Frustrated with Sallie Mae

[Ghoshida]

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@sunkissed wrote:

[Officially frustrated]

So I will admit, I sipped the Kool-Aid.  I had never heard of the Sallie Mae Rewards Mastercard until I started hanging around MyFico.  But I didn’t jump on the bandwagon right away.  For starters, I would not have been approved had I applied when I first got here.  Also for all the hype given to Ms. Sallie Mae, there was probably just as much fear and loathing on the forums about dealing with Barclays.  However, after getting my credit back on the road to recovery, then seeking out just about every other card I could possible want, I gave Sallie Mae a long hard look.

All my gas spend goes to my BJ’s card, saving me $0.10/gallon off the BJ’s price which is typically 5-9 cents cheaper than cheapest gas station in my area.  A good chunk of my groceries are purchased at BJ’s, so that also goes on the BJ’s card.  The remainder of my groceries totals on average about $200 a month.  I’m an Amazon Prime member, spending as little as $50 some months and as much as a several hundred dollars in other months – it just depends on what’s going on and what we need.  Aside from the gas spend, Sallie Mae looked like it could be a good fit.  I finally applied and was approved this August.

I attempted my first rewards redemption on Oct 5th.  I requested 3,183 points transferred to my Upromise account.  I do not have any Sallie Mae (Navient) student loans.  I opened a Sallie Mae high yield savings account to dump my Upromise earnings into, hoping to also get the 10% annual bonus.  On Nov 11th, my redemption was still “in progress”, so I called Barclays to inquire about the status (specifically) and the process (generally).  I was told that I had to talk to someone in Rewards, and was transferred.  I told my story again to the next CSR and was told that I wasn’t talking to the right department and transferred again.  I’m fairly certain I was transferred back to wherever I started originally.  Anyhow, I explained my situation again.  Every rep I talked to seemed extremely confused that I was redeeming to a Upromise account.  One rep flat out told me that it is not possible.  After spending 10 minutes to convince her that I do not have a student loan, the last rep I talked to told me that it was unusual for the redemption to take so long and a ticket would be opened.

As of today, my redemption still shows “in progress”.  The points have already been deducted from my Sallie Mae rewards balance, but have yet to appear in my Upromise account.  I was too frustrated to call back today, so I sent a secure message instead.  My message was simple.  I briefly (re)stated my problem and actions so far.  I included the ticket # the rep had given me on the 11th and asked for an update.  I received a reply back that there’s a problem with redeeming rewards on the website with the suggestion that I use the mobile app instead.  This in no way answered my problem, so I replied back – explaining again that I am trying to follow up on my “in progress” points.  I then receive this reply:

We apologize for the previous message. Please be informed that our website has a display issue saying redemptions are 'In Process'; however, we have certainly processed your redemption. Be reminded that the cash back credit may take up to 6-8 weeks to appear to your student loan account. For updates regarding this matter, we ask that you contact Sallie Mae directly.

I DO NOT HAVE A STUDENT LOAN ACCOUNT!!!

Is everyone else just taking the statement credit?  Has anyone else experienced anything remotely similar to this?

I am not off to a good start with this card.

[rant over]

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Hello Sunkissed,

I'm a SMMC user since Dec 2013, and since Jan 2014, I have always redeemed my Barclaycard SMMC Cashback into my UPromise account, and then getting UPromise to transfer those plus other UPromise points to my Sallie Mae Bank HYSA. 

The "in progress" message on Barclaycard / SMMC page will never go away. Don't bother with that. The points do post onto UPromise, just that there's about 4-6 weeks delay. Sometimes they post within 2-3 weeks as well. Often they start as "pending" and then another 2-3 weeks for the posting date to come up, and then the next month it transfers to the HYSA.

I keep checking occasionally and the transactions do seem to happen, even if with a lag. None of the three parties' CSRs have a clue about what is happening or where your cash is so don't bother. Make sure you have a $25 recurring deposit set up in your HYSA from a different account so that at the end of the year (February), you get a 10% bonus on your UPromise earnings, that includes the SMMC card cashback. Even though you get your money a bit late, you essentially earn 5.5% cashback on those categories.

I don't touch that cashback. It's a small fallback savings account. I also try to manually transfer other savings that I get from other credit cards; not claiming that I'm successful in doing it always.

[takeshi74]

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@sunkissed wrote:

So I will admit, I sipped the Kool-Aid.

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Yeah, don't do that.  Don't just follow the crowd.  Select cards that are specifically suited to you by using your needs/wants.  Run the numbers for your spend when evaulating rewards cards.

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@sunkissed wrote:

Is everyone else just taking the statement credit?

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Plenty of people take the statement credit.  I have a Navient serviced loan and I take the statement credit.  Never had problems with it.  They're quickly redeemed.

[sunkissed]

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Ghoshida wrote:

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sunkissed wrote:

[Officially frustrated]

[rant over]

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Hello Sunkissed,

I'm a SMMC user since Dec 2013, and since Jan 2014, I have always redeemed my Barclaycard SMMC Cashback into my UPromise account, and then getting UPromise to transfer those plus other UPromise points to my Sallie Mae Bank HYSA. 

The "in progress" message on Barclaycard / SMMC page will never go away. Don't bother with that. The points do post onto UPromise, just that there's about 4-6 weeks delay. Sometimes they post within 2-3 weeks as well. Often they start as "pending" and then another 2-3 weeks for the posting date to come up, and then the next month it transfers to the HYSA.

I keep checking occasionally and the transactions do seem to happen, even if with a lag. None of the three parties' CSRs have a clue about what is happening or where your cash is so don't bother. Make sure you have a $25 recurring deposit set up in your HYSA from a different account so that at the end of the year (February), you get a 10% bonus on your UPromise earnings, that includes the SMMC card cashback. Even though you get your money a bit late, you essentially earn 5.5% cashback on those categories.

I don't touch that cashback. It's a small fallback savings account. I also try to manually transfer other savings that I get from other credit cards; not claiming that I'm successful in doing it always.

Ghoshida,

A million "thank you"s.  Since this is my first redemption, I wasn't sure if this is how things typically go or if there was a problem.  I can surely be patient and wait for the money to appear in my Upromise account.

I did set-up an auto-deposit for the HYSA.  I appreciate the reminder because that detail is a bit buried in their fine print.  I'd hate to lose out on the small bonus each year.

Thanks again!

[sunkissed]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@sunkissed wrote:

So I will admit, I sipped the Kool-Aid.

---

Yeah, don't do that.  Don't just follow the crowd.  Select cards that are specifically suited to you by using your needs/wants.  Run the numbers for your spend when evaulating rewards cards.

---

@sunkissed wrote:

Is everyone else just taking the statement credit?

---

Plenty of people take the statement credit.  I have a Navient serviced loan and I take the statement credit.  Never had problems with it.  They're quickly redeemed.

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Takeshi74,

I hear ya!  I did run the numbers before taking the plunge on this one.  I did not, however, inquire in advance about the difference in redemption methods.  I will be adding that to my analysis next time I'm looking to add a new card 

[Anonymous]

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@sunkissed wrote:

[Officially frustrated]

So I will admit, I sipped the Kool-Aid.  I had never heard of the Sallie Mae Rewards Mastercard until I started hanging around MyFico.  But I didn’t jump on the bandwagon right away.  For starters, I would not have been approved had I applied when I first got here.  Also for all the hype given to Ms. Sallie Mae, there was probably just as much fear and loathing on the forums about dealing with Barclays.  However, after getting my credit back on the road to recovery, then seeking out just about every other card I could possible want, I gave Sallie Mae a long hard look.

All my gas spend goes to my BJ’s card, saving me $0.10/gallon off the BJ’s price which is typically 5-9 cents cheaper than cheapest gas station in my area.  A good chunk of my groceries are purchased at BJ’s, so that also goes on the BJ’s card.  The remainder of my groceries totals on average about $200 a month.  I’m an Amazon Prime member, spending as little as $50 some months and as much as a several hundred dollars in other months – it just depends on what’s going on and what we need.  Aside from the gas spend, Sallie Mae looked like it could be a good fit.  I finally applied and was approved this August.

I attempted my first rewards redemption on Oct 5th.  I requested 3,183 points transferred to my Upromise account.  I do not have any Sallie Mae (Navient) student loans.  I opened a Sallie Mae high yield savings account to dump my Upromise earnings into, hoping to also get the 10% annual bonus.  On Nov 11th, my redemption was still “in progress”, so I called Barclays to inquire about the status (specifically) and the process (generally).  I was told that I had to talk to someone in Rewards, and was transferred.  I told my story again to the next CSR and was told that I wasn’t talking to the right department and transferred again.  I’m fairly certain I was transferred back to wherever I started originally.  Anyhow, I explained my situation again.  Every rep I talked to seemed extremely confused that I was redeeming to a Upromise account.  One rep flat out told me that it is not possible.  After spending 10 minutes to convince her that I do not have a student loan, the last rep I talked to told me that it was unusual for the redemption to take so long and a ticket would be opened.

As of today, my redemption still shows “in progress”.  The points have already been deducted from my Sallie Mae rewards balance, but have yet to appear in my Upromise account.  I was too frustrated to call back today, so I sent a secure message instead.  My message was simple.  I briefly (re)stated my problem and actions so far.  I included the ticket # the rep had given me on the 11th and asked for an update.  I received a reply back that there’s a problem with redeeming rewards on the website with the suggestion that I use the mobile app instead.  This in no way answered my problem, so I replied back – explaining again that I am trying to follow up on my “in progress” points.  I then receive this reply:

We apologize for the previous message. Please be informed that our website has a display issue saying redemptions are 'In Process'; however, we have certainly processed your redemption. Be reminded that the cash back credit may take up to 6-8 weeks to appear to your student loan account. For updates regarding this matter, we ask that you contact Sallie Mae directly.

I DO NOT HAVE A STUDENT LOAN ACCOUNT!!!

Is everyone else just taking the statement credit?  Has anyone else experienced anything remotely similar to this?

I am not off to a good start with this card.

[rant over]

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You certainly have reason to rant! Geez! 

[sunkissed]

Musiclover,

I'm now a lot less frustrated, thanks to very helpful replies here.

I plan to patiently wait for the money to find its way to my Upromise account.  Assuming all goes well, I'll probably continue to redeem to Upromise - knowing it will be awhile before the process completes and knowing that the website status is not valid.  Or if I'm just not feeling very patient, I'll request statement credits.

I love it when a plan comes together!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the thread sunkissed. I remember reading the information and it does say it will take several weeks for the transfer to post. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

@Goshida:

Thanks for responding to sunkissed's query. I was undecided which route I was going to use for redemption. it's time for me to open a SM HYS account, so I can get the ball rolling.

[Anonymous]

There does seem to be some bug lately with NAvient loan redemption. I have used it in the past but get errors now. I had to use statement credit

[Ghoshida]

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@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:

@Goshida:

Thanks for responding to sunkissed's query. I was undecided which route I was going to use for redemption. it's time for me to open a SM HYS account, so I can get the ball rolling.

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You're welcome BBP!

The HYSA helps me both the SMMC earnings and some travel earnings I get from UPromise, mostly car-rental (Avis / Budget) and hotel bookings (Priceline). They generally seem to have a good rate overall but their deposit lead time is a bit long; still I think they're the same league as Topcashback etc. Discover seemed like the fastest to post DD cashbacks but I had some iffy transactions with them. Also, UPromise doesn't restrict me to use one card (Discover Deals = Discover only) so I can use my best quarterly card.

And the $25 gets tucked in nicely every month; maybe I'll break that account one day for a big purchase. By now I've put in $600 in recurring deposit; got another $500 from SMMC and UPromise, and some $50-odd in the 10% bonus and interests. Not too bad.