A new feature for student borrowers on the Education Department’s National Student Loan Data System might have revealed personal data about borrowers, mimicking another data breach a year ago. The system, a clearinghouse for borrowers and institutions to get information about student loans, recently added a way for borrowers to download all of their data with one click. But some borrowers, when they tried, got information for other borrowers instead, according to financial aid listservs.
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I’ve taken out a Federal Student Loan from my neighborhood bank in 1996, and after graduation, in 1998 with a Bachelor’s Degree, I consolidated the three loans into one. The loans equaled $11,000., and I have paid without deliquency or deferment since 2003, per month, after consolidating the three loans from the bank, that changed owners, and this past year, Sallie Mae has added another two thousand($2000)dollars, this year and is saying I now owe over $9000. This loan isn’t lowering, even though I have paid consistently on an agreed monthly budget since 2003.
How do I prove my payments, as Sallie Mae is saying they can’t go back to 1998, nor 2003. I have copies of my payments on statements and checking receipt books. Shouldn’t this loan have gone down, or have been paid off? I am concerned that another may have stolen my identity and used my information to assume a loan and attached it to my payments, can that be possible?
This is way out of my area of expertise, but I would start by having Sallie Mae document WHY they added $2k this year. You are also entitled to three free credit reports each year. Have you checked to see if all the accounts listed look right to you?