OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT

Student debtor stories submitted by the 99%

Thieves - Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online In 2007, I was laid off.  I was looking for a class online to teach me Autocad, to enhance my marketability.  No one would offer this course as a stand-alone class.  I ended up enrolling with The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online.  They helped me apply for and get a loan from Sallie Mae.  There was a computer skills class required before they would enroll me in the courses with which I was interested.  The first time I started the course, they were unable to provide me with study materials in time.  I dropped that course and re-enrolled the following quarter.  This time When I contacted the book store to get my materials,  they told me that they would cost $300.  I responded that I was on a student loan program and the materials should be on a voucher that the loan paid for.. Their response was that those materials could not be on a voucher because they were not on the “required materials” list provided to them.  I stated that the preamble for the course when I logged in clearly stated that those materials were required.  They said “too bad”, if it wasn’t on their list, their hands were tied.  I E-mailed the instructor and she verified that those materials were needed to complete the course work.  I E-mailed the Director of Financial Assistance and that person was of no assistance at all.  Basically I had started and failed the class three times.  Since the school has to return the monies for incomplete courses, I had to pay the school for the hours that I did participate in the course.  That totaled approx.  $1650. dollars.  I decided that because the school was so unprofessional, I did not wish to continue with them.. Several months later, Sallie Mae contacted me saying I owed them $3800.  They told me that the school had not returned the money for the classes that I was not going to take.  When I talked to the school, they just gave me the runaround.  They would refer it to accounting and get back to me.  No one ever got back to me, no one would respond to my repeated phone calls and E-mails.  I know I can apply to have the loan forgiven because the school did not provide the services for which the loan was given, however, they still have the Government’s money.  As a taxpayer, I found this appalling.  It finally dawned on me that only option for me was to do all I could to discredit the school and prevent them from being eligible for student loans.  

Thieves - Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online

In 2007, I was laid off.  I was looking for a class online to teach me Autocad, to enhance my marketability.  No one would offer this course as a stand-alone class.  I ended up enrolling with The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online.  They helped me apply for and get a loan from Sallie Mae.  There was a computer skills class required before they would enroll me in the courses with which I was interested.  The first time I started the course, they were unable to provide me with study materials in time.  I dropped that course and re-enrolled the following quarter.  This time When I contacted the book store to get my materials,  they told me that they would cost $300.  I responded that I was on a student loan program and the materials should be on a voucher that the loan paid for.. Their response was that those materials could not be on a voucher because they were not on the “required materials” list provided to them.  I stated that the preamble for the course when I logged in clearly stated that those materials were required.  They said “too bad”, if it wasn’t on their list, their hands were tied.  I E-mailed the instructor and she verified that those materials were needed to complete the course work.  I E-mailed the Director of Financial Assistance and that person was of no assistance at all.  Basically I had started and failed the class three times.  Since the school has to return the monies for incomplete courses, I had to pay the school for the hours that I did participate in the course.  That totaled approx.  $1650. dollars.  I decided that because the school was so unprofessional, I did not wish to continue with them.. Several months later, Sallie Mae contacted me saying I owed them $3800.  They told me that the school had not returned the money for the classes that I was not going to take.  When I talked to the school, they just gave me the runaround.  They would refer it to accounting and get back to me.  No one ever got back to me, no one would respond to my repeated phone calls and E-mails.  I know I can apply to have the loan forgiven because the school did not provide the services for which the loan was given, however, they still have the Government’s money.  As a taxpayer, I found this appalling.  It finally dawned on me that only option for me was to do all I could to discredit the school and prevent them from being eligible for student loans.  

Associates degree from Art Institute cost me $40K. My dad co-signed for me, & I took out $20K my first year & another $20K my 2nd year. Being a 1st generation college student I had no idea to check out other schools b/c of cost or how interest & especially how fast hidden fees would add up. October 2005, just months before my graduation, I remember there being news all over how the federal bankruptcy laws were changing - to no longer include even private student loan debt. I never had any intentions of filing bankruptcy in my life, so I paid all of this no mind In November my father died from cancer on the vocal cords, probably b/c he was stationed on Hawaii’s Johnston Atol 61-62 during the US Military’s nucular tests (Operation Dominic). After my graduation, I was left to pay all my loans off on my own w/o any help from anyone for anything. Summer of 2006, before the hike in interests on student loans, I filled out all the forms my local credit union required to consolidate “ALL” of my student loans, only to be given trouble by Sallie May, saying I didn’t complete 1 form or another. My local credit union was already aware of the big student loan companies pulling these tricks, but was pretty helpful. At 6 months after graduation I was employed, but come to find out Sallie May still owned most of my loan. Originally there were only 2 loans that I was aware of, but guess it’s legal for them to sell off portions of your loans in order to hang onto them. How this is legal??? Between the two companies who now held the largest portions of my multiple loans (not sure, but looks like I now have over 20 student loans according to the major credit bureaus), one of them alone was requiring me to pay them $2K/month. Yes, I had a decent job, but if I even took care of that 1 payment, I couldn’t afford to live, so I immediately started my own research - online & lots of local lawyers. No one seemed to know a whole lot about these issues at that time, but I gathered all I could. From there, in my situation, it looked like it was in my best interest not to have any contact w/any of these companies & instead of paying them what I could, to pay them nothing. These companies have hounded my family & friends for years… calling many of them multiple times a day, 8am - 8pm, some how even getting their cell phone numbers, threatening my friends & family for having any knowledge of my where abouts, even lying by misrepresenting themselves as possible friends & even job offers requesting info about me. Also, in 2006 I have found out Sallie May has been reporting my social security number as deceased to all the major credit bureaus. I have checked w/& worked w/my local city, county, & state governments, the Federal Social Security office, the Federal Trade Commission & the Federal Bureau of Consumer Protection. I have disputed this w/all the 3 major credit bureaus, had it reversed a total of 3 times gathering & submitting all the required paper work, only to have it once again, reversed by Sallie May. I cannot open a new bank account. I cannot apply for any new credit cards. I can apply for any type of auto loan, but in house w/SUPER high interest. I cannot get a cell phone in my name, unless it’s prepaid. I cannot just apply for ANY apartment or home loan. I have to hope, pray & beg landlords to work w/me & my situation, almost always paying them more cash up front just to get the place. After just 1 year after my graduation, I know I was to have owed around $124K. I collect but do not open any mail from student loan companies & haven’t for years… so this figure is way off Each year, I spend months, at another attempt at having my “deceased” status reversed, but each year it is always reversed again. Thanks to Sallie May. Let the laws be w/you.

Associates degree from Art Institute cost me $40K. My dad co-signed for me, & I took out $20K my first year & another $20K my 2nd year. Being a 1st generation college student I had no idea to check out other schools b/c of cost or how interest & especially how fast hidden fees would add up.

October 2005, just months before my graduation, I remember there being news all over how the federal bankruptcy laws were changing - to no longer include even private student loan debt. I never had any intentions of filing bankruptcy in my life, so I paid all of this no mind

In November my father died from cancer on the vocal cords, probably b/c he was stationed on Hawaii’s Johnston Atol 61-62 during the US Military’s nucular tests (Operation Dominic). After my graduation, I was left to pay all my loans off on my own w/o any help from anyone for anything.

Summer of 2006, before the hike in interests on student loans, I filled out all the forms my local credit union required to consolidate “ALL” of my student loans, only to be given trouble by Sallie May, saying I didn’t complete 1 form or another. My local credit union was already aware of the big student loan companies pulling these tricks, but was pretty helpful.

At 6 months after graduation I was employed, but come to find out Sallie May still owned most of my loan. Originally there were only 2 loans that I was aware of, but guess it’s legal for them to sell off portions of your loans in order to hang onto them. How this is legal???

Between the two companies who now held the largest portions of my multiple loans (not sure, but looks like I now have over 20 student loans according to the major credit bureaus), one of them alone was requiring me to pay them $2K/month. Yes, I had a decent job, but if I even took care of that 1 payment, I couldn’t afford to live, so I immediately started my own research - online & lots of local lawyers. No one seemed to know a whole lot about these issues at that time, but I gathered all I could. From there, in my situation, it looked like it was in my best interest not to have any contact w/any of these companies & instead of paying them what I could, to pay them nothing.

These companies have hounded my family & friends for years… calling many of them multiple times a day, 8am - 8pm, some how even getting their cell phone numbers, threatening my friends & family for having any knowledge of my where abouts, even lying by misrepresenting themselves as possible friends & even job offers requesting info about me.

Also, in 2006 I have found out Sallie May has been reporting my social security number as deceased to all the major credit bureaus. I have checked w/& worked w/my local city, county, & state governments, the Federal Social Security office, the Federal Trade Commission & the Federal Bureau of Consumer Protection.

I have disputed this w/all the 3 major credit bureaus, had it reversed a total of 3 times gathering & submitting all the required paper work, only to have it once again, reversed by Sallie May.

I cannot open a new bank account. I cannot apply for any new credit cards. I can apply for any type of auto loan, but in house w/SUPER high interest. I cannot get a cell phone in my name, unless it’s prepaid. I cannot just apply for ANY apartment or home loan. I have to hope, pray & beg landlords to work w/me & my situation, almost always paying them more cash up front just to get the place.

After just 1 year after my graduation, I know I was to have owed around $124K. I collect but do not open any mail from student loan companies & haven’t for years… so this figure is way off

Each year, I spend months, at another attempt at having my “deceased” status reversed, but each year it is always reversed again. Thanks to Sallie May. Let the laws be w/you.