education loan shenanigans

I have a Sallie Mae education loan. It's in forbearance. Sallie Mae keeps sending me mail that says, (IN ALL CAPS) "PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY REGARDING YOUR FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS AND YOUR FORBEARANCE DEADLINE. CALL TOLL-FREE AT 1-866-439-0985."

I call this number and surprise, it's Sallie Mae's consolidation line. Of course, I am greeted by a recorded message, and I press 1 for English and am given 3 options, none of which mentions the word "forbearance." Instead, I can apply for a student loan consolidation or check up on a consolidation loan or application for one. This mail purposely gives the impression that I need to take some action or my forbearance is up; instead, they're doing a little bit of social engineering, trying to make it look as though I need to consolidate.

I am not even going to bother to look up whether the law has changed. When I last checked, a couple of years ago, consolidation loans were not eligible for any type of forbearance whatever. If you have no job, if you are unemployable, if you have disabled dependent children or are in the hospital with a dread disease, it will not matter; you will have to start paying your loan right away, and if you default, too frigging bad. So, if Sallie Mae can trick me into consolidating my student loans, I will lose my forbearance status. Slick.

I wonder how much of a bonus the executive who thought this up got.