sallie mae

[Anonymous]

my wife received 5000.00 in student loans from sallie mae to attend the art institute in NYC and only attended for half a semester subsequently the art institute never returned the money per sallie maes refund procedure because she did not attend long enough now sallies mae wants proof she only attend the short time and the school has been bblowing us off for months now with her information where do we go from here we sent sallie mae a letter that the school was not returning our calls and emails we made contact with them on time and they said they would call back when they found her records but since no contact. Its actually to the point they are offseting my tax return every year for a debt that should not exist. What do we do?

[Anonymous]

The school would have their own rules about refunds. Sallie Mae's rules wouldn't apply. When you say half a semester - at most schools, that's after the date at which a refund is possible. Art Institute NYC seems to have 10 week terms, and after week 4 of the term there's no refund of tuition.

Are you sure you don't actually owe this debt?

[SCF]

I think you need to start by gathering some documentation and getting some details straight.  Here's what I'd find out:

1) How much should the school have received in tuition/fees for one semester?

2) What is the school's refund policy in the case of early withdrawal?

3) Were you due a check because the loan was in excess of school costs? (And did you receive it?)

4) Were you due a refund because of the early withdrawal.

That should give you some idea of what you owe, which would be any amount you got back as a check because the loan was greater than tuition/fees + the amount not eligible for refund.

Once you know that, it's time to take your documentation to the school and find out where the difference went.  Be sure to have account statements, a copy of any checks you receieved, and any information on the cost of tuition/fees and the school's policy on refunds that you were given.  If they claim to have sent some of the money back to you or Sallie Mae and it did not arrive, ask them for documentation.

It sounds like Sallie Mae did what you asked, they sent $5000 to the school.  What you need to do is figure out what happened once it got there and how much of it should have gone back to them when your wife withdrew.

[jeremyd82]

update - we mailed Salllie mae a letter stating the school was not responding to our calls or emails for the verification of her time attended to proe she only went for less the a semester. They sent a letter to us saying they will not offset our tax return for the fees due anymore. We also disputed it on her CR becasaeu the amoun ts should not exist becasue per the schools and sallie maes policies she is not responsible for the money. Good this letter from sallie mae be a result of the dispute on the CR or the letter we sent them Sallie mae is not clear on what prompted there reply,