student loans

Ok Iam a brit hubby who has a US wife with a student loan, The Company is sallie mae. I know nothing about them apart from...dont mess with them?
We are happy to pay the loans but wonder what others did when they moved here?  we are not in a position to pay them off but would like some lower payments and easier ways to pay over the net. Anyone been there done that can help?


cheers
stew

Sallie Mae accepts payments over the net. That way, you continue to pay the same way you would if you lived in the US: log on and make monthly payments. I'm not sure about renegotiating monthly payments, mine were pretty low to start with. But it goes without saying that moving overseas does not get you off the hook with them.

I go through this joy every month. It takes me an average of two large glasses of wine each time.

Sigh.

Two options, really:

1. Keep or open a US account, transfer money into it regularly and set up a direct debit. This will save you any additional fees.

2. Ring them every month, go through a bunch of stupid people who only have a script to work from and don't understand the concept of a foreign address, and pay by debit card. But don't tell them it's a debit card 'cause they'll tell you that you can't pay with a foreign debit card. Tell them it's a credit card. Trust me, it's easier just to tell them that. You have to pay an extra $10 a payment for the privilege of paying by card though....

Sigh.

ETA: I can't figure out how to pay online without a US account....

ETA2: I do think you can apply for a lower payment but I haven't tried it with them so not sure exactly how to do it.... I know with AES (who SUCK BEYOND SUCKINESS - far worse than Sallie Mae. Far, far worse) you fill out a form similar to the forebearance form....

I kept a U.S. account just for this purpose.

Same here. I have a U.S. account that I sock an unfair amount of money into each month via banker's draft from my UK bank. I pay online because I found out through a shouting match with the automated telephone system that to confirm a payment you must key in your 5-digit zip code. Double sigh. But, the US bank account comes in handy for ordering Christmas presents for folks back home. Good luck.

I have loans with Sallie Mae and AES... (LOTS of money and I am poor, yay!)

Here is what I do:

1. Get paid into my UK Bank Account each month (Yay)
2. Use my PayPal UK account to send £ to a US Paypal account I set up
3. The US PayPal Account will convert the £ to $ and charge a fee (ie I transfer £300 each month and loose about $30 USD so not so bad)
4. Transfer the money from PayPal to my US Bank Account
5. Pay electronically the loans from the US Account (BOO)

Ok so it has 5 steps and is annoying and takes 4 days for all the transfers but is the chepaest I have yet found to do it with me totally in control.

My loans arent through Sally Mae but I have heard theyre very reasonable and easy to negotiate with.

I transfer my money every month through Moneycorp.  We set up an account with them and signed up for 2 years ... They take the £££ out of my UK account and about 5 days later it appears in my US bank account in $$$  (almost double because of the exchange rate).  I'm very happy with them and my rate is fixed, which is fab. I think they charge me £3 per transaction... but they gave me the best rate so it was well worth it.  I dont need to go through any fuss or hassle each month, they do it automatically... taking the same amount out every month. Then I check my online banking.. make sure the money is in my account and then pay my student loans online.  Really easy peasy. 

Chrissy, was moneycorp easy to set up business with? Sounds like that may be the best plan for me in terms of paying my AES loan. I was going to go with another company but I really like the idea of having it done automatically so I don't have to think about it!!

Chrissy, was moneycorp easy to set up business with? Sounds like that may be the best plan for me in terms of paying my AES loan. I was going to go with another company but I really like the idea of having it done automatically so I don't have to think about it!!

Yes, moneycorp was really easy to set up business with.  If you set up a direct debit you just need to make sure you have £XXX amount of money in your bank account every month.  It also depends on how large your transfers are because moneycorp do charge a £4 on each transfer but I foudn that they gave a better rate than XE who do not charge a fee and do virtually the same thing... so despite the £4 fee every month im still better off.

Have a look at these threads for more info:
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=40318.0
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=35675.0
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=35271.15

Best of luck 

I go through this joy every month. It takes me an average of two large glasses of wine each time.

Sigh.

Two options, really:

1. Keep or open a US account, transfer money into it regularly and set up a direct debit. This will save you any additional fees.

2. Ring them every month, go through a bunch of stupid people who only have a script to work from and don't understand the concept of a foreign address, and pay by debit card. But don't tell them it's a debit card 'cause they'll tell you that you can't pay with a foreign debit card. Tell them it's a credit card. Trust me, it's easier just to tell them that. You have to pay an extra $10 a payment for the privilege of paying by card though....

Sigh.

ETA: I can't figure out how to pay online without a US account....

ETA2: I do think you can apply for a lower payment but I haven't tried it with them so not sure exactly how to do it.... I know with AES (who SUCK BEYOND SUCKINESS - far worse than Sallie Mae. Far, far worse) you fill out a form similar to the forebearance form....

tried option 2, didnt get done due to card details, told them it was a card but not debit, does it matter what card? does it have to be visa/debit or mastercard? ours is Maestro/cirrus, just wanna pay the damm thing...haha

2. Ring them every month, go through a bunch of stupid people who only have a script to work from and don't understand the concept of a foreign address, and pay by debit card. But don't tell them it's a debit card 'cause they'll tell you that you can't pay with a foreign debit card. Tell them it's a credit card. Trust me, it's easier just to tell them that. You have to pay an extra $10 a payment for the privilege of paying by card though....

Sigh.

I know this thread is a little older, but honestly - is there ANYONE at that company that understands the concept of a UK address? They've had our address for 3 years, but then when it came time to start repaying the loan, they claimed they didn't have it and began hassling family members for our address. Wouldn't be so irritating, but now they are trying to charge us $900 in late fees because they didn't bother to send the info to our current address, which they already had!! Not to mention they have the "end of school attendance" date wrong by 3 months. The person on the phone was absolutely unbelievable - kept saying "can you make a payment?" and we were telling her "no, first I want to see the information in writing as you never sent any repayment info to me." And she just didn't get it. Arrrgggh!!!