After more than 75,000 people asked Sallie Mae to stop charging forbearance fees tounemployed college students via an online petition, theeducation-focused financial services company made a compromise.

Now, Sallie Mae student loan borrowers who suspend theirpayments won’t be required to pay forbearance fees until after theyresume regular payments, the company said. Previously, Sallie Maeasked borrowers for an immediate forbearance fee payment of $50 forevery three-month delayed payment time period, for a maximum of$150.

“We have been giving it careful consideration for some time, andwill now apply the good-faith payment to the customers’ balanceafter they resume a track record of on-time payments,” PatriciaChristel, spokesperson for Sallie Mae, said in an email to CreditUnion Times. “The change will be retroactive to private loanforbearances granted on or after Jan. 1.”

Sallie Mae is partnered with more than 500 credit unions, whichrefer members to the company’s student loans through its SmartOption Student Loan program.

The backlash against Sallie Mae’s forbearance policy began when23-year-old college graduate Stef Gray of Brooklyn, N.Y., launcheda campaign to fight the fee through the online advocacy platformChange.org. By Jan. 26, 50,000 people had signed her onlinepetition.

Gray argued that unemployed college graduates can’t afford thefee, and said since jobless federal student loan borrowers candefer payments with no penalty, Sallie Mae student loan borrowersshould be awarded the same leniency if they can’t find work. Shesaid she's been unemployed since graduating from college in May2011 and has since paid Sallie Mae $300 in late fees.

Sallie Mae initially stood by the fee when it learned of thecampaign. In a Jan. 27 statement issued to Credit UnionTimes, Christel explained the logic behind the fee.

“When customers ask for a concession to suspend requiredpayments, we in turn ask for a good-faith deposit that acknowledgesthe importance of and commitment to resuming payments in thefuture,” she said.

The company also pointed out that just 4% of its loans are inforbearance and that it encourages borrowers to choose a moreaffordable, modified repayment plan before resorting toforbearance.

“Oftentimes people who initially ask to postpone their paymentsfind other solutions because they realize that postponement ofpayments increases the amount of interest they will ultimatelypay,” Sallie Mae said in its Jan. 27 statement.

Gray responded to Sallie Mae’s defense of the fee by stating,“Sallie Mae’s characterization of this onerous fee as a ‘good-faithdeposit’ is simply unbelievable. When I pay a deposit on myapartment, I get my money back at the end of the lease. If thiswere a ‘deposit,’ borrowers would either get their fees back at theend of the forbearance or the money would be applied to the loan’sbalance. Neither of these is true.”

Gray hand-delivered her petition, with more than 75,000signatures, to a Sallie Mae representative on Feb. 2 in Washington.Later that day, the company announced its decision to update itsfee policy, but Gray said she’s unsatisfied with Sallie Mae’scompromise.

“I'm amazed that we've made this kind of progress against afinancial behemoth like Sallie Mae, but it's also clear that theiraction wasn't enough,” she wrote on her campaign’s home page. “Itdoes nothing to help borrowers like me who are in real financialtrouble. Sallie Mae isn't going to get rid of us by offering weakhalf-measures.”

Mike Long, executive vice president and chief credit officer forthe $1.3 billion, Madison, Wis.-based University of Wisconsin CU ,who is not involved with Gray’s campaign, said he does not expectthe negative press to have much effect on Sallie Mae’s credit unionpartners or other CUs that offer student loans.

“Since the vast majority of credit unions’ private studentlending portfolios are small, I suspect the impact from this news,either positive or negative, would be minimal,” Long said.

Long, who is also the executive vice president and chiefoperating officer for student loan CUSO CU Campus Resources, addedthat the differences between federal and private student loanbenefits make the two incomparable.

“Private lenders reserve the right to charge fees for serviceand it’s really not applicable in this case to compare private loanbenefits with federal loan benefits,” he said.

In an interview with Credit Union Times just prior to SallieMae’s forbearance fee policy change, Change.org Senior OrganizerWilliam Winters commented on the popularity of the campaign andsaid Gray “hoped for a victory.”

“The campaign clearly struck a nerve with the public, and itcontinues to drive discussions a lot of people are having aboutstudent loan debt,” Winters said. “Sallie Mae may be intransigentnow, but Verizon and Bank of America also seemed intransigentbefore they dropped their fees. Sallie Mae has a brand to protect,so they are quite vulnerable to public campaigns such as thisone.”