“Dear Steve,
I tweeted your account on twitter also. My wife and I have a good amount of student loan debt. She registered with a site she found online “studentloanservice.us” they are associated with “COASTALCREDITSOLUTIONS.COM” I cannot find any information about them. She gave them all of our banking information and they are set to charge our account on friday.
What steps can I take to see if they are a real company and what do I do if they are not?
Michael”
Dear Michael,
I’m not clear on what you mean by a real company.
My concern is twofold. First, I want to make sure you understand you can consolidate your federal student loans for free through the Department of Education website. You can also enroll the consolidated loan in a reduced payment plan for no charge as well.
Second, I’d be interested in reviewing the client agreement for you from the terribly generic named Student Loan Service company that they sent you. You can upload it to me here.
You might want to read Student Loan Assistance Rescue Scams On the Rise – Buyer Beware and the article I wrote about Student Loan Service.
I would recommend that anyone considering using such a company should read the following fee guides.
- The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Checking Out a Debt Relief Company Before You Sign On the Line
- 10 Must Do Steps to Find the Best Credit Counseling or Debt Settlement Company for You
- How to Check Out a Business or Company to Avoid Getting Scammed or Ripped Off
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
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A friend referred me to this company. I was looking forward to getting in touch with them, but after reading all of this, I am nervous. Are there any positive stories out there about student loan services us? I have tried several times to complete the free app through the department of ed, however, the expected payments at the end of the app are more than what I make! The online calculator that is on the department of education website (that you can use before filling out the consolidation app) gave me extremely low payments. Like I said before, I then filled out the app, using the same info, and the projected payments were through the roof. I don’t know what to do!
Hello Margie,
All of these complaints are valid to a point. Understand that everything student loan service.us offers you can 100% do yourself for free. This means you are going to be doing it on your own, or at the discretion of the lean servicers. The Fedloans, Great Lakes, Salliemae, etc.. of the world. Which also happen to be private companies.
Now it does sound like who ever explained the beneifits did a very poor job and/or there was major miscommunication.
Student loan service.us will do all of the work for you and even handle the upkeep and renewal of your loan (this means you do not have to call the servicer, or wait on hold with FAFSA of the Department of Education), but you are going to pay for it.
I would not say they are a scam, people tend to throw that word around a lot on this site. They provided a service (that anyone can do on their own for free) that if you want it done for you, you will pay for it.
There seems to be an issue with enrollment reps explaining benefits and fees poorly, but in the end they offer a 100% money back guarantee, so its is going to get done.
Just understand that if you want to do it at no cost – you will have to do jit on your own. The government is NOT going to do it for you and either with your servicer. If their was a way for them to do it for you, trust me they would charge a fee as well.
Hope this helps
STUDENTLOANSERVICES.US ARE SCAM ARTISTS!!!! I just found out today which was not voiced to me correctly in the initial call that this “processing fee” they asked me to pay of $540 for my loans to be forgiven after 240 months is false. Also, I was told that I was eligible for $49 monthly payments or 240 months and as stated, all else will be forgiven due to the processing fee. HOWEVER, now I have been told they are a third party company (like filing your taxes with H&R Block versus online for free) and the $540 was an entrance fee to join their company, and the $49 a month is a service fee to “keep my loans as low as possible for 240 months, and at the moment my loans are $0.” See where the wording is tricky? I was never told the $49 a month was a service fee I was just told that was the payments I were eligible for. Since I thought we were talking strictly about my loans it was interpreted that these were for my loan payments. And of course, Reid Zalkin no longer works there So I’ve lost out on money to this company for absolutely no reason, and none of it has gone toward my loans. I was already eligible through Great Lakes for pay as you earn income, being $0 through my school. The confusion started when I sent a consolidation application through my school and I was told I would be contacted about payment plans in a few days. UNFORTUNATELY, STUDENT LOANS SERVICES WAS THE FIRST TO CONTACT ME, starting the confusion. The representative also, after explaining my “plan” exactly the way I stated here, advised me after his explanations to check all these boxes one after another on the contract I signed. Since I trusted his explanations, I checked the boxes and signed the contract. WATCH OUT FOR THEM!!!!!! Does anyone know what I can do about this? I’m going to reach out to several people tomorrow about this BS contract and company. I also have a witness and I know their calls are recorded.
I literally just signed up with OPTIMA Loan Services and am working hard on getting them to not take money from my account. The contract says I can cancel through email, fax, or letter. Well, none of their emails work.
I would suggest you send your notice by some type of traceable hard mail where you get notification of receipt.