More than 50,000 people throughout the country are participating in a Change.org campaign to encourage Sallie Mae to stop charging jobless borrowers a $50 fee for forbearance on their student loans.
According to the campaign, if a borrower can't pay the extra fee, he or she is put into default.
Stef Gray, a recent college graduate, took out private student loans through Sallie Mae and is organizing the campaign after she was charged hit with the fee when she asked for a forbearance.
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"What Sallie Mae is doing is wrong," Gray says. "My loan already grows by more than $1,000 in interest every three months when it's in forbearance, and I pay almost 10 percent in interest because my parents weren't alive to cosign my loans. For Sallie Mae to tack on these extra fees just to pad their profits is to kick people like me when we're already down. Charging a forbearance fee is wrong, and more than 50,000 people who agree are standing with me."
Change.org expects the online petition to place added pressure on Sallie Mae, which is actively trying to build its private student loan business. Gray plans to launch more campaigns against Sallie Mae, one of which being a social media movement.
"What Stef has accomplished in just a few weeks is remarkable," says William Winters, senior organizer for Change.org. "She's obviously tapped into an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about, especially with student debt rising steadily amid high unemployment among college grads. Change.org is about empowering ordinary people to take action on issues that matter to them, and it's been incredible watching Stef's campaign take off."
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