Sallie Mae Snapshot
Sallie Mae is one of the largest online private student lenders, offering borrowers competitive interest rates, a variety of repayment options, and a strong customer experience. Sallie Mae’s loan offering is available for a variety of programs such as undergraduate, graduate, MBA, law, medical, dental, and career training programs. Sallie Mae is best if you are seeking a more flexible repayment plan and competitive interest rates.
Fixed APR Range: 3.75% to 13.72%
Variable APR Range: 4.00% to 14.34%
Loan Amounts: $1,000 up to school-certified cost of attendance
Minimum Credit Score: Mid 600s
| Best Features | Drawbacks |
| • Strong customer experience • Competitive interest rates • Various repayment options • Allows a six-month grace period on undergraduate loans • Available to international, DACA, and part-time students • Cosigner release option after 12 months | • No biweekly student loan payments via autopay • Not able to see what you qualify for before formally applying |
What’s Inside
- Interest Rates, Fees, and Terms
- Eligibility Requirements – Financial
- Eligibility Requirements – Personal
- Repayment Options
- Customer Service
- FAQ
Best Features of Sallie Mae Student Loans
Strong customer experience
From loan application to disbursement (and beyond), Sallie Mae offers excellent customer service that is available through chat and phone.
Competitive interest rates
When looking for a student loan, finding a low interest rate is typically a top priority. If you qualify for a Sallie Mae student loan, you’ll have access to some of the best rates in the industry. In addition, you won’t have to pay any origination, application, or prepayment fees.
| Undergraduate | Graduate | MBA | Law | Medical | Dental | Career Training | |
| Fixed1 | 3.75% – 13.72% | 4.25% – 12.92% | 4.25% – 12.92% | 4.25% – 12.85% | 4.25% – 12.84% | 4.25% – 12.85% | 3.75% – 14.08% |
| Variable1 | 4.00% – 14.34% | 4.50% – 14.10% | 4.50% – 14.10% | 4.50% – 14.10% | 4.50% – 14.09% | 4.50% – 14.09% | 4.00% – 14.65% |
Various repayment options
Sallie Mae offers you four repayment options for your student loans, with terms ranging from 10-20 years. If possible, it’s beneficial to make in-school loan payments in order to reduce the amount of interest you pay over time.
| Repayment Option | Terms | Pros | Cons |
| Immediate Repayment | Make full payments as soon as the loan is disbursed, while you’re still in school. | You will minimize the interest you pay, resulting in the greatest savings. Because you’re paying down both interest and principal while you’re still in school, you’ll already have made a good start on repaying your loan by the time you graduate. | For many students, it’s not realistic to make full monthly payments while still enrolled in college. |
| Interest-Only Repayment | Pay only interest while you’re in school. | Your monthly payments will be more manageable, and your loan balance won’t grow while you’re in school. You will also get a 1% interest rate deduction for opting in to interest-only repayment. | You won’t make any progress paying down your loan balance while you’re a student. But at least you won’t owe more than you borrowed when it’s time to start making full payments. |
| Fixed Repayment | Pay $25 per month while you’re in school to reduce accrued interest. | You can keep your loan balance in check, and reduce the total amount repaid. You will also get a 0.5% interest rate deduction for opting in to fixed repayment. | You’ll still owe more than you borrowed when you graduate, but your loan balance won’t grow as quickly. |
| Deferred Repayment | Don’t make any payments while you’re in school. Begin repayment after your grace period ends. | You won’t have to make payments while you’re in school. | You will likely pay the highest overall cost since unpaid interest will be added to your principal amount at the end of your grace period. |
Allows a six-month grace period
After you are no longer in school at least half-time – because you’ve graduated, left school, or dropped below half-time enrollment – you have a grace period before you begin making full principal and interest monthly payments. The grace period is six months for Sallie Mae student loans.
Available to international, DACA, and part-time students
Sallie Mae offers student loans for a variety of academic programs, such as undergraduate, graduate, and career school programs. Unlike several other lenders, Sallie Mae student loans are also available for international students, DACA students, and part-time students.
International students: As long as you have a Social Security number and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident cosigner, you’re eligible to apply for a student loan through Sallie Mae.
DACA students: Unlike some other private lenders, Sallie Mae offers student loans to DACA borrowers with a citizen or resident cosigner.
Part-time students: While most private lenders require borrowers to be enrolled at least half-time, Sallie Mae makes its loans available to part-time (i.e. less than half-time) students seeking a degree at eligible schools.
Cosigner release option after 12 months
If you need a cosigner for your student loan, Sallie Mae might be a good option for you. Unlike several other lenders, Sallie Mae allows you to release your cosigner after 12 months of timely payments. This can be helpful if you want to build credit in your own name.
Drawbacks of Sallie Mae Student Loans
No biweekly student loan payments via autopay
When you repay your student loan, your payments are due monthly by default. Many borrowers use biweekly autopay, where you automatically pay half your monthly amount once every two weeks, in an effort to pay off their student debt faster and pay less in interest over the lifetime of the loan. Sallie Mae unfortunately does not offer biweekly autopay.
Not able to see what you qualify for before formally applying
When you submit a formal student loan application, you will undergo a hard credit inquiry, which can temporarily hurt your credit score. Because of this, many student lenders offer a prequalification process, which allows borrowers to see what rate they’d qualify for without hurting their credit. Unfortunately, Sallie Mae does not offer loan prequalification, which means that in order to see what you’d qualify for with Sallie Mae, you would have to submit a formal application and undergo a hard inquiry.
If you’d like to see what rates you qualify for at 15+ student lenders, without hurting your credit score, submit the Sparrow Application.
Sallie Mae: The Nuts and Bolts
Interest Rates, Fees, and Terms
| Fixed APR Range | 3.75% to 13.72% |
| Variable APR Range | 4.00% to 14.34% |
| Loan Terms | 10 to 20 years. |
| Loan Amounts | $1,000 up to the school-certified cost of attendance. |
| Application or Origination Fee | No. |
| Prepayment Penalty | No. |
| Late Fees | Yes, 5% of the past due amount if a payment has not been received within 15 days, however, the fee will not exceed $25. |
Eligibility Requirements – Financial
| Minimum Credit Score | Mid 600s. |
| Minimum Income | No income minimum. |
| Typical Credit Score of Approved Borrowers or Cosigners | 749. |
| Typical Income of Approved Borrower | Did not disclose. |
| Maximum Debt-to-Income Ratio | Did not disclose. |
| Ability to qualify if you’ve filed for bankruptcy | No. |
Eligibility Requirements – Personal
| Citizenship | Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, or a non-U.S. citizen with a creditworthy cosigner who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. DACA borrowers are eligible with a citizen or resident cosigner. |
| Location | Available to borrowers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. |
| Must be enrolled half-time or more | No. Sallie Mae student loans are available to part-time students (ie. less than half-time) as well. |
| School requirements | Borrowers must be enrolled in a degree-granting program at an eligible school. |
| Percentage of borrowers who have a cosigner | 80%. |
Repayment Options
| In-school Repayment Options | Immediate repayment: Make full payments as soon as the loan is disbursed, while you’re in school. Interest-only repayment: Make interest-only payments while in school and during the grace period. If you select interest-only repayment, your interest rate will be 1% lower than the deferred repayment option. Fixed repayment: Pay $25 a month during school and the grace period. If you select fixed repayment, your interest rate will be 0.5% lower than the deferred repayment option. Deferred repayment: Wait to make payments until you’re out of school. |
| Grace Period | 6 months. |
| In-school Deferment | Yes. Borrowers can request to defer payments if returning to school or going to graduate school, for up to 48 months. |
| Military Deferment | Yes. The borrower must contact the military customer service representative team for more information. Interest rates will be capped at 6% during eligible periods of military service. |
| Disability Deferment | Did not disclose. |
| Forbearance | Up to 12 months available, in 3-month increments. Borrowers must pay $50 per loan, with a maximum of $150 per account, to get forbearance. |
| Cosigner Release | Yes, after 12 months of on-time payments. |
| Death or Disability Discharge | Yes, if the borrower dies or suffers a permanent disability, Sallie Mae will waive all remaining payments on the loan. |
| Loan discharge if cosigner dies or becomes disabled | No. |
| Autopay | Allows for surplus payments via autopay: Yes. Allows for biweekly payments via autopay: No. |
Customer Service
| Loan Servicer | Sallie Mae. |
| In-house Customer Service Team | Yes. |
| Process for Escalating Concerns | Yes. |
| Borrowers get assigned a personal customer service representative | No. |
| Average time from application to approval | 15 minutes. |
Before you take out a loan from Sallie Mae…
Complete the Sparrow application to compare real rates from more than 15 different lenders to make sure you’re getting the best rate possible.
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FAQ
Is Sallie Mae a legitimate lender?
Yes, Sallie Mae is a legitimate lender that has been providing student loans since the late 90s.
Is Sallie Mae available in all 50 states?
Yes.
How long does it take to get a Sallie Mae student loan?
Submitting an application through Sallie Mae takes a few minutes. Once you’ve submitted your loan application, Sallie Mae will instantaneously return a decision about your eligibility. If you qualify, you will receive the rate and terms of your loan.
It may take some time to actually receive your loan. First, you must go through Sallie Mae’s loan certification process. Then, your school must approve the loan which may take between four to six weeks.
What happens if I don’t qualify for a Sallie Mae student loan?
If you don’t qualify for a Sallie Mae student loan, the company will inform you why. Depending on the reason, you may consider applying with a qualified cosigner or trying with a different lender. To check your rates across multiple lenders at once, try using Sparrow’s free search engine. In just two minutes, you can receive real, personalized offers from over 15 different lenders ready to help you. And best of all, it won’t impact your credit score.
Are Sallie Mae student loans federal or private?
Sallie Mae loans are private loans. Before you take on a private loan, we recommend that you exhaust your federal loan options.
Does applying for a loan through Sallie Mae hurt my credit score?
Sallie Mae does not have a custom prequalification process. Typically, prequalifying for a student loan includes a soft credit check, which does not affect your credit score. Thus, if you apply for a loan with Sallie Mae, a hard credit check will be done, which could temporarily hurt your credit score.
See Sallie Mae’s disclosures here.
*All rates include 0.25% AutoPay Discount, which requires you to agree to make your scheduled monthly payments by an automatic monthly deduction (ACH) from a valid bank account.