I just got in the mail a letter from some company called NCO Finacial Systems Inc. They say I owe over 4 grand for a student loan back in 1986 ?? I paid it at least as far as I remember, I might owe a few buks in intrest,I really do not remember, is there a law in California allowing me to deal with the Dept of Education directly, or if they sold this thing what is the best way to keep it off the CRA. It never seems to amaze me. I do my best, pay my bills and have been good for 7 - 10 years. In fact I also got a letter in the mail saying on one of my credit cards my limit has been increased.
VALIDATE!!!!! That's what I would suggest first and foremost. I would also call the dept of ed (or whoever the original loan was through) and see if you can get account statements for EVERY MONTH that the loan has existed. Do that separately than the validation. You can see exactly where the money you paid went to. Roni might have other suggestions. NCO is a bitch to deal with, so be forewarned. Good Luck!
Roni: Why do you feel that NCO is a bitch to deal with? I've had about a dozen incidents with them now and have beaten them every time with no problem at all. In fact, they claim my wife owes them an X.com account and they are so scared of my tactics that they won't even call or send any demands or anything else. They did for a while and then when I told them they were going to have to send her whatever they wanted to talk to her about by mail, they said they couldn't do that. They used to put one of their auto calling devices on our phone, and they made one call after I put my tele-zapper on my telephone line and I've never heard another peep out of them. I guess the telezapper did it's job.
That was me, not Roni. I said that because I was dealing with them for MY student loans, and they were a bitch to deal with. Just speaking from personal experience.
I can well understand where they would be able to stand their ground on student loans to a far greater extent than they seem able to do under other circumstances. They don't buy the student loan debts, and it seems to be that they have far more trouble with purchased debts.
NCO is a bitch to deal with. I didnt say it this time but I have said it before. They owned one of my defaulted student loans before consolidation. They were rude and called me non-stop. If you dont know your rights this collection agency will burn you.
Roni: I must agree with your statement completely when you say that if you don't know your rights they will burn you. Of course, that is likely to be true with just about any collection agency or for that matter in lots of other situations as well.
Mkmaximus, Sorry for the rederick here on creditnet. We are all guilty of it from time to time. Do you have any of your records from back then? If you paid it off, did you recieve a copy of the promissory note marked paid? Many times we forget how much we owe or we lose the paperwork on our loans. The school will also get their records messed up from time to time and they will forget to submit it to the loan processor. If you search your old bank records (they may be on microfilm at your institution if necessary) and come to the conclusion that you may actually owe the money, you can negotiate fees and penalties with the processor. Depending on what type of loan this is, you may be eligable for the William T Ford student loan rehablitation program. After finishing a series of payment they will delete any of the derogatory information and update your credit bureau status to positive standing. I would definately ask for validation as a previous poster indicated. NCO is a bunch of crooks and they are hardly trustworthy. You will want to call the US dept of education directly to confirm that you actually have a loan in default. This will show up on the National Data base.
Nope, I dont think so. I have heard of folks making an offer and comprimise for student loans (much like those with THE IRS)..
I can tell you from the experience that my husband and I had with NCO that they are sneaky liars. They had the husbands defaulted loans and told us that is we made 8 payment we would be rehabilitating our loans and all negatives would be removed from CRA and at the same time we could start the process of consolidating into one monthly payment for all student loans. At the time we were not educated on how the rehab. works and did not realize till it was to late that this was a load of crap. Nick's Mom
Nick's Mom, NCO did the same damn thing to me. the rep said that if wanted to rehab my loans it would cost $1200 up front ant over $600 a month...no exceptions. I called the guarantee agency for my state and they told me I should have asked them first. Too late. Class action, anyone?
There is an individual who posts here occasionally and works as a collector. I am almost positive he works for NCO because he will not answer direct questions concerning this company nor would he answer when I directly asked him if he worked for NCO. He has been good about answering questions about other collection agencies, but will not touch NCO. Perhaps he would like to comment? I agree with the posters above. Do not trust these people. In the past, I have posted my experiences with them. They claim to be part of Wells Fargo. Does anyone know if this is true?
Yes, they are a part of Wells Fargo and they are the sneakiest most underhanded bunch of collectors out there. They will lie, cheat and do what ever they deem fit to screw you. This is why I would never deal with them directly. I mentioned in my previous post that you should call the U.S. dept of ED for these matters. They will help you clear everything up and tell you all about loan rehablilitation. I should have made this more clear in my previous post. Let the US dept of Ed know of any wrong doing or lying on the part of any collector who misleads you. This is illegal..
