significant damage to your credit score, and potential escalation to collections, potentially leading to wage garnishment and lawsuits, especially for private loans where consequences can happen faster and without federal protections. For federal loans, the government can intercept tax refunds and Social Security benefits, and you lose future aid eligibility, though programs like Fresh Start exist for rehabilitation. For private loans, Sallie Mae can pursue aggressive collection, even suing you for the full amount, and your cosigner shares the full responsibility.
50% of your budget goes to necessities: rent, utilities, transportation, insurance, groceries, etc. 30% goes to wants: dining out, shopping, gym membership, entertainment, etc. 20% goes towards savings and debt repayment: student loans, auto loans, credit cards, emergency savings, etc.
Here's a quick look at the best ways to get rid of Sallie Mae loans:
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.
Federal student loans can be wiped out after 20 or 25 years under Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans, while Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) offers forgiveness after 10 years for public service workers, but there's no set age for all loans to disappear, with some private loans having statute of limitations for collections but not erasing the debt itself. Forgiveness under IDR happens at the end of the repayment term, not automatically after a certain age, though the U.S. Department of Education is working on one-time forgiveness for long-term borrowers.
Cancellation & Forgiveness Options
President Biden's SAVE Plan is ending
The U.S. Department of Education announced in early December that it had reached a proposed settlement agreement to end the popular, yet controversial Biden-era student loan repayment plan known as SAVE.