Question: Dear Steve, As co-signer, my debt was discharged due to disability and hardship. Is the original borrower still responsible for his own debt? The loan was through Discover, for about $25,000, with me paying on that loan for 10 years. The original borrower, the student, ran off and hid with no contact. I’m just … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I was poached by Sallie Mae (predatory lending) through ITT before they got caught. I have 15k in private student loans through Navient now. I didn’t finish school because I found out the degree they offered was not worth the paper it was written on. I want to stop paying on this … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, In 2015, I was 15/16 years old and went to two community colleges in Florida. Unfortunately, I did not graduate because my grandmother, whom I lived with (who supported me), got sick and died in 2019. At which point, I was homeless. I am currently living in a halfway house. I was … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I have student loans from 40 years ago that has gone from 18k to over 70k. I also have 1 loan for my son’s freshman year of college, now about 18k. I paid some of mine years ago but then went through a time of multiple layoffs and low-paying jobs in the … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, My husband and I are 60. We have put 4 children through college and ourselves as well. We stopped paying our credit card bills 4 years ago, and we now have 13 of them in collections. They total approximately $15,000. We have together about $140,000 in student loans. We bring home $6400 … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I went to High Point University in NC a private institution in 2012. Graduated finally in Dec 2017. I of course took out student loans both federal and private. Private being Sallie Mae. I came home in Dec 2017 after graduation had no job for 2 months and Sallie wanted payment because … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, This is a case from 1982. ECMC claims that I owe a debt for a student loan. The problem is, I never took out or sign for the loan. ECMC hired a second debt collector, Premier Credit. I took Premiere Credit to court, proving that I was not the person who signed … Read more
The operators of a student loan debt relief scheme are banned from providing debt relief services and have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they collected illegal upfront fees and falsely promised to lower or even eliminate consumers’ loan payments or balances. In its 2019 complaint, the FTC alleged that Student Advocates Team … Read more
Yesterday the Court granted preliminary approval of a class action settlement against Defendants Equitable Acceptance Corporation and Jeffrey Henn. In the settlement agreement Equitable Acceptance will cease collection on all student loan assistance credit plans, is prohibited from selling and issuing Credit Plans in the future, and will credit bureaus to delete the Credit Plan … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I owe Navient over $80,000 in student loans. I stopped paying in 2018 because they misallocated one of my payments. They called people who were not listed on my MPNs. When I asked a supervisor about repayment options, I was told it was at their discretion what they tell me about all … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I am a teacher/counselor who went to college as a non-trad mother of two. I graduated in 1998 and secured a position as a counselor in FL with a debt of $35,000. I could not afford student loans with two boys and no child support, so I did forbearances, but then they … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I filled for Bankruptcy Chapter 13 five years ago, and it was discharged last year. I included my student loans, private and federal. National Collegiate Student Loan Trust refused was contacted to submit their claims but refused. Now that I am out of bankruptcy, they are trying to file a judgment against … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, A debt collector (American Education Services) has, for many years, been periodically but infrequently sending me letters about a student loan (the current balance is $7830). For a period of several years up to about 2015, I was paying them $50 a month, but then I stopped paying and didn’t hear from … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, Under borrower defense to repayment rules, my student loans should evaporate, but collection agencies keep selling the account to each other, and they bother me always. Why do I think borrower defense to repayment applies? The college recruiter and the head of the Financial Aid Department at Greenville College lied to me … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I took out student loans 10+ years ago and have never made a payment on them. I’m unsure at this point which the loans were even with initially. I have not had a job since, so nothing had been taken from anything to repay at any point. I just signed up at … Read more