Another Thousand Down, But Where Did My $4,300 Go?

No time for celebration today, folks. Yes, it’s great that I’ve dropped my student loan debt by another thousand bucks so it now rests at about $73 thousand. That’s a great accomplishment and I don’t want to overlook how great it is to keep this strict repayment plan in place. I’m proud of myself, etc, etc.

However, I’m irate at the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (NJHESAA). I sent the thousand dollar check to NJHESAA on Monday, October 18th; the check was applied to my account on Wednesday, October 27th. That is completely unacceptable. Even if I account for two days in transit from my mailbox to NJHESAA’s mailbox, it is absolutely unfathomable that it takes them a week to process a payment. The NJHESAA ought to be completely ashamed of itself.

But it gets worse.

One day after I sent that check, I sent a second check to NJHESAA. That’s right, folks. On Tuesday, October 19th, I sent a $4,300 check to NJHESAA that has not yet been applied to my account. Let me repeat that in different terms. I sent a gigantic check to NJHESAA TWO WEEKS AGO that they have not processed yet.

Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable.

At this point, I really should file some type of Better Business Bureau complaint against NJHESAA. What excuse could these people have for sitting on my check? Could the check be lost in the mail? Sure. Is it more likely that the check is lost somewhere in the creepy, disgusting NJHESAA system? Absolutely. And what bothers me even more is that I’m getting ready to cash out another few thousand dollars from my investment portfolio so I can apply the funds to this account. But what is going to happen? Am I going to send a $10,000 check only to have it sit on some desk in someone’s office for a month? Unacceptable.

NJHESAA is the worst financial institution that I’ve ever interacted with in my life – and I used to bank at TD Bank! Given my previous, gross experiences with NJHESAA, I can only imagine that they are holding my check in order to generate more interest on this loan. In short, NJHESAA is a disgrace.

In May 2006, I graduated from Rutgers University with a Masters Degree and $120,720 in student loan debt. I currently owe $73 thousand, which breaks down to $18.9 thousand owed to the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority and $54.5 thousand owed to the United States Department of Education. Follow my student loan repayment story on JerseySmarts.com.