Sallie Mae Student Loans Review: Generous Terms And Benefits

Sallie Mae started its history as a government-sponsored enterprise that serviced federal student loans. But since 2004, it’s been a fully private company.

Sallie Mae no longer has anything to do with federal student loans. Instead, it issues private loans for everything from K–12 education, to career colleges, to undergraduate and graduate school. It's also a bank with some of the most competitive money market and CD rates. 

They are also on our list of the places with the best student loan rates. If you want to see how they compare to other lenders, check out our list of the best private student loan lenders.

Sallie Mae is part of the Credible Platform, which allows you to compare student loan lenders in 2 minutes or less. We love Credible and think you should see how Sallie Mae compares for your situation. Check out Credible here.

Sallie Mae Student Loans Rates and Terms

Sallie Mae student loans are designed for maximum flexibility. Most loans have three major repayment options which allow for deferred payments for the time you’re in school plus a 6-month grace period (or 36 months for medical school graduates). Speaking of medical school grads, they can also qualify for up to 48 months of deferment during residency.

Borrowers can also exercise the option of up to 12 interest-only payments when they first start their payback period. The three major repayment options include the following:

• Deferred interest: Make no payments during school or during the grace period.
• Fixed payment: Make small payments of $25 per month during school and the grace period.
• Interest-only: Make interest-only payments during school and the grace period.

These are the terms on Sallie Mae’s private student loans (select private loans — they also offer bar exam loans, medical residency loans, and more). Rates are subject to change. Please check out the latest rates here.

Cosigner Options

Sallie Mae says that nearly 88% of its undergraduate borrowers require a cosigner. So if you're an undergrad and you aren't able to add a creditworthy cosigner to your application, the odds are very low that you'll be able to receive a loan from Sallie Mae.

The good news, though, is that there is a cosigner release program and it's one of the easiest to achieve. While other private lenders required 24 or 36 months of consecutive on-time payments before you can apply for a cosigner release, you can do so with Sallie Mae after just 12 months of payments.

Extra Perks

Every undergraduate student who takes out Sallie Mae student loans receives 4 free months of Chegg Study. The lender also provides quarterly FICO scores to each of its borrowers as well as their cosigners.

How Does Sallie Mae Compare?

Sallie Mae is just one of many different private student loan lenders. However, they consistently make it on our list of the best private loans due to their flexible terms and competitive rates. Check out this quick comparison here:

What Borrower Protections Are Available?

Compared with other private lenders, Sallie Mae offers far more generous repayment terms. The choice between deferred interest, fixed payments, and interest-only is especially generous along with generous grace periods and deferments for graduate school loans.

Borrowers can receive up to 12 months of hardship forbearance (approved in 3-month increments). Sallie Mae also provides academic and military deferment as well as death and disability forgiveness.

The only issue with Sallie Mae’s loans is the cost you could incur. Taking advantage of no-interest deferment options could lead your loans to balloon over time. Add to that the higher (but still competitive) interest rates, and you could head toward student loan disasters.

In general, it's better to stick with federal loans if possible. These come with a wide range of repayment plans, and even some loan forgiveness options. If you must opt for student loans, Sallie Mae could be a good choice. Remember, always compare your options on a platform like Credible.

Who Qualifies To Apply?

Sallie Mae student loans are available to borrowers who are full-time, half-time or below half-time students. In fact, it's one of the few private student loans available to borrowers who aren’t taking a full course load. 

Sallie Mae also offers education loans for parents and for graduate students who may not need a cosigner to qualify for the loan.

Unfortunately, Sallie Mae does not disclose its minimum credit score requirements. It's also one of the only lenders that doesn't allow borrowers to check their pre-qualified rates without impacting their credit scores. To receive a rate quote, you'll have to fill out a full application and allow Sallie Mae to perform a hard credit inquiry.

Are There Any Fees?

Sallie Mae doesn't charge application or origination fees on any of its student loan products. There aren't any prepayment penalties either. However, you may be charged a late fee if your monthly payment isn't received within 15 days of the due date. If your loan charges a late fee, it will be listed on its disclosure document.

How to Contact Sallie Mae Customer Service

You can reach out to Sallie Mae customer service through the following:

Phone number: 800-472-5543

Hours of operation:

Monday – Thursday: 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. (ET)
Friday: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. (ET)
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. (ET)

General mailing address:

Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 3319
Wilmington DE 19804-4319

Address for sending payments:

Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 8459
Philadelphia PA 19101-8459

Email/online contact form: N/A

Is It Safe And Secure?

Yes, Sallie Mae's website uses HTTPs encryption and it maintains a variety of additional security features. These include offering two-factor authentication, automated customer
verification and fraud detection, and submitting to extensive third-party internal audits. Sallie's Mae's bank accounts are also FDIC-insured up to $250,000.

Is It Worth It?

With no application fee, no origination fee, and generous repayment terms, Sallie Mae student loans are a good choice for borrowers that need repayment flexibility. The flexibility comes at a cost, and you’ll likely find lower interest rates from other lenders (use Credible to shop around).

That said, Sallie Mae could be the right choice if you’re stuck taking out private loans. Compared with other lenders, Sallie Mae is especially generous with its undergraduate student loans.

And remember, if you take advantage of Sallie Mae’s flexible terms early on, you can always refinance your student loan to a lower interest rate later if you have the income and credit score to do so.

Sallie Mae FAQ

Here are some of the most common questions we get about SoFi:

Is Sallie Mae the same as Navient?

No. At one time, Navient was Sallie Mae's servicing arm. But in 2014, Sallie Mae and Navient split into two separate companies. Sallie Mae now focuses on private lenders and Navient is one of the largest U.S. federal loan servicers.

No, Sallie Mae is a private consumer bank and since 2014 it has had no involvement in servicing federal student loans.

Can Sallie Mae student loans be forgiven?

Sallie Mae student loans, like all other private loans, aren't eligible for federal student loan forgiveness. However, Sallie Mae borrowers may still be eligible for profession-based loan assistance programs like the NHSC Loan Repayment program.

Is it hard to get a Sallie Mae student loan?

Undergraduates are unlikely to qualify for a Sallie Mae loan without a cosigner. However, borrowers who return with the same cosigner in future years have a 95% approval rate.

Sallie Mae Student Loans Features