Quick Answer: Sometimes calling student loan collectors can help resolve payment issues, but in this case the borrower received a court judgment reducing their private loan balance by $2,500 yet the collection company stopped all communication afterward. The debt likely remains valid despite disappearing from credit reports, and collectors may have stopped pursuing it due to administrative issues or cost considerations rather than forgiveness.
Question:
Dear Steve,
So, when I was 18, I went to ITT Tech. I got in debt with them and eventually had to drop due to failing grades. So, I owed 2 different types of loan, a federal and a private loan. The private loan was 15000 at the time I was 18, because I was only working part time, I was only paid 45 dollars a month to Sallie Mae.
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I lost my job and it went to claims around 2005, so I was forced to pay 50 dollars a month to a collection company. I eventually got it down to 4500 or so, but the collections company (after 8 yrs) sued me again because I had trouble paying it. They tried to institute the same tax at 8% a year, but the judge had none of that.
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He said it was impossible that I was only paying the tax and not a single bit of the principal. He put in judgement for them to subtract 2500 from it. The problem is that they said they would get in touch with me to set up a payment plan and never did. They never did because the courts never updated them. It’s been easily like 3 years since I’ve heard from them. It’s already off of my credit report too(it’s not been there for a long time already)
This company chased me hardcore for years for money, never leaving me alone. Why did they stop bothering me? Is it because they’ve forgotten now? I dare not call them to ask again. When I did call, I received no answer about the status of my account other than ‘we are working on it’ since the judgement of the removal of 2500 from the balance. I made that call back in 2013 tho.
Renole
Answer:
Dear Renole,
It sounds like the private lender already sued you and won a judgment. If that’s the case you can either poke the bear and wake them up or hope the time expires for them to enforce the judgment. For specific legal advice you would need to talk to an attorney who is licensed in your state.
On the federal loans you’ve got an opportunity to maybe make the loans go away completely. You should read Door Prepares to Slam for Student Loan Forgiveness Due to Fraud for more information.
Facing a Similar Situation? You’re not alone — and you have more options than you think. Start with the all your debt relief options page to see what’s realistic, or take the 2-minute bankruptcy quiz if the debt feels unmanageable. Federal Reserve research shows filers recover faster than those who don’t file. If a company is involved, run them through the Scam-O-Meter first.
