LPT: You're 26 and you want to go to college: don't buy your student loans from anyone but Sallie Mae

I was a college dropout in the early 2000's. I was living in California at the time and was told that I had to pay $57k in loans from Bank of America. I decided I would buy out my loans for $18k. I found a company in Arizona and was told they would buy the loans and I would receive a lump sum of $18k. They told me that this was the only way to get out from under the loan and that Bank of America would never release me from it. It was 6 months of back and forth with them. They took the money from my bank account and I received the "release of debt" document. I sent it to Bank of America and they said it was fake. So, I ended up paying $57k. 3 years later I receive a letter from a lawyer in California that was suing Bank of America for something else and said he was suing them for the $57k that they had told me I had to pay as a college dropout. He won the lawsuit and contacted me. I ended up paying $10k to his law office to get my money back. So, if you live in the US and you want to buy out your loans, don't buy it from any company. Go to a Sallie Mae office in person. I just helped a 26 year old with a 6 figure debt from loans and I told her to go to the Sallie Mae office in person. She just left there with a release of debt.