Managing federal student loan debt is complicated enough.

But as many people have learned the hard way, navigating the world of private student loan debt can be quite a bit worse.

Particularly if we’re talking about Sallie Mae private student loans.

The good news is I’ve had multiple clients successfully lower their monthly payments, as well as their interest rates, for their Sallie Mae private student loans.

They have far more authority to help than the typical customer service person.

Fred had missed months worth of payments and had a back due balance of thousands.

The process is definitely not easy, but it does seem to work for those who persevere.

If you’re one of the unlucky college graduates dealing with Sallie Mae’s nonsense, there may be some degree of hope.

[Back to top] Applying for consolidation takes most borrowers less than 30 minutes, according to the Federal Student Aid website.If you are like me, you’ve had some disappointing phone calls with your private loan lender when you tried to get some assistance making your payment.Fortunately, if you know exactly who to talk to and exactly what to ask for, you can get Sallie Mae (and other private lenders) to lower your monthly payments and your interest rate.So, for instance: If the average comes to 6.15%, your new interest rate will be 6.25%.Additionally, you’ll get a new loan term ranging from 10 to 30 years.