Back in May and June, I began the process of consolidating my considerable student loan debt. I wanted to only write one check per month and needed to spread out my payments a bit so I wouldn't be financailly overwhelmed as I started my new job. Due to some confusion on my part and some incomplete instructions on the part of lenders, I actually submitted two different consolidation requests to two different companies. That doesn't work. Thus, I had to cancel one of the consolidation requests. I thought it was all taken care of until this week, when I recieved a statement from Company 1 saying I owed them $20,000. This is after I had made two payments to Company 2 on the $30,000 student loan debt they consolidated for me. That $30K included the $20K from Company 1, so I should not owe Company 1 any money, as I canceled my consolidation request back in June. I called Company 1 today to try and explain what was going on. I only succeeded in confusing the poor girl on the phone who said she would have her supervisor call me back. Well, no call back.

So, I am going to try again tomorrow. This is not at all what I need to be dealing with right now, as I have to get ready for the semester and have lots of meetings this week. I am not sure what my ultimate recourse could be. I shouldn't owe Company 1 any money. The total amount owed to Company 2 represents my total debt (aside from the money I own Furman directly. I didn't consolidate that since it's a quarterly payment and a fixed rate).

Of course, all this is really Congress and the President's fault, since their tinkering with the Higher Education Act increased student loan interest rates significantly, thus leading to my frantic desire to consolidate before rates jumped July 1.