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Student Loan Borrowers Want Sallie Mae Class Action Lawsuit Certified
By Courtney Coren
Student loan borrowers who filed a class action lawsuit against lender Sallie Mae alleging that they were double charged late fees filed a motion Tuesday asking a federal judge in California to certify the class. The proposed class consists of at least 100,000 individuals all making similar claims.
The plaintiffs and Class Members in the Sallie Mae class action lawsuit are all individuals who signed promissory notes to borrow money on or after Jan. 1, 1996 to pay for their college education bills in California, according to the motion.
The Sallie Mae student loan fee lawsuit was initially filed in March 2011 by California student Tina M. Ubaldi claiming that she was charged late fees twice by being asked to pay for late fees on top of daily accruing interest on the outstanding principle, in violation of California consumer protection laws.
Chanee Thurston joined the Sallie Mae class action lawsuit in June 2013, saying she was also double charged late fees.
The plaintiffs claim they all signed similar applications, promissory notes, and disclosure notices regarding interest rates and late fees.
“All Sallie Mae Private Loans were made to materially similar loan agreements with national banks, and Plaintiffs and all Class and Subclass members were required to sign materially identical promissory notes,” the class action lawsuit states. “Uniform provisions within these notes regarded, among other things, the accrual of interest, the determination of the rate of interest, the amount of late fees, and choice of law provisions.”
Sallie Mae filed a motion to have the class action lawsuit dismissed. It said that Stillwater National Bank & Trust Co., the loan underwriter, was based in Oklahoma and therefore was not subject to California laws. SLM Corp., Sallie Mae’s parent company, borrowed charters from national banks and acted as the de facto lender, Sallie Mae explained in its motion.
The California federal judge denied Sallie Mae’s motion for dismissal in August, saying that Sallie Mae did not prove that it wasn’t the lender in the class action lawsuit.
The certification Ubaldi and Thurston are seeking is for the Class Members and two other subclasses.
One is for the putative late charge subclass, which is for borrowers who were charged $1.3 million in late fees from March 2007 through 2012 for not making their payments within 15 days of the due date and were charged $5 or five percent of the payment, depending which was greater. This class could consist of 41,500 members.
The second one is the putative usury subclass for those who borrowed money from Sallie Mae after Jan. 1, 1996 and were charged more than 10 percent annually on their loans. This class could reach 75,000.
Ubaldi and Thurston argue that their lawsuit meets all the requirements for certification: numerosity, commonality, typicality, predominance, and superiority.
The plaintiffs are represented by Maureen Davidson-Welling, Edward J. Feinstein, Joseph N. Kravec Jr., Wyatt A. Lison and Stephen M. Pincus of Stember Feinstein Doyle Payne and Kravec LLC, by Micahael D. Braun of Braun Law Group PC, Janet Lindner Spielberg and William J. Genego.
The Sallie Mae Loan Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Tina M. Ubaldi et al. v. SLM Corp. et al., Case No. 3:11-cv-01320, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
19 thoughts onStudent Loan Borrowers Want Sallie Mae Class Action Lawsuit Certified
I had my fees doubled and then taken out of my tax returns while trying to take care of my 3 children by myself!
I would like to know more about this. My daughter was in school years ago and this loan has been haunting her ever since. They take all of her income tax for years now. My husband and I even made a deal with them and paid off over $3,000 to settle it. Yet they still harass her all the time. I think her kids will be in college before these people stop. I would like any information I can get on how I can get this settled. Thank you,Stacy P
I have been harrassed by Sallie Mae since 2009. My original debt has doubled. I can’t afford to pay them. They call all day and night. They call my girlfriend at work constantly. How do I file claim? No one’s post here are answered. Jonna.howard.3dcg@gmail.com
please contact if you can point me in the right direction. Thank you
My mom co-signed for my nephew and thought it was for one year, they are no longer speaking and she wants off as co-signer and they told her that she couldn’t cause it was for all four years. She is 81 and worried she is going to get stuck with a large bill now. She said they were not nice to her at all.
I borrowed 15K getting my degree. This had to be consolidated for 20K due to each note being sold and having no way to make payments to each. After twenty years, I’ve made 241 monthly payments and Sallie Mae says I still own 8K. Sallie Mae is getting rich by redirecting principle payments to interest. I have records showing multiple consecutive payments applied one hundred percent to interest and zero percent to principle. This practice needs to stop.
I have put with bullying and trusted these financial institutions thinking they are respectable and I need to do my part. I had no idea, students in the United States would be cheated and treated in such a manner. It is quite appalling. Students will be paying taxes over many years, why can’t the government help us?
I don’t know what’s going on. My heads been under the blankets. My loan was originally with Citibank in 1987 for $5,000. It got split into 4 different loans, then reconsolidated, then sold to Sallie about a year ago. I have not a clue how my balance is now over $10,500+. I have requested full history from Cal State East Bay where I got a degree in computer science. After the dotcom bust I couldn’t get a job in my field and I now work for the State of California. I did have some in school deferments, and forbearances. But how on earth did $5,000 turn into over $10,500+. I know I was double charged for both late payments, and penalties, and interest. I have requested full histories from Sallie Mae as well. Something is really wrong here, can someone please get to the bottom of this.
JC
Sallie Mae has, over the last nine years, been one nightmare after another.
I was recently unemployed, and filed an unemployment forbearance application with them. I faxed them the unemployment forbearance and supporting documentation in January of 2014. I heard nothing.
In May of 2014, I received a notice from Sallie Mae stating “well, we haven’t gotten payment from you in three months.” I resubmitted the same documentation I faxed them. I called them. I contacted them via facebook. Nothing.
My personal favorite was in 2007, when I was sent to Brooks AFB for training and advised them of a temporary change of address. I was told by one customer service rep that I might qualify for military service forbearance, and that I would need to speak with her supervisor to get it pushed through.
After 20 minutes of waiting, I spoke with a guy named “Matt”, who advised me that the only way he’d do anything for a member of the military is if I were to “swallow a live grenade”- he then “might think about” filing paperwork; otherwise I should “stop acting like a puss.” Every time I think about the punk that said that, the more I want to rip him to pieces.
I have filed a complaint with the BBB, my state’s attorney general, and if I do not receive satisfaction with Sallie Mae here in the next several days, I will be filing lawsuits.
Or maybe I’ll just email senator John McCiain. I’m sure that the CEO of Sallie Mae will enjoy talking to a the chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee about why his employees want servicemen to come home in pieces.