I've Exhausted All My Private Student Loan Options

After this week's stint of futilely trying to explain to my student loan lender that I paid them everything I owe them, I've finally resigned myself to the fact that I need to suck up whatever customer service and interest rate issues are at hand for a little while. I figure there has got to be some sort of resolution to the issues that people such as myself are having trying to pay back their student loans at high interest while also trying to buy homes, cars, more education, etc...

I called a credit counseling company that was mentioned on NBC. I won't put their link on here because they weren't helpful and I'm going to try and refrain from giving companies any undue good PR unless they want to pay me for it. The company I called is the largest in America when it comes to renegotiating credit card debt and bank loans. My grandfather suggested I give them a call and see what they think about student loans.

The gentleman I spoke with on the phone was stumped. He said that even though private student loans are lent by private banks, they are still backed and protected by federal law which keeps third parties from negotiating interest rates and repayment terms. Essentially, private student loan companies that make big bucks off of my loan get essentially the same protection that Stafford and Perkins loans do, with none of the interest rate restrictions and less than half of the repayment options. The phone call ended with the associate wishing me good luck and saying there's nothing anyone can do for me under the current laws.

Encouraging, no?

On a whim I applied for a pre-approved private student loan refinance and as I had suspected would happen; I got rejected without a co-signor. I have fair to good credit, but not enough to even get my foot in the door to negotiate a lower rate without dragging a co-signor into this mess. What a joke.

So, I look to the federal government to smarten up and help people such as myself out. These banks have padded their pockets enough with my overly high interest rates. The ROI on my education has been null because of this.

I feel like I've hit a dead end with this. Has anyone had any success in this arena? I am always curious to hear input on other people struggling to fight the "man."