Guys, Any help of input is appreciated: I had a student loan. (only one ever in my life) That's the easiest part of this... The Prelude: -Change address with CRA's -Assigned CA contacted me about this Student loan debt -Replied with DV letter and let them know there is ANOTHER collector claim this debt. CMMR. -Assigned CA violated by sending me another bill which also mentioned wage garnishments -Assigned CA also then sent, Loan application (does not list an amount or shows i was approved), and a statement (from their own records) showing i owe $XXX (very small amount) for a student loan. - Responded in a 3 part letter (i'm impatient!) (1) You violated FDCPA & FCRA (2)The documents you provided does not provided proof of any amount agreed too nor approved for & obviously no one would apply for a $XXX student loan! none of this meets the FDCPA requirements (3) Settle for 85% and delete from my CR or face legal action. CA was intimidated and sent the account back to the assigner. *Problems:* -The "OC" first agreed to 85% but only to mark the account as "settled in full". They stated they are required to do that per FCR 682.410 (b)(5) . -I declined and stated the FCR said they "shall" place it on my CR, then that they "may" continue to report it, but never in the FRC does it state they cannot delete it. -I reminded them of the weak documents and again requested PFD settlement or provide me with solid proof showing they are the right person to collect (remember there is another CA claim my student loan) - they replied that they are student loan guarantors and hence not subject to the FDCPA (which is the first time they mentioned this! - they also stated the are reporting the account as a collection account and have provided the requested documents (not what i requested at all!). -They are stating they are not obligated to respond to further requests for validation. so now i'm like WTF! I just told them i have another collector attempting to collect this same debt. they send me a weak application and internal records. I mentioned this is not enough and not what the FDCPA requires and they respond "go kick rocks, we are special and don't have to follow the FDCPA" ........ whoa whoa whoa i'm sure there are mobsters that would love to have that sort of deal. "let send bills to everyone and because we are "guarantor" there's nothing they can do..." Well i'm sure there is something. so i must ask. Where do i begin my search. what laws are they bound by? the FRC it seemingly onesided (their side) ... when i look up HEA i get info from 2008 showing amendments to the 1965 act... i need a point of reference.. I will not pay them a dime even if it is just $XXX until they understand i'm asking for reasonable things here. I'll keep searching and report back here. But every time i get stuck creditnet has always come through with an idea or 2
Guarantor would either be the U.S. Department of Education, or your state student loan administration (if there is one). If they aren't that, chances are they aren't a guarantor... Now, if it is the U.S. DoEd, it gets stickier, because they will claim constitutional immunity to litigation under the FCRA (and the FDCPA wouldn't apply, because the government is specifically listed as exempt from the FDCPA.)
There were a lot of cases when i looked up this collector that is claiming to be a guaranty agency, Where they won cases in which they claimed immunity from the FDCPA because of “incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6)(F)(i). jam237, I want you to be right but some how my google searches are all pointing complete immunity for them to do whatever they want. Which isn't right, I'll keep digging and report back.
I would be interested in seeing that case law, as I experienced a similar problem. The collection agency's initials begins with "G", and they were harrassing me nonstop. Plus they kept sending "employment verification" faxes to my employer. I sent them a DV which included a cease and desist. It is my understanding that - although they are collecting for student loans - state and federal collection laws still apply to their activities. **I also filed a complaint with my state AG and included a copy with the DV. I was also fortunate because my employer was understanding and sent them a certified letter stating they were disrupting business activities, as employees were not permitted to have personal calls. Important: If it is a federally backed loan there is no SOL, it will never go away until it is paid. It appears the collector validated when they send the application. There is no clear stipulation in the FDCPA on what constitutes "validation". Also, to garnish your wages, all they have to do is send the notice letter to your employer; no court hearing is required. If it is a federally backed loan, I would try to rehab it through the Department of Education's ombudsman. That's what I did, and the amount was about 3,000 less than what the collector was trying to get me to pay.
One thing that happens is that even well-informed consumers aren't expecting the answer that says that "We're immune from the law", and if they don't know how to counter that objection, they're going to lose... Or it'll be a case that they would have to pursue all the way to the Supreme Court to get it resolved... Kam: If you pvt me there name, I can do a bit of research... Now, let's look at the FDCPA Commentary by the FTC.
Kparker , in revealing that case to you it would show exactly who i'm dealing with adn i can't risk that right now... Basically, A person sued a CA stating the exact situation i described above. The courts ruled in this order that: At First, In favor of the CA based on the fact that the CA was collecting a Student loan therefore immune to the FDCPA. according to “incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6)(F)(i). -It was appealed and reversed, reason being that the Collector was NOT actually a Guaranty Agency per say but was acting on behalf of A Guaranty Agency that held the loan. Hence they are not directly involved (read as: NOT having a bona fide "obligation"). The Guaranty agency that hired them is the one held directly responsible to the Government (DOE) for doing any and everything possible to collect on this loan, the collector was not held directly by the DOE. Hence if their job was to collect FOR the Guaranty agency the Courts ruled that the are in fact held accountable to the FDCPA....
- Good news right? .... NOT exactly! There are many other cases with THIS SAME Collection agency where they won; claiming that in a "broader scope of things" because they are collecting a student loan they have the same responsibility to the DOE and hence granted the same powers.... Judges have been in agreement several times. and these are the winning cases they listed to me in a response letter as proof they can "never" violate FDCPA.... To make it more complicated; This collection agency is NOW listed as a Guaranty Agency for the DOE, so if they are in fact appointed directly by the DOE and are in fact my guaranty agency they actually would have a solid defense. =( Problem: So i have a huge problem here and that is finding out if they are in ownership or just a collector (as they do both!) because like i said i have only ever had 1 student loan and 2 different completely unrelated CA's are on my report with DRASTICALLy different amounts due. This CA/guaranty agency is the only one responding the other is ignoring (on my 3rd DV letter). Now the problematic CA is saying i am stuck with the weak documents they sent as proof and they don't have to validate anything more. So because they are "registered as a guaranty agency with DOE" they can apparently take a box of crayons and draw a bill and state i owe $10 trazillion dollars! because they found a 1 page application for a loan i made with SOMEONE ELSE 11 years ago.... i'm just baffled as to why they can't see why my request makes sense!... Like i said Mobsters would love this job.. I would like to use Spears vs Brennan for the "application" but it is not "just/only a contract being presented" it is accompanied by a statement .... THAT statement is from the CA's own internal records and for that i would argue with the FTC opinion letter to Mr. Jeffery S Wollman... HOWEVER these are all FDCPA related arguments right?... so again... I AM STUCK! - SO i plead , if ANY of you have ever had success with getting a student loan CA to PFD or PFND, I'm all ears! Oh, and Jam i'll PM you.
I was able to send a DV/Cease and Desist to get the job harassment to stop. I immediately negotiated with the DOE for a payment plan I could afford. The refi may cost more in the long run, but it allows me to pay the loan off with payments I can handle. I tried for months to negotiate with the CA regarding my loan, and first they wanted a $1000 deposit just to set up a payment plan. The debt amount I owed kept changing. I would say negotiate with an ombudsman at the DOE. You'll find out the actual contractual amount you owe, as the CA generally tacks on their collection fees.
The amount is so Small with this CA i doubt i can be qualified for a rehab as 1% of the loan balance as a minimum payment would be worth less that the cost of the printing paper and stamp to process it. HOWEVER the amount the other creditor is listing is for thousands more. I have this Erie feeling that if i pay that small amount i'll still be hit with the large or another amount later AND/OR all i will be able to do is have is 2 negs for the same account marked as Paid collection.. NOT what i want...
The second agency that listed the account on my report for FAR more, sent me a letter stating they will Remove the account because they can not validate it. Checked my Equifax and the account is gone .. whoooohoooo... BUT sadly even removing a negative account worth thousands did not improve my score but it actually it dropped 2 points... Called Equifax and they pretend like the account never existed and said "the Data Furnisher has to tell us to delete an account" and they claim they never got a notification to delete anything, which i pointed out is not true at all because the last report on my account shows it did exist just 26 days ago adn the subsequent 4 other credit report pulls i did since OCT 2012!... The Manager clearly seeing this STILL kept repeating the same thing. i seriously can't be how annoying dealting with this account is.... GRRRRR!
They'll tell you it never existed, because it's too much trouble to admit that it did exist, and accept the liability for reporting something that the DF has now put into writing that could never be verified as required by the FCRA.
okay.... BUT What about my D**M score!!! lol it was lower because of this negative mark, now that it "doesn't exist" how come my score does not go up. That really does not seem fair.. Also if anyone can make sense of this; I never went over 30% usage on my new cap1 card, paid on time and now they raise my credit limit. yet, also no change in my score... A negative item remove and a credit line increase and my scores goes down .. i'm SOOOO confused.!
Sometimes the age of the 'negative' account has a higher 'positive' than the 'negative' account information.
Jam you totally lost me there. The account that vanished was mark in the "negative account" area on my report. for $1800 ish.. as stated above no payments were made it was all bad. i don't see how it could be "more positive" then negative" .. Called EQ, 3 times, same answer, it's like they are trained to say the EXACT same thing: " There is no account showing now, we never got a request to delete anything either. I see the account was there before but it's not there now and that just means they just choose not to report it on the last cycle. Since no request was made to delete this account you need to contact them not us...." I told him i had a letter from them stating they will delete: all Eq offered was for me to send in the copy of the letter, ID, social, Account number, amount owed and officialy request the item to be deleted" ..... Is That ^^^ normal to get the account deleted and properly raise your score again??? BTW i'm waiting for my PIN to come in the mail so i can log in the national student loan website to see if the OC claiming to be my guarantor really is... i'll update my progress as it follows.
Age can be a more of a positive factor than the negative factors for the account. Think of it this way, if there is an account that is 6 1/2 years old, and your other accounts which are positive are 0 months old, when the older negative account falls off, your credit file's age drops to 6 months. No, if the account isn't on your report, it shouldn't negatively impact your score.
Sorry for the long wait guys. VERY busy lately. So a few developments. My score this month from Equifax is still down 2 points and this is even after Cap1 raise my CL from $300 to $500 (i thought that could be a positive 1 pointer.. but nooo) As for this CA that's left. They had sent a letter stating they are done "validating" I got my pin and i looked into the https://www.nslds.ed.gov website. They are in fact the Guaranty Agency. =*( But now i found out that the loan balance was garnished from my previous job through contacting the O.C. (who was actually helpful!) - i worked in a commission based job and had Directed deposit and E-paystubs. I was young, dumb and never really noticed the small amount taken or bothered to check for it.... - How do i know what the real balance is and if what they are saying is correct if they won't send me a detailed bill when i asked for it in the DV letters? - If it's legit (which i'm now assuming it might be) how can i go about getting it deleted. I'm worried if i pay this small thing off it will reset the clock and stay on my CR for 7 more years. Right now it is on my report until 2016. I know Student loan has no SOL but should i delay and wait until 2016 it falls off then pay or just pay it now and be done? I want to be done soon because they already sent another CA after me with a dunning notice! i don't want to have to keep paying $6 a pop to CMRRR every CA they hire from now until 2016... Whats the best you think i can get to my goal of having this removed from my CR?
I would say negotiate with an ombudsman at the DOE. You'll find out the actual contractual amount you owe, as the CA generally tacks on their collection fees.
Paying off a delinquent account will not 'reset the clock'. This will only occur if for example, you went delinquent in Jan 2011 and started a good payment history say, two months later AND THEN once again went delinquent in Jan 2012; THEN the 'clock' would restart with the 2012 date.
Mindcrime, I'm not to sure about this, i've read enough times that ANY payment or partial payment will update the date of last activity. I don't think it matters if it is a pay off or not.. This from this forum and over at CB. I think i will look into asking the ombudsman to find out the true amount owed or to get me a detailed billing to view any suspicious fees, although i'm sure any collection fees would have been approved via the DOE as they have a strict relationship with the guaranty agency... or so i hear... It looks i might have to pay whcih i don't mind. whats the best approach to getting this off my report though??
