Tue Nov 21, 2006
I recently received a letter from the provincial government telling me that I was disqualified from receiving a student loan. You can imagine the horror this letter inspired at this point in the semester. Anyway, sleepless nights aside, I called up the Student Loan centre today and I spoke to a robotic young lady called Angelina. She told me that I was in good standing and that I should call the CIBC student loan centre to see if the restriction originated from there. So, she gave me the number and I called up CIBC, and guess who took the call? Angelina! So, I asked if we had not been speaking a moment ago and she mumbled something noncommittal and proceeded to give me the same drill we had just gone through. You know the one: has your address changed recently, has your phone number changed, etc, etc. I felt like protesting that we already had gone through this rigmarole a few minutes ago, but she wasn’t having it. So, Angelina told me that there are no problems at CIBC. So I said “So, there are no restrictions on Canada Student loans and CIBC loans?” Then she said “CIBC is ok, but I don’t know about Canada Student loans, you would have to call them.”
I just called them, and I talked to you there! Yes you! Angelina the robot girl. If the government student loan division and the CIBC student loan centre are the same entity, why do I have to waste money on postage stamps to two different addresses? Everyone knows government institutions don’t communicate with each other, but did you know government employees are prohibited from communicating with themselves? What a schizophrenic bunch.
We were told that CIBC was taking over loans negotiated before 2000, but guess what people. It’s the same damn bureaucratic department, they just don’t want you to know about it. Think you’re dealing with the bank?
Think again.