So I work as a customer service specialist at SallieMae and I think i can shed some light here.
How you may use your reward $ (also Upromise cash back) depends on what type of loans you have. You may not directly connect your reward balance to your FDLP or "direct" loan(s). You may connect it to FFELP or "private" (sometimes called federal) loans. If you only have FDLP loans then you can take the rewards as statement credit or have them swept into a high yield savings account which you can then use to pay down any type of loans.
Also, you may only use credit cards to pay the minimum payment due on your student loans at any given time. There are strict prohibitions on paying student loan debt, which is generally not dischargeable in BK, with credit cards which are dischargeable.
-wineman
I think most people on here just use the statement credits. That's what I'd use as I have 0 student loans now.
Actually, I'm now not even sure I have a "Sallie Mae" loan. I guess I just assumed they all were Sallie Mae for some reason. My loans are with Great Lakes Borrowers and I believe it comes up on my credit report as USDOE/GLELSI. Is this the same or not?
So you really can't use a cc to pay for your student loan each month? I wasn't talking about paying it in full. Just the monthly payment (or more each month) to earn rewards.
@audia4 wrote:Actually, I'm now not even sure I have a "Sallie Mae" loan. I guess I just assumed they all were Sallie Mae for some reason. My loans are with Great Lakes Borrowers and I believe it comes up on my credit report as USDOE/GLELSI. Is this the same or not?
So you really can't use a cc to pay for your student loan each month? I wasn't talking about paying it in full. Just the monthly payment (or more each month) to earn rewards.
Great Lakes is the servicer of your loan, not Sallie Mae.
So that would mean that it's not a Sallie Mae account then? How do I know?
@370Z wrote:
@audia4 wrote:So that would mean that it's not a Sallie Mae account then? How do I know?
They are clearly labeled "Sallie Mae" on credit reports.
Ok. I guess that means that I don't have a Sallie Mae then. LOL I got this card thinking I did and would be able to pay off my loans with $$ earned from it. Oh well.