Grads Fight Sallie Mae?s 'Unemployment Penalty? on Student Loans

WASHINGTON, DC (PRWEB) January 26, 2012

More than 50,000 people in all 50 states have joined a popular campaign on Change.org calling on Sallie Mae to stop charging jobless borrowers a $ 50 fee for forbearance on their student loans. Borrowers who can?t pay the extra fee are put into default.

Stef Gray, a recent graduate of a public college who took out private student loans through Sallie Mae, is leading the campaign on Change.org after being hit with the fee when she asked for a forbearance.

?What Sallie Mae is doing is wrong,? said Gray, who launched the campaign on Change.org. ?My loan already grows by more than $ 1,000 in interest every three months when it?s in forbearance, and I pay almost 10% in interest because my parents weren?t alive to cosign my loans.?

?For Sallie Mae to tack on these extra fees just to pad their profits is to kick people like me when we?re already down,? Gray continued. ?Charging a forbearance fee is wrong, and more than 50,000 people who agree are standing with me.?

News of the online petition campaign?s success is likely to increase pressure on Sallie Mae, which is actively trying to build its private student loan business. Gray plans to organize more actions against Sallie Mae, including a social media campaign.

?What Stef has accomplished in just a few weeks is remarkable,? said Change.org Senior Organizer William Winters. ?She?s obviously tapped into an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about, especially with student debt rising steadily amid high unemployment among college grads. Change.org is about empowering ordinary people to take action on issues that matter to them, and it?s been incredible watching Stef?s campaign take off.?

Live signature totals from Stef Gray?s campaign:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-sallie-mae-stop-the-unemployment-penalty


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23-Year-Old Grad Challenges Sallie Mae?s Defense of ?Unemployment Penalty? on Student Loans

Washington, DC (PRWEB) January 27, 2012

Student loan giant Sallie Mae defended itself from a popular campaign on Change.org demanding the company stop charging jobless borrowers a $ 50 fee on their student loans, drawing a sharp response from the campaign?s creator Stef Gray. More than 60,000 people have joined the campaign since its launch.

Sallie Mae spokesperson Patricia Christel described the fee as ?a good faith deposit that acknowledges the importance of and commitment to resuming payments in the future.?

?Sallie Mae?s characterization of this onerous fee as a ?good-faith deposit? is simply unbelievable,? said Gray, a recent graduate who took out private student loans through Sallie Mae. ?When I pay a deposit on my apartment, I get my money back at the end of the lease. If this were a ?deposit,? borrowers would either get their fees back at the end of the forbearance or the money would be applied to the loan?s balance. Neither of these is true.?

?Meanwhile, Sallie Mae continues to add interest to the loans ? in my case, more than $ 1,000

every three months I can?t find work,? she continued. ?This fee is about one thing, padding Sallie Mae?s profits, and for them to pretend otherwise is galling.?

Members of the student debt movement quickly rallied around Gray?s response via social media, using Twitter and Facebook to call on Sallie Mae to end the $ 50 fee per loan for a 3-month forbearance period, a fee Gray calls an ?unemployment penalty.?

?We can?t let Sallie Mae get away with this kind of corporate nothing-speak,? Gray said of the social media response. ?The thousands of borrowers standing with me to fight for change want real answers and real change, and we want it now.?

Live signature totals from Stef Gray?s campaign on Change.org:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-sallie-mae-stop-the-unemployment-penalty

Sallie Mae?s response to Stef Gray?s petition:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/unemployed-borrowers-ask-sallie-mae-to-stop-charging-forbearance-fee/39993

For more information on Change.org, please visit:

http://www.change.org/about

Change.org is the world?s fastest-growing platform for social change ? growing by more than 500,000 new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.

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