I’ve had it!! I hate having debt!!!

Okay I need a RANT post. Remember how I told you Sallie Mae gave me six grand? Well my balance has now magically shot back up again. Arrrgh!

I am reeaally over this. My Sallie Mae student loan is my only remaining debt, and my goodness, it’s been the worst one. It’s like debt knows its days in my life are numbered and so it’s determined not to go out without a fight. Well, the gloves are coming off.

Last week I wrote my goals for 2011, and top of the list was to be debt-free by the end of the year. I don’t know why now, but this latest little fiasco has really chapped my ass.  I really hate (*hate) being the underdog up against big Sallie Mae. I hate dealing with their crap “customer service” and the incessant errors. I’m sick of this debt holding me back. She’s going down. Soon.

I think I might have finally had that “I’ve had it!” moment Dave Ramsey talks about.

Sallie Mae just gave me $6,093

Seriously!! Things just got interesting with Sallie Mae.

After four months of battling with them over my mysteriously over-inflated student loan balance, $6,093.00 has just vanished from my Sallie Mae online balance. This has all happened in the last 24 hours.

In August, I really started investigating my balance and wrote a letter asking for a full review of my account since 2003. The numbers just didn’t add up. I’m a man of my word and will repay every dollar I owe, but not a dollar more, and that’s why we’ve pursued them over the hunch that something was wrong with my loan balance. I’ve had many frustrating phone and email conversations with their customer service. No one could explain why my balance was still so high, including managers. Now, the customer service continues to be appalling, but this seems to be the first sign of intelligence. Or maybe I’ve exposed some filthy lending practices?

I’ve learned some concerning things about the way Sallie Mae operates its student loans during this process, things I wish I knew 7 years ago. I probably could have saved myself lots of time and money. So, if you have a student loan with them and you believe your balance is too high, let’s compare notes. I have yet to speak on the phone with them to find out exactly the reason for the balance drop, but I can’t wait to have that conversation. I’ll post again once I have more news.

Has anybody else had something like this happen before?