What to Do With an Unexpected Student Loan Invoice
If you’ve paid off your student loan, you know how euphoric it is to send the last payment. You are so happy to have freed yourself from the burden of a loan that you can throw a party to celebrate , book a vacation you’ve long wanted to take, and of course, throw all the mail from your service staff to get rid of bad energy.
Just remember to double check if you really paid every last cent before disposing of your paperwork.
The student loan hero details what happened to America McCallagh, a borrower who believed that her $ 40,000 debt had been paid off, but he came back ten years later to haunt her:
“I got rid of most or all of my (files) on my student loans,” said McCallag, who went to school for six years to pursue a degree in occupational therapy. She remembered thinking, “Why do I need this? This is the end.”
However, eleven years later, McCalla’s creditor began to send her notices of unpaid installments. First, she threw the envelopes off Sally Mae without even thinking about them. However, as the mail began to pile up, she printed one out for an unfortunate surprise.
Sally Mae claimed to have paid off all of her debt, with the exception of approximately $ 150. After more than a decade of accumulating and capitalizing interest, its balance owed approached $ 12,000.
After eight hours of talking on the phone with Sally Mae, McCallagh discovered that the debt had not been paid due to the timing of her last payment. “Her bank paid her off the loan a few days after Sally Mae demanded $ 150 in interest,” says Student Loan Hero. And that $ 150 quickly turned into $ 12,000 over the next 11 years.
What to do with a surprise invoice
Obviously, one problem here is that McCallagh did not open the letters and notices from Sally Mae. You need to open your mail , especially from financial institutions.
But there are other ways to check before you run into an inflated bill. If you have federal loans, you can view your balance sheet in the National Student Loan Data System . It’s also useful to check if you’re being cheated: NSLDS lists your service agent, so check with the company sending you the letter, Student Loan Hero recommends. And once you pay off the loan, schedule a “checkout” in a few weeks or months on your Google calendar. It will take a few minutes, but you can be sure not to be bombarded with any hidden interest or commission fees.
If you have private loans, you need to call customer service. Yes, it’s a pain, but it’s probably worth $ 12,000. You can also check your credit report to see any outstanding loans.
And if you do receive an email stating that you still owe money, even though you are sure you paid it back, Student Loan Hero recommends sending a response to the sender of the email:
Your best bet is to send a debt confirmation letter . The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers a letter template for exactly this scenario.
In the letter, request a complete credit history as well as a written explanation of the outstanding balance. And of course, conduct the conversation in writing so that you have a formal protocol.
Finally, ask your service provider for a loan repayment statement as soon as you pay off your debt. This way, you will have written proof that you are free and understandable.