Need a Student Loan? Next Student is Not the Place To Go

With rising tuition costs it's no wonder more and more students are taking out loans to get through college. Because students are dependent on the loans to continue education in many cases, the loan companies often discard the notion of customer service since they know you need them. Let me share the nightmare of my experience with Next Student, a private student loan company with a hip mantra - "College funding made simple".

I first applied for my loan at the beginning of May. After the hullabaloo of document gathering (which is standard don't get me wrong) and time spent waiting for reps to return my calls I had everything signed and sent in. It was May 12th at this point and I was eager to finalize everything since I was taking summer classes and tuition was due sooner than later. Weeks began to go by and my endless calling was answered by a placated voice on the other end telling me that there was nothing that could be done. The department was backed up.

I can understand things are busy, but after 3 weeks I still had no answer, only to be continually told the same thing over and over. Begging my school not to drop me from my classes at the same time I began to feel helpless in the battle to get my student loan. The sight of Next Student's logo infuriated me. "College funding made simple." Soon after I was told that the underwriters had a hard time reading my faxed documents -THREE WEEKS AFTER I SENT THEM - and that I would need to resend the documents to the general fax line and restart the underwriting process. I actually laughed out load I was so shocked.

Upset and perplexed, I worked my way up the ladder until I spoke with someone who had enough intelligence to make decisions on their own. We got the documents into the department without resending them and things were starting to look a bit progressive. I was assured by Next Student the check would be ready at latest June 2.

I am writing this today, on June 5th, frustrated and eager to share my experience because no one should have to go through the stress and frustration of what I have had to go through this last month. Since June 2nd I have left three voice mails, none of which have been returned, and am fearful that despite my efforts I will be dropped from my classes and have wasted the first half of the summer. This will also cause me not to graduate on time.

I hope when you look into private loan funding you look to a company who has a reputable customer service staff. Perhaps a company that still believes in delivering value to clients. That company is not Next Student.