Please forgive me if this has been addressed, but I have used the search feature and can't really find a definitive answer to these questions. I probably missed it. Like many on this board, I am getting my finances in order after finally getting "on track" financially. I had a BK7 and then a few years of hardship immediately following that as well. But for the past coupla-three years, I have been rebuilding my credit, and I am now working to clean my credit reports. ****I've been trying to get my student loan stuff in order, but I have some issues I want to address with it first. 1) Was GLHEC required to get a judgment to garnish my wages? My wages have been garnished for my student loans for the past three years. All I received was something from my employer (which I kinda knew was coming) saying they would be taking 10% of my after-tax income every paycheck. (They wanted 25%, but I told them I would quit my job and collect welfare if they did that.) At the time, all I felt was relief, because it meant one less creditor I had to deal with on the phone and at least they were getting their money, so maybe they'd shut up. I really was totally unaware of what it was doing to my credit reports (the least of my worries at the time). 2) Should GLHEC have been required to notify me when they transferred my account to OSI 1.5 yrs ago? I have received no statement of my account from either place. The only "record" I have of my balance is from my credit reports. There are three completely different balances and reports of status on each of the three reports. Disputing each just makes them come back verified...not fixed to something resembling the same amount. 3) Does GLHEC OR OSI fall under the FDCPA? The people who answer the phones seem to feel that they don't. Is there someone I should be calling? Anyone have a good contact number? 4) If they do fall under the FDCPA, who should be providing me an accounting for all the payments I have made, interest accrued, etc? I have e-mailed both, and faxed OSI with requests. No response, although I have sent out one request per month for the past 3 months. Funny, but when I e-mailed and faxed 'em back in November for a request to rehabilitate this loan, they called me back pretty darn quick. (I decided not to rehab yet, since the amount they are asking for is almost $100 more per month than the amount being garnished. I'm waiting until my debt load goes down some at the end of the year.) ***Sorry this is so long, but if any of you who have been through the student loan wringer can help me, I sure would appreciate it. Even advice on my next step would help.
I'd like to answer your questions, but feel that I can only direct you to the Higher Education Act. A hefty paperweight, that's chock full of SL information. Higher Education Act You need Adobe Acrobat to view it.
no judgement necessary to collect federal student loans. they can garnish your wages without it. Yes, ytou should have been notified if the account was transferred. You may have to validate and get accounting for both. my question, why did you let them garnish you for so long, usually after 3/;6 months you can consolidate. after 1 year, rehab>.. please post answers, we will see if we can help!
Thank you for those answers, uniondiva! Sorry, Erica, but I when I searched through the info you sent, there were still no clear answers to what I asked. But thank you anway. Why did I let them garnish me so long? Well...at the time, I was dealing with the child support system and my children's deadbeat dad. It was a case of "too many things on my plate" for me to go back and deal with the collections people at that time. Also it wasn't until this year that I realized one could go back and rehab (I had already consolidated back in 1991). The collections people told me at the time that once they began garnishing, it would NEVER stop. But again, I never received anything in writing, no notification of my right to a hearing...nothing. I'm really not sure when OSI took over for GLHEC. GLHEC were the ones who told me they were garnishing. According to their website, OSI handles the collections "now," but there is no date listed on the site for when this went into effect.
