06.15.09 | Document Everything in Writing
We want it all, and we want it yesterday.
My Dad often talks about the “ME generation with contempt. Cell phones, emails, texts, and twitter status updates make him cringe. He looks back at his younger days with nostalgic eyes (just as we all do) and enjoys a simpler time. Heck, I’m 33 and have seen things change drastically over the past 16 years let alone the past 46 when my Dad was a teen. But as we bathe ourselves in this magnificent age of technology, it may just be an old fashion practice that saves our electronic butts one of these days.
If you’re having difficulty making your monthly student loan payment and are looking to either negotiate a more manageable payment schedule with your lender or see if you qualify for an income sensitive repayment plan it would be prudent to conduct all of your business in writing. Those records could prove to be invaluable down the road in the event the lender contests you. The automated services and second-rate customer service representatives are frustrating, and more importantly, undocumented. Having that written correspondence could serve to be the key to your case should it land on the desk of the Better Business Bureau.
You’ll also want to make copies of your payment stubs and the checks you send the lender with your account number listed along with instructions on how you want the payment applied (principal and interest). Yes, these measures are time consuming and even require some snail mailing but it is time well spent to protect yourself.
Don’t get me wrong I love the carousal of progress we are spinning on, but there is a time and place for each mode of communication.
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