Sallie Mae Student Loans

If your research on college financial aid has just begun, you need to know about Sallie Mae. They are "the" largest college student loan company in the nation.

Over 9 million people have loans with them. For a long time, Sallie Mae was a government initiative but now they are a private company with a prominent New York Stock Exchange listing (SLM).

The company has both federal and private loan products.

Selecting a Lender for Your Student Loan: Why Choose Sallie Mae?

Managing your student loans will be easier if you use one lender for all your student loan needs. It is your right and responsibility to choose the lender for your student loans.

Benefits of Sallie Mae lenders

Although the basic interest rate on federal loans (Stafford, Parent PLUS, Graduate PLUS, and consolidation loans) is the same from lender to lender, you’ll be happy to know that for loans for academic year 2007–08 Sallie Mae lenders will pay the federal origination fee on Stafford loans.

This savings may be in addition to loan balance reductions and interest rate benefit programs awarded for demonstrating responsible repayment behavior.

Loan Service

Sallie Mae lenders offer superior service. For example, students and parents who borrow from Sallie Mae lenders will also receive:

Responsive, customer-oriented service
Toll-free customer service lines
Online access to account information
Account information available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
A variety of repayment options designed to meet borrower needs

You Will Get One Lender

You can get all your loans—federal and private—from one source when you borrow from Sallie Mae. The advantages of having one lender are:

One bill, with all loan payments compiled
One place to send payments
One lender to keep updated
One source for assistance

Cosigning Your Student Loan

It’s important to realize, though, that cosigning a private student loan or asking someone to cosign one for you makes another person just as accountable to repay that loan as the borrower.

This section will help you decide when it is to your advantage to consider a cosigner, provide a brief overview of cosigner rights and responsibilities, and direct you (or your parents) to the next step in cosigning a loan.

Cosigner rights and responsibilities

A cosigner is guaranteeing the debt. That means you (or your parents or spouse, if they are the cosigners) will have to repay the loan if the borrower does not.

It’s critical that you understand and want to accept this responsibility and that you are aware of the following:

Be sure you can afford to repay the loan. If you’re asked to pay and you cannot, you may be subject to collections efforts and your credit rating could be damaged.
Even if you’re not asked to repay the debt, your liability for it may be included in computing your debt-to-income ratio and may prevent you from getting approval for other loans.
Under federal law, creditors are required to give you a notice that explains your obligations as a cosigner. In addition, make sure you get copies of all important papers, such as the loan contract and the Truth-in-Lending Disclosure Statement.