Hi Driveloader,
I saw your post before you had the chance to track me down. You're right, Sallie Mae will be as unhelpful as possible, even when there are Acts of Congress that have been passed specific to your situation! Here is the text from the post that caliborne referred to. You'll find the link to the Heroes Act, wording, etc.
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"I had 90+ days late showing on Sallie Mae from when we moved overseas in late 05-06. It took a long time to start receiving mail & no internet service so I had no way to pay. When we finally started receiving mail & had phone/int set up, I did a forebearance & was told it would backdate & no lates would show.
THAT was not true. All lates show, and I've had no GW success even though I explained the situation.
Today, on THEIR OWN webpage, I found a link to this:
http://www.finaid.org/military/heroes.phtml which is the Heroes Act of 2003. It means if you are late due to military deployment --
whether you are the servicemember, their spouse, or their dependent, you will automatically be forgiven.
This may not help a TON of people out there, as I don't know how many others have lates b/c of military service, but maybe someone else can benefit!!! The SallieMae numbnuts didn't know anything about this, even though it's on their own website. And the one who had heard of it thought it was only for the servicemember themselves, didn't know it extended to spouses & dependents as well.
I am faxing in a copy of the orders (still have them from 05, thank goodness I keep everything) and these lates will go away, which will be sooo good for my report."