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  • Student Loan Fun.....

    So I have finally found a way to begin paying back my student loans. There is a new program that will allow the loan to go back into rehab for as little at $5.00 a month based on income. Since my income per month right now is less than $200.00, I am eligible for this program. I received a call on the 3rd of this month about the payment because it had not yet been made. (Note: the due date is the 3rd). I was not home and did not have the means to make the payment at that point in time.

    I called the company to make my payment this past Wednesday. When I called, I told the woman that I would need to have the payment processed immediately since the debit card had to be cancelled due to fraudulent charges to facebook on the card.

    She told me that she was not able to do that since the processing department had already gone home for the day, but that because of the fraud charges on the card, she would put a note in the account that I would call in and pay as soon as I got the new debit card. This lady was wonderful. I had been put on hold several times, the call got dropped a couple times and she called me back immediately and was so nice and apologetic about the time that I was on hold and the dropped calls.

    Now to the Suck part... I was out with my mother in law on Friday. I consider myself deaf. At the very least I am very hard of hearing. I only hear about 1/2 of what people say to me in person if I can not see them. I have a word recognition of 50 % when I can not see the other person to lip read the rest of what they are saying to me. Therefore, I seldom use phones when I am not at home or in a very quiet place. I have a special headset that I use as well.

    Anyhow, I received a call from a man at the student loan company on Friday morning. He started into his canned speech about how this is an attempt to collect a debt and all info will be used for that. I asked him to please stop for a moment,as I knew who the call was from and what it was about. I understand that they have to say all of that, however I was attempting to tell the man that due to my hearing issues, I could not understand a word he was saying. he had a very deep voice and an accent. I believe it was Louisiana(I think at least. I used to be able to tell what state people were from) . Instead of stopping and letting me explain to him that I was unable to understand a word he was saying, he simply talked over me. I finally handed the phone to my MIL and asked her to please talk to him. She tried to explain to him that I am deaf and was not able to understand him and he just talked over her as well. It was so frustrating. I am going to call the company Monday morning and talk to the department that is handling my loan stuff. There was no reason for this guy to not stop talking long enough to listen to what I had to say or for him to continue talking over my MIL. She told me later that all he was saying was There is no payment made, there is no payment made. She tried to explain the debit card issue to him and still all he could say was , there is no payment posted. When I call Monday, I am going to complain about his manner on the phone and ask that they find somewhere in my account to put in BIG letters that I am deaf and may not understand them on the phone.

    It is so frustrating when people can not just take half a minute to stop reading their scripts and be human beings and listen.

  • #2
    As someone who's going to be facing a student loan repayment in about a year and a half, you have my utmost sympathies. You are also nicer than I would be; if I'd tried to explain something to someone repeatedly, only to have them talk over me repeatedly, I'd have just hung up.

    Is there any way you can arrange to deal only with the nice lady you spoke with earlier?

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    • #3
      I have it arranged to deal with the Rehabilitation department. I do not think the man was calling from that specific department. I am the one who called and initiated the process to begin with since I wanted to get this started being paid back. As far as I know, they are not even supposed to call me unless I miss a month of making the payment. I plan to ask this too.

      I would love to be able to just speak with the lady that I did the other day, she had the most beautiful clear un-accented voice.

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      • #4
        I hated the ones who would call on my student loans. It was a happy day when I paid them off. I'm still looking for that $.63 cents miss Mae.

        What was comical was when someone called me four months after I made that payment and ripped into me for not paying as agreed and don't I know I'm being horrible for this. When I told her I had a excellent reason to stop making payments she said that she doubted it. The bitch didn't even say good bye when she refreshed my account and saw I was paid off.

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        • #5
          It's not just the student loan companies noted for pulling stunts like that.

          If you do business online, such as taking out a small loan, don't be surprised if you start getting phone calls out the ying yang for stuff you don't want.

          No, I don't want a car loan, nor am I planning to go back to school. No I'm not looking to go into childcare and I don't have a car, so don't call or email me with offering me an insurance quote.

          Had one persistent guy who kept calling my cell phone several times yesterday. I normally don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize (that's what the voicemail is set up for.) However, because I got 5 calls from this same number in one day and here it was calling for a 6th time, I went ahead and answered it.

          It was somebody who was talking so fast I couldn't make out what company they were calling from. All I could make out was something about a car loan.

          When I tried to politely explain that I'm not interested and to please stop calling, he kept talking right on like I wasn't even there.

          I HATE people who talk over me - I simply have no patience for them. So I finally yelled "STOP RIGHT THERE" and before I could tell this guy not to call anymore, he hung up.

          And had a second dude call on the landline yesterday who also kept talking fast. When I asked him to repeat what he just said, as I couldn't make out what he was saying, he hung up as well.

          Gee, is there something in my voice that says to these folks "Ooops, I better hang up before this one chews me up and spits me out?"
          Human Resources - the adult version of "I'm telling Mom." - Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (NCIS)

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          • #6
            To the OP: Can you tell them to call you through the relay service?

            I know we have at least 2 posters here who are, or were, relay operators; perhaps one of them can explain what would happen if the caller never stops yapping long enough for the called party to type in a word edgewise...

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            • #7
              Shalom : I don't actually use relay at this point. My ASL skills are not strong enough to follow the interpreters and I do not have access to a typed relay. I do use a captioned phone sometimes but these people tend to talk too fast for evening the captioning to keep up with them. I just usually have someone else get on the phone, tell them that if they want to talk to me, they will have to be slow and patient and that usually works.

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              • #8
                Shpepper, they have IP relay that is basically text messaging. http://www.ip-relay.com/ - I use this. No need to know ASL. It does require some form of IM capability or internet connection... I use my desktop and my phone's AIM messaging ability. So it depends on where you are. If you're stuck somewhere, yeah hand the phone to someone and have them translate/advise then hand back to you.

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                • #9
                  I am not sure if this company has access to something like that but I can ask for sure. It would make life much easier for me.

                  I usually try to make my calls at home where I have the caption phone and my dual ear headset. I even tried using a neck look that connects to my hearing aids, but the way my ha's are made, it does not work very well for the phone and i still have to be in a very quiet environment.

                  I do not have an update on this yet since I am just waiting for the new card to get here to call them. I figure one call rather than 2 or 3 is a better idea.

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                  • #10
                    Something took keep in mind if you have cell phone and the money for a new hearing aid.. blue tooth compatible ha. My dad got a pair because in large crowds, he can't make out what anyone is saying. Cellphone right to the ears, bypass the speaker!
                    If I make no sense, I apologize. I'm constantly interrupted by an actual toddler.

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                    • #11
                      I have those or something similar. That is what the neck loop does. But because i have Receiver in the canal hearing aids, I can not get ear molds that fit totally in the ear. There is just a tiny tip on the end and there is not enough volume for me to hear the phone people. if I had the option of solid ear molds, that would work for me.

                      Thanks for the idea though. I appreciate it.

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                      • #12
                        off topic but i'd never heard of caption phones before - wow those look neat!

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                        • #13
                          Caption phones are wonderful. As long as the other person is speaking clearly and does not have an accent. I figure mine gets the other parties words correct about 75 % of the time. Which is way better than 0 % of the time for the good old rotary phones.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Shpepper View Post
                            Caption phones are wonderful. As long as the other person is speaking clearly and does not have an accent. I figure mine gets the other parties words correct about 75 % of the time. Which is way better than 0 % of the time for the good old rotary phones.
                            Too cool. It's like half of a relay service - and your callers don't have to know anything about it for it to work.
                            Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys

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                            • #15
                              Exactly.. and I just received notice that they are making one that captions your side of the call as well so you can read both parts of the conversation. not sure what I think of that one, since I can usually remember what I said, but for some people it might be a good thing.

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