Friday, August 28, 2009

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED - Sallie Mae mounting opposition against our movement!

Sallie Mae has come out with an aggressive ad campaign. They are claiming that American jobs are going to be lost as a result of reforming the lending industry. Funny thing is - Sallie Mae happily SHIPPED low-paying jobs to India and the Philippines when they had no concerns about being regulated. Read all about it in this Rolling Stone article.

They are posting ads like this and this across the U.S. Let's shift gears for a moment and write to Sallie Mae, and cc your representatives. Let Sallie Mae know that they aren't fooling anyone. If they had the chance to take these jobs offshore, as they have done, they would do it again. We, on the other hand, are saying NO! We are demanding that this industry (who has the second strongest lobbying groups behind that of defense contractors on the Hill!) be regulated.

So, far I have these email addresses for Sallie Mae:

Their concern for saving Delaware jobs - info@protectdelawarejobs.com
Their love for helping Floridians keep their low-paying jobs - info@protectfloridajobs.com

Here's my email to them:

Dear (Clever) Sallie Mae Marketers:

Wow, this new pitch is quite clever. However, it doesn't have me fooled. Here's my hunch too - I betcha there are thousands and thousands of others who aren't buying it. But I gotta hand it to you. Creating class conflict between your Delawarian employees (who probably make terrible wages) and us is quite smart! 

Oh, and please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ms. C. Cryn Johannsen, and I am a promotional writer and marketer for Mr. Applebaum's Forgive Student Loan Debt movement. (And so you are aware, our movement on Facebook is nearing
227,00 members!). I am also a blogger and am uncovering many stories about the corrupted and broken lending industry to which you obviously belong.

Today, I'm carrying out my own media campaign. Let's call it: contra Sallie Mae.

I've corrected your ad and let everyone know that it really should read: "Save low-paying SALLIE MAE jobs." I find it hard to understand that you feign to care so much about Delawarians. Is that really true? After all, when there wasn't any pressure on the student lending industry, Sallie Mae gladly sent jobs off-shore to India and the Philippines - that way, those already low-paying jobs in the U.S. got even lower. Bravo (Crickets chirping). Based upon your interest in making oodles of money for your company, you were smart in doing just that. But now that there's push for change and a new administration in office who takes issue with welfare subsidies to companies like your own, you're pulling out all the stops. I understand you're creating 2,000 jobs here in the good ol' U.S. of A.

I have news for you: people don't want call center jobs!

They deserve, instead, access to affordable higher education. Your industry has found a gold mine (bilking students), and as a result you have created a new class - the indentured educated class. But many of us refuse to believe that we are indentured servants. (After all, we did go to school and learned a few things).

Our movement represents a bright light of hope in a dark sewer of hell that you're company created. Our movement is based upon truth and transparency, and those are things Sallie Mae doesn't get. You, my friends, are the villains in this tale. Many, many people across this country are realizing that too. It's not a good time to have a dubious record - and your company certainly does. As you know, Americans are pretty tired of companies like Sallie Mae reaping all the benefits.

I look forward to spreading the truth about your company's mission.

Sincerely,


Ms. C. Cryn Johannsen

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whereas your passion for this topic is applauded, your ire is misdirected. It is not the loan companies that make the cost of education increase. Many students would have similar debt regardless if there were no Sallie Mae's or other private loan companies. Don't be fooled by the false savings that the government is promising on a 100% direct loan program. It is a game of government accounting
smoke and mirrors.

As a graduate of a school that currently participates in the direct loan program, I will tell you that my loan experience was a nightmare. When applying for a loan after the fall semester had started, I actually was told that it would be easier to drop out and re-enroll in the spring that to get a loan processed quickly. My repayment experience was even worse. Turning in deferment paperwork always had to be done multiple times.

If the recent Cash for Clunkers debacle (lasted 3 weeks instead of three months) or the unemployment check delivery system (I have a friend that filed six weeks ago and is still waiting for his first check) is any indication of a government run loan system. You might just get that loan check in time for second semester...

-Former Direct Loan School Student

Cryn Johannsen said...

Dear Anon,

I appreciate your remarks - thanks for posting.

Rest assured, Anon, I do not think that Sallie Mae is the sole problem. If you read earlier blogs I've posted, I think that the government AND the universities play a role in these problems. It's complex, so I wouldn't simply conclude that the problem is SOLELY related to Sallie Mae, Nelnet, etc.

I hope you continue to visit my blog and share your thoughts and disagree!

In peace,
Cryn

Senator1906 said...

The work you're doing here is INVALUABLE Cryn, keep up the fight on this issue. It's definitely one I'm passionate about. I've expressed my views to Sallie Mae. To be honest, I hope some day soon we can look forward to this companies death when we tackle the issue of college affordability! Keep up the good work and keep framing the debate!

Anonymous said...

Please keep up the fight!! There are two critical practices that Sallie Mae employs that is drowning student loan holders in a life-time of never-ending debt: The capitalization practice of compounding interest upon interest to an original loan upon graduation and the fact that SM bought Congress to change the laws that denies filing for bankruptcy on student loans. This must be unconstitutional.

The Burwoodian said...

Hey, Cryn--

LOVED the letter you wrote! Is there a chance you'll be able to put together a version of that we can use as a form letter to send to Sallie Mae, or at least a boilerplate to start from? If not, I'll try to remember to write my own tomorrow or Wednesday, but if you'r enot busy or anything (yes, I'm trying to be funny), maybe we could all send a mass message to S&M and cc media outlets telling them we don't buy their schpiel.

So get on that, wouldja?

Thanks--

Keith